Approximately 300 children, parents, educators and community members filled Catalina Magnet High School auditorium Saturday morning pleading for the TUSD Governing Board to save their schools. The public has been told that the District is facing a $17 million budget deficit, and many schools must be closed.
Friday, TUSD Governing Board member Michael Hicks advised the public that he would not support closing schools until such a time as the District could demonstrate that all possible cuts have been made outside of the classroom and after the District could provide a rationale for each schools closing.
Weeks ago, the Board had asked for the administration to provide the rationale, but Hicks said after the Saturday meeting that he “still hasn’t seen anything.” The administration expects the Board to vote on the closures December 20. According to Hicks, the District has spent nearly $6.7 million in renovations on the proposed closed schools in just the past few years.
TUSD administration claims that closing 14 campuses will save of around $5 million. Closure has been initiated on the following schools: Brichta, Corbett, Cragin, Lyons, Manzo, Menlo Park, Schumaker and Sewell elementary schools; Carson, Hohokam, Maxwell and Wakefield middle schools; Fort Lowell/Townsend K-8; and Howenstine High School.
Kerry Hodgkinson, a Brichta parent, told the Board, “I would like to be in your position. As a mother of five who feeds her family on fifty dollars a week I could do a better job than your budget analysts.” She said “The word trust has been used a lot especially by Dr. Pedicone, but you won’t get that trust until you included in the process.” She suggested that the District “Clean your own house before you come and close our schools.”
Brichta is at 97 percent capacity and 52 percent of the student body from out of the attendance zone. Brichta has some of the lowest utility bills in the District. One parent advised the Board that if the criteria were followed, neither Brichta nor Sewell would be considered for closing. Dan Stoker, a Sewell Elementary father, told the Board that he is “now looking outside of TUSD” for his child.
Ann-Eve Pedersen, who led the failed campaign for the permanent 1 cent sales tax, took the opportunity once again to divert responsibility away from the District onto the state Legislature. Pedersen said, “The state legislature is really the true enemy.” She falsely claimed that “other districts are having to look at closing schools because of these numbers. They are fighting against our kids, our schools and our communities. This is a situation that threatens to tear our community apart.”
And the District’s actions are tearing apart the community. Several parents suggested that other schools were more deserving of closure and offered them as an alternative to their own child’s school. One parent went so far as to tell the Board they should save her child’s schools and “close Maxwell and take a D school off your record.”
A Corbett mom said that “by taking away the schools you are providing a short term solution to your long term problem. I hope you live with your decision for a long time. I hope it gnaws at you.”
A second public hearing is scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m. at Catalina, 3645 E. Pima Street.
School closures will go into effect next school year.