Curriculum shift, closure among options for Carpenter Elementary enrollment woes

As it faces declining enrollment, Downey Unified School District has began discussing significant changes to Carpenter Elementary School in an attempt to avoid a school closure.

At October’s State of the Schools address, Superintendent John Garcia noted that schools region and state-wide are all facing enrollment shifts as families continue to have less children and move farther inland.

Discussions on how to combat declining enrollment in Downey have been taking place since the summer, with the district even upping marketing efforts to draw new students to the district.

Specifically, Carpenter Elementary School currently has the lowest enrollment numbers in the District with a little over 400 students.

According to DUSD Public Relations Coordinator Ashley Greaney, the District is trying to avoid having to close down a school but admitted there are “lots of things on the table.”

She says that the District has been talking to staff since the beginning of the year, and wants to talk to the community and get feedback before moving forward on any position.

Greaney did, however, confirm that one potential option was to transition Carpenter to a dual immersion / international baccalaureate school.

Should that change take place, it would start with the T-K and Kindergarten classes next year and grow with those students. Those currently enrolled would finish their normal curriculum.

Curriculum would then be 90 percent Spanish and 10 percent English, said Greaney. While some training would need to take place for teachers and staff, Greaney explained that most teachers already possess Bilingual, Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development (BCLAD) credentials.

Carpenter Elementary currently schools only 4th and 5th grades and is fed into by Alameda, Imperial, and Ward Elementary Schools, which teach up to grade three.

Greaney added that the discussions at the three elementary schools that would be impacted by a change at Carpenter would take place later this week.

The information got somewhat lost in translation when a Facebook post suggesting the closure of one or more Downey schools was posted on the community-run Positively Downey page Monday morning.

The post, made by Downey resident and group member Kathleen Gargas, said,

“School board meeting is tomorrow night. Parents did you know that they’re closing Sussman Middle School??”

In a later comment, Gargas said that she first heard of the possible closing from a school employee.

Gargas, a retired Special Education assistant who still occasionally substitutes, declined to be interviewed.

Another group member, Katie Callahan Wright, also made a post surrounding the controversy, however in an attempt to correct Gargas’s information.

Wright’s post read,

“Sussman Middle School is not closing. The plan currently is for Carpenter possibly to become a dual immersion Spanish magnet school beginning with T-K and Kinder students. This year’s 4th graders will be able to continue there next year in their regular program. Enrollment at the elementary schools south of Imperial Hwy is down significantly. The District is exploring ways to recruit more students.  More students = $$ = programs and teachers. If your school has a scheduled meeting this week, go to it.”

Wright says that she sits on the District Parent Advisory Committee, and that the committee was recently addressed on the subject by Garcia.

On Tuesday, the School Board will also discuss the potential addition of a high school, however this is just a discussion and there will be no vote – nor decision – on how to proceed on the enrollment issue.

Greaney said that the District hopes to come to an answer by January.