Dear NUSD Community,

The Elementary School Size Committee begins its work next Monday, October 22.  This will be a Superintendent’s Advisory Committee of 24 people comprised primarily of parents and staff from the eight elementary schools along with 3 principals, 3 district administrators, and 2 community members.

Each elementary principal provided me the names of potential Committee members.  From that list, the district strived to achieve representation from PTA/PTO/PTSA; ELAC/DELAC; school site councils; Special Education; teachers; classified staff; school administration; district administration; and community members.

The Committee Members are as follows:

School Name School Name
Hamilton Parent Marinella Ruffinelli Rancho Parent Emily Larsen
Hamilton Staff Stacey Beltran Rancho Staff Karen Freemantle
Loma Verde Parent Ali Iqbal San Ramon – Parent Karla Sanchez
Loma Verde Staff Irma Manion San Ramon Staff Nancy O’Hara
Lu Sutton Parent Lindsay Greco Admin Rep Amie Carter
Lu Sutton Staff Lauren Hinxmann Admin Rep Melissa Remy
Lynwood Parent Elanor Thompson Admin Rep Kelly Johnson
Lynwood Staff Jazmin Babendir Principal Rep Jim Larson
Olive Parent Tim O’Connor Principal Rep Angela Kriesler
Olive Staff Bart Williams Principal Rep Dana Sadan
Pleasant Valley Parent Kristie Yazdi Community Azella Metzger
Pleasant Valley Staff Julie Spaan Community Ross Ingels

The Committee will meet 4 times, 5:30-7:30 pm, at the District Office in Room 107 on the following days:

October 22, 2018

November 28, 2018

December 17, 2018

January 31, 2019

The Committee will be facilitated by Suzanne Speck of School Services of California and has five goals:

  • Identify pros and cons of current NUSD elementary school size
  • Review comparable school districts
  • Determine the “ideal” NUSD elementary school size
  • Quantify savings or additional costs to transition to “ideal” NUSD elementary school size
  • Make recommendation to the Board for next steps

The Committee will make a recommendation to the Board in February.  If the recommendation is to close a school, then there will be Phase II:

  • IF there is a recommendation to close an elementary school, the Committee will evaluate each school site.
  • Make a recommendation to the Board in the Spring of 2019.
  • Review potential new boundaries and student flows to the middle and high schools.
  • The school closure would not occur until the fall of 2020.

An Elementary School Size Committee webpage has been created on the NUSD website and can be found here.  This webpage will be updated with information a day or two following each Committee meeting.

I know this is a difficult time for our elementary school families and staff and appreciate their patience and understanding as we move through this process.

Thank you.

Jim Hogeboom