Push for new Walnut Creek school district

There is a push in Walnut Creek to have several schools split off from the Mount Diablo Unified School District to form a new, smaller district.

Northgate high school is one of the schools that would be part of that new district if supporters of the idea eventually get their wish.

Walnut Creek City Council stopped short of supporting the idea of those schools breaking away from the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. On Tuesday night they unanimously approved passing a resolution that says if this comes to a vote then only people who live in the affected areas will get to vote on it.

The Contra Costa County Board of Education would have to approve a move like this as well as the State Board of Education. Eventually local residents would have to vote on the idea through a ballot initiative.

Supporters of the idea say having political support from their local elected officials is one less hurdle to cross to make this happen.

Northgate CAPS is the organization that is pushing for a split from the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. According to their website they were founded by several parents of Northgate High School students and alums.

The schools that would be included in the new district they want to create are Northgate High School and its feeder schools which include Foothill Middle School, Bancroft, Valle Verde and Walnut Acres Elementary.

Supporters say this is about reaserting local control. Mt. Diablo Unified School District has 32,000 students and covers schools from clayton to Bay Point  to Pleasant Hill and Martinez.

Critics of the idea say allowing the five schools to break away sets a bad precedent, and that it's elitist because these are all high-performing schools in affluent areas.

There is a group of teachers at the school who are leading the opposition to this sucession idea.

The superintendent of Mt. Diablo Unified says the district is also opposed.