The Puyallup School Board voted Monday to close Hilltop Elementary School in Edgewood.
Board members expressed sadness at shuttering the school, but cited the district’s $13.5 million budget shortfall and the school’s low enrollment.
Board member Kathy Afflerbaugh said she was on the board when officials held off closing Riverside Elementary several years ago. Postponing that closure to the 2007-08 school year wound up becoming a “disservice” to students because they didn’t have the range of programs available to students at larger schools, she said.
“I don’t want there to be so few students at Hilltop that we’re not able to provide academic programs for students to be ready and successful at junior high,” said Afflerbaugh, who once had children in Hilltop, Riverside, Mountain View and Waller Road elementary schools in the North Hill area.
In the district’s October head count, Hilltop was the smallest of the district’s 33 schools, with just 211 youngsters.
Before the school year ended, the district notified students they’d be reassigned to either Mountain View or Northwood elementary schools if Hilltop closed. Staff members also were reassigned. More than half of Hilltop teachers will go to Mountain View or Northwood.
Hilltop parent Mike Carlson told board members at the Monday morning meeting that they should learn from the Hilltop closure in case the district closes another school. He said families wanted earlier notice and more communication during the closure process so they could prepare for the move. He said it was the PTA – not district officials – at the three affected schools that organized open houses at Northwood and Mountain View in late May, so Hilltop families could visit their new schools.
Although the vote was expected, Carlson’s fourth-grader Ethan, in an interview, succinctly summed up his reaction: “Mad. I don’t want it to close.”
The frowning youngster said he liked the school that he and his twin sister, Taryn, attended. But he’s trying to look forward to transferring to Northwood. “My best friend’s going there,” he said.
Board members acknowledged it wasn’t a perfect situation but said efforts to address the district’s shortfall and the district-mandated timeline to close a school factored into the late decision.
Also at the meeting, Jan Olmstead, president of the Puyallup Paraeducators Association, asked the board to reconsider its plan to reduce paraeducators’ work week by two hours at the elementary level and 90 minutes at the junior high and high school levels. The cutbacks would occur during staff planning time on Wednesdays when elementary students are released early and secondary students arrive late.
Olmstead said paraeducators have used that time in past years to collaborate with teachers on lessons, attend staff meetings and discuss how to help individual special education students. The reductions, she said are “very detrimental to our service to students and impact us financially.”
The cut will cost paraeducators – who she said are among the district’s lowest-paid workers – $200 a month when wages, retirement, vacation pay and out-of-pocket benefit costs are considered, Olmstead said.
Deputy superintendent Debra Aungst said that under the new schedule, paraeducators will be at school when students are there, the same as before the district started the Wednesday planning sessions. “It would be wonderful if we could have them working,” she said, “but it’s part of the cost-saving measures.”
Debby Abe: 253-597-8694
debby.abe@thenewstribune.com
blogs.thenewstribune.com/street
