Whisman district will close school Whisman district will close school (February 18, 2000)

Declining enrollment forces consolidation

by Karen Willemsen

It's now official. Whisman School, which serves students from kindergarten to fifth grade, will close it's doors at the end of the 1999-2000 school year.

The announcement came this week during a time of tremendous turmoil in the district as teachers demand higher wages, demographers warn of decreases in enrollment, and seeds of unrest sprouting among the classified staff.

The need to face a myriad of fiscal, practical, and emotional issues has contributed to the tension surrounding Whisman district's negotiations over salaries and budget cutbacks. Classified and certificated employees are watching the board's actions closely, as they make their way through the waters of reconstruction.

Superintendent Eve Bressler and Chief Financial Officer Becky Wright said the school plans to lease the vacated buildings to private parties.

Wright said that closing the school could save $150,000 to $175,000 in salary reductions by eliminating the principal, secretary, and clerk positions there, and by reducing the hours of maintenance workers serving the site.

Savings on utilities is expected to save approximately $37,800.

Those savings, combined with the potential to recoup $150,000 in rent from groups using the facilities, could remove 50 percent of the district's expected budget shortfall in 2000-01.

Several groups have expressed interest in leasing all or part of the Whisman site, although they are only willing to sign short, two-year leases. (The district isn't ready to offer longer term leases, because of indications from Moffett Field that new military units with young families will be arriving in 2002.

This year just 290 students are enrolled at Whisman, including 80 interdistrict transfer students. Clearly Whisman's natural constituency is shrinking. Most of the district's losses in enrollment, from 1901 students in the 1994-95 school year to just 1509 this year, can be directly traced to the transfer of military families away from Moffett Field. And all of those families attended Whisman district schools.

Whisman also has the smallest grounds, making it the most practical campus to close of the three elementary schools. With only two elementary schools open next year, each will need to serve around 550 students, more than Whisman can accommodate under California law.

Whisman teachers and parents bond in adversity

The staff and teachers of Whisman School have developed a gallows sense of humor in response to the news that their school will close this June. Its Easy Street address seems a bit more mocking these days. And the irony of learning their fate at a Valentine's Day school board meeting did not go unnoticed.

"I'm definitely looking for a new job," joked Principal Vivienne Martin.

Closing Whisman School may seem like a radical move to some, and not radical enough for others. The closure of the district's smallest elementary school will definitely take a big bite out of the projected $600,000 plus deficit the district is facing. But the school's sacrifice isn't simply the price to pay to keep the district's remaining schools afloat. Monte Loma, Theuerkeuf, and Crittenden schools won't escape unscathed either. There are enough budget cuts to go around. "I haven't always been a principal," said Martin, "so I understand the choice to close the school, but it is hard. We're really feeling it."

Parent Geri Greenan agrees. "I have two kids, one in second and one in fifth and they just said, 'No way, Mom!' We're a military family, my husband is with the 129th Air Rescue Wing. People don't realize how important school is to military kids, it's like an extended family."

"And at Whisman -- it's just special. We're losing Vivienne who has been wonderful. It's just a wonderful little school. Parents are very supportive of the teachers, both in their teaching and in their campaign with the district," said Greenan, referring to the contract negotiations currently underway between the Whisman Educator's Association and the district.

"The teachers deserve a raise. And now that the school is closing I hope they get everything they want." Teachers Penny Herman, a thirty-two year veteran, and Jennifer Crocker, who will become the district's only speech therapist next year, hope so too, but they are not naive about the school closure.

In fact, they agree with trustee Juan Aranda, who explains that closing one school will free up some funding, but not the unrestricted funds required to boost teachers' salaries. Aranda wants the rest of the teachers to realize that as well.

"Closing the school will eliminate much of the deficit. But the rest is restricted funding. They need to understand that," he said.

Herman, who has been teaching since 1968, is concerned about the district's oldest and newest teachers. "Whisman has a lot of senior teachers," Herman explains. "I don't think we'll be laid off. But if we retire without a raise our pensions will be fixed at a lower level. The loss for the district, though, will come when our fine young teachers go elsewhere.

Some teachers will go even if they aren't laid off, if they don't feel positive about how the district handles things," said Herman, who feels an air of mistrust has descended upon her school.

"We should have been apprised months ago that Whisman could close, but we just kept being told not too worry. We even got e-mails about openings at other schools," she said.

Crocker agrees. "We heard about it around the water cooler, instead of through formal processes. It was unprofessional and it's created a lot of ill will, on top of the labor issues we have."

The students have not yet been assembled to hear the new, but many of them are learning about it through the grapevine.

Herman wants one thing to be clear. "We respect tough choices for our school. And as for Eleanor, she's a natural. We don't fault the choice, just the way it's been handled. The district should show concern for our emotional needs as well. Our primary concern is for the welfare of the children. It helps us as teachers when this whole process is handled honorably," she concluded.

"Vivienne understands how we feel. We love Vivienne, she's a real team player," adds Hermann. "She supports us in expressing our views publicly, which I think is healthy. We've been very fortunate to have her, and we'll miss her next year."