As Berryessa Union Faculty District in San Jose considers closing a number of colleges attributable to finances constraints, dozens of oldsters and their youngsters gathered Thursday night to protest the potential closures and ask the district to contemplate different options.
The proposal to contemplate closing colleges emerged from BUSD’s Funds Stabilization Committee, which was established in 2023 to create suggestions for $6 million of reductions within the district’s finances amid declining enrollment, based on the district’s web site. One in every of these suggestions was faculty consolidation, and in December 2023, the Board of Trustees voted to create a Faculty Consolidation Advisory Committee to find out which colleges within the district may very well be closed.
As dozens of youngsters ran on the lawns and held handmade indicators alongside their mother and father, a crowd of individuals lined the streets exterior BUSD’s administration constructing in San Jose. Indicators learn “Save our schools” and “Berryessa unite” as the gang chanted. Vehicles and vans driving previous honked in a present of assist.
“We don’t have any clear indications of what’s going to happen to our kids in case the schools are closed,” stated Preetha Krishnan, who has a toddler in BUSD and one other who simply moved from BUSD to highschool. “How are you going to handle this placement? Nothing has been shared with us.”
Some mother and father had been involved that the district didn’t select workers reductions or wage reductions as an alternative of closing down colleges.
Kim Ngo, who has two youngsters attending faculty in BUSD and whose husband served on the consolidation advisory committee, expressed concern that the committee’s members had “numerous unanswered questions, and there was widespread confusion over how the consensus and voting process were handled.”
Many requested that the district take into account different cost-cutting choices similar to promoting actual property.
“Unfortunately, like countless public school districts across the Bay Area, the Berryessa Union School District (BUSD) has experienced a significant decline in enrollment over the past decade,” stated Perla Rodriguez, BUSD spokesperson. “In response, BUSD has spent the last two years engaging in a thoughtful, inclusive and collaborative process to address the financial impact of reduced funding.”
Rodriguez added that the Board of Trustees will resolve on subsequent steps for the Faculty Consolidation Advisory Committee’s suggestions at a gathering in December.
“We understand how difficult and challenging this process is for our entire community,” Rodriguez stated. “School closures are an action of last resort that we take very seriously. The District remains committed to supporting our Berryessa community throughout this transition.”
Initially Revealed: November 7, 2024 at 9:38 PM PST
