WESTMINSTER : Board Votes to Close 2 Schools Next Fall

During an emotional, sometimes even tearful, public hearing Thursday, the Westminster School District board voted to close two elementary schools when Neomia B. Willmore Elementary School reopens next fall.

The board voted unanimously to close Virginia K. Boos Elementary and voted 3 to 2 to close James W. Franklin Elementary. Trustees Ron Morgan, Sheryl Neugebauer and Nancy Blumenthal approved the second closure. Trustees Margie Rice and Kathy Stirling Iverson opposed it.

With the decisions, the board effectively endorsed Supt. Gail Wickstrom’s proposal to optimize enrollment and spending in the southwest portion of the district once Willmore reopens in September. Wickstrom has said that the district would save about $250,000 a year with that plan.

“I think you’ll notice tonight that all our voices are shaking because this is not an easy decision to make,” Blumenthal told the audience after making the motion to close Franklin.

“We were elected to do what is best for all students” within the district, not only the ones who would be forced to attend a new school, Neugebauer said. “For that reason, I’m going to support the superintendent’s recommendation.”

The board approved the school closures as well as several school boundary changes. About 900 students will attend new schools this fall under the new plan, which is designed to make the most efficient use of school space.

Ideally, elementary schools should accommodate between 500 and 650 students. Most schools districtwide will maintain student populations within that range for several years, Wickstrom said.

Wiping away tears, Iverson described the anguish the board suffered while considering the school closures. She said she identified with parents, noting that her children’s neighborhood school was closed last year.

She added that “this is a money issue. If we spend money to keep sites open, we do not have money to spend elsewhere” on books and classroom materials.

Many parents denounced the decision to close the campuses. They said it would force their children to travel farther and deprive their neighborhood of a neighborhood school.

Under the new boundary changes, most students who now attend Boos will go to Frank N. Eastwood Elementary, although those who live northeast of the San Diego Freeway will be bused to Ada E. Clegg Elementary School. Franklin students living west of Springdale will be bused to C. Fred Schroeder Elementary School and those living east of that street will go to Clegg, district spokeswoman Audrey Brown said.

When Willmore opens, about 550 students who live nearby will be able to walk to that campus and will no longer be bused out of the neighborhood to other schools.