Schools

Parents present petition to Ontario board opposing closure of rural schools

Parents opposing a plan to shutter two rural Ontario elementary schools and move students to three other schools presented a petition signed by more than 600 people to the Ontario School Board Monday, May 20.

Shelby Naughton, an Ontario resident, presented the petition, telling the board that parents didn’t feel consulted about the reform.

Naughton told board members that others wanted to sign the petition but didn’t do so fearing retaliation from district administrators.

Those on the board, including Chair Bret Uptmor, Matt Stringer, Blanca Rodriguez and Mike Blackaby sat silent during the presentation and moved on to other business without discussing the parents’ concerns. 

Under the plan pushed by Superintendent Nikki Albisu, students in the same grade will be in the same building instead of spread across five schools. The change is referred to as “grade-based schools” or “elementary reconfiguration.” 

The plan moves over 200 students while closing Pioneer and Cairo Elementary Schools.

“We were told during that meeting in November 2023, making it very clear that this was not open for discussion or feedback.”

–Ontario parent Shelby Naughton

In presenting the petition during the public comments period of Monday’s meeting, Naughton told the board that the district did not give parents an opportunity to weigh in on the plan before board members approved it in February. 

The board voted 4-1 then to advance the plan.

Naughton, a parent with a student at Pioneer, said the district’s administrators had decided on school closures and shifts even before holding what was billed as a community meeting in November to consider the plan.

The district posted the plan to its website sometime in the fall, before the November meeting. Buried in the text, the district wrote that it planned to close Pioneer and Cairo schools at the end of the school year. 

“We were told during that meeting in November 2023, making it very clear that this was not open for discussion or feedback,” Naughton said. 

Naughton said the plan to close the schools is part of the district’s agenda that was pushed through “solely based on beliefs of knowing what is best for our children.” 

Naughton said the district didn’t present research showing the benefits of moving to a grade-based platform for students – “no questions asked, no proof, no research.” 

Naughton asked the board to reconsider the grade-based school plan with feedback from the community. 

She said members should help build “community school partnership, credibility and honesty,” which she said the district needs. 

Two other parents spoke in support of the petition. Rose Becerril, a longtime parent volunteer in the district, told the board that there has always been a problem with transparency within the Ontario School District, especially around issues that pertain to the Hispanic community. 

Becerril asked the board if it considered how closing two schools and putting students from each grade into the same building would impact children with disabilities, special needs or other challenges. If so, Becerril said she wanted to see a record of the discussion.

Becerril also asked if the district appropriated funds for the grade-based school transition prior to the board’s February vote to advance the plan. 

“I always thought,” Becerril said, “first you vote, then, whatever the outcome, you move forward.” 

Becerril said other more pressing issues need to be addressed in the community, chief among them being mental health among students. She said, there is no support for those students who struggle with mental illness. 

Another parent, who spoke after Becerril, Rosie Becerril, Rose Becerril’s daughter, told board members she was upset with the board’s February decision. She said her daughter goes to Alameda Elementary School. The teachers and staff have been “wonderful,” but she is “deeply saddened” her son, who will be in kindergarten next year, will not get to have the same experience. 

When school resumes this fall, kindergarten and grade 1 students will be at May Roberts next year, grades 2 and 3 at Aiken and 4 and 5 at Alameda. 

“Moving schools every two years itself can interrupt a child’s development. Rosie said. That can lead to anxiety, frustration and loneliness and impact a student’s ability to focus on their studies, she said.

She said she could not imagine the district’s plan would be any better for children with disabilities and special needs. 

Rosie also said the Ontario School District lacks transparency. The secrecy, she said, is why so many parents are upset about the plan. 

“Don’t we deserve to know and have a say?” she asked.

No one on the board answered. 

 Rosie also responded to Stringer, who earlier this year dismissed parents who peacefully protested the board’s February decision last month as not the most “kind or gracious community in the world.” 

“We are a kind and gracious community,” she said. “We have just been overlooked and swept under the rug. Through our collective voice, we aim to demonstrate to the school board the strength of our community and the importance of our inclusion in significant decisions like these.” 

Andrea Buchholz, Alameda principal, told the parents “hats off” for voicing their concerns. 

“They’re going about it the right way,” she said at the meeting.

Buchholz said the parents deserved to be heard and that they were standing up for what they believed in. 

Buchholz said administrators at Alameda have been working on schedules and plans to address student mental health. 

“We will make sure our programs are for your students,” Buchholz said.

Toby Huddleston, principal of Aiken Elementary School, also thanked the parents for speaking out. Huddleston cited research from an education researcher who talked about the importance of having teachers of the same grade in one building. 

Huddleston said the district is working hard on the programs for next year and that she is excited for what the district has in store at Pioneer and Cairo Elementary Schools. So far, the district has not announced its plans for the buildings. 

One parent who spoke out during the Monday, May 20, Ontario School Board meeting told the board that the community is “kind and gracious.” Matt Stringer, a school board member, dismissed parents who protested the closure of two rural schools and said the community in Ontario is not “kind or gracious.” (The Enterprise/FILE) 
Blanca Rodriguez, an Ontario School Board member, sat silent during the presentation and moved on to other business without discussing parent concerns about a plan she and other members voted for that closed two rural schools. (The Enterprise/FILE) 
Bret Uptmor, Ontario School Board chair, sat silent during the presentation and moved on to other business without discussing parent concerns about a plan he and other members voted for that closed two rural schools. (The Enterprise/FILE) 
Mike Blackaby, Ontario School Board member, sat silent during the presentation and moved on to other business without discussing parent concerns about a plan he and other members voted for that closed two rural schools. (The Enterprise/FILE) 

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