Declining enrollment in the South Bay has left parents, staff and district administrators with some tough decisions. The South Bay Union School District may have to consolidate schools and redistribute its students.
Parents seem to recognize the need for saving money but struggle with the process.
“No one knew what was going on, and now you don’t want to let parents speak,“ said parent Kayla Stanley, who confronted Superintendent Jose Espinoza at the district's third community town hall on Wednesday night.
Stanley has a child with special needs at Central Elementary School but feels left behind in the district’s decision making.
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“It felt very secretive," Stanley told NBC 7. "He’s not willing to feel that heat from us and understand exactly how we’re feeling and what the exact effects are."
Noe Olvera has a son with special needs at Mendoza Elementary School. Olvera is also feeling like he’s not being heard.
“It’s going to be hard for me, my wife, the kids,“ Olvera said.
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This is the third town hall in the series. After the presentation, the parents were broken up into groups, in which they could ask questions, like how the district will provide bus transportation, or leave comments. But the superintendent says this is not the end of the parent input.
“Some people just want to kind of yell out, but that really doesn’t work for all the parents,“ Espinoza said.
The superintendent says making the difficult decisions now is better in the long run.
“When you are losing your neighborhood school, it’s a very emotional thing,“ Espinoza said.
The appointment of a 29-member Superintendent Advisory Committee came up with three potential plans.
Espinoza says the group’s recommendation to the board is to close Central Elementary and redistribute the 370 students. The board, however, could decide to close Central and Nestor. Move Nestor students to Mendoza and redistribute students from both closed schools into the district.
Not everyone agrees the answer to a declining enrollment is closing schools.
“We need more programs, more stuff for the kids, so parents don’t send their kids to different districts,“ Olvera said.
Parents will have two more opportunities to voice their opinions at upcoming board meetings.
According to the district, South Bay Union schools lost 44% of its student population in the last 12 years.
