As school vote nears, Torrey calls for saving Crest, Parker

With a week to go before one of the most crucial votes in Eugene School Board history, board member Jim Torrey made a plea Tuesday to spare two neighborhood elementary schools in south Eugene — Crest Drive and Parker — for at least one more year.

“I think we may be acting too quickly at a time when there are a number of unknowns,” Torrey said during a school board work session. “I just think we are running the risk of moving so fast we are precluding some of our options.”

The former Eugene mayor said he intends to make a motion at next week’s board meeting to add an amendment to the unprecedented $26 million in proposed cost-saving measures by Superintendent George Russell for the 2011-12 school year.

Russell’s recommendations include laying off as many as 84 teachers and 62 administrators and classified employees to deal with declining student enrollment and less state funding.

He’s also recommending the closure of Crest Drive, Parker, Coburg and Meadowlark elementary schools next fall, and relocating Charlemagne at Fox Hollow French immersion school to the Parker building.

His plan also would close Twin Oaks Elementary in the fall of 2012.

The Coburg community has applied to replace its school with a charter school that Russell is recommending the school board approve during next week’s meeting.

But Torrey is suggesting delaying closing Crest Drive and Parker, and keeping Charlemagne at Fox Hollow at its current location on Mahalo Drive in south Eugene, for another year, placing all three schools on the same timetable as Twin Oaks’ closure under Russell’s proposal.

There is also an “alternate option” school closure for board members to consider next week under Russell’s proposal: closing Adams Elementary School while leaving Crest Drive and Parker open, and re­locating Charlemagne at Fox Hollow to the Adams building.

That option — which also includes closing Coburg and Meadowlark — was suggested by board member Mary Walston at a meeting earlier this month. It would save the district only an estimated $500,000 in 2011-12, however, compared with the $1 million projected to be saved in closing Crest Drive, Coburg, Parker and Meadowlark.

Under Russell’s plan, Crest Drive students will attend Adams Elementary next fall, and Parker students will split between Edgewood and Camas Ridge elementaries.

As for Torrey’s pitch, board members had several questions about the ripple effect that keeping Crest Drive and Parker open could have on Russell’s other recommendations, such as increasing class size by three or four students at all district schools in 2011-12.

Assistant Superintendent Carl Hermanns said keeping Crest Drive and Parker open in 2011-12 would create problems with staffing ratios.

“I would say if we don’t consolidate Crest/Adams, those schools will have a harder time providing the education we want for kids” when taking the rest of the plan into consideration, Hermanns said.

Another problem caused by keeping Crest Drive and Parker open would be providing specialists such as special education teachers at those schools, said Sara Cramer, the district’s director of elementary education.

Although the district staff has cited projections for further declining enrollment in south Eugene as rationale for closing Crest Drive and Parker, Torrey said Tuesday that the city has spent months on an Envision Eugene plan that looks at future housing opportunities in south Eugene that could one day spur growth.

Board member Jennifer Geller said one of the main questions raised by Parker parents at last week’s public hearing on Russell’s recommendations was: Why Parker?

“Because you’ve got too many schools in south Eugene for too few kids,” Russell answered. The district has put off closing schools in the region for years, he said.

“Can we keep Charlemagne where it is?” Russell said. “Absolutely. But we’ve been talking about moving Charlemagne for five years. If you don’t do it this year, you’re not going to do it. That’s my feeling.”

The closure of the four elementary schools might only be projected to save $1 million in 2011-12, Russell said. But that represents 15 or 16 teaching positions, and that’s important for the long-term, he said.

Board member Anne Marie Levis asked if Parker was being targeted for closure solely to make a new home for Charlemagne at Fox Hollow.

“N-O, no,” said Russell, adding that if there was any way he could do it, he’d put Charlemagne at a more central location than Parker.

“We’ve been talking about closing most of the schools on this list for years,” board member Beth Gerot said. The feedback she’s hearing from those affected?

“Give us some certainty. We can’t stand another year of uncertainty.”

During a break between the board’s work session and regular meeting, Parker Principal Scott Marsh said: “I’m not real excited about a one-year reprieve. I want to see this attached to a long-term decision.”

Russell said later in the meeting that, while he may make some alterations to his package of recommendations that he presents for board action next week, he does not anticipate any changes to his recommendations regarding school closures.