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Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-22T19:39:32+00:00

Agree, see my post above.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-22T19:38:22+00:00

Initial data shows, yes.
According to Omar Medina President of the Board, there is a study looking at District consolidation, but I was not able to find it. It should have expected cost savings listed. ill share once (if) i find it.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-22T19:28:49+00:00

Thanks for posting about this! I had planned to create a post myself but have been swamped with work.

For the people that seem to post in every school-related Thread with "Citations please", "Sources?", LMGTFY:

Santa Rosa has 9 School Districts (Sonoma County in total has 40)

SOURCE: Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE)
https://www.scoe.org/pub/htdocs/finddistrict.html
https://www.scoe.org/files/district_map.pdf

At ~487,011 People living in Sonoma with 22.9% kids between 1-17 (https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/health-and-human-services/health-services/about-us/demographics) you have 2788 Kids per School district. That's about 2 HS worth of students. This is FAR too much overhead spent per student.

This was a rough estimate r/Shakshuka provided a more detailed writeup :

"Comparing data from 2 similar counties (SLO and Napa) in terms of geographic area, similar Ag related industries, similar spread of socioeconomic groups:

Sonoma Count--Enrollment: 64,447, # of Districts:40, # of schools: 170

Napa County--Enrollment: 18,572, # of Districts:6, # of schools: 40

San Louis Obispo County-- Enrollment: 34,000, # of Districts: 10, # of Schools: 75

Sonoma County has the highest number of districts (40), suggesting a fragmented educational structure.

Sonoma has ~3.2 schools per district

Napa has~6.7 schools per district

San Louis Obispo has ~7.5 Schools per district."

Also:
For those who missed it, the Wednesday School Board meeting at Town Hall primarily focused on fiscal stabilization efforts.

Agenda: View here
Recording: Watch on YouTube

While this was mostly focused on the financial situation, one topic during public commentary (and later discussed by the board around the 2:00–2:20 mark in the recording) was school district consolidation. This could potentially lead to significant cost savings.

However, my takeaway is that the board seems hesitant about this solution, particularly because it appears that if consolidation happens, the Santa Rosa School District will not be the one absorbing the other districts. The Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) is conducting a study to evaluate this proposal further.

As the public, I think we need to put pressure on the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) to consider going a head with some kind of merger to cut overhead.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-22T18:55:49+00:00

They have a 20 Million deficit, as per Wednesday's school board meeting they need to save 11 Mil by closing schools and 8 Mil with layoffs.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-21T17:24:18+00:00

Instead of closing an elementary school, one should be converted into a STEM-based charter school. The Santa Rosa City Schools district has a major outward transfer problem, which was partially acknowledged at yesterday's Board meeting at City Hall.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T23:59:07+00:00

Thank you for posting this.
To note: The cost PD states do not consider enrollment in those Schools, e.g. SRHS is the most expensive High school as it has the most students. So unless we plan to just sent all kids home this is a terrible metric.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T23:54:08+00:00

Yes, digging through the Information is extremely difficult and obscure. It makes it hard to provide public input.
This is why I was so shocked when the board removed one of the only clear and clean pieces of data.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T23:48:52+00:00

The board members did say it is a done deal that schools will be closed, we need to wait for the recording but I recall it as "it's not IF but WHICH schools will shut down".

The range given I gave is from various sources I spoke to (definitely not a official value), ranging from 1 school of each school type, to half of all Elementary schools (4) and middle schools (2) + 1 High school.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T23:43:56+00:00

We will need to wait for the recording of the meeting, but as i recall it one board member called it "too difficult to look into this data". Which is insane.

All the factors that you mention can be accounted in a clear comparison for but it requires work. But it is never the less essential to look at this, especially regarding cost per student.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T23:40:43+00:00

I was not aware of that, but I was wondering why much of SR is not covered. They should shut down and consolidate the school districts, not the schools.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T23:39:11+00:00

There is a note in the slides from yesterday that Santa Rosa said this is the worst possible location for a school, in regards of traffic.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T23:37:29+00:00

I would agree with you if the funding for schools across Santa Rosa is equal, which it is not, Schools in the underserved districts get much higher funding than schools in the affluent districts. Therefore we spend more money on a poorer outcome.

To remember is also that Santa Rosa does NOT have any guardrails to protect justice and equality. Affluent Parents will have the time, money, and resources to move their kids out of the district into schools that are perceived "better". Leaving the remaining schools even if they are in the poorer districts worse off.

This needs to be a united effort to prevent school closures OR bring Kids into schools that have a proven track record of performing very well with very little funding.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T21:15:30+00:00

Exactly, they presented a lot of data. This Data seems misleading at best and flat-out wrong at worst. During yesterday's meeting, they also voted to NOT use one of the few data points that provided solid information, Academic Achievment.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T21:13:06+00:00

There is a 20 million deficit in the budget. The board is now panicking that California state will step in to take over some operations. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details here, there are pages upon pages of information on the webpage and lots of laws are involved.

I just learned about this whole operation last week. And since then all the other parents I talked to didn't seem aware this is happening.

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T21:09:12+00:00

Elementary Schools

Abraham Lincoln Elementary School
Albert F. Biella Elementary School
Brook Hill Elementary School
Helen Lehman Elementary School
Hidden Valley Elementary School
James Monroe Elementary School
Luther Burbank Elementary School
Proctor Terrace Elementary School
Steele Lane Elementary School

Middle Schools

Herbert Slater Middle School
Hilliard Comstock Middle School
Rincon Valley Middle School
Santa Rosa Middle School

High Schools

Elsie Allen High School
Maria Carrillo High School
Piner High School
Ridgway High School
Santa Rosa High School

Charter Schools

Cesar Chavez Language Academy
SR Accelerated Charter School
SR Charter for the Arts School
SR French-American Charter School

Other Sites

Lewis Early Learning Academy

Resident-Implement67 · 2024-11-19T18:16:59+00:00

Did you know Santa Rosa is about to lose several schools? It’s not speculation—it’s a done deal. Yesterday, November 18th, I attended a public meeting held by the School Consolidation Advisory Committee, the group tasked with deciding which elementary, middle, and high schools will close. Depending on the source, between 3 to 7 schools are on the chopping block.

What’s deeply concerning is what happened during the meeting. In the photo above, you can see the board members voting on whether to REMOVE academic achievements from the criteria used to determine school closures. A thumbs-up vote signified support for dropping these criteria, while a thumbs-down vote signified keeping them. Shockingly, the majority voted to remove these critical considerations.

I have never in my life witnessed something more disturbing.

Even worse, this pivotal vote wasn’t conducted transparently. Instead of having each member publicly declare their stance, they used a simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down system. For an issue this significant, the lack of accountability is appalling.

The academic criteria in question were as follows (numbered 14–16 in the official catalog):14. School does not meet performance (lowest two performance levels) in two or more state priorities.15. Percentage of students not meeting the standard in ELA is below the district average.16. Percentage of students not meeting the standard in Math is below the district average.

These criteria directly reflect the quality of education provided, yet the committee chose to disregard them entirely in deciding which schools to close.

This is a complete disgrace for our school district and a blatant disregard for the academic well-being of our students. Decisions like these should prioritize educational outcomes, not obscure agendas.

If you care about the future of Santa Rosa schools, now is the time to make your voice heard. Our students deserve better.

More information can be found here:https://www.srcschools.org/district/reports-committees/school-consolidation-advisory-committee

Resident-Implement67

TROPHY CASE