Parents rankled by proposed school closures
The Cupertino Union School District has laid out six possible options for school closures, but one group of parents is not happy with any of them.
The district’s Citizens Advisory Committee presented the six scenarios at an Oct. 22 informational meeting of the board of trustees. Within these scenarios, 10 elementary schools and one middle school are variously proposed for closure. The district currently operates 20 elementary and six middle schools.
In proposing school closures over the next three academic years, the board of trustees is looking to make up for $5 million to $7 million in projected revenue losses because of declining enrollment.
The district has seen student enrollment drop 13% over the past eight years, from 19,194 in 2012 to 16,720 in 2019, according to data on the district website.
The district’s plans didn’t set well with some parents who logged on to the meeting.
“This is the biggest disruption to the community in the past decade, as thousands of families will be impacted,” parent Susan Young wrote in an email to this newspaper. “The CUSD is making a decision during the pandemic, which creates panic and stress to the community.”
Parents have formed “Save All Cupertino Schools,” a committee made up of members of all impacted school communities.
“Our goal is to increase community awareness (of the proposed closures), demand transparency from CUSD and the board, and work with them in unison to find a solution to this problem and to delay school closures,” Regnart parent Kelly Crosby wrote in an email.
The parent committee may not have a lot of time to mobilize, as the district has scheduled a series of meetings this month to further discuss the closure scenarios. The district’s committee report was on the agenda for the regular board meeting on Thursday as well as a special board meeting coming up on Tuesday and a daylong board advance meeting on Nov. 19.
In an Oct. 23 email to staff and parents, the district encouraged community members to “consider participating in each meeting to understand the discussion and planning, and to voice public comment.”
“Following multiple conversations and deliberations publicly, trustees will determine the changes to be implemented,” the email reads.
To view the Citizens Advisory Committee’s presentation, visit https://www. cusdk8.org and click on “Board Docs” toward the bottom of the homepage.
Contact Anne Gelhaus at 408-200-1051.