Rincon Valley school district reshuffles campuses for fall

When Beth Huang first learned about the possibility of her daughter's Rincon Valley K-3 charter school merging with another school serving fourth through sixth graders, she had some concerns.

“Change is hard, and it’s scary,” Huang said. Her daughter, Kate, now a second grader attending Spring Creek Elementary Charter School remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was in kindergarten in 2019. That was when her mother began hearing about meetings organized by the Rincon Valley Union School District to discuss the possible consolidation of Spring Creek with Matanzas Elementary Charter.

“We liked how things were, so we were like, why do we have to mess with it?” Huang said. She had questions about the impact on class sizes and potential cuts to staff.

After a year and a half of participation in discussions with the superintendent and members of the school board, including sitting on the committee tasked with proposing a new name for the combined elementary campus, Huang views the planned fall opening of the new elementary charter school as one properly vetted and informed by community feedback.

“I’ve continued to be impressed with the problem solving,” she said. “As a parent, I have always felt completely that my opinions will be taken with respect and that they’re truly wanted.”

Declining enrollment is a main factor driving two campus consolidations in Rincon Valley. School districts across Sonoma County are dealing with the same challenge, which is often ascribed to the annual cycle of wildfires and a high cost of living that’s chasing away families with school-age children.

“We were looking at declining enrollment, our budget getting smaller and at a lot of duplication that we saw at different campuses,” said Mike Cook, chair of the Rincon Valley USD Board of Trustees.

In response, the district is consolidating its two charter schools for elementary students into a single school at the Matanzas campus serving transitional kindergarten through sixth graders. In addition, it will merge all of its programs for seventh and eighth graders, currently split between two campuses, into a single middle school at the Spring Creek campus.

The board was first interested in options to unite the two campuses of Rincon Valley Charter School, which began on the Sequoia Elementary School campus and spread onto the Matanzas campus as it grew. Since then, families have chosen between the two campuses.

Consolidation is expected to save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Moving the middle school, Rincon Valley Charter School, onto one campus is projected to save $291,000 annually, according to a January 2020 staff presentation.

Combining the elementary schools into a single transititonal K-6 campus is estimated to save the district about $1,154 per student each year, according to the district presentation. The savings could approach nearly $500,000 annually based on the schools’ combined enrollment, which stood at 432 this year, according to the district.

Beyond the budgetary impacts, Cook said, “throughout the whole process, we really found that we can make a better environment for our students by combining the campuses.”

Putting Rincon Valley Charter School students together will enable them to have more electives and sports, district leaders said. Combining the elementary school campuses will allow siblings to go to school together for more years, and could enable deeper relationships with teachers.

“We think there's some really amazing educational opportunities that are being created,” said Tracy Smith, superintendent since May 2019.

Discussions about consolidation of the middle school had already begun by the time Smith arrived. But parents such as Jennifer Graue, who served with Huang on the Spring Creek parent-teacher association, credited Smith with prioritizing community feedback throughout the process.

“They made parents and community members partners in the decision making,” Graue said. “And that felt good.”

The planning process involved a number of delays and challenges, as families and staff navigated the effects of wildfires, power shut-offs and the pandemic.

While district officials place a high priority on maintaining the same number of teachers to preserve the small class sizes that officials said attract families to their charter schools, the board is in the process of approving reductions of other positions that would be duplicated in the consolidation. Smith said the board is looking at eliminating about 12 to 16 positions.

“You try to have open and transparent conversations,” she said. “You have to make hard decisions.”

The new elementary school will also gain a new name: Manzanita Elementary. The name, approved by trustees Dec. 15, was one of several options proposed by a committee and voted upon by community members in the fall.

Still, Graue wondered if neighbors and families might confuse the new name with Matanzas at first.

“Eventually, we’ll get there,” she said.

The school board will also consider a new name for the Rincon Valley Charter School, to better distinguish it from Rincon Valley Middle School, which is part of Santa Rosa City Schools, Cook said.

And in the coming months, Manzanita Elementary Charter students will vote on a new mascot, something that Huang thinks will lend a sense of ownership and belonging that will bring the students together -- including those like her daughter, who left the Spring Creek campus in March 2020 and are unsure if they’ll be able to return to say goodbye.

“I think that’s really cool, that they’re all going to get a vote and a say,” she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kaylee Tornay at 707-521-5250 or kaylee.tornay@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ka_tornay.