TUSD names fifth school proposed to close next year

Collier Elementary, 3900 N. Bear Canyon Road, is about four miles from Bloom Elementary, 8310 E. Pima St. The new system at Bloom would start next school year.

“I recognize that the closure of a school is a painful moment for a community,” Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo wrote to families from schools proposed for closure. “Though difficult in the beginning, the consolidation process also represents an opportunity for our district to provide your children with a more exceptional academic experience, better access to extracurricular activities and programs, and more robust student support services.”

School data

Collier has an enrollment utilization rate of 28%, according to district data, which refers to how many students are enrolled in a school compared to the physical capacity or design limit of that school building. It has a 38% classroom utilization rate, the percentage of classrooms that are being used of the total classrooms on campus, and a 21% capture rate for students in its area. The school, designed for 400, had 111 students in the 2024-25 school year.

Bloom has a 60% enrollment utilization rate, 96% classroom utilization rate and 38% capture rate. In the 2024-25 school year, Bloom, designed for 550, had 328 students.

Collier serves students in kindergarten through sixth grade, while Bloom serves preschool students through fifth grade.

Recap of proposed changes

The district announced a recommended “sending school and a receiving school” each business day this past week. The district announced Monday that Hudlow Elementary School is up for closure, followed by Dunham Elementary on Tuesday, Cragin Elementary on Wednesday and Magee Middle School on Thursday.

Those students would be sent to Sewell, Marshall and Blenman elementary schools and Sabino High School.

“I understand the methodology TUSD is using in being faced with having to close schools. But as a neighbor, I can’t say I’m excited about it,” said Tucson City Council Member Paul Cunningham. Hudlow, Magee and Collier are in the ward Cunningham represents, Ward 2.

A former Hudlow parent and previously a TUSD teacher, Cunningham said it's a disappointing situation.

“TUSD is pressed with a number of issues,” he said. “I think it’s at the point where they need to rethink their strategy about the longevity of the health of our public schools in general rather than the survival of TUSD. Perhaps looking at the neighboring school districts as allies and partners rather than competitors.”

He said he would do what he could to help keep the district sustainable.

“Like it or not, they’re an integral partner in the success of our community,” he said.

Ratna Fernandez, a fifth-grade mom at Hudlow, said she’s worried the transfer to Sewell Elementary School, 425 N. Sahuara Ave., will cause overcrowding and increase class sizes.

“If one class has 20 kids, of course they're not gonna learn everything because one of the teachers is not gonna focus on all the kids. That's the sad part,” she said.

Hudlow, 502 N. Caribe Ave., has an enrollment utilization rate of 30%, whereas Sewell has a 47% enrollment utilization rate. Hudlow, designed for 450, had 165 students in the 2024-25 school year and Sewell, designed for 350, had 170 students.

“I don't know that kids would get the same kind of one-on-one care and attention that they get (at Hudlow), and my kids kind of need that,” said Karima Wicks, a parent to two Hudlow students.

Wicks enrolled her two children in Mexicayotl Academy, a charter school, during the beginning of their education journey, but after it shut down earlier this year, she moved her children to Hudlow.

Now, she might have to face another school closure.

“I can understand parents who are looking at (charters) like the Adventure School and La Paloma and Lehman Academy and other options,” she said. “We've also looked at other districts like Catalina or Tanque Verde, which would be closer. All options are on the table at this point.”

Kathleen Shooshtari, a third-grade parent and treasurer of Cragin Elementary’s parent-teacher organization, said if the school closes, her daughter will be enrolled in a charter school next year.

“My two older boys, they went to a charter school and being in that school, I didn't feel like I was part of it. Here, I do,” she said. “This was the opportunity for public school for her, and if TUSD is already facing the problems now of budgetary concerns, what are they going to face next year? La Paloma (Academy) doesn't have that problem.”

Another PTO member and Cragin parent, Brandi Mitchell, said “TUSD would have to pay me to send my kid to Blenman” Elementary School, where Cragin students would be sent if the school closed under the current proposal.

“My son loves it here; he’s never once not wanted to come to school. They make it so welcoming and warm here,” Mitchell said. She knew school closures were coming, she said, but never thought they would affect Cragin.

“I thought our school was safe because, yes, we have low attendance and stuff, but we thrive here. We’re a huge community,” she said. “We just got our new fence, new roof … we thought, ‘Oh, we're not part of that at all.’”

Mitchell and Shooshtari both told the Star they’re also worried about where staff members could end up.

Mary Anderson, principal of Dunham Elementary, said when staff members were told about the proposed closure, “there were a lot of emotions.”

“I think overall, a lot of positive things came out of it,” she said. “I think our staff is excited about the opportunities this will lead for our students and for themselves.”

She said there is some apprehension from staff members on where they could be placed, but she feels relieved there will be options for everyone. Dunham Elementary has a 93% classroom utilization rate while Marshall has a 100% classroom utilization rate, according to district data.

“They would all love to be able to move straight over to Marshall, but I think the plan the district has put together seems highly positive in the sense that everyone's going to be taken care of,” she said. “If there's room for them at Marshall, they'll be there. If there isn't, they'll be able to be placed in other schools in same type of position.”

Jim Byrne, president of the Tucson Education Association, said the teachers union will push to retain current employees by trying to transfer them into similar, open positions at other schools instead of resorting to layoffs.

While teachers may move with their classes to different campuses, other staff members like office managers, attendance techs and campus monitors face higher risks of redundancy during consolidation, he said.

“What we've discussed is the possibility of saying ‘Okay, there's these existing vacancies for hourly staff inside the district, do any of these feel like a lateral move for you?’ You know what is the future here?” he said. “I think our advocacy is really going to need to crank up in terms of making sure we can try and make this transition by keeping people's jobs, but also just having better adult to student ratios on campus that make the place safer, more sustainable and a better working and learning environment for our students.”

The biggest proposal of the week was the consolidation of Magee Middle School into Sabino High School. Under the proposal, Magee would close and Sabino would serve students in grades six through 12.

The idea sparked widespread uproar on social media Thursday night.

“Just what we need 10 to 13yr olds around 14 to 18yr olds,” one Facebook commenter wrote. Another wrote “I would NOT send my child in middle school to a high school.”

Didi Coleman, a Magee counselor, said she saw the proposal as a positive change.

“We were hoping we weren't going to be merging with another middle school,” she said. “I see our younger students that are capable of being in the higher level math being able to go to high school math, or having more learning opportunities, and our band and orchestra programs can take off a little bit more.”

The proposal seeks to establish a middle school “secondary academy” within Sabino, the district said in an email to parents Thursday evening. “This recommendation includes a separate building, separate classes, separate lunch periods, and a separate daily bell schedule specifically for middle school students and does not include the ‘mixing’ for middle school students with high school students.”

Sabino High School served seventh and eighth grade students when the campus first opened in the 1970s, according to a TUSD historical essay from 2023. Known as “Sabino Junior and Senior High School,” the two schools shared faculty and elective offerings.

The district later said scheduling problems made the two schools “disadvantageous,” and Sabino fully became a high school in the 1980s.

Next steps

The TUSD Governing Board will review part of the district’s consolidation plan at its next meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 27. The meeting will take place at Palo Verde High School, 1302 S. Avenida Vega, instead of its normal location at Duffy Community Center, due to high attendance expectations.

During an online governing board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 20, Trujillo said the Governing Board members would review six “scenarios” of school closures and consolidations at the next governing board meeting. The sixth scenario will be announced Monday, Oct. 26, TUSD spokesperson Karla Escamilla told the Star.

“There are two additional scenarios being recommended for 2028-29 that we want to return to the community advisory committee,” Trujillo said. “We’re adding some stuff, so we want to get their feedback.”

Those two scenarios will be discussed in a second part of the study session in a Governing Board meeting on Nov. 10. Escamilla clarified to the Star a “scenario” could include a closure and consolidation, just a closure or a grade-level change.

“We are still working on the schedule for the remaining announcements,” she said in an email.

The Oct. 27 meeting will feature a three-part presentation before opening it up to public comment, Trujillo said earlier this month: a historical analysis of the district's 2012 closures on finances and enrollment; major concerns and recommendations district leaders heard during community listening sessions in September; and school-by-school data and projected impact, including enrollment, class sizes, transportation, program carryover and more.

Any remaining time after the study session will be dedicated to a call to the audience. TUSD Governing Board meetings end by 10 p.m.

The public will have another chance to share opinions with the board on Nov. 17 during a legally mandated public hearing before the board votes Dec. 8.