Walking into Catalina Magnet High School last night, one thing was obvious at the special meeting to decide the fate of 14 Tucson Unified School District schools — and no, it wasn’t a change of heart.
Noticeable was the smaller number of parents, teachers, community activists and children present at all past special meetings and public hearings to discuss school closures and consolidation. These were the meetings where we saw parents and teachers go before the board and beg that their schools remain open, or ask the board to hold off until after the first of the year when two new board members take their place on the dais, or start with the budget first to keep students and neighborhoods from dealing with this trauma.
Those who grumbled from their seats and at the podium in the Catalina Magnet High School auditorium said it didn’t take rocket science to understand why there weren’t the hundreds and hundreds of parents and children who filled the auditorium at the previous meetings. For TUSD students, yesterday was the final day of school before the start of winter break. In other words, perhaps the auditorium was only half-full because the special meeting, which decided the fate of 14 schools (11 will close and one will be turned into a district-run charter school), because the meeting was held five days before Christmas.
Here are the highlights:
Only forty-five minutes was provided for call to audience, so the public could address the board before the closure vote. Well-before the meeting, some critics and observers didn’t think that was enough time. Although it conveniently could allow a representative from each school on the closure list to have 3.2 minutes. Those who spoke addressed school closures, as well as a resolution brought before board member Mark Stegeman that request TUSD staff to pull together a plan that would find a new home for University High School, as well as what Stegeman described during the meeting as a “high-performing” middle school on the same site. Brenda Limon reminded the board that an enrollment cap had been put on UHS by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in order for the school to not pull high achieving schools from other schools. Or perhaps it was former TUSD board candidate Betts Putnam-Hidalgo who brought it further home when she yelled out from her seat, “Should all our middle schools be high-performing?” A remark that drew a special chiding from outgoing board president Miguel Cuevas.
Remember that weird vote at the Tuesday, Dec. 11 school board meeting? Well, TUSD parent Jana Happel took time during call to the audience to remind the board (and those seated in the auditorium) that what took place that evening was wrong and just another example as to why student enrollment is down in the district.
“The community sees the district dysfunction and board … and it is killing our schools and harming our children,” she said, adding that the district has embarrassed itself so many time that it’s time to say enough. “… leave school closures to new board.”
On the vote that took place Dec. 11, in which the district approved the desegregation plan going before U.S. District Court Judge David Bury, but there was also a lot of confusion on a vote the board took that resulted in a 3-2 vote against an objection to core curriculum, aka Mexican-American studies.
You can read our more detailed account here, or the dead-tree version here.
Anyway, here’s more from Hapel: “… you betrayed the public trust … Ms. Grijalva was deceived.” Hapel described Stegeman’s revote request as a decoy objection. “… you have breached our trust and lost any legitimacy to close our schools. Do not close our schools tonight.”
Fisher’s representative from the TUSD desegregation lawsuit and former school board member Gloria Copeland also showed up to chastise Stegeman UHS resolution. “You guys rolled the dice,” she said. “…You have half the community up in arms over deseg and the other half over the closures and you decide to put another … by being disrespectful … add to the list and expand while closing Carson?” Copeland said. “It’s cold, unfair and it is not right. You did not give this community the respect and time to recover from the two catastrophes that are already on the table … please do not take action tonight.”
Before the final vote took place to close 11 schools, staff presented more information on each school to explain why the schools was selected and why the receiving schools were selected, and explained how the changes met the school desegregation goal and orders.
The district, in its media release, described the vote as the district’s first step in “confronting” it’s $17 million deficit. Here’s the list of the closures and where students from those school will transfer in the 2013-2014 school year:
• Hohokam Middle School, 7400 S. Settler
Transferring students will attend Valencia Middle School.• Carson Middle School, 7777 E. Stella Road
Transferring students will attend Secrist Middle School or Dietz K-8.• Schumaker Elementary School, 501 N. Maguire
Transferring students will attend Bloom or Henry elementary schools.• Fort Lowell-Townsend K-8, 2120 N. Beverly Blvd.
Transferring students in grades 6-8 will attend Doolen or Magee middle schools. Transferring students in grades K-5 will attend Whitmore Elementary School.• Corbett Elementary School, 5949 E. 29th St.
Transferring students will attend Wheeler Elementary School.
Transferring GATE students will attend Hudlow or Kellond elementary schools.• Lyons Elementary School, 7555 E. Dogwood St.
Transferring students will attend Erickson or Ford elementary schools.• Howenstine High School 555 S. Tucson Blvd.
Placement of transferring students will be determined soon and may include attendance at Project MORE or the student’s home high school.• Maxwell Middle School, 2802 W. Anklam Road
Transferring students will attend Valenica or Mansfeld middle schools or Safford or Robins K-8s.
NOTE: Maxwell will be reopened as a new K-8 school.• Brichta Elementary School, 2110 W. Brichta Drive
Transferring students will attend the new Maxwell K-8 or Tolson Elementary School.• Menlo Park Elementary, 1100 W Fresno St.
Transferring students will attend the new Maxwell K-8 or Tolson Elementary School.• Wakefield Middle School, 101 W. 44th St.
Transferring students will attend Hollinger K-8 or Van Buskirk Elementary School.
There was a reminder in the media release, which was also briefly discussed during the meeting — consolidations aren’t a done deal until boundaries are redrawn and all receive approval from the federal court looking at the district’s current desegregation process and problems. There will be a public process for the boundaries, and that gets started Jan. 7. And if you don’t like your kid’s receiving school, you can fill out an open enrollment application for a different school. Deadline is Jan. 31 and you can go here for info and the forms.
On the Westside schools closed — Brichta, an academically achieving school that integrated and has one of the lowest utility rates of the district’s school, along with Menlo Park, yep closed. But the third Westside school, Manzo was saved and will be turned into a district-run charter school. You can read more about the school here.
District’s take on the savings:
The approved closures will cut $4.2 million from next year’s budget and provide $4.5 million in annual savings. The district will now work to identify remaining cuts and will review many options including reductions in central administration, general administration, outsourcing of essential functions, reducing benefit costs, and modifying staffing standards.
The district will work to finalize budget decisions by the end of February to facilitate staff transitions and other changes.
Board member Michael Hicks stuck to his promise and abstained from each closure vote. You can read more about that here.
OK, so how did each vote go down? We’ll be back.
This article appears in Dec 20-26, 2012.
Here’s a question: What happens to the boarded up schools once they close? More Circle K’s or just meth labs?
I agree that the audience call was too short, but my motion to extend it attracted no second.
This is dirty job and no one wants it. But the simple fact remains due to declining enrollment, draconian budget cuts and the failure of 204 (which was actually a loss of revenue already being collected and not a new tax) we basically have no choice but to become leaner by closing schools. I had made a list of eight elementary schools I expected to see close after the first days enrollment data was in, and while I was only right on about half of my choices, I take no pride in even being right half the time. I went through a school closure and any school having to shutter it’s doors is a tragedy for those students, their parents and the staff.
I see a tusd school bus drive by my home monday through friday….. one of the problems i have with this is that ( EACH and EVERY day the bus passes my home to pick up the kids and has of course no passengers it is empty but when the bus has been to the school around the corner and has picked up it’s haul of children to deliver to their homes one would expect to see at least a few children on the bus but to my amazement there are only One or Two children at the very MOST and mind you (this is EACH and EVERY day, M~F) One or Two kids on a Full Size Bus five days per week. Each round trip per child calculates a total of 12 miles per day per child per trip TIMES 5 DAYS PER WEEK! (60 miles per week per child = 120 total miles per week) X $4.89 per gallon of DIESEL Fuel and huge bus gets approx: 8 miles per gallon
I can’t even begin to calculate the cost per child and ratio of Gas Costs to deliver 1-2 kids on this HUGE FULL SIZE bus. a bus this size with Diesel fuel @ 4.89 a gallon to fill a tank this size I assume would cost the district somewhere in the neigborhood of 50-70 gallon tank @ $4.89 per gallon driving round trip with two passengers (children) x 5-days per week? I assume it would be in the $200- per tank? X 3 talk fills per week?
I am not a math whiz, therefore I shall invite and would very much appreciate someone else taking the time to figure this math ratio out! Good Luck
All of TUSD should be shut down and all of its administrators brought up on charges for fraud and theft.
My kids don’t go to a TUSD school. Right now my daughter is a junior at a charter school and is expected to graduate this spring. That is what a charter school has done for us. I feel for all these kids that just keep getting moved around. It’s very disruptive. Also , what about these teachers from these schools? If they move also, that’s great or is the school district putting people out of work? What is TUSD doing to be over budget? Where is our tax dollars going? These questions are never answered. When my children were in TUSD schools I always had a list of things to buy for them every couple of months, right down to face tissue. Get it together TUSD!
My belief is that parents are finally realizing that in AZ, education is DEAD. Our Republican lawmakers are accomplishing what they have wanted is to close all Public Schools. It is part of the ALEC platform on education. Close public schools, open private schools, take away the voices of the parents. Our governor and leaders have done a terrific jobs of closing schools, downplaying education for the kids. The sad issue is that AZ parents are letting it happen. They ARE NOT pushing back about our politicians. Arizona is is a steady decline under so called Leader Jan Brewer. When will the voters, parents wake up and elect candidate that are for education, funding education. they are the growth of our state. not guns.
To Sam Smith: The legislature has done its share of damage to public education in this state, but TUSD’s problems are not due to the legislature. TUSD spends way too much on administration. I read in a letter to the editor in the ADS that they spend $180 MORE for each student on administration than other district their size. That comes out to $9 million that should into the classroom and not into the paychecks of TUSD administrators. It is not the legislature that created TUSD’s budget with barely half the district’s funding going into the classroom. Other districts its size put a lot more of their money into the classroom so kids actually get a decent education.
You can point your fingers at legislators all you want for the bad job they have done with funding public education, but save at least one of those fingers for the failed leadership that has not put TUSD’s substantial resources into making sure every kid gets a shot at a good education.
I am very glad that they saved Sewell Elementary, it is a great neighborhood school with a wait list, and no doubt will see more “business” as other schools in the area have closed. I am concerned as Sewell never should have been on the closure list in the first place, Sewell has an ADE grade B, and narrowly missed obtaining an A grade. The 1010 number cruncher was very prejudiced against Sewell and made misleading statements to the board:
1. He hinted that the “very large” church right next to Sewell would buy the school. Ah, no. A priest from this church told Sewell parents at a meeting they have no plans to do this. The church also isn’t “large”, it is tall, looking like a mini-cathedral, but the congregation isn’t as big when you look at other local churches. Very fishy how the 1010 guy presented this. I can’t help think a developer wants the property for condos.
2. The 1010 number cruncher said that the Kindergartens aren’t full, no they are full and they expanded them! Enrollment is up, and they recently opened up pre-K at the school.
3. The 1010 guy didn’t mention that closing Sewell would only save $200,000, not the $500,000 per school they were talking about for other schools. If TUSD wants to make Sewell “profitable”, then they could put in portables or modules like they were considering for Townsend. Sewell is a large property and has the room.
4. The number cruncher guy immediately stopped talking about ADE grades when he got to Sewell . . . Sewell is a grade B school, and the receiving schools, Kellond and Bonillas are grade C, he didn’t mention this. Before Sewell, he dutifully noted the ADE Grade of the closing—and receiving—school.
The guy basically lied by saying Sewell has a good educational system similar to these other schools. Kellond is also supposedly sliding downhill in terms of education. Had Sewell closed, our kids would have gone to Lineweaver (they had nothing good to say about Kellong), or the first choice, Catalina Foothills which has open enrollment, if we were able to get them in next year.
5. There is a small school effect whereby kids going to smaller schools achieve better. Larger schools mean competition for resources as they try to pack more kids into a smaller area, and studies show that this means that minority kids are often the ones that are left out. Plus, smaller schools mean less racism in society as a whole as you have the opportunity to get to know classmates as people, in a larger school it is more of a faceless experience. So, I am against Pedicone’s paradigm of super schools, which I don’t think works for elementary aged kids.
I am grateful that Cuevas lead the charge to keep Sewell open, and Dr. Stegeman, and that Hicks abstained which had the same effect as voting not to close schools, and was happily surprised that Adelita Grijalva supported Sewell as well. I think the board “gets” that Sewell, and the local community, work hard to make Sewell successful. I plan on getting much more involved with Sewell, and with following TUSD board matters much, much more closely.
I am also glad they kept Manzo open—whether or not it becomes a charter school as I think teaching ecology is important.