PUSD to Consolidate, Relocate Multiple Schools

Jon Furman, Chair of the School Consolidation Study Committee, issued the following statement regarding the school consolidation process:

“On Saturday, October 9, the PUSD School Consolidation Committee, by a vote of 12 – 8, recommended that three elementary schools — Loma Alta, Burbank, and Jackson — be consolidated, and that the Norma Coombs Alternative School program be relocated from the Norma Coombs site to the Burbank site.  These changes would be for the 2011 – 2012 school year; there will be no changes occurring during the current school year.

“At its next meeting on Wednesday, October 13 (at 5:30 pm in the McKinley School Auditorium), the Committee will consider where the students in those three schools might be reassigned (recognizing, that with Open Enrollment, parents may apply to any school within the district regardless of home school Attendance Zones).  The Committee will further consider where the District might relocate the District Offices, currently housed in the Education Center at 351 S Hudson St., and where the Rose City High School might be relocated.

“Additionally, the Committee is charged with recommending any additional mitigating measures that might ease the impact of these consolidations on PUSD students and families.

The Committee will be submitting these recommendations to Superintendent Edwin Diaz.  The Superintendent will then submit his recommendations to the Board of Education by the end of October; the Board, after public study sessions and open hearings, will make a final decision on this set of recommendations.  That decision is tentatively scheduled for the Nov. 23 Board meeting, so that the District’s plan will be in place before the beginning of Open Enrollment for the 2011 – 2012 school year.”