Proposed closure of Huntington Beach elementary school to be discussed Tuesday

A task force’s proposal to close Joseph R. Perry Elementary School will be discussed Tuesday evening at a meeting of the Huntington Beach City School District board of trustees.

It will be the first discussion since the district’s school closure task force voted 7-4 last week to recommend shuttering the school in an effort to resolve longstanding financial woes.

The district has been debating closing one of its seven elementary schools for more than a year. Perry was first considered in October 2018 due to declining enrollment.

The process has been laden with controversy.

Following the task force’s vote Wednesday, the four dissenting members wrote a letter to the board of trustees and district Supt. Gregory Haulk stating that Perry should not be closed, citing a lack of data provided by the school district, among other reasons. The letter was signed by Elizabeth Armstrong, Joslin de Diego, Andrew McEachin and Joshua Yates.

“The district did not present several relevant and important data until the task force had already eliminated four schools relying on incomplete information,” the letter states. “It was clear by the end of this process that distances traveled were a critical measurement to understand the impact of a school closure on students and families, and these data not being made available earlier in the process is a major error.”

A spokesman for the school district could not be reached for comment.

In June, a district committee unanimously determined that Perry should not be closed, and the board of trustees unanimously agreed.

Huntington Beach City Councilwoman Jill Hardy, who chaired the committee, said at the time that Perry, at 19231 Harding Lane, is a beloved neighborhood school.

“To close and bus the students elsewhere would not be right for those students,” Hardy said.

The letter also highlights how closing the school could negatively affect some of the city’s most vulnerable students. Perry has the highest percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged students in the district at 50.7%, according to its state-required 2017-18 School Accountability Report Card.

“It is imperative you consider which communities would bear the brunt of the closure,” the letter tells the trustees. “Last year, the 7-11 committee voted 8-0 not to close Perry Elementary School, and you unanimously agreed. They said the question of whether to close Perry is a social justice issue, and we strongly agree. Closing Perry will disproportionately harm your most vulnerable students, which is especially troubling in wake of the economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Tuesday’s board meeting is a study session and no action will be taken. It will begin at 5 p.m. on the Zoom video conferencing platform. The meeting ID is 881478104 and the password is 256368. Public comments can be submitted by 4 p.m. at forms.gle/gZq18B1GUMP1Ch7W7.

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