Finally, one district gets it. They will close six campuses next year. Enrollment is down. Deficits are up.
““For us to maintain local control and keep our programs, we have to reduce (schools) this year, during 24-25, a savings of $10 million and for 25-26 school year, we need to find another $10 million,” Cerda said at the meeting. “This year the closings are the first step. This is an opportunity for us to reimagine an Alum Rock that is going to have more resources. We’ll be able to be smaller, leaner. We’re spread way too thin. This is going to be an opportunity for us to maximize those resources that our students need, that our sites need in order for us to prepare our students with a brighter future.”
The majority of the school closures and consolidations will go into effect at the end of the 2024-25 school year and others the following year.”
This is why we need school choice. Parents need to provide education for their children, rather than have a governing board that plays politics.
East San Jose school district to close six campuses next year
by Lorraine Gabbert, San Jose Spotlight, 12/2/24 https://sanjosespotlight.com/east-san-jose-school-district-to-close-six-campuses-next-year/
East San Jose school leaders have made the final decision about which campuses in the financially struggling district will close.
The Alum Rock Union School District board of trustees voted unanimously on Monday to close six schools for the 2025-26 school year, but plans to reopen one of them the following year, while closing two more in 2026-27. Three schools will be consolidated and three redesigned.
This was an alternative proposal created by Superintendent Germán Cerda, Board President Linda Chavez and Trustee Minh Pham. Alum Rock Union School District’s consolidation committee recommended 13 schools to close or consolidate and Cerda narrowed down the choices.
“For us to maintain local control and keep our programs, we have to reduce (schools) this year, during 24-25, a savings of $10 million and for 25-26 school year, we need to find another $10 million,” Cerda said at the meeting. “This year the closings are the first step. This is an opportunity for us to reimagine an Alum Rock that is going to have more resources. We’ll be able to be smaller, leaner. We’re spread way too thin. This is going to be an opportunity for us to maximize those resources that our students need, that our sites need in order for us to prepare our students with a brighter future.”
The majority of the school closures and consolidations will go into effect at the end of the 2024-25 school year and others the following year.
For 2025-26, Sylvia Cassell, Horace Cureton, A.J. Dorsa and Donald Meyer elementary schools are closing. Joseph George Middle School and Renaissance Academy at Fischer are closing, with its program to be consolidated with Renaissance at Mathson. Aptitud Academy and Hubbard Media Art Academy will be redesigned to serve transitional kindergarten to fifth grade students. Cesar Chavez Early Learning Center will continue with pre-kindergarten, with its transitional kindergarten and kindergarten grades relocating to San Antonio Elementary.
Learning in an Urban Community with High Achievement, or LUCHA, will consolidate to San Antonio Elementary. Ben Painter Elementary will consolidate with William Sheppard Middle School, retaining the English and Vietnamese dual language immersion programs.
In 2026-27, Adelante II Academy will merge into Adelante Dual Language Academy, relocating to Renaissance at Fischer.
“This is a moment of great anguish and sadness. It’s a school board member’s nightmare. Nobody wants to have schools closed or consolidated,” Pham said, adding many of these schools served residents for three generations. “This plan … protects as many programs as possible, as many school sites as possible.”
The district’s move to close the campuses is the result of multiple factors, including a $20 million budget deficit and the loss of temporary COVID relief funds, leaving the district in the red. It’s been compounded by a districtwide drop in enrollment from more than 10,000 students in 2015-16 to a projected 7,270 students in 2024-25.
Pham said the district had to make these decisions in order to create a balanced budget that could be approved by Santa Clara County and prevent a state takeover.
“I’ve always believed there was a much more targeted way we could have done this,” Pham told San José Spotlight. “I have tried to work with my colleagues in the most collaborative manner possible to mitigate and soften the blow to our kids and our families.”
Criteria for school closures include a district equity analysis, enrollment trends, proximity to charter schools, the condition of existing facilities and recent renovations, special programs and the cost savings needed, district spokesperson Sergio Diaz Luna said. Staffing will be reduced districtwide to help close the budget shortfall, he added.
Chavez said closing schools will revamp the district, benefiting children and their learning.
“They deserve better than we’ve been providing,” she said.
