As the Sedona-Oak Creek School District explores the possibility of closing one of its elementary schools, stakeholders were given the opportunity to share their views on the issue during a public comment meeting Thursday, April 19.

Teachers, parents, students, local business owners and community members lined the bleachers of the Sedona Red Rock High School gymnasium, as the auditorium in the Sedona Performing Arts Center was previously booked for the high school play’s opening night.

The rules of public comment state speakers are allowed to present for a maximum of three minutes, but the board did not run the timer at Thursday’s meeting, allowing the public to share their thoughts for however long they wished. Thirty members of the public came forward to share their thoughts on school closure, reading from a prepared statement or ad libbing for anywhere from a minute-and-a-half to nearly 10 minutes.

Governing Board President Randy Hawley said the board decided not to run the timer because during discussions two years ago about closing Big Park Community School, enforcing the three-minute rule caused frustration among some of the public, who felt three minutes wasn’t enough time to express their views.

During the Thursday meeting, more than half of the commenters spoke specifically against closing one of the elementary schools, while only a few outright supported closing a school.

Those who spoke against closing a school cited several main concerns: The potential loss of students to private or charter schools or home schooling, decreasing property value in whichever community loses a school, and traffic issues that could result in long bus rides for young students.

Jim Cunningham shared the results of a survey given to Big Park Community School parents.

“Unless we create stability, parents will continue to remove their children, placing them in schools they may not feel are of the same quality as those in our school district, but are stable and will be there for their kids’ entire educational journey,” he said. “Fewer than 5 percent said they would pull their kids from Big Park if it remained open. Seventy-two percent said they would remove their students from the school district if it closed.”

In addition to asking the board to allow the incoming superintendent to have a role in the decision, several speakers encouraged the board to find additional sources of income rather than close a school.

Those who spoke in favor of closing a school cited continuous declining enrollment and decreasing funding as reasons the current elementary school model is not sustainable.

“Don’t make a decision based upon which community can rally up the most people that can complain the loudest,” said Kerstin Frey, a parent in the district. “Everybody is suffering from this mess. Please just make the decision that should have been made long ago, and present it in a positive light so people can follow.”

Several came forward to ask the board to remember how the high school is affected by school closure discussions.

“There are a lot of great things being done on our high school campus that need to continue. We have passionate and inspiring teachers who are instilling excitement in our students’ educational journey,” said Liz Westervelt, whose children attend Sedona Red Rock High School and Junior High. “We need to remember that we are all in this together and we need to move forward positively as a community.”

After the meeting, Hawley said, “This is a very complex issue and there are no simple solutions.”

The board next meets Tuesday, May 1, and it is expected to discuss and potentially vote on school closure.

Consolidated Curriculum

Also during the Thursday meeting, district curriculum director Deana DeWitt presented a brief overview of the complexities involved in combining the elementary schools’ curriculums should the schools consolidate.

While the schools’ signature programs — International Baccalaureate at Big Park and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math certification at West Sedona School — are complementary and can both be implemented in one school, the schools’ respective candidacy or accreditation is specific to each legal entity as recognized by the Arizona Department of Education. Should the schools consolidate, the IB candidacy or STEM accreditation would not transfer to the school that stays open, and the remaining school would have to reapply.

In terms of specific classroom curriculum, West Sedona and Big Park teachers have been collaborating throughout the school year to map curriculum guidelines for math and English for each grade, so much of the classroom instruction at each school is already aligned.

“They are already working together to develop [curriculum] maps, and those maps will be ready for implementation next year,” DeWitt said.

Rebekah Wahlberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 117, or email rwahlberg@larsonnewspapers.com