Despite support for a proposal to close one of three schools in the Sedona-Oak Creek School District, officials did not reach a consensus during a Governing Board work session on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

The session, held at West Sedona School, brought together board members, principals and district staff to review five restructuring models intended to cut costs in the face of financial challenges prompted by declining enrollment and insufficient state funding.

After discussion of the model that called for closing a school — most likely Big Park Community School in the Village of Oak Creek rather than West Sedona School — SOCSD Director of Student Services Mark Cunningham called it the best option.

“Why the consternation? Why are we not pushing toward the obvious?” he said.

Director of Student Support Services, aka Special Education, Michael Remus agreed, saying that from his perspective, “I’d have to go with that model.”

He said cutting positions  — which is part of each model — would have less negative impact if staff, such as counselors and health aides, were consolidated into one location.

“You’d be dealing with a two- to three-grade band versus a seven- or eight-grade band,” he said.

Another efficiency of combining the schools would be the need for one principal instead of two.

Scott Keller, principal at West Sedona, said he accepts that possibility.

“If this is what’s best for the kids, then sign me up to get back into the classroom,” he said.

School board member Bobbie Surber, however, questioned whether parents of Big Park students would accept the change, and noted that it’s possible they would look to start their own school in the Village.

Big Park Principal Jay Litwicki said an informal survey was taken of the parents and, of those who responded, significantly more indicated they would not allow their children to be bused to West Sedona.

Keller said that 100 percent of his school’s site council favored the one-school model, which would likely preserve elective classes such as computers, art and music.

Amid discussion about the school-closure model, Governing Board President Zachary Richardson proposed that the decision on what model to adopt should rest with the principals and teachers.

“We should give education to the educators,” he said. “You can make the decision and tell us why you made that decision.”

Richardson also suggested that administrators and educators flip the script.

“Let’s look at the money we have and see what we can build with that. Don’t call it a restructuring, call it an overhaul.”

The five proposed models were presented at the regular meeting of the Governing Board on Jan. 12. They were:

• The current structure of two schools of kindergarten through eighth grade [Big Park and West Sedona] and one school of ninth through 12 grades [Sedona Red Rock High School].
• Closing either Big Park or West Sedona.
• Realigning to two K-6 schools and one 7-12 school.
• Realigning to one K-4 school, one 5-8 school and one 9-12 school.
• A “transition model” that would begin with three schools [K-5, K-8 and 9-12] and, over three years, become two schools [K-6 and 7-12].

Similar sessions will be held in February and March, Superintendent David Lykins said at the start of Tuesday’s meeting.

In an attempt to keep the length of the each session reasonable, different models would be discussed across sessions.