CLEARLAKE — Konocti Unified School District is currently weighing options for possible school closures and grade realignment. The discussion began with a public hearing at Oak Hill Middle School on Tuesday and will continue into next week with hearings at the district”s four elementary schools.
The issue on the table Tuesday was the closing of Oak Hill and realigning grades at Pomo, Burns Valley and Lower Lake elementary schools to accommodate K-8. (East Lake Elementary already serves students K-8.) Concerns expressed, primarily by educators and classified staff of the school, were for decreases in educational, athletic and extracurricular opportunities as well as possible safety issues that may arise as a result of combining younger students with older ones.
“I was very, very proud of the staff,” KUSD Superintendent Bill MacDougall said. “What a professional staff. They were really looking at the needs of the kids.”
Tuesday”s discussion was dominated by paid staff. Only two parents who were not otherwise affiliated with the school spoke up against closing the school. A group of Oak Hill students and a high school student also spoke against the option.
“It is because of the teachers and the staff here, my children are succeeding,” parent Terry Dillingham said, adding that Oak Hill programs create accountability and responsibility.
Lower Lake High School Athletic Director Marty Udy spoke at length to the disadvantages student athletes would suffer as a result of losing competition experiences at the junior high level. He said Oak Hill has a proven athletic program with the proper facilities and equipment and transferring and dividing those programs among four schools would not be feasible. He said in his opinion, athletic programs would be nonexistent if Oak Hill closes.
According to Udy, junior high athletics prepares students for high school competition. Aside from the skills they acquire, it teaches them responsibility in meeting eligibility requirements, provides travel experience and opportunities to meet students from other districts. “These are experiences that you can”t take away from them. For some kids it”s the only team they will ever make,” he said.
Udy also said that he doesn”t think that teachers will be able to meet physical education standards on the elementary campuses as they are not properly equipped with facilities.
Drama Instructor Tracy Lahr, who serves students at the middle school as well as the high school, said that if the students are spread out among the campuses she wouldn”t be able to serve them all. She said love for the theater must be captured when the students are young and that it is the extracurricular and athletic activities that keep students interested in school. She also said she thinks it would be more difficult to protect the younger kids from the adolescent problems that often surface among the seventh and eighth grade age groups. “We can”t protect our kids at bus stops and if we have little kids with the eighth graders, there will be things that they will hear and see that we won”t be able to stop,” she said.
Classified employee Victoria Engle said she thinks that K-8 grade alignment would create a more stressed staff at the sites. She said that older children bring an element that is not good for younger ones, such as drugs, sex and violence.
Educator Liza Kursa said there is a special staff at Oak Hill that is designed to challenge the middle school students and that it takes a special kind of teacher to work with this age group. “I feel many of our vital programs will not survive a split in schools. Sex education would seem inappropriate at elementary schools. They would want to talk about this stuff. They need a school where they can start maturing and get ready for high school,” she said.
Library Technician Candice Goodman said that the Oak Hill library has benefited from two improvement grants and that the book ratio now averages 11 books per student. She said closing the school would decrease students” access to grade-level books.
Secretary Lisa Sherrell also voiced support for the staff as well as athletic programs. “If it wasn”t for the sports program my daughter wouldn”t have received a scholarship,” she said, adding, “It takes a special kind of staff to work with students at this age level.”
Educator Darlene Bowen-Haugans described the student/teacher relationship as positive at the school and delivered a message written by a student. “The reason they shouldn”t close this school is because I care about the teachers and I care about their jobs. This is the only school I”ve ever wanted to be in,” the student wrote.
A group of six students united at the podium to voice their feelings. They said that changing teachers and having a class schedule helps prepare them for high school.
There has been a stir among the community regarding Yuba College Clear Lake Campus”s alleged interest in the Oak Hill property. “Yuba College has expressed an interest in leasing the property where the transportation yard is. They want something that is frontal,” MacDougall said. “They have talked about the field too, but we really need to look at the needs of the school and kids come first.”
School closures and grade realignment will be discussed at East Lake Elementary School next. The option is to operate four K-8 schools with East Lake closing. According to the consolidation committee”s report, the general feeling is that there would be strong community opposition from Clearlake Oaks parents and residents who identify East Lake as a community resource. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, in the cafeteria.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com or call her directly at 994-6444, ext. 11.
