Santa Rosa Schools holds final town hall on looming school closures

Santa Rosa City Schools hosted a final town hall on Thursday, as the district considers school consolidation and closure options due a $20 million deficit. 

"As a parent, it makes you very anxious," said parent Carrie Winn, who attended the town hall. "My senior could potentially be told that he has to have his senior year at a different school, with different friends. That’s not what we planned for."

Santa Rosa community members offered feedback on four scenarios the district is considering. Each of the proposals aims to cut the district's funding needs by $11 million this year and next. Santa Rosa City Schools says declining student enrollment and the loss of COVID-era federal relief funds has left the district in a tough spot.

"I think that they could do better at budgeting and making sure that this doesn’t happen," said parent Sherri Morgan. 

In 2012, Santa Rosa schools served 15,430 students. Last year, this district's student count had dropped to 12,860. 

"I think we’re in a reality where we’re just going to have to learn how to do more with less," said Santa Rosa City Schools Asst. Superintendent Roderick Castro, who emphasized that despite the challenges, teachers and staff have been doing everything they can to ensure their students' success.

"We just got our scores back. We have the highest graduation rate that we’ve ever had at Santa Rosa City Schools. Highest A through G completion rate that we’ve ever had," said Castro. "Those are the things that are the result of the hard work of teachers, staff, and of course the students."

Meantime, a plan to reintroduce school resource officers to the classroom after a series of violent incidents at several city campuses is now also potentially in limbo. In a statement to KTVU on Thursday, the District said in part, "Ensuring the safety of our students, families, staff, and campuses is our top priority. Our Board of Trustees is continuing their collaboration with the City of Santa Rosa to craft a memorandum of understanding that would bring school resource officers to our campuses as a pilot program."

As with school districts in San Jose and San Francisco, Santa Rosa City Schools administrators say if the deficit isn't managed, the district could face a state takeover and lose local control altogether. 

The District said parents and students can expect a decision on closures from the SRCS School Board on February 19th. Any potential closures are expected to go into effect starting this fall. 

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