May 29, 2025
By Ernie Nishii, President, ABCUSD Board of Education
At the May 20, 2025 Board of Education meeting, we heard a detailed report from SchoolWorks, a consulting firm we engaged to study our declining enrollment and school facility use. Their findings, grounded in demographic trends and enrollment projections, include significant recommendations for how ABC Unified can adapt.
Among the proposals: consolidate four elementary schools—Aloha, Furgeson, Juarez, and Stowers—and move students and programs to nearby schools with available space. The consultant also recommended expanding all middle schools to include 6th grade, shifting them from a 7–8 grade model to a 6–8 grade model. This would allow for stronger academic and enrichment offerings in our middle schools, many of which are currently under-enrolled and struggling to offer robust programs.
SchoolWorks also recommended reconfiguring Whitney High School by establishing a Whitney Middle School. To help grow enrollment, they suggest opening Whitney to a limited number of students from outside the District.
Let me be clear: no decisions have been made. The Board has accepted the report for review, and we have scheduled a Public Hearing on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, to hear from our students, families, staff, and community members. Your input is essential as we consider how to move forward.
Why Change Is on the Table
ABCUSD, like many school districts across California, is experiencing a steady decline in enrollment. The causes are well-known: lower birth rates, rising housing costs, and shifting population trends. Like me, many of you probably remember our neighborhood streets and parks filled with children and young families. Today, our communities are aging in place, the price of housing is out of reach for most young families, and families are having fewer, if any, children.
Public school districts across the state, from Norwalk-La Mirada to Long Beach, and from Santa Ana to San Francisco, are facing the same difficult decisions. Some have closed campuses. Others have been forced to lay off hundreds of staff or reduce vital student programs.
There are no miracle cures. You may hear promises that we can avoid these choices by chasing more grants or cutting so-called “waste.” But the reality is this: operating half-full schools is costly. The money spent on underutilized classrooms and underenrolled campuses could instead fund more teachers, tutors, counselors, and mental health support. As I shared in my last column, lower-enrolled schools also impact teachers, with fewer collaboration opportunities and having to teach combination classes. Most importantly, students are impacted by fewer offerings, from academic enrichment to arts programs to athletics.
As ABC Federation of Teachers President Mr. Gaer aptly said at a recent Board of Education meeting, trying to run a school with severely low enrollment is like fielding a baseball team with only 5 players—you simply can’t cover all the positions. Even the best staff can’t fill every need when resources are stretched too thin.
Leaving things as they are and “kicking the can down the road” to avoid change will only compound issues in the future. Enrollment will continue to decline, giving us fewer resources, and instead of growing new and existing programs at schools full of students, we will continue to be stretched, unable to invest in our academic programs and staff.
Why Consolidate Elementary Schools?
Some have asked why these elementary schools are part of the recommendation. The data behind this recommendation shows that our middle schools are suffering from low enrollment as well, and expanding them to serve grades six through eight, while benefiting students, would further impact enrollment at our elementary schools.
It’s important to remember: it’s the programs that matter, not the buildings. The programs offered at the four elementary schools recommended to be consolidated will move with students. Programs like dual language immersion or magnet programs can be moved to new school sites to continue serving students.
Others have specifically asked about Stowers. Stowers was selected based on multiple factors: a geographic location, available space at neighboring schools, and the goal of minimizing disruption for surrounding communities.
As I’ve mentioned before, we are committed to keeping our permanent staff and academic programs intact through any transitions.
A Difficult, But Necessary Conversation
We know these conversations are emotional. No one on the Board wants to close schools. But doing nothing means we’ll be forced to make more painful cuts later, cuts to staff, to programs, and to the quality of education we offer.
The real question before us is this: Can we reimagine ABCUSD to be more efficient, equitable, and innovative with fewer, better-resourced campuses? Can we adapt to changing conditions while improving the experience for every student?
Moving Forward, Together
This is a pivotal moment for our district. The decisions we make now will shape ABCUSD’s future for decades to come. I invite you to join us at the Public Hearing on June 3, 2025, and share your perspective. Let’s work together, with honesty and compassion, to ensure a strong and sustainable future for the students we serve.
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