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Health & Fitness

SCUSD Proposed School Closures

Plea to the Rosemont Community and the SCUSD to prevent the closure of James W Marshall Elementary

My name is Matt Muller. I am one of the parents who spoke out against the proposal to close under enrolled schools at last night's SCUSD Board Meeting.  

I have numerous issues with SCUSD’s proposed action to close under-enrolled schools. First, when I went to the polls to vote for Prop 30 I was under the impression that the entire purpose of that tax increase was that the revenue generated from it was going to be specifically directed towards keeping the schools open and the teachers in the classroom. That’s how it was sold to the California voters. So I have a hard time swallowing what Superintendent Raymond is trying to sell me regarding the need for cuts and reductions when they are supposed to be receiving additional revenues from Prop 30, and when I’m hearing that he received a significant raise in salary, and that millions of dollars are currently being spent on consultants. I think it safe to say that I can speak for all of those that voted for Prop 30 when I say that we did not do so with the intention that the money be spent on salary increases for upper level administration, and consultant fees.

My next issue is I have a problem with the figures that are being presented. To be blunt, I question their validity. Speaking specifically of James Marshall Elementary, its capacity is being stated at 1100 students which is grossly exaggerated. The actual capacity of James Marshall Elementary is more along the lines of around 750 students. Also, when the enrollment population for James Marshall Elementary was tallied by the district they did not include Kinders, nor did they include the special education students. This counts for an undercounting of the enrollment population to the tune of about 70 students.  I also question the claims regarding the potential savings as I believe are overstated. This school operates without a janitor, without a nurse, and without a librarian. If the numbers for James Marshall are questionable, then I have to suspect that those for the other schools on the closure list are as well. From my perspective, I have to wonder why the numbers are being skewed in a manner to support the reasoning for the proposed action.

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I have a friend who lives in a zone which would have her son attend Mark Twain Elementary. She refused to send her son there because it is such a bad school and has him enrolled elsewhere. The zone we live in would have our boys attending AM Winn, but because we found it to be such a bad school we enrolled them in James Marshall instead. So when I see both those schools along with several others that are probably equally as bad being eliminated from the closure list, and I see good schools on the chopping block, I have to question the logic behind it.

In conclusion, I question the need to be closing any schools. I think that money is being mismanaged and priorities are misarranged. And even if the district could prove conclusively the need to do so, the only criterion that should be used when deciding which schools should be closed and which ones shouldn’t is the performance of the school. The schools that aren’t cutting it need to be closed and the good schools need to stay open. That’s it. Period. End of story. And whatever they need to do to make that happen they do it, because it’s the correct thing to do – it’s the right thing to do.

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This whole thing just hasn't made sense to me and I just haven't been able to connect to the dots.AM Winn had been on the closure list for a while now. It is old, dirty, rundown, with poor performance scores. There are many students currently attending James Marshall who do so because their parents did not want to enroll them at AM Winn. My sons being two of them. So to me,  the natural and logical flow of events would have been to let AM Winn go and send the students to James Marshall - especially since it is under enrolled. But then, for reasons unkown, measures are taken to spare AM Winn and James Marshall is slated to shut down. It just didn't add up until I received reports from numerous sources that Capital Christian Center has expressed interest in purchase the property that James Marshall currently occupies. Then it became a little clearer. You have 3 schools:James Marshall - cleaner, newer, with performance scores consistently exceeding the disrict averageSequoia - another high performance schoolAM Winn - old, dirty, poor performance scores - slated for closure as a result Capital Christian Center steps up and expresses interest in purchasing the property. The district is very tempted but there's the problem of what to do with the students. Where are they going to go? We can't put them all in Sequoia, and AM Winn is right accross the way but it's on the closure list. What measures can we take to create a legitimate reason for not closing it? The answer: it adopts the Waldorf ciriculum and adds grades 7 and 8. They save AM Winn not because it warranted saving (because it didn't) but for the purpose of having somewhere to send the orphaned students of James Marshall so that they can sell the property to Capital Christian. This is what angers me the most. This isn't about looking out for our children's educations. It should be, but it's not, because if it was, there's no way they would be going about it the way they are doing - its about money.

 

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