Sal Baldenegro Jr. has put together a coalition of community leaders, parents and elected officials for a press conference today at 12:30 p.m. at Joaquin Murrieta Park, 1400 N. Silverbell Road.

From the press release:

Tucson, AZ — There is a press conference scheduled for Friday, Dec. 7th, 12:30pm, at Joaquin Murrieta Park, to address the westside Tucson community’s serious concerns surrounding TUSD’s possible closure of three westside schools. The TUSD Governing Board has voted to potentially close three westside elementary schools: Manzo, Menlo Park, and Brichta. All three of these schools have a majority Mexican-American student population, and the TUSD Governing Board has acted without considering the devastating consequences that closing these schools will have on westside children.

Community leaders, concerned parents, and elected officials will speak at the press conference. For more information, contact Sal Baldenegro, at 520.445.5904 or sbaldenegro@gmail.com

This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2012.

4 replies on “Press Conference on Possible Closure of Three Westside TUSD Schools”

  2. Manzo had an ADE rating of D, and an enrollment of only about 264 students. Certainly, this school should be closed given that it is basically a failing school with a small student population. Menlo has 248 students, and a grade of C . . . make sense to move the students from failing Manzo into Menlo, especially given that Menlo has a higher ADE rating. It is simply ludicrous to have a school with 250 students, especially when they are practically failing.

    The west side activists should note that the school closures this time around are all over the city, even though last time the east side was targeted. To be fair, some west schools will have to close, especially failing schools which aren’t in the students’ best interests.

  3. The “press release”, doesn’t make sense. It says that the TUSD board didn’t consider the consequences to westside kids, well . . . Manzo is a failing school, and a lot of these schools are half-empty. TUSD needs to save money by closing half-full schools, in part so they can provide free/reduced breakfast and lunch for poor kids, a lot of whom are Latino.

    What does a Mexican-American majority mean and why was it mentioned? Mexican-American kids aren’t any less, or more, important than any other kids. Even some eastside schools have a majority of Latino kids.

    Sounds like these “community leaders” are just activists who will get involved in anything without really considering the pros/cons of an issue, or even knowing what they are talking about. They just assume that keeping failing half-full schools open in hispanic neighborhoods is a good idea. The guy on television didn’t mention having any kids at the schools, and is using generic talking points regarding Mexican-Americans, but not in a thoughtful manner.

  4. School districts all over the country are having to close schools. Illegal immigration has destroyed public education in America.

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