Brentwood And Willow Oaks

Brentwood And Willow Oaks To Close - Willow Oaks May Become A KIPP Charter School

After months of discussions and several community meetings, the Ravenswood City School District board of directors finally decided on which two schools to close to avoid dire financial implications, largely attributable to the rapid decline in student enrollment.

Brentwood and Willow Oaks are the two schools that will close at the end of the 2019-20 School Year.

At its January 9 meeting, the board after exploring several alternatives, voted to accept the original proposal offered by district staff. The proposal called for Los Robles-Ronald McNair to remain at its current site as dual immersion; Brentwood and Costaño to merge and both locate to the Costaño site; Willow Oaks and Belle Haven to merge and both locate to the Belle Haven site; and the 49er Academy will still relocate to the old Green Oaks School. No change is proposed for the middle school i.e., Cesar Chavez will remain as a middle school at its current location. The District, to address a Prop 39 Charter Request, has reportedly designated Willow Oaks School as the possible site for an expanded KIPP Charter School. KIPP Charter School, currently located at Ronald McNair School, requested a larger campus and the district is legally obligated to designate an appropriate school by February.

The need to merge schools was influenced by the decreasing student enrollment due, according to district officials, to such factors as the high cost of living, forcing many families to leave the district, as well as the increased movement of students from public schools to charter schools and other

private schools in the area. Currently, the total student population of the district, according to staff reports to the Board, is at approximately 2,000 students down from over 4,000 a few years ago. This decreased enrollment has drastically impacted the district’s budget forcing the district to have to cut its budget by $1.35 million.

Operating the district with five schools open and only 2,000 students was not an option and would have further exacerbated the district’s budget woes.

The district, according to Gina Sudaria, the interim superintendent,

plans to continue to engage the community in planning and implementing a smooth transition.

She told the board that she intends to implement transition activities such as “student and family visits to the new site this spring, social events at the new site, and playdates/meetups at the new campus during the summer.” During the transition, the district will also grapple with issues around how students from the district would be assigned to the remaining schools, the projected enrollment and staffing at each school, and the reduction of administrative support staff as well as teachers.

In an earlier meeting in December, Jim Lianides, former Superintendent of Sequoia Union High School District and Interim Business Official for the Ravenswood City School District, told

the board that the District would be able “to meet its financial obligations for the current year and the two out years 2020-21 and 2021-22 by proceeding with its plan to close two elementary schools, leasing out one of the empty sites and utilizing one-time former Redevelopment Agency funds as a bridge to support the budget through the current year and the two out years.”