| Originally published in the Tracy Press on Friday, May 23, 2003 Many shocked over proposal to close Clover Middle School Tony Biasotti Tracy Press As word spread this week at Clover Middle School about a plan to close the 52-year-old school, teachers and staff said they feel blindsided by the proposal. “I was surprised that this was the first we’d heard of it,” said Jessica Fresco, a sixth-grade English and social studies teacher. “Our big concern is that it hasn’t been thought through, how it will affect our kids.” The Tracy Unified School District introduced the idea at Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting. Superintendent Jim Franco and his staff proposed moving Discovery Charter School to Clover Middle School’s campus in two to three years. Most Clover students would be moved to a renovated K-8 North Elementary School, and the rest would be spread among Monte Vista and Williams middle schools. Duncan-Russell High School would then move into the 10th Street site vacated by Discovery, and Willow Community Day School would move to Duncan-Russell’s present location on Grant Line Road. The district would also build a joint high school and middle school for 1,045 students on a new site on the outskirts of town. The trustees are entertaining one other option: building two adjacent new schools on the same property, a K-12 charter school for 1,260 students and a traditional 6-12 school for 1,045 students. But it was the option to move Discovery to the Clover campus that got the most attention Tuesday night. District trustees spoke favorably about the arrangement, and Virginia Stewart, Discovery learning director, said it would work well for her school. Trustees voted to study the two options further and make a final decision in June. By the time Franco told employees at North and Clover about the proposal a couple of hours before Tuesday’s meeting, most of them had already read about it in a newspaper article. “It felt like we weren’t important enough to be informed first,” said Gloria Ramirez, who teaches seventh-grade English-language development at Clover. Ramirez, Fresco and other teachers are concerned students will miss out on Clover’s special programs, like Ramirez’s class for English-language learners. The school also has a longer school day, with an extra period for remedial learning, and another special program to bring students up to grade level in language arts. If North is expanded, the district plans to start a new bilingual program there for about 100 students. “North School is too far for a lot of these kids who walk to school,” Ramirez said. “I don’t think that’s doing what’s best for our kids.” Most parents aren’t aware of the district’s plans, Ramirez said. She’s trying to communicate with Spanish-speaking parents, and Clover’s teachers will hold a meeting Thursday at 6 p.m. to keep all parents informed. Clover is Tracy’s oldest middle school, and many of its students have parents who also went there. Some staff members, like librarian Betty Keller, are also former students. “I have a big investment here. This school has been a huge part of my life,” said Keller, who has worked at Clover for 26 years. “We have a small community and we do a lot to accommodate our students. I’m sure any school they went to would do their best to accommodate them, but the other middle schools are bigger and I’m afraid our kids might get swallowed up.” Longtime Clover principal Denise Laven said seeing the school close would be difficult, but she realizes it might be the district’s best option. “Of course, it’s been my life for 14 years, so it’s very hard, but I understand the district’s facilities problems,” she said. “We need to do something to house those students.” If Clover becomes the charter school’s new home, it would be renovated and expanded to hold 1,260 students, rather than its current enrollment of 585. The district’s entire plan would make room for 2,400 additional students over the next five years. One of the plan’s selling points is that it would bring sorely needed improvements to schools in older parts of town. In the past decade, the district’s resources have been spent building schools in new housing developments on the west side of Tracy. State funding would become available for improvements at both Clover and North, because their enrollments would increase under the district’s proposal. But seeing those renovations completed just in time for the charter school to move in would be frustrating for many teachers, parents and students at Clover. “This school needs help,” eighth-grader Angelica Correa said. “They need to remodel, but it should stay Clover Middle School.” To reach reporter Tony Biasotti, call 830-4221 or e-mail tbiasotti@tracypress.com. Note: North school would be converted to a K-8 MTYRS school. Why didn't the Tracy Press mention this is the article? More Discovery spin? |
| Tracy Parents against MTYRE and YRE |
 |
|