Committee Allays Fears About School Closures at District Meeting

If you’re hearing about the San Bruno Park School District changing its school boundaries, the first thought that might come to mind is whether the district is looking to close any schools. 

But the school district and district committee tasked with discussing that issue had a message for the large group of parents who showed up to their meeting Tuesday night and for the public: Don’t fret about school closures because the issue hasn’t even been suggested yet—at least not at the moment. 

“School closures have not been mentioned in our meetings, and parents should not panic,” said Adriana Arambula, the co-chair of the school district’s development advisory committee, comprised of parents, two school board members and Superintendent David Hutt. “We’re only suggesting ideas and recommendations that the school board then has to take (action on).” 

The controversy is rooted in a study the school district had done by Total School Solutions, which laid out several options for maintaining similar enrollment at each elementary school once the sixth graders move to Parkside Intermediate next year. 

Taking into consideration several factors, such as the loss of sixth grade students, distance, safety and projected increases in students in the coming years, the study suggested different scenarios for how the school boundaries could change. The possibility of closing one or more schools was also proposed as an option. 

According to the study, at least this much is clear now: Having a similar number of students at each school could be achieved except at Crestmoor Elementary, which would continue to have the lowest enrollment in the district because kids have to travel the farthest distance there to get to school. Also, the number of combination classes likely wouldn’t decrease because overall enrollment still wouldn’t be large enough. 

The school district is still in the early stages of the discussion. At the moment, the advisory committee has been working on making a recommendation about what to do with the district’s policy on inter- and intra-district transfers, which could also affect what happens with school boundaries. 

Out of five options, the advisory committee said parents are leaning toward either keeping or changing the school boundaries, and keeping the district’s transfer policies the same. 

The committee is expected to come up with a final recommendation at its Nov. 15 meeting, and the school board will likely discuss the recommendation at its December meeting. 

Many parents, however, still have concerns about what happens next at their children’s schools. 

After Tuesday’s meeting, Hutt said he understands parents’ frustrations about the school district’s process of looking at school boundaries. 

With the district facing a unique set of challenges next year, Hutt said, some tough decisions will need to be made. 

“Every family is proud of their school, so any conversation that changes that level of school pride will be met with the response, ‘Don’t close (the school),’” he said. 

He added that the district will be taking a hard look at the enrollment projections throughout the entire process because the number of kids in the classroom will ultimately determine what the district can do. 

“It’s something we have to consider every year,” Hutt said.