The Cupertino Union School District board on Thursday was faced with deciding which elementary and middle schools will be closed or consolidated.
After months of evaluation, the school board last month recommended closing Meyerholz and Regnart elementary schools and consolidating Muir Elementary. The decision could be finalized Thursday night.
Parents are fighting the decision amidst a flood of emotions.
“It really tears the community apart,” Regnart PTA co-President Eunice Peng said. “You can’t put a number value on this community that’s been built and that is here. We just feel so devastated.”
The district pointed out it has lost 5,000 students since 2015 and expects to see enrollment drop another 4,000 students over the next eight years.
Officials said they understand why people are surprised since Cupertino was long known as a district people moved to get into. The schools are still great, but the cost of living in the area is not.
“We’re seeing it across the Bay Area – the price of homes, empty nesters staying in their homes for longer, lack of affordable housing,” Cupertino Union School District Communications Director Erin Lindsey said.
Parents said in the midst of the pandemic is not the time to decide. They insist many families switched to private schools due to the pandemic but will return.
“So, for future financial stability, yes, we understand that it would make sense to close schools,” Peng said. “But there is no pressing, current need, and so we would hope that in this year we can stabilize numbers, we can wait until we’re no longer in a pandemic.”
Source: NBC Bay Area
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