Santa Rosa City Schools trustees will hold one of the most momentous decisions in district memory at 6pm. They will announce their choices of which schools should close by the end of the year to address a 20 million deficit. SEE UPDATES BELOW
KSRO UPDATE**TUESDAY 6pm:** KSRO learned that the last-minute debate was between MONTGOMERY HIGH and ELSIE ALLEN HIGH. Parents of students at Elsie Allen argued that low-income students will have issues with transportation if the school closes and students have to move to SRHS.
KSRO UPDATE**WEDNESDAY 1am:** A source told KSRO that after a five-hour session, they had narrowed their choices of which schools should close by the end of the year to three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. The source said it was a contentious conversation between trustees, and finally, they chose to move forward with the scenario that would CLOSE ELSIE ALLEN HIGH. The source said the vote was not formal and asked to mention this is not an official statement.
Trustee Nick Caston said his choice was based on the option that would displace the smallest number of students. Elsie Allen has 200 fewer students than Montgomery. Trustee Stephanie Manieri told the Press Democrat, “The disinvestments in Elsie have been a systematic thing… because of racism, because of sometimes situations out of our control,” she said. “I will not support any scenario that closes Elsie Allen. I will not consider that. We will leave an entire community without any access to public education.”
800 students would be transferred to Santa Rosa High. Parents have caught wind already of the news and contend that there will be transportation issues for many kids who now will have to travel 6-8 miles to attend SRHS in the fall.
Do YOU have thoughts on this news or a comment? We are building a story for KSRO and welcome your input. We will only use first names in the story. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1078444944294450&set=a.473953418076942
THE OTHER SCHOOLS SET TO BE ANNOUNCED TONIGHT TO CLOSE :
-
Brook Hill Elementary School and Albert Biella Elementary school would close the first year. Steele Lane Elementary School would close the following year.
-
Hilliard Comstock and Santa Rosa middle schools would close the first year, as would Elsie Allen High School.
-
The first year, Piner High School and Santa Rosa High School would become grade 7-12 campuses, absorbing all middle schoolers.
-
Two of the charter schools — Cesar Chavez Language Academy and Santa Rosa French American Charter — would move to the empty campuses at Hillard Comstock Middle School and Santa Rosa Middle School, respectively.
-
Middle schoolers from Cesar Chavez, Santa Rosa French American Charter and Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts would phase onto Montgomery High’s and Santa Rosa High’s campuses within the first two years. The third year, construction would be underway to close Rincon Valley Middle School and move it onto Maria Carrillo High School in a 7-12 model.
