Cleveland Elementary School will close at the end of the school year.
The Pasadena Unified School District Board voted Oct. 30 to shutter the school as part of a district effort to cut $10 million dollars from its budget.
Eight-year-old Rosio Valencia is still digesting the fact that she’ll have to attend a new school next year.
“When the last day of school is over, I’m just going to cry so much,” said Rosio. “I feel like I’m going to lose my friends and I don’t know what school I’m going to go to.”
Her mom, Wendi Valencia, is the Cleveland PTA president. She doesn’t want to send Rosio to her new assigned school, Washington Elementary STEM Magnet School, because she feels it’s overcrowded. In fact, she says Washington has six times the amount of students as Cleveland.
“She stutters, so when she is nervous in a big crowd she starts stuttering,” Wendi explains.
Cleveland has just 99 students this school year, and has been plagued by low enrollment for years. Board members admit low enrollment is a result of pre-school education and programs cut by the board. There are also less neighborhood children in the area.
Principal Debra Lucas was shocked by the board’s decision to shut down the school.
“I’m always surprised when a school is going to close and students have to find another school for the following year.”
Cleveland parents and staff have been meeting with board members for weeks urging them not to close the school.
PUSD board members Patrick Cahalan and Michelle Richardson Bailey told PTA members during an Oct. 16 meeting that the board wouldn’t make a final decision until mid-November following election results.
Yet, the board handed down a decision during its Oct. 30 meeting.
“I just feel like everything was done unfairly and by design,” said Wendi.
For now, Rosio is still a Cleveland Condor, but whether she’ll stay in public education or attend private school is up in the air.
Cleveland Elementary was gifted a plaque last year honoring baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who attended the school.