SFPS board again puts off decision on school closures
Community members continue to express frustration over uncertainty
If there’s one thing that parents, students and community members don’t like their school board to do, it’s close their neighborhood school.
Members of several midtown communities facing uncertain futures have repeatedly lobbied Santa Fe’s school board to leave their schools alone. They did so again during Tuesday’s board meeting.
And so, after weeks of considering a plan that could have included rebuilding Chaparral Elementary School, the closing of another school and the repurposing of a third campus to make room for a state charter school, the board voted 3-1 to do nothing.
The continued kicking-the-can-downthe-road posture speaks to the board’s inability to solve a problem it has grappled with for at least a year: how to deal with having too many elementary schools and not enough children to fill them.
Most recently the board has been trying to figure out what to do with three midtown elementary schools — Chaparral, E.J. Martinez and Nava — which all have experienced stagnant or declining enrollment and need expensive renovations. A board plan last year to close two of them — E.J. Martinez and Nava — because of budgetary challenges led to public outcry and the plan was shelved.
Complicating matters is the district’s need to find a future home for Turquoise Trail Charter Elementary School, a state charter that rents a campus south of town from the school district. That lease is up in June 2021 and the board voted earlier this year not to renew the lease so the district can reclaim the facility for its own students, particularly since the city is experiencing a southward population shift.
A new district report on the matter recommends relocating E.J. Martinez students elsewhere and moving Turquoise Trail to that campus. But on Tuesday, students, staff members and parents in the Turquoise Trail community asked the board to let the school remain where it is. And leaders of the charter school have vowed to stay put even if they have to resort to legal action.
Meanwhile, members of the E.J. Martinez and Nava school communities asked the board to leave them alone, too.
Frustration was evident in the way several people at Tuesday’s assembly repeatedly grumbled and complained during the board discussion, suggesting a coalition of fed-up villagers who want to give their local chieftains the bum’s rush.
Board member Maureen Cashmon — who continually argued that the board must find the political will to make unpopular decisions and close schools or drop the matter completely — alluded to that discontent when she told the crowd, “Maybe it’s time for some new board members.”
Cashmon said she was disappointed in the board’s inaction. “When it comes to the hard time for the decision, we can’t make it,” she said. “Let’s be honest and take this whole thing off the table.”
But the board’s decision to postpone action, supported by members Steven Carrillo, Rudy Garcia and Kate Noble, leaves the matter unresolved. Carrillo told audience members that they could count on the board returning to the issue again next spring, a comment that drew more groans and boos.
Board member Lorraine Price, who has been ill for some time and who has missed several board meetings, was not present for Tuesday’s meeting. Her absence was felt, as other board members said they wished she were there to weigh in on the matter, and some said they should not make such an important decision without a full, five-member complement.
Members of the school communities involved, in turn, expressed dismay that the same issues were being trotted out for review again. One woman, who declined to give her name, said after the vote, “They should rezone [enrollment] boundaries and then call us back. This is the second time they’ve pulled this. It’s ridiculous.”
E.J. Martinez parent Mandy Mendoza said that last year the board, citing financial problems brought on by a lack of state funding, blamed both Gov. Susana Martinez and the Legislature for the board’s plan to close two schools. “Well, whose fault is it now?” she said. “We’re not facing a budget shortfall. … These kids aren’t numbers or little dots on paper. They’re people.”
Most board members agree that the district has to redraw its enrollment boundaries. Some feel the district should do it before discussing school closures. Others feel it should winnow down the number of facilities and then figure out who should attend whatever schools are left.
One mother who spoke to the board said a solution would be to eliminate any elementary school not serving at least 300 children. Other speakers said the district tends to protect its smaller, downtown schools and target schools where students are academically struggling or come from less affluent families.
But Superintendent Veronica García said some of those downtown elementary schools, including Acequia Madre Elementary School and Wood Gormley Elementary School, will come under similar scrutiny soon.