Richey Elementary students will undergo major changes in their school lives this August.
When school starts they will no longer be attending their midtown campus of about 90 students, but instead will be part of Roskruge Bilingual Magnet Middle and Elementary School, which has an enrollment of 580.
Their small neighborhood school, which primarily catered to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, will be shut down, the ninth school closure approved by TUSD.
The changes are the result of a 3-2 vote by the TUSD Governing Board on Tuesday night. Board members Mark Stegeman and Adelita Grijalva voted against the closure.
The vote disappointed Richey and Pascua Yaqui community supporters, who said the students and their families have different needs than their peers.
"I'm very sad," said Richey parent Ernette Leslie-John. "We had expectations that the district would try to work with us to keep Richey open."
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Leslie-John said her daughter will not return to the Tucson Unified School District in the fall. She said she'll look outside the district for her next school.
Although Governing Board members approved the closure - calling it a cost-saving measure - they said they would have preferred to keep the 56-year-old school open. It wasn't financially viable, however, members said.
"We all find this very difficult, but we've already closed eight schools and they are all unique to their communities," said board president Judy Burns. It's heart-breaking, but we cannot keep a school open for 60 or 90 kids and close another school with 200. It will amount to a one-room schoolhouse, and we won't be able to provide the support these kids need."
Board member Stegeman supported keeping the school open and responded to Burns' statement, saying each school-closure decision should stand on its own merit.
Stegeman, along with Grijalva, suggested the board vote to keep the school open for one year. During that time, the two said, the district could work to form a partnership with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, which would provide financial support for the school.
Pascua Yaqui Chairman Peter S. Yucupicio said the tribe has always tried to provide financial support to Tucson-area schoolchildren. But, he said, the board's decision is likely to impact the tribe's relationship with TUSD.
The merger of the two schools will require some work as Roskruge, a K-8 bilingual magnet program, is already over capacity.
To hold the 670 students expected to attend, Roskruge will need to convert a computer lab into two classrooms and change a home economics room into a regular classroom.
The cost for the renovations is estimated at $45,000.
Another school bus also will be required to provide a direct route from Richey to Roskruge, costing approximately $33,000.
"I'm very sad. We had expectations that the district would try to work with us to keep Richey open."
Ernette Leslie-John
Richey parent
Contact Alexis Huicochea: 573-4175; ahuicochea@azstarnet.com
