The declining number of enrollments has financial consequences for almost all schools. But in east San Jose, the Alum Rock Union School District is facing the possibility that nearly half of its campuses will be closed or consolidated.
Lyndale Elementary is among the schools recommended for closure. If the district board approves the plan, students enrolled there would be moved to Russo McEntee Academy, 1.5 miles away, or about a 30-minute walk for working-class parents and students, many of whom don’t have cars.
“We always walk to school and drop kids,” said Lyndale parent Maria Ruiz. ‘It’s every school in our area now. So if they close, we will choose another school from the district.’
That may be the problem with Lyndale. The nearest campus is a charter school that is not part of the Alum Rock Union School District. That would hurt because the district is already struggling to fill its classrooms.
“Some high schools are actually built with a capacity – they call it an operational capacity – of around 1,000 students,” says Superintendent Germán Cerda. “And some of them are now under 400.”
Cerda has only been chief inspector for two months, after the last one was fired in March. He said there are simply fewer students than there used to be in the area, about half, and that is causing major funding problems. Alum Rock receives about $15,000 from the state for each child. But they are steadily losing about 350 students a year.
“We have a $20 million budget deficit,” Cerda said. “We have about $50 million in the bank now, or $20 million less this year. Next year we’ll be $20 million less. And the third year we’ll have nothing.”
If they don’t have a plan to reduce the deficit by December 16, the province will take control of the district. So the plan is to close seven campuses and consolidate two more of the district’s 22 schools.
“Closing a school saves you about $1 million,” Cerda explains. ‘And so that’s what we’re looking at. But also staff reductions at the district office, reductions at school location level, because you have fewer students. We’re just spread far too thin. Twenty-two schools, with schools There are too few enrollments in primary schools with fewer than 300 students, in secondary schools with fewer than 400 students. And so you can’t proceed that way.’
But the uncomfortable question at district headquarters is: If schools are down to half capacity, why has it taken so long for action to be taken? Would it have helped if difficult decisions had been made earlier?
“You could have made cuts, yes, you could have even closed the schools 10 or five years ago,” Cerda said.
Did he think they should have done that?
“Possibly, possibly,” he said. “I think now, in the future, I’ve applied for this position. I’m here. I’m focused on what we can do now.”
All they can do is close schools, and chances are that won’t make the new superintendent very popular with people like Lyndale parent Adrian Romero.
“We understand what they are trying to do, but we don’t agree with it,” Romero said. ‘Every school is fighting. Here in Lyndale we are active and fighting this closure.”
The list of schools to be closed will be officially presented to the board during the meeting on Thursday, November 14. They will make their final decision on December 2, which will take effect in the 2025-2026 school year. finally stop getting kicked off the road.
John Ramos
