DOWNEY - The strike may be in Los Angeles, but that didn’t mean that Downey Unified School District was free from its own turmoil this week.

The usually quiet and calm Grace E. Horney Board Room resembled more of a gladiator’s arena on Tuesday as a platoon of concerned teachers and parents packed into the School Board’s regularly scheduled meeting.

Despite the crowd, the School Board attempted to operate as usual. However, the agenda’s final two items – the potential reprogramming of Carpenter Elementary to a Dual Immersion / International Baccalaureate (IB) school and the possible change of Susman Middle School to an IB / Early College magnet secondary school for grades six through 12 – sat like a giant elephant in the room.

Almost as if she anticipated a long and hard evening, Board President Nancy Swenson addressed the crowd before the board received presentations on the controversial agenda items.

“I want to take a moment for any of the Downey Unified family members that felt disrespected with the process we have been using to roll out the information regarding the potential changes,” said Swenson. “Everything being considered has been heard during our monthly meetings, and tonight the process continues…even though more ideas and possibilities will be discussed tonight, no changes will take effect until it is approved by a vote of the Board at a later date.”

Both potential changes come at a time when DUSD is battling a statewide trend of declining enrollment. According to information presented at Tuesday’s meeting, enrollment in DUSD has dropped from around 23,000 students in the 12/13 school year to about 22,000 in the 18/19 school year.

“Enrollment is a long-term challenge; it’s not going to be something that all of a sudden goes away,” said Superintendent Dr. John Garcia.

Because of this trend, DUSD has scrambled to come up with ways to retain and attract students to the district, including the two controversial proposals.

More than the fate of Carpenter, most in attendance seemed disenfranchised with the idea of the seemingly impending closure of Sussman. Should the Board decided to move forward with the conversion of the middle school, they would have to decide whether to make the transition at a gradual or accelerated rate.

At a gradual rate, Sussman would remain open during construction between the 19/20 school year to the 21/22 school year, while simultaneously moving the current crop of students through their normal projection and phasing into the new grade format.

Under an accelerated transition, the school would close for construction during the 19/20 school year, and reopen in 20/21 with grades six and nine before growing to grade 12 throughout the next several years.

In both scenarios, the new programs would officially begin in the 20/21 school year.

Currently, there are approximately 1200 students at Sussman. In the case of an accelerated approach, the district would be forced to find a place for each of those students divided equally amongst Griffiths, Doty, and Stauffer schools. According to Assistant Superintendent Roger Brossmer – who was giving the presentation – that would bring each of those schools up to around 1700 students.

Many of those in attendance have concerns over the transition of students, staff and teachers to the three remaining middle schools during and after the transition. There are also fears that jobs may be lost in the process.

Out of the audience, four speakers came forward to address the Board.

One of those speakers, Andra Macomber, read a letter that had been submitted to the district a representative of many of the teachers and staff in attendance and district wide.

Macomber has not only taught in DUSD for 25 years, but is also a product of the district and has a child currently attending school at Doty.

The letter read by Macomber said in part,

“Our concerns are based upon the districts lack of transparency pertaining to key issues that while not violating any apparent contractual agreements, will affect our employment and morale in the immediate and sustainable future.

For several years we have been asked for input regarding how district funding should be funneled through LCFF. At the same time, we have been told the district budget needs to be cut exponentially. At this point in time, we feel that our input is no longer being considered or asked for. Decisions are hastily being made at the top without stakeholder consideration.

We believe our students deserve the best, and that is what guides our day to day decisions. The district claims this belief too, but is making decisions to the contrary.

Staff morale is at an all-time low, and we are attempting to repair and improve the strains in this relationship for the sake of our students…

Most concerningly, the district’s press release stated that it had been talking with teachers since the beginning of the school year. Teachers were not informed of the new dual immersion program until after Thanksgiving, but the public was misleadingly told otherwise.

Closing a middle school to reopen a 6 – twelve grade IB school without deepened stakeholder input is not a move we currently support as we are uncertain it has our students’ best interest in mind. For the unforeseen future, the remaining three middle schools will be over-crowded…additional students will heighten overcrowding and impact class size, and again stakeholders were not adequately involved in the decision-making process…”

As Macomber read the letter, many in the room stood in solidarity.

In a statement released on Wednesday, DUSD explained that while the Board listened to each speaker, they did not offer any immediate responses due to board policy. DUSD says instead that the comments made were noted and recorded by staff to incorporate into the stakeholder feedback for discussions at future meetings.

Visibly frustrated through most of the proceedings was Board Member Mark D. Morris, who feels as though the District is having to repeat itself.

“A lot of times they’re not listening,” said Morris. “We’ve said from the outset we will not be cutting positions; there will be no terminations. And what comes in? That’s the first thing they say, ‘You’re going to be losing positions. Our teachers will follow the students.’”

“Yeah I’m a little frustrated on that. I’m frustrated on some of the other stuff. A lot of times it’s just like a teacher in a classroom. He goes over stuff and what happens the next time? They ask questions about what has been covered. I have a little bit of problem with that…. You can’t have too many meetings discussing this, but we’ve said in each and every meeting we will not be cutting employees, and that gets lost in the conversation.”

The Board will next meet at a special meeting on Jan. 29, with a regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 19.

Teachers upend school board over fate of Sussman, Carpenter