Parents, Students on School Closures: Just Say No

Parents and children clutching banners streamed into the regular Tuesday night meeting of the Long Beach Board of Education, making emotional pleas that their two K-5 schools not be closed. (See the ).

No decision was made on the proposed closures of Burroughs and Buffum elementary schools, which the Long Beach Unified School District announced Friday afternoon in response to continuing state budget cuts. The district staff proposed the closures, as well as cutting the relatively small district homeschooling program and making other trims, to save an estimated $1.3 million. LBUSD has cut $170 million in the past three years as state funding of public schools has been slashed. (Meanwhile, at , its members acted to keep redevelopment money from being seized by the state and used, in part, to fund education.)

The two elementary schools targeted for closure come fall have among the smallest enrollments in the district and there are other schools where the students--and the teachers of the closed schools--could be moved. No layoffs are anticipated.

"I attended Burroughs in 1954, when it was a preschool," Joyce Molinar told the Long Beach Unified School District board members, holding the hand of her granddaughter, who was to start at the elementary school in September. Another granddaughter is in third grade there. "I just want to cry...."

Also on the list of proposed cuts was the suspension of the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade homeschooling program.

Parents of students at each school received a letter from LBUSD Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser on Friday explaining the recommendation by the district staff.

The LBUSD staff report estimated the school closures and other proposed cuts would save more than $1.35 million.

The recommendation came in reaction to the state government's continuing and massive education cuts and $28 billion budget shortfall, said LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou.

The proposed campus closures and suspension of home schooling were discussion items on the board agenda, along with other suggested cost savings.

The schools both opened in 1950. Buffum is located at 2350 Ximeno Ave. in Long Beach and has 293 students. Burroughs has 296 students and is located at 1260 E. 33rd St. in Signal Hill (north of the I-405 and Orange Avenue). The district staff's reasoning was that nearby schools exist where students could be relocated.

Steinhauser seemed sympathetic in response to the numerous speakers who shared their personal link to the school, as a student, a parent or grandparent. Steinhauser, superintendent of California's third largest school district, which has exponentially been hit larger-scale than some smaller districts, thanked speakers for their occasionally charged comments, saying he knew "it comes from the heart."

During future meetings, if the closures are approved, parents will have the opportunity to be heard about where students may be reassigned. LBUSD has an open enrollment policy, which means that should a student wish to attend a school outside their immediate ''neighborhood'' school, they may apply to another campus for any openings there.