San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) board members voted to close five elementary schools Thursday night, affecting hundreds of students.
SJUSD leaders said the resolution will shut down schools that have seen declining enrollment. The schools that will close are Empire Gardens Elementary, Canoas Elementary, Gardner Elementary, Lowell Elementary and Terrell Elementary.
These are the schools were students will go starting the 2027-27 school year:
- Students from Empire Gardens will go to Anne Darling
- Students from Canoas Elementary will go to Ernesto Galarza
- Students from Gardner Elementary will go to Horace Mann
- Special Day Class students at Lowell Elementary will go to Grant elementary and all others to Washington Elementary.
- Special Day Class students at Terrell Elementary will go to Reed Elementary, while all other students will be transferred to Rachel Carson Elementary.
It was an emotional board meeting Thursday night, full of tears and heartbreak.
For two hours, parents, teachers and students voiced their opposition to the closures. People expressed concern about the impact on communities of color, the loss of community and further distances they will have to drive or their kids will have to walk.
“Children will be harmed,” Brittany Curran said. “I work in mental health; my husband works in social services. We know how this will impact communities.”
A parent believes that students will be negatively affected by school consolidations.
“There is no evidence that our students are going to get anything better by [schools] being consolidated,” SJUSD parent Evelyn Cervantes said.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s wife, Silvia Mahan, showed her support for parents last night and read a statement from the mayor in which he urged the board to not approve this proposal and asked the board not to neglect communities of color and low-income communities.
Trustees who voted in favor of closing the schools, though, believe the school closures will lead to more support and resources for students.
The superintendent of SJUSD wrote, “At the same time, thoughtful consolidations can greatly strengthen the educational resources and student support.”
