Both Letitia Carson Elementary and Cheldelin Middle School will be closed after the current school year. Mtn. View Elementary will be transitioned to a K-8 model.
On Thursday, November 13, after about three hours of community comments and another three hours of deliberations, the Corvallis School Board voted 6 to 1 to approve Superintendent Ryan Noss’ revised school consolidation recommendations.
However, it took two tries. Initially the Board tied, with member Shauna Tominey abstaining.
Some of the members favoring the proposal asked plainly what it would take to sway the no votes. So, member Bernie Wang, who had voted against, successfully lobbied for language that the Board would later investigate the prospects of updating elementary school boundaries districtwide.
Responding to the prospect of boundary changes, Tominey argued for language that the district would seek to minimize future transitions for students impacted by the upcoming school closures. She also sought and received language that the District would investigate if a school of choice, like Franklin, should be part of the district’s offerings.
The ultimate yes votes: Board Chair Luhui Whitebear, and members Sami Al-Abdrabbuh, Chris Hawkins, Terese Jones, Shauna Tominey and Bernie Wang. The lone no vote came from Judah Largent.
During the first round, the no votes were: Largent, Jones and Wang.
School Closures
So, here’s what’s been approved. Next school year, 44% of the students now attending Letitia Carson will move to Bessie Coleman. This means Bessie Coleman’s projected enrollment would reach about 500 students, spanning kindergarten through sixth grade.
32% of students currently attending Letitia Carson will move to Mountain View. That would put Mountain View’s projected enrollment at 420 students, spanning kindergarten through eighth grade, in 2026-27, according to the recommendations.
21% of students attending Letitia Carson will move to Kathryn Jones Harrison as the new “sister school” for Garfield. This means Kathryn Jones Harrison’s projected enrollment would be about 330 students, spanning kindergarten through sixth grade.
Also, for next year, Cheldelin Middle School will close. Crescent Valley High School will be considered for closure during the 28/29 school year, or when enrollments dip below 2025 students. Comments from Noss in Monday’s Board meeting indicated there may be other alternatives for Crescent Valley, but his comments at Thursday’s meeting leaned the other direction.
New school boundaries
Students currently enrolled at Letitia Carson Elementary will be distributed as follows:
Those living in the Mountain View boundary who are attending Letitia Carson on a transfer, and those students living east of Highway 99W, will attend Mountain View K-8.
Students living in the Garfield boundary who are attending Letitia Carson on a transfer, or because they are unable to participate in the dual language immersion program, will attend Kathryn Jones Harrison.
Students living west of Highway 99W will attend Bessie Coleman.
Kathryn Jones Harrison will become Garfield’s “sister school.” This means that students who move into the Garfield boundary after 2nd grade and are unable to participate in the dual language immersion program will be placed at Kathryn Jones Harrison.
Our analysis
If you are a parent, you should most especially keep an eye on the transition to a K-8 model at Mtn. View. There is credible doubt over the District’s ability to supply a full range of junior high programming there.
It would be fair for parents to insist that their kids have the same opportunities as others in the district. Practically speaking, if the program doesn’t appear to measure up, parents should request a transfer.
Carson parents are however facing a different set of problems. Educationally, the K-6 programs Carson students will be transferred into are generally well respected, though we continue to believe the District shouldn’t be closing Carson at all.
In our view, the Board’s treatment of northeast Corvallis students is inequitably and unfair. All three schools looked at for closure are in the northeast corner of town.
Closing Carson means every other corner of Corvallis retains walkable or bikeable elementary schools, except for the northeast corner that has been served by Carson.
In fact, former Carson students won’t have any elementary anywhere near their homes, and many of them may be in for a longish bus ride next year. Meanwhile, the Board never considered closing any of the three neighborhood schools a stone’s throw from one another that are serving Corvallis’ more affluent families.
Carson is after all, a Title 1 School serving lower-income and middle-income families.
Many on the Board rationalized closing Carson as best for the District, given the projected budget shortfall for next year. But that’s a strange assertion. When we asked the District if closing Carson would save more than closing any other campus, District spokesperson Kelly Locey essentially said no, and told us that whichever elementary closed, the savings would be $1 million yearly.
But consistently at Thursday’s Board meeting, when Carson parents questioned the Board’s actions, either Whitebear or Al-Abdrabbuh would question their priorities, asking them what’s more important, keeping teachers or buildings. But as much as the question was being used as a cudgel, it was also a false choice. The other choice would have been for the District to offer a fairer and more equitable proposed campus for closure.
But that would have meant closing a school serving a more affluent and homogenic demographic. Translation, a group more likely to unite politically.
The northeast corner of town needs to start thinking about this. Three of its four schools are targeted for closure, two now confirmed for closure, and in our analysis, not for entirely materially salient reasons. No other parts of town were targeted. And then there was the landfill vote earlier this month. And while that may seem like a different story, it calls the same question, will northeast Corvallis start to organize politically. It’s what other areas of Corvallis do.
By Hallie Greenberg
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