{"id":235195,"date":"2025-09-18T01:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/235195\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T01:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T01:28:10","slug":"san-diego-unified-may-walk-back-decision-on-k-8-closures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/235195\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Unified May Walk Back Decision on K-8 Closures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Diego Unified officials are considering walking back their plans to shut down middle school grades at one K-8 school, south of Interstate 8.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, we broke the news that San Diego Unified officials <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/2025\/09\/12\/san-diego-unified-is-getting-rid-of-some-k-8-middle-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">planned to shutter the middle school grades at four of the district\u2019s K-8 schools<\/a>. It spread like wildfire. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The initial plan was to strip middle school grades from K-8 schools Golden Hill, Fulton and Audubon next year, and from Bethune the year after that. Students from those schools would be rerouted to other district middle schools. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>District officials have said low performance and graduation rates among the K-8 students \u2013 as well as expanded educational opportunities at the middle schools where they would be rerouted \u2013 were the driving factors behind the decision. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That change blindsided parents and even the schools\u2019 staffs, none of whom had been consulted about the change. It\u2019s also inspired significant pushback from stakeholders, particularly from parents of Bethune students. They\u2019ve argued that their school is not like the others, and that their children are better served there than at Bell Middle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, following the pushback, Superintendent Fabiola Bagula says she may not follow through with the proposed cut at Bethune.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bethune blowback:<\/strong> In the days after my initial story, Bethune parents mobilized. They went on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbs8.com\/article\/news\/local\/san-diego-unified-to-transition-some-k-8-schools-down-to-k-5\/509-41727598-0f9e-4fc0-9152-98250587d429\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener external\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">local<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsandiego.com\/news\/local\/san-diego-unified-to-get-rid-of-some-k-8-middle-schools\/3900195\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener external\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">news<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/287396c613998b4901e90afddf677bfeff0a712d-1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">dispatched letters to school board members<\/a> and made plans to show up en masse at the next school board meeting. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When Nadine Trassare found out that Bethune was slated to lose its middle school grades, she was shocked. Both of her children attend the K-8. Trassare, a nurse at a district school, actually attended the school herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have issues with the lack of input, lack of communication, lack of consideration,\u201d Trassare said. \u201cThis decision to change these schools without asking what that does to our community as a whole is unfair.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Underscoring their opposition to the change seems to be a mixture of affinity for Bethune and concerns about the safety and quality of Bell Middle, where Bethune students were set to be rerouted. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Students at Bell have long underperformed those at Bethune, and the school\u2019s suspension rate is nearly three times the district average.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trassare\u2019s concern is so deep that she said if Bethune were to close she would send her child to the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, a district magnet school, rather than Bell. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trassare\u2019s not the only one skeptical of Bell. All five of Deedee Doungmala\u2019s children have attended Bethune, and she worries about how they\u2019d fare at a different school.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve heard a lot about Bell, which wasn\u2019t a lot of nice things,\u201d Doungmala said. \u201cMaybe I shouldn\u2019t think that way. Maybe I shouldn\u2019t judge them before I actually experience it, but all five of my kids have been going to Bethune, and so far, they haven\u2019t disappointed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pumping the brakes: <\/strong>When I spoke to the superintendent on Wednesday, I asked if the move was to bolster student enrollment at Bell Middle. The school has lost more than 23 percent of its students over the past decade. That\u2019s nearly double the district\u2019s overall decline. Rerouting middle schoolers from nearby K-8 schools would add hundreds of students to Bell in the coming years, all without having to close any schools. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bagula said that wasn\u2019t the case.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead, she said the district decided to close the middle school portions of the K-8 schools because of disappointing student performance and low high school graduation rates for students who attended K-8\u2019s. The schools\u2019 test scores are relatively low, but cohort graduation data isn\u2019t publicly available.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The issue first came on her radar a couple of years ago, when then-principals of Audubon, Fulton and Golden Hill approached her with concerns about the programs. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bethune, she said, was added into the equation later on. She acknowledges that while students tend to underperform at the other three K-8\u2019s, that\u2019s not the case at Bethune. That\u2019s why she and others have begun to soften on whether the district will shutter the middle school program. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025.09.12_K-8-Communication_Bethune.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">letter sent to parents on Friday night<\/a>, Steven Dorsey, the area superintendent overseeing the cluster of schools which includes Bethune, didn\u2019t waiver on Bethune\u2019s closure. He seemed to indicate it was a done deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis message is to inform you that Bethune will no longer offer middle school grade levels after the 2026-27 school year,\u201d Dorsey wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This move, though, will have \u201ctremendous benefits,\u201d he wrote. Students at Bell, Dorsey wrote, \u201cwill have access to more course offerings and programs currently not offered at our smaller K-8 school sites.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But by Wednesday morning, Bagula sounded less certain. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m still holding true to the three schools,\u201d Bagula said, referring to Golden Hill, Audubon and Fulton. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to Bethune, though, she\u2019d wavered on whether to actually follow through with the cuts. She plans to attend yet-to-be announced community meetings before she makes her decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bagula had initially wanted to keep Bethune open because the school\u2019s test scores were higher than the other K-8\u2019s middle school grades on the chopping block. But when developing the closure plan, she\u2019d met with other district officials who told her that if they were to close Audubon and Fulton, in essence endorsing Bell, \u201cthen it should be a full endorsement.\u201d That \u201cfull endorsement,\u201d though, would have to include closing the middle school portion of the other K-8 school siphoning students from Bell \u2013 Bethune.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But now, she feels she perhaps should have been more \u201cdefinitive\u201d and followed her gut on not closing Bethune in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to make data-based decisions. When I looked at Bethune\u2019s data, that\u2019s the one that I was like, \u2018Maybe not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, whose subdistrict includes Bethune, struck a similar tone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBethune, I understand is the school that has more issues [with closing] and I kind of agree with [the parents.] I think the superintendent is changing their mind too, because she could see they\u2019re offering a better program than the others,\u201d Whitehurst-Payne said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She also acknowledged that the district should have \u201cbrought the community along with us,\u201d as they made these decisions. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to the closures, Bagula said she\u2019s sensitive to concerns parents may have and understands that this decision may \u201cfeel like a loss.\u201d But Bell is different now than it used to be, she said, acknowledging the school has had a negative reputation. Bell now offers language pathways, a wellness center, visual and performing arts and is a certified community school, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope that they see that the options that we\u2019re giving them are actually good ones for their children, that that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do, not trying to remove something from the community, but actually trying to add value,\u201d Bagula said. \u201cLet\u2019s give Bell a try, because it has transformed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>What We\u2019re Writing<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At a board meeting last month, Escondido Union High School District Trustee Carol Durney <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/2025\/09\/10\/a-republican-school-board-member-came-out-as-trans-then-came-the-calls-for-resignation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">came out as trans<\/a>. It was a culmination of a yearslong journey that has left the 64-year-old, a conservative and former president of the Escondido Republican Club, navigating both her new identity and the fraught political reality it brings. But the announcement also incited vicious pushback, which in turn brought a wave of support.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>San Diego Unified officials have pledged to build affordable housing for at least 10 percent of district staff and in March officials took the biggest step toward completing that goal yet. The board issued a request for proposals from developers to turn five sites across the district into affordable housing. It yielded <a href=\"https:\/\/voiceofsandiego.org\/2025\/09\/04\/developers-are-lining-up-to-build-housing-on-san-diego-unified-property\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">more than a dozen submissions<\/a>, but details on what\u2019s in them are still scarce.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego Unified officials are considering walking back their plans to shut down middle school grades at one&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":235196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,126287,1582,276,68395,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-235195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bethune-k-8","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-middle-school","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115222708485838238","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}