After hours of heated debate Wednesday night, the Santa Rosa school board approved closing Lawrence Cook Middle School and merging it with a Spanish-language immersion charter school.
The schools will be combined into a charter school for students in kindergarten through grade 8.
The decision comes after Cesar Chavez Language Academy moved to the southwest Santa Rosa campus in the fall. The board approved the move about two years ago, citing the academy’s need for space in light of growing enrollment, and the schools formed a committee to create a plan for a possible merger over a two-year period.
Proponents of the merger highlighted declining enrollment at Cook, and a desire to rebrand the school, which board member Omar Medina said had unfairly acquired a bad reputation in the community.
School board members favored the merger 6-1, with Jenni Klose the only member against. She called the decision “irresponsible,” and proposed multiple times delaying the merger for a year until officials could hammer out more details, including determining new middle and high school boundaries since closing Cook would leave southwest Santa Rosa without a public middle school.
“I am appalled at the short-sightedness of this decision,” Klose said. “This is a really big mistake to do it this fast.”
Other board members also had some reservations. Alegría De La Cruz paused for several minutes before voting to approve the merger, voicing concerns that closing Cook could cause inequity problems. And Stephanie Manieri voted with tears in her eyes, expressing her fear that the merger would eventually lead to decreased enrollment at Elsie Allen High School, where Cook students attend after they graduate.
“I’m putting so much trust in this vote,” Manieri said, her voice breaking. She was met with applause from dozens of parents and teachers in the crowd who argued emphatically for the merger during public comment.
Board members’ concerns prompted them to approve two conditions to the merger: that officials redraw middle school boundaries in an equitable manner and create a committee that would design a pipeline for the charter school’s students to attend Elsie Allen after graduation. Most board members, with the exception of Klose, agreed that these decisions could be approved later on, as they felt that the schools’ teachers, parents and students deserved an answer on the merger immediately.
“A lot of this other information is stuff we can work out (later),” Medina said. “Not having a decision continues to leave us in this limbo.”
This is a developing story. Check back later for more information.
You can reach Staff Writer Chantelle Lee at 707-521-5337 or chantelle.lee@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ChantelleHLee.
"middle" - Google News
February 13, 2020 at 04:17PM
https://ift.tt/37mwRWr
Cook Middle School to close, merge with Spanish-language charter - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
"middle" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2MY042F
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment