No middle school closure for Belmont-Redwood Shores School District

A ranked choice of programs will be maintained as previously and volunteer-based District Advisory Committee to do additional outreach on middle school marketing and enrollment, trustees decided. 

The vote rejected the official recommendation by Superintendent Dan Deguara to reduce from the two smaller middle school options to just one beginning in the 2026-27 school year. 

The middle school alignment decision was previously presented to the board for consideration because sustaining three middle school options in the district has become “increasingly less feasible.” 

“Maintaining both has the potential to create uncertainty in our community and when families crave consistency, that’s a hard thing to grapple with,” Deguara said Thursday. 

Still, the board opted to maintain the status quo. 

“I would like to keep all the programs open, I would like to also preserve choice,” Trustee Anne Dang said. 

The school district offers one comprehensive sixth through eighth grade middle school, Ralston, and the two smaller kindergarten to eighth grade schools. The district is projected to have 290 fewer students in the next six years, and both of the smaller schools are currently enrolled under capacity. 

Board President David Koss said maintaining the status quo would not be “in the best interest of the district, unfortunately.” He was the sole abstention from voting to keep all three middle school programs open. 

“Consolidating allows us to preserve a strong small school model alongside a comprehensive one, hopefully maintain choice and restore program strength of the one that remains,” Koss said. 

Before the final vote was approved, 4-1, Trustee Jackee Bruno proposed another motion to close Sandpiper and keep Nesbit as the small middle school program. This motion was seconded, but failed 3-2. 

The middle school alignment decision was not driven by financial reasons, but rather enrollment, but Deguara acknowledged that continuing to fund underenrolled programs ultimately takes resources away that could be used in other ways. 

“Ultimately our decision comes down to tradeoff and priorities,” Deguara said Thursday. “Regardless of the decision, we’ll need to monitor spending, make strategic choices to draw down our $4.8 million structural deficit, and that comes with tradeoffs.” 

The structural deficit does not place the district in a place of fiscal emergency, trustees said, and as a basic aid district, funding the district receives is not dependent on enrollment numbers. 

“The cost savings won’t be realized until several years down the road and I don’t think that warrants closing a school,” Dang said.

The decision to maintain the status quo means the focus must be to fill the seats at the smaller schools, Deguara said. 

“We need to fill those open seats, that’s a financially prudent thing to do,” he said. 

While the district’s recommendation differed from the board’s final action, Deguara said in a statement Friday that trustees engaged in open and transparent dialogue throughout the process.

“We remain committed to supporting students and families as we move forward together,” Deguara said.