SPUSD board agrees to K-8
schools at two locations

The governing board of the Santa Paula Unified School District has given the nod to creating K-8 schools at Glen City School and the new school to be built as a part of the East Area 1 development.

The decision was reached after a long discussion at the board workshop held Monday at the district offices. This was one of several items on the workshop agenda. Board member Christina Urias was the first to give an opinion on the K-8 subject. She said that she agreed with the concept of K-8 to keep Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funds in the district and to alleviate problems at Isbell Middle School. “I’m in favor of it,” she said. Currently the SPUSD has six elementary schools, one middle school, plus Santa Paula and Renaissance High Schools. 

Isbell has 31 permanent classrooms with a capacity of 837 students. The current enrollment is 1,116 students. With the current portable classrooms the school can handle 1,156 students. The consultant’s report states that Isbell is near capacity and will not be able to absorb any district growth over time without major improvements to both classrooms and support facilities.

Research cited in the report claims that students at K-8 have higher levels of academic achievement, both in mathematics and reading. It also states that students attending K-8 schools have higher rates of attendance and have better performance in terms of emotional and social outcomes such as self-esteem, leadership and attitudes towards school.

There was a lot of back and forth debate on the issue, with the K-8 option for the new school garnering early support. Adapting Glen City to a K-8 status took longer. The staff recommended both the K-8 option for East Area 1 and the reconfiguration of Glen City to a K-8 school over a three-year period, beginning next school year.

One concern was making sure that the Glen City educational program would be equal to the new school. Assistant Superintendent Robin Freeman told the board that they could make Glen City as equal as possible, but not entirely equal. As the meeting dragged on, three of the board members said they needed to make a decision, which they finally did.