Ocean View School District pumps brakes on school closures
The Ocean View School District has paused immediate talks about closing Circle View, Village View and Golden View elementary schools and repurposing Spring View Middle School.
District Supt. Michael Conroy introduced the idea, sparked by continued declining enrollment numbers, at the district Board of Trustees meeting on Feb. 14. The district then set up community meetings at each of the four affected sites where parents could speak.
Conroy, Board of Trustees President Patricia Singer and Trustee Jack Souders listened to dozens of parents speak Tuesday night at Circle View Elementary and Wednesday at Village View Elementary.
Singer and Souders comprise a board subcommittee related to consolidation, and a final decision on closures was set to be made by the whole five-member board at the March 14 board meeting. However, at the end of Wednesday night’s meeting at Village View, Singer announced to the parents that she would not put the closing or consolidating of schools for the 2023-24 school year on an agenda.
“We know the community engagement, the fact that parents showed up and gave us their feedback shows that they care about their kids,” Singer said. “We care about their kids [too]. When it comes down to it, we’re here for kids. I was very happy to see so much participation in this process.
“To me, this is a pause, because we do know that we need to continue these conversations. These are imperative, but I do think it’s important to engage our community, listen to them and look at different options and what that would mean for our students, for our staff, all the way across. We had parents telling us, ‘We want to share more input with you,’ and I think it’s valuable to hear that.”
With the pause, meetings that were scheduled for Spring View on Thursday and Golden View on Monday have been postponed until a later date, district spokeswoman Trish Montgomery confirmed.
Singer noted the numbers presented by Conroy that showed the district lost 2,600 students over the past decade to its current enrollment of 6,809. It is the largest enrollment decline in the district in 40 years, Conroy said. It is expected to continue with birth rates dropping within district boundaries, and the median age in the community at 55 years old.
“The numbers are the numbers, but can we change the way we approach it?” Singer said. “Can we look at different options? Absolutely. I think everything should be on the table.”
An email from Singer sent to Ocean View parents on Thursday afternoon said she has asked Conroy to work with staff, parents and community members to develop a range of future options for the board to consider, relating to the district’s ongoing declining enrollment.
The district serves primarily Huntington Beach, but also has campuses in Fountain Valley, Westminster and Midway City. All of the four affected campuses are in Huntington Beach.
The district has previously closed just one school during the decade-long enrollment drop, Sun View Elementary, which now serves as an alternate site.
Parents from each of the schools have banded together, creating a Facebook group called Huntington Beach Save Our Schools. Many of them wore neon T-shirts with that branding on Wednesday night.
“We are special, as all of our Ocean View schools are,” Village View Parent Teacher Organization President Brandy Moore said after Wednesday night’s meeting. “We have such a high special [education] number here, and I really feel like that helped them see that these are humans that you’re doing this to. It was just paperwork, just another number, until they see that they’re affecting real people.
“We’re safe for one year. That doesn’t mean the fight is over. We’re all in it together. I support Circle, Spring, Golden [View schools]. I think they didn’t realize, this board, how strong of a community they have here.”
Parents at the Village View meeting expressed frustration both that they weren’t involved earlier on in the process, and that it was moving so quickly. Some said the district needs to market itself more effectively, as it is continuously losing students to other options like Huntington Christian School and Kinetic Academy charter school.
A couple of parents suggested the district could move sixth-graders to the elementary schools. And Village View students like Abby Jimenez and Santiago Medina even offered their input.
“What other options did you guys consider before deciding to consolidate our school?” Santiago asked. “We are a tight community. I walk to and from school without worrying about something happening to me, because everyone knows everyone. We take care of one another.”
Crystal Mayer is a parent at Circle View, which has the highest enrollment in the district and was named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2019. Each of the elementary schools possibly affected has its own highlights; Village View has an ambitious marine science program while Golden View offers its students a working farm with animals.
Mayer spoke at Tuesday night’s Circle View meeting and felt compelled to speak again at Village View.
“I take it as a win,” Mayer said after Wednesday night’s announcement. “It bought us a year, and the fight continues. I think this is what they should have done from the beginning, and they didn’t, and they caused a lot of upheaval for a week.”
She said she is afraid that school closure and consolidation will continue being brought up, and admitted she’s not confident that they can be avoided. Still, Mayer added that California is expanding its universal Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program, which could help increase enrollment.
“There’s a lot more that needs to be discussed,” she said. “Maybe closing four schools didn’t need to be the answer ... but I think it’s amazing that something that seemed like a done deal for fall is not a done deal. Our kids know where they will be going to school in the fall, which is a comforting place for any parent to be.”
Melissa Overton has had three children already go through Golden View, and her last two are currently in second grade and fourth grade at the school.
She said Thursday that she would like to see the district go back to 20:1 class size ratios, which she sees as one way it can compete with local private schools.
“People are not moving, they are pulling their students,” Overton said. “OVSD has a huge PR problem that they not dealt with effectively in a long time ... the board and leadership of OVSD need to realize that declining enrollment is an issue that must be addressed. Not through school closures, but through innovation and effective community outreach.”
The next regularly scheduled Ocean View School Board meeting is on Tuesday.
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