Visalia Unified School District is making changes to their boundaries. On December 3rd, they held information meetings at two of the elementary schools that are the most affected by the boundary changes, Riverway Elementary and Global Learning Charter (GLC), formerly Fairview Elementary. Fairview transitioned to Global Learning Charter, a Public Charter School in the fall of 2017, when newly constructed Riverway Elementary was built to replace it. Enrollment at Fairview had dropped dramatically over the period of time leading up to its closure, source: https://elementaryschools.org/directory/ca/cities/visalia/fairview-elementary/64116006791/
I noticed inconsistencies and inaccurately reported data in the PowerPoint presentation on December 3rd at Riverway Elementary School. Link to VUSD Board Presentation: https://hdp-us-prod-app-vusd-engage-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/9417/3196/1360/Forward_2030_Facilities_Plan_Presentation_11.5.24.pdf
In the existing conditions slide on page 9, it says the classroom counts and capacity do not include leased portables. If you add the capacity of the portables, utilization is currently at 103.8% at Riverway Elementary. THE PROJECTED FIRST YEAR UTILIZATION at GLC is 104.1%. VUSD School Board is just moving the capacity problem to an antiquated school site that will have many more facilities problems by overloading an outdated and already replaced school site. The graph below shows the utilization using the correct data.-
The VUSD School Board also used different numbers for the capacity at GLC on the charts in page 9 (650) and page 24 (641) of the PowerPoint presentation. Seems like parents are being manipulated by inaccurate numbers to fit a narrative. These are just the inaccuracies in the data regarding my child’s school, I’m sure there are other inaccuracies in the slideshow presented.
If the intention of VUSD School Board is to get rid of the kids from underprivileged neighborhoods and make Riverway Elementary an Elite School, they’re on the right track with this plan to open an already replaced antiquated school site. But it will lead to the same problems they had when Fairview Elementary was a utilized public-school site. The School Board can and should do better than this! They own the entire lot at the corner of Giddings and Ferguson, and had plans to build an elementary school there. According to the linked presentation, VUSD currently has $48 million dollars to build elementary schools. The board member said it cost approximately $22 million to build Denton Elementary and they stated that the state reimburses up to 50% of the cost of building a new school. That should be enough money to have plans to build at least 2 schools right away.
Crissy Balderama, concerned VUSD parent and advocate for my son’s access to fair education.