Release from desegregation order allows district to consider all schools for possible closure….4 elementaries safe for now, but issue not over

The issue of school closures is not going to go away.

The Tucson Unified School District board’s decision Tuesday night to keep Rogers, Ochoa, Corbett and Wrightstown elementary schools open this coming school year is not going to change that fact.

The decision did have consequences, not including that the board will have to come up with other cuts to make up for the anticipated $1.8 million in anticipated savings.

For example:

• School closures will be inherited by incoming Superintendent Elizabeth Celania-Fagen, who appeared a little ill at ease that such a momentous decision was being made nine weeks before she takes over the helm of Arizona’s second largest district.

While Fagen has stayed away from the issue because she doesn’t start until July 1, she has said the timing could hardly be worse. Now she will get a chance to deal with the issue as part of a 10-year plan she will create for TUSD.

• School closures will be inherited by the public – from all accounts, a public grateful to be included in the new process from the start. Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer, who has pushed for the closures as a sad but necessary solution to dwindling enrollment and a skyrocketing budget deficit of $10 million or more, said he regrets the initial phase of the process was “not transparent” and was “staff run” as opposed to getting the community involved from the start.

• Ann-Eve Pedersen, leader of Tucson Unified School Supporters, a grassroots group created in response to the possible school closures and reductions in school librarians and counselors, said the board’s decision will “give people a lot of motivation” to get behind the district and recruit students, raise money and be the front soldiers the district needs to pass the override election in November.

The board has held off on calling for an override, trying to gauge when public trust would be high enough for voters to pass it. The last override attempt, in 2004, was not successful.

• School closures will be inherited by parents and staffs at the four schools that were up for closure Tuesday – and by parents at other schools that are underenrolled.

Parents at Wrightstown Elementary got a personal challenge from board clerk Adelita Grijalva, who said it was the only school she was even conflicted about. The others she had no intention of voting to close.

“You said, ‘We will show you how to recruit,’ ” she told the parents at Wrightstown, which has 157 students. “I hope you can reach 100 (more) students . . . You say you have all those great things and then I ask myself, ‘Then why can’t you get those students there?’ I hope you do.”

After board members Joel Ireland, Judy Burns and Grijalva made it apparent they would not vote to close schools, board member Bruce Burke still moved that tiny Wrightstown go on the chopping block. Board president Alex Rodriguez seconded the motion, but it lost 3-2. Rodriguez then said there was no need to vote on the other three.

Ireland said a 30-year-old desegregation court order kept many schools off the list of potential closures.

But last week a U.S. District judge released TUSD from the order, contingent on a revised post-desegregation plan.

Now any school could be considered for closing and that would be more equitable, Grijalva said.

But the issue of how to make up the deficit remains.

Burns said the district could rent out Wrightstown’s multipurpose room as a preschool.

Grijalva said the board should look at possible cuts to security, communications and some assistant principal positions.

Meanwhile, 10-year-old Stephanie Monreal is just glad she gets to go to fifth grade, her last year, at Ochoa.

Ochoa families accounted for about 75 of the 150 people outside the board room as the board deliberated in closed session earlier in the day.

“I’m happy,” she said. “At my other school, I didn’t know how to read or use a computer and at Ochoa the teachers really helped me.”

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TIMELINE
Sept. 18, 2007: Tucson Unified School District officials admit the possibility of closing four schools at a parent forum. The schools are not named.

Jan. 29, 2008: The TUSD governing board votes 3-2 against a suggestion by Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer to consider closing four elementary schools: Rogers, Wrightstown, Corbett and Ochoa.

Feb. 6: Pfeuffer suggests two alternative high schools, Downtown Alternative High School and PACE Alternative High School, be consolidated. This move to consolidate the schools does not need approval by the governing board.

Feb. 7: Parents whose children attend schools that could be closed by a TUSD decision in April will have the option of applying for open enrollment at other district schools. TUSD’s regular open enrollment deadline was Feb. 2, but it is extended to Feb. 20 for parents with children at Corbett, Ochoa, Rogers and Wrightstown elementaries. This move comes when TUSD is expecting a $15 million to $20 million deficit in 2008-09. About $4 million a year is estimated to be saved by closing the four schools and consolidating two alternative high schools.

Feb. 12: The governing board reconsiders the closure issue and, also by a 3-2 vote, decides to begin the process of closing Corbett, Ochoa, Rogers and Wrightstown elementaries.

Mid February: Parents and K-12 education activists organize a coalition to fight against the closure of the four schools. Organizers also advocate maintaining small class sizes, retaining librarians and counselors in every TUSD school, preserving and expanding the district’s Opening Minds through the Arts program and increasing TUSD student enrollment, which has been slipping for at least 10 years.

Feb 14: Information sessions and public hearings are scheduled for four elementaries, starting March 3 and ending March 27. Meetings attract protesters.

Feb. 21: Finalists are named for new TUSD superintendent to replace Pfeuffer, who is retiring June 30.

March 12: Elizabeth Celania-Fagen is selected as new TUSD chief by a 3-2 vote. Fagen will not start until July 1, well after the Corbett, Ochoa, Roger and Wrightstown closure issue is decided.

March 27: Updated TUSD report says closing four elementary schools would save about $1.8 million a year, not the $2.4 million to $4 million originally reported.

April 23: U.S. District Judge David Bury releases TUSD from its nearly 30-year-old federal court order to desegregate, contingent on an acceptable revised post-desegregation plan. The court order was cited as the reason several schools were not considered for inclusion on the possible closure list.

April 29: TUSD decides to keep all four schools open.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Education, Local, Special. Tags for this post: Breaking News, Education-K-12, Education-K-12-Local, K-12, Local-Sci/Tech, Mary Bustamante, page-a01, Sci/Tech, Special-Breaking News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.