Closures could spur TUSD families to move on

Some families say if their children must change schools, they’ll consider options outside of TUSD. Local charter and private school leaders told the Star they’ve had increased enrollment interest over the past two to three weeks, when TUSD started slowly rolling out its closure plans to the public.

“I think we're a little early to tell, but just based on the metrics of a couple of ads, they've received a lot of attention,” said Cameron Taylor, principal of free downtown private school Imago Dei, 55 N. Sixth Ave.

The private school, which serves grades four through eight, has ramped up its social media advertising over the last few weeks since TUSD began announcing its consolidation proposals.

“Is your child’s school closing? Are you worried they will be forced to switch schools next year?” one ad says. “Don’t wait: make a change now!”

Taylor said school closures can put a strain on receiving schools as displaced students move into larger class sizes and more crowded classrooms. He hopes families looking for small class sizes with individualized instruction will choose Imago Dei, which caps enrollment at 20 students per classroom and 10 students per teacher.

“I think all the school closures are unfortunate. I'm a product of public school and a fan of public school, and also acknowledge that in this country, it doesn't feel like we take that seriously enough, or like we give it the resources it deserves,” Taylor said. “That's part of why I'm doing what I do to try and provide what I think education should look like free of charge, and really the only way to do that effectively is through a private school, oddly enough.”

Imago Dei is funded through donations, and does not accept Empowerment Scholarship Account vouchers, Taylor said.

Brent Bishop, head of schools for charter network Leman Academy, said its four Tucson-area schools haven’t seen an extreme spike in interest, but they’re “seeing an uptick, that’s for sure.”

“We're doing a few more tours than we typically would do at this point in the year. We are seeing some increased interest,” he said. Whether that interest will translate into an actual enrollment increase remains to be seen.

Bishop said the charter network has struggled more with enrollment in recent years as the state’s ESA voucher program has grown. The program became universal in 2022, and Leman is “seeing that change just like every other public school,” he said.

“School choice is a big deal in Arizona; has been for a long time, so public schools kind of have a challenge on their hands with navigating lots of different charter and private options, and now you've got this ESA program thrown into the mix,” he said. “We know that it's important that parents and scholars have the ability to choose what type of an educational program they attend, and our goal is just to provide the very best option that we can, so when families need us, we're here.”

Some parents weighing all options

For some TUSD families, the possibility of a school transition is already prompting them to consider alternatives.

Kathleen Shooshtari, a parent at Cragin Elementary, 2945 N. Tucson Blvd., which is among the schools proposed for closure, told the Star her daughter would be sent to charter school La Paloma if Cragin shuts down.

“My daughter learns better in a smaller environment. She has learning needs, so she needs a smaller classroom,” Shooshtari said. “What they're going to do is they're going to overcrowd them, and kids are going to be piled on top of each other, which is not fair. I want to give my daughter the best chance to get a better education.”

Erica Maske, another Cragin parent, has a 9-year-old son with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. When he first started attending the school, he needed a walker to navigate the hallways. Today, he’s able to walk the hallways on his own.

Maske said that she, too, is considering private or charter schools if Cragin consolidates into Blenman Elementary, 1695 N. Country Club Road.

“(My) only concern is private or charter schools don’t really have to accommodate IEPs and other accommodations for special needs,” she said.

Under federal law, public charter schools must follow Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs. Private schools, however, generally have different obligations when it comes to providing special education services and are not required to follow the same IEP requirements.

Maske said she is “not sure at the moment” what the district could do to make her comfortable moving to Blenman.

“The intersection at Blenman is horrendous,” she said. “There are so many issues and accidents.”

She also told the Star in October that she worried about her son having to learn to walk in another environment.

“It's just not the same,” she said. “He would have to get used to new hallways, to new landscapes, and I think that that would be a little bit more challenging versus where he's been.”

Karima Wicks, a parent at Hudlow Elementary, 502 N. Caribe Avenue, which is also proposed for closure, has already experienced the disruption of a school shutting down.

Wicks initially enrolled her child at Mexicayotl Academy, a charter school that closed earlier this year. She then moved her family to Hudlow.

Now, she could be facing 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 in October. “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.”

During previous school closures in the 2009-10 and 2012-13 school years, TUSD estimated that it lost about 15% of the students involved in the process.

TUSD looks to keep families in the district

TUSD plans to offer free before- and after-school care and transportation options as incentives for families to remain in the district, Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo told reporters last month.

After the governing board votes on the proposed closures in December, Trujillo said the district will also consider hiring a professional marketing firm to help develop strategies to attract families back to TUSD.

“Marketing and communications are totally different, and I think we have a wonderful communications department. Communications is celebrating student and staff achievement, highlighting district events, communicating urgent information in a proactive way to families,” he said in a news conference. “Marketing is different. That's researching your market share. That's going zip code by zip code, breaking out percentages of your market share, looking around the nation to see what strategies are the most effective. It's branding. It's figuring out how do we most effectively leverage our most popular and our most effective programs.”

He said the governing board will likely see that proposal in January. But first, “we want to settle on what we look like.”