San Jose's Alum Rock Union School District votes to close 6 schools, consolidate 3
The district is faced with a $20 million budget deficit.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Students and parents in San Jose are faced with an unsettled future.
On Monday, families packed the Alum Rock Union School District board meeting.
After months of different proposals, the Board of Trustees made their final decision to close six schools and consolidate 3.
"I'm upset because as a parent I want the best for my kids that's why I went to a school of choice," one parent said.
For more than two hours, parents and teachers and community members tried to advocate against the decisions to close or combine schools.
By the end of the night, the board voted unanimously.
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Trustee Minh Pham said no proposal was perfect.
"This is a moment of in a sense great anguish. Great sadness, you know and I've stated very clearly, it's a school board member's nightmare," Trustee Pham said.
The district is faced with a $20 million budget deficit.
The district created a "community committee" with parents like Lisa Tuthill to weigh in on how they can budget $10 million in savings for the 2024 school year and the following school year.
"They looked at our proposal and said -oh you didn't meet the $10 million, which their proposal didn't either," Tuthill said.
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Tuthill said the biggest frustration is feeling the board is not listening to the community.
"I'm not just an angry parent, I have looked at this very strategically along with a lot of the other parents and it doesn't make sense and it's very clear it's very political," Tuthill said.
It takes sixth grader Julianna Escobar two minutes to walk from home to her middle school Renaissance at Fischer that is now set to close. The nearest middle school is Ocala, a 15-minute drive away.
"It would be new for me also because I don't know how I would get there, walking, the bus, driving," Escobar said.
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Members of the Mayfair Community, made of working class and immigrant families will now have one elementary school because the district has already closed schools there.
Olivia Ortiz has lived in the Mayfair Community for 18 years. She's always tried to be involved in the district when her kids started school.
"It's not fair that we keep getting the hit all the time and you ask yourself why? Why are community? Why is Mayfair getting the hits all the time," Ortiz said.
The changes could go into effect next school year.
