Plan to close Novato school doesn’t add up

I was taken with George Russell’s editorial cartoon published April 5. It addressed the possible school closures in Novato.

As the cartoon implies, I too am having a difficult time understanding the financial math problem that the Novato Unified School District is trying to address by closing an elementary school. As many students know, math is based on clear understandings of the value of the numbers considered in any given equation. Earlier this year, NUSD projected a deficit of $6.5 million and offered school closure of one of three elementary schools to save $450,000 annually. That leaves a $6 million deficit. Is the closure just the first step in a multipart plan district officials aren’t willing to publicly discuss?

Is the closure really about money? Or is school closure just the only near-term action our district could come up with? After the unprecedented challenges our students have faced this past year, shouldn’t we demand better?

The NUSD board is supposedly interested in equity. The members sure do like to use the word a lot. But I feel that when it comes down to it, they all fall silent when our kids need a champion to step up. They need someone to ask why it is that the only schools considered to be closed are mostly made up of minorities?

Is disrupting the lives of 300 students and their families worth cutting the deficit by only 7%? After the pandemic temporarily shuttered schools, is this the right time to be closing one for good?

I demand clear answers to these basic questions. Anything less would not warrant a passing grade for our students — why should we accept it from our school board?