{"id":203524,"date":"2026-03-04T07:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/203524\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:15:07","slug":"san-jose-unified-delays-school-closure-vote-amid-community-concerns-east-bay-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/203524\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Unified delays school closure vote amid community concerns \u2013 East Bay Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an emotional meeting rife with community outrage, a special committee delayed an impending recommendation to close several San Jose Unified elementary schools<\/a>, citing concerns the plan would close too many schools.<\/p>\n

Tasked with recommending schools for closure, the Schools of Tomorrow Implementation Committee was expected to vote Tuesday night on a recommendation to close up to nine elementary schools, which the district\u2019s board of education was supposed to vote on next week.<\/p>\n

But instead, the committee voted to scrap some options and directed staff to come up with a proposal that would only focus on closing or consolidating schools with less than 300 students enrolled.<\/p>\n

Eight schools in the district currently have less than 300 students enrolled, including: Anne Darling, Canoas, Empire Gardens, Horace Mann, Lowell, Rachel Carson, Selma Olinder and Terrell elementary schools.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that we have an urgent need to take action to remedy our smallest schools,\u201d said Patrick Bernhardt, chair of the committee and a Reed Elementary school parent. \u201cBut I think anything where nine schools close, where we\u2019re creating schools of 600 or 700 students, is not the right action for us\u2026I don\u2019t think I can support any of the four options given those trade offs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Committee members were widely split on the previously drafted school closure proposals. Those in favor of the options pointed out that \u201ccritically small schools\u201d place a heavy burden on teachers and staff and offer limited resources to students, while those opposed expressed concerns the proposed plan would create overcrowded classrooms, split communities and drastically impact students, especially those in special education programs.<\/p>\n

San Jose Unified announced its plan to close schools earlier this month<\/a> as part of the district\u2019s \u201cSchools of Tomorrow\u201d initiative. Launched last fall, the plan attempts to address the loss of nearly 6,000 students \u2014 a 20% decline in enrollment \u2014 since 2017, by closing or consolidating up to nine of the district\u2019s 27 elementary schools.<\/p>\n

The district has repeatedly said that the decision to close schools is not motivated by \u201cfinancial considerations\u201d but rather \u201cproviding all students the best educational experience possible.\u201d But the district has also said San Jose Unified faces \u201csignificant budgetary pressures\u201d from inflation and slowing property tax growth \u2014 the main source of the district\u2019s funding.<\/p>\n

Families have been largely unsupportive of the initiative<\/a>, arguing it would significantly impede students\u2019 academic and social well-being, as well as cause longer school commutes and exacerbate struggles finding child care.<\/p>\n

Ethan Dutra, a fifth grader at Gardner Elementary School said at a special board meeting held before the Tuesday committee meeting\u00a0that while the school closures don\u2019t impact him because he is headed to middle school next year, they affect his friends, his sister and his community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are prioritizing bank accounts over communities that depend on these schools,\u201d Dutra said. \u201cThey\u2019re ripping communities apart, not healing. They\u2019re ruining friendships, jobs and school histories. They care about the future \u2014 schools of tomorrow. What about the schools of today? What about the families?\u201d<\/p>\n

And families and community advocates have expressed concerns that the school closure proposal risks disproportionately impacting Black and Latino students<\/a>, focusing largely on downtown campuses while leaving many suburban schools in Almaden Valley untouched.<\/p>\n

According to state and district data, more schools attended by minority students, English language learners and low-income students faced closure or consolidation under the plan San Jose officials announced earlier this month, while campuses with larger white student populations were largely spared.<\/p>\n

That concern was echoed again Tuesday, when hundreds of students, parents and community members showed up in droves at the district office to protest the closures.<\/p>\n

Frances Tamayo, mother of Gardner fifth grader Dutra, said she works as a children\u2019s therapist and worked with families and children who were impacted after Alum Rock Union School District voted to close or merge 13 elementary and middle schools in Dec. 2024.<\/p>\n

Tamayo said at Tuesday\u2019s meeting that closing schools fractures relationships, disrupts emotional safety and disproportionately impacts families who \u201calready face economic and social barriers\u201d within the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked with those families every day for the past year, and I have seen (with) my own eyes how that impacted children every single day,\u201d Tamayo said. \u201cIt was really, really challenging to work with those children. I don\u2019t want my child to be part of that statistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families also repeatedly wondered why San Jose Unified is discussing school closures\u00a0shortly after voters approved a $1.2 billion school facilities bond measure<\/a> intended to renovate schools in need of repairs and upgrades. In Nov. 2024, California voters also approved a $10 billion state school facilities bond measure that allocates $8.5 billion to K-12 schools for facilities renovations.<\/p>\n

During public comment, parents threatened legal action if the district does not delay a decision to close schools, including threats to pursue a taxpayer injunction to freeze the facilities bond measure funds.<\/p>\n

The committee will reconvene Tuesday, March 10 to discuss the new options and reattempt a recommendation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an emotional meeting rife with community outrage, a special committee delayed an impending recommendation to close several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,8,409,15,4730,181,23,100,13,88,90,89,198,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-203524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-city-politics","12":"tag-education","13":"tag-k-12-education","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-san-jose","19":"tag-san-jose-headlines","20":"tag-san-jose-news","21":"tag-santa-clara-county","22":"tag-south-bay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}