Last spring, the district shared information about its need to investigate the possibility of closing or consolidating some of its schools due to declining enrollment, budget constraints, and the district’s requirement to submit an initial plan to the state under the binding conditions requirements. At that time, three schools (Cascade Elementary, Liberty Elementary, and Totem Middle schools) were considered due to their age and condition, but no formal decisions were made. Closing schools requires a scheduled process outlined in state statute RCW 28A.335.020 and school district policy 6883; Closure of Facilities.
Since mid-October, the Marysville School District has held a series of eight meetings with parents, school and district staff and administrators, and community members to learn about the factors influencing school closures, ask questions, and give critical feedback. During the interactive meetings, participants looked at school building capacity, conditions, and impact on families, including access to services for children with special needs and bussing. During the feedback sessions, participants were asked to review the following themes and use the guiding questions as they considered and offered their suggestions, ideas, and feedback:
Themes:
Building Capacity
Building Conditions
Impact to Families
Guiding Questions:
How can we minimize disruption to students’ education?
What are the short and long-term impacts of these decisions?
How would we support our Marysville/Tulalip families during the transition?
The feedback from each meeting has helped shape the next steps in the school closure process.
During the community and staff presentations, Dr. David Burgess, interim superintendent, explained why the district needs to take these steps. He explained that declining enrollment over the last 14 years from 11,500 students to 9,000 students and changes in the state funding model all contribute to the need to close and/or consolidate schools. The target is to save $2 million each year. The Financial Oversight Committee has recommended the closure of schools or “right-sizing” the district as an effective strategy to save money.
Now that the planning team has had an opportunity to analyze the feedback from the community meetings, the School Closure Planning Committee will begin its work. The committee is composed of parents, staff, and community representatives. The committee will study options built from the feedback from the community meetings and build upon them. Through this process, the goal is to create a vision for the district for now and the future, keeping students and their academic success at the forefront while being fiscally responsible.
The district would like to thank all parents, staff, and community members for attending one or more meetings and their valuable contributions to this process.
After analysis of the feedback received from the public meetings held with parents, staff, and community members, three options emerged from the data:
Option A:
Reconfiguration (elementary schools to K - 6 grades)
Close Marysville Middle School entity (building would be repurposed)
Close Liberty Elementary School and relocate Liberty students to a portion of the Marysville Middle School building
Relocate Legacy High School to the Marysville Getchell High School campus
Relocate 10th Street Middle School to the Legacy High School building
Option B:
Close Cascade and Liberty Elementary Schools
Relocate Legacy High School to the Marysville Getchell High School campus
Relocate 10th Street Middle School to the Legacy High School building
Option C:
Close Cascade and Liberty Elementary Schools
Close Totem Middle School (building would be repurposed)
Relocate Legacy High School to the Marysville Getchell High School campus
Relocate 10th Street Middle School to the Legacy High School building
It is important to note that each of these options has pros and cons. At this time, these are only options. Each option reaches the $2M savings target. The options will be presented to the School Closure Committee, which will make a recommendation to the Board of Directors, who will make the final decision.
The School Closure Planning Committee will hold its first meeting this evening, November 14. Following a strict timeline, the committee hopes to present a recommendation to the school board by mid-to-late December. After the school board considers the recommendation, the district will hold public meetings and provide updates and information.
Additional information about the school closure process is on the Marysville School District website at https://www.msd25.org/page/school-closure-information.