Speaking up for small schools

In some small, rural communities, a school can serve several purposes beyond educating children.

Mountain School in Gasquet and Margaret Keating Elementary School in Klamath are two examples, said local advocates for the schools, but amid state budget cuts, their size makes them a liability.

Del Norte County Unified School District administrators, a School Board member, a county supervisor and a handful of teachers made their case to state Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro on Friday for funding for the two small rural schools.

“It would be devastating if those two schools closed,” Gayla Bruhe, an instructional assistant at Margaret Keating School, told Chesbro on Friday.

The two schools currently don’t qualify for state funding specifically for small, rural schools because they are in a unified school district of more than 2,501 students (DNCUSD has about 3,570 students), according to state law.

Necessary Small Schools funding could help keep the two schools open if the district is faced with steep funding cuts yet again next year.

Superintendent Jan Moorehouse said the school district doesn’t want to close any schools, and it also doesn’t want to be punished for being a unified, larger district — something the state typically looks favorably upon.

With the assemblyman’s help, the district might be able to get an exemption. But he acknowledged that other school districts have tried and failed to do the same thing.

“I would like to help,” Chesbro told those who attended the meeting, “but it’s going to be uphill.”

The two elementary schools have distinct similarities: both are K-5, have less than 100 students, are located more than 20 miles from the next-nearest elementary school and both serve as community centers.

“Mountain School is extremely important to the community of Gasquet,” Diane Cochran-Wiese, an opportunity teacher at the school, told Chesbro.

The school acts as a safe haven during emergencies, the community uses the facilities for events and parents and students alike can use the computer lab, she explained.

Closing those schools would be a loss to the entire community around them, said County Supervisor David Finigan, whose district includes Klamath.

“You would be taking away the identity of the community if you take away the schools,” he said.

Deputy Superintendent Rodney Jahn told Chesbro that if the district decided to close the schools, the School Board might be forced to lease or sell the properties.

If those schools closed, young children would have to be bused about an hour each way on curvy stretches of U.S. Hwys. 199 and 101, because some parents don’t have transportation, the teachers explained.

School Board member Bob Berkowitz said it’s not safe to bus students from the outlying areas into Crescent City for school.

“We would have kids on roads twice a day that are hazardous in the winter,” he said, noting the possibility of rock slides, rain and snow.

Besides a potentially dangerous bus ride, the schools are a safe haven for some students, the teachers said.

Margaret Keating School is made up of about 75 percent American Indians, said Becky George, a fourth- and fifth-grade combination teacher.

A majority of students also come from low-income families, but, the school has made great academic strides in recent years, she said.

“With all the poverty and difficulties,” she said, “we’ve helped the students to achieve academically.”

Gayla Bruhe, an instructional assistant at Margaret Keating School, told Chesbro that school is a comforting place for many young students in Klamath — the school is like a family.

Many students have parents who are in prison, or died of drug overdoses or they are being raised by grandparents, she said. Those problems exist in Gasquet, too.

“The most stable part of their day is school,” Bruhe said.

“I don’t see how they are going to make it,” she continued about having to be bused up to Crescent City. “They will get lost in the shuffle and they’re not going to bother.”

Chesbro and his team will be taking the rest of the year to decide what bills he will support in Sacramento. He said he was moved by the teachers’ stories.

However, it could take a year to get legislation through. But there are a few things that could help, such as partnering with state Sen. Sam Aanestad, the Republican who represents the Fourth Senate District.

Del Norte is in a unique situation because it has a Democrat assemblyman and Republican senator in the state legislature, he said, which could be a benefit.

In addition, Margaret Keating School is on the Yurok Tribe Reservation, Chesbro said, and that fact could generate more support to fund Del Norte’s small schools.

He couldn’t say on Friday what the best strategy would be, but said that investing taxpayer money in education, which has a great return for everyone, is a powerful argument.