The Kyrene School District has altered its plan for proposed school closures after getting feedback from parents. It removes Kyrene del Norte and Kyrene de la Mirada from the list.
Last month, the district proposed closing nine schools, citing major enrollment declines and a projected $7 million funding loss. That prompted community members to attend board meetings and ask them to reconsider.
Erin Wilkinson is PTO president at Kyrene de la Mirada, which was at risk of being split up into three other schools.
“This new plan is much more equitable for the kids," Wilkinson said. "It’s less division. There’s another school — Mariposa — that’s also slated to close at the moment. All of those kids would be going to one school all together, so they’d still have all their friends on the playground, which is so important for the kids.”
The new plan also means the district will keep an additional dual language school.
“They’re gonna have two different schools that offer dual language," Wilkinson said. "One will be kind of an open enrollment — I believe — full dual language academy at Norte and then a second school will have kind of a dual language program built within the school.”
The district had previously wanted to consolidate its dual language programs into one. That prompted concerns about transportation arrangements and the schools’ different start times.
The recommendation is not final until the governing board votes, which will happen in December at the earliest.
