SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Parents from a school in Nestor came out in strong numbers to oppose the district’s possible plans to restructure and consolidate several schools. The district says final plans are still months, if not years away.
The parents at Nestor Language Academy Charter School say they were blindsided during a special board meeting last month.
"It wasn’t on the plan, they want to divide us, and for us, it was very shocking because it was never spoken," says Mayra Gutierrez, a mom of two children at the school.
The South Bay Union School district has been looking for ways to address what they say is a roughly 50% decline in enrollment in the last decade. The plans include possibly closing or dividing some schools. Three initial plans were initially presented through a special committee, but after several town hall meetings, a 4th option came up in late May.
"I think nerve-racking how three options were presented and then out of the blue there was a fourth option," says Fernanda Rios, another mom with two kids at the school.
The latest proposal would close Central and Sunnyslope elementary schools, and students from those schools would go to other schools in the district. Nestor would be split, TK through third-grade students would go to Berry Elementary, and 4th to 8th graders would stay at the Nestor campus.
However, parents said the initial plans didn’t split Nestor; instead, they moved them as a whole to another campus.
On Monday and Tuesday, the parents rallied outside the district board meetings and planned on speaking during public comment. The special meetings, however, were for other topics, so after some pushback Tuesday, the superintendent agreed to stay and talk with parents, taking questions for hours.
The superintendent says no plans are final and encouraged parents to stay engaged in the process to provide feedback. After the meeting, he told ABC 10News there’s no timetable for when the decision will be made or when the restructuring could happen.
