Sacramento City Unified School District Votes To Close 7 Schools

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The Sacramento City Unified School District has decided to close seven schools at the end of this school year.

School trustees voted 4-3 to close the schools during a packed school board meeting Thursday night that lasted into the early hours of Friday morning.

The schools that will close are Fruit Ridge, Joseph, Washington, Maple, Collis P. Huntington Bonnheim, Mark Hopkins and Clayton B. Wire.

The trustees had been scheduled to vote on the fate of ten schools; however, at the beginning of the meeting, the superintendent recommended the removal of three schools from the list: Susan B. Anthony, Bret Harte and James Marshall. Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said the schools will be needed by families in the future because of new construction in those areas.

Emotions ran high at the board meeting before the final vote as parents, students and teachers tried to sway the board's votes.
While some parents demanded that the district keep the schools open, others seemed resigned to their closures.

"I know that I can't change your mind at this point, I know that your decision has been made. What I'm asking at this point is that you take care of our kids," said one parent who teared up as she pleaded with the board.

Superintendent Raymond originally proposed closing 11 schools citing dwindling enrollment in the district.

The district will save about $1.5 million by closing the seven schools and the district may vote to close more before the current school year is over.

On March 7, the district is scheduled to vote on whether to close Tahoe Elementary or Mark Twain.