Jan 22, 2004

San Jose Unified announces school closures
District to close Hester, Hammer and Erickson

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) plans to close Hester, Hammer and Erickson elementary schools at the end of this school year. The announcement on Jan. 21 follows several months of rumors and speculation about which schools would be closed. A task force of 21 people, including teachers, parents and administrators, looked at demographics, declining enrollments, transportation and other issues as determinants.

The closure announcement follows a hectic week with heightened rumors about a long list from the task force containing 11 of the district’s 31 elementary schools. That list was not made public. But worries, especially in Almaden and Willow Glen, prompted many parents to write letters to district and board officials requesting neighborhood schools not be closed.

However, some in the district are concerned about the closure of Hammer, which is a magnet school offering Montessori education. Some parents are upset and worried that Hammer’s closing signifies the end of the Montessori program. However, it’s likely the district will continue the program at another school. At press time, there was no news about the pending changes.

First consolidation meeting set
The district will hold public meetings about the closure. The first is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. at the district office on Lenzen Avenue.

The school closures are important, according to the district, to cut administrative overhead. School board officials stressed that the closure would not take anything away from the education program. The consolidations are designed to preserve the district’s instructional program; they are not expected to result in a loss of teachers. There will be a reduction in force based on seniority, according to one school official, but teacher and administrative attrition will be taken into consideration.

The district expects fewer administrative positions next year, both at the school and district levels. This depends on a number of factors, according to school board staff, but since no students will be lost, teachers are needed.

SJUSD hopes to rent the properties out, none will be sold, according to school officials including Gerald Matranga, associate superintendent. He projects the savings from closing the schools to be about $450,000 per school.

Not selling schools
“There’s nothing to make us sell from a [district] staff perspective. A committee will make recommendations to the board. Even looking 10 to 15 years out, given the availability of land in this area, it would be very difficult to acquire new land later on. You don’t want to be in the position of not having the space you need.”

So far, the district has made no plans to rent the schools because they were not sure which ones would be closed. It currently is leasing three schools: Henderson, old Hacienda and 250 Stockton, Matranga said. It receives about $1.2 million per year from those three leases.

That money is used to “retire long-term debt for school construction and modernization,” said Matranga. “The rent and development fees enable us to meet our long-term debt obligations. We don’t use any money from our general funds to retire long-term debt. That’s why we have such a high AA credit rating.”

It is difficult to say without any analysis or competitive bids or proposals what kind of income the district will receive from any alternate usage, he added, although he suggested that leases could generate several hundreds of thousands of dollars per school site.

“Schools don’t follow normal trend lines. They are embedded in the residential community. I can’t predict what we will do, but we have to look at a number of things. For example, there are child care providers currently paying rent to use these [school] sites,” and they have to be taken into consideration, Matranga said.

Many factors in leasing consideration
It doesn’t appear that the district is in a big hurry to lease the three schools as yet. Until the schools are leased, Matranga said that the district must keep up the grounds and maintain the buildings. The projected savings of $450,000 does not include any maintenance money, he said.

“Typically as a district we look at ways to maintain typical uses. These are taken into consideration before it is leased for an alternate use. We make sure the use is compatible with the neighborhood.

However, he emphasized that the district would ensure the rentals allowed for continued community uses of the grounds. This would include such activities as farmers’ markets, community activities and various sports activities.