The Learning Curve: San Diego Unified May Reverse One K-8 Closure

San Diego Unified officials are considering walking back their plans to shut down middle school grades at one K-8 school, south of Interstate 8.

Last week, we broke the news that San Diego Unified officials planned to shutter the middle school grades at four of the district’s K-8 schools. It spread like wildfire.  

The initial plan was to strip middle school grades from K-8 schools Golden Hill, Fulton and Audubon next year, and from Bethune the year after that. Students from those schools would be rerouted to other district middle schools.  

District officials have said low performance and graduation rates among the K-8 students – as well as expanded educational opportunities at the middle schools where they would be rerouted – were the driving factors behind the decision.  

That change blindsided parents and even the schools’ staffs, none of whom had been consulted about the change. It’s also inspired significant pushback from stakeholders, particularly from parents of Bethune students. They’ve argued that their school is not like the others, and that their children are better served there than at Bell Middle. 

Now, following the pushback, Superintendent Fabiola Bagula says she may not follow through with the proposed cut at Bethune. 

Bethune blowback: In the days after my initial story, Bethune parents mobilized. They went on local news, dispatched letters to school board members and made plans to show up en masse at the next school board meeting.  

When Nadine Trassare found out that Bethune was slated to lose its middle school grades, she was shocked. Both of her children attend the K-8. Trassare, a nurse at a district school, actually attended the school herself. 

“I have issues with the lack of input, lack of communication, lack of consideration,” Trassare said. “This decision to change these schools without asking what that does to our community as a whole is unfair.”  

Underscoring their opposition to the change seems to be a mixture of affinity for Bethune and concerns about the safety and quality of Bell Middle, where Bethune students were set to be rerouted.  

Students at Bell have long underperformed those at Bethune, and the school’s suspension rate is nearly three times the district average. 

Trassare’s concern is so deep that she said if Bethune were to close she would send her child to the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, a district magnet school, rather than Bell.  

Trassare’s not the only one skeptical of Bell. All five of Deedee Doungmala’s children have attended Bethune, and she worries about how they’d fare at a different school. 

“I’ve heard a lot about Bell, which wasn’t a lot of nice things,” Doungmala said. “Maybe I shouldn’t think that way. Maybe I shouldn’t judge them before I actually experience it, but all five of my kids have been going to Bethune, and so far, they haven’t disappointed.” 

Pumping the brakes: When I spoke to the superintendent on Wednesday, I asked if the move was to bolster student enrollment at Bell Middle. The school has lost more than 23 percent of its students over the past decade. That’s nearly double the district’s overall decline. Rerouting middle schoolers from nearby K-8 schools would add hundreds of students to Bell in the coming years, all without having to close any schools.  

Bagula said that wasn’t the case.  

Instead, she said the district decided to close the middle school portions of the K-8 schools because of disappointing student performance and low high school graduation rates for students who attended K-8’s. The schools’ test scores are relatively low, but cohort graduation data isn’t publicly available. 

The issue first came on her radar a couple of years ago, when then-principals of Audubon, Fulton and Golden Hill approached her with concerns about the programs.  

Bethune, she said, was added into the equation later on. She acknowledges that while students tend to underperform at the other three K-8’s, that’s not the case at Bethune. That’s why she and others have begun to soften on whether the district will shutter the middle school program.  

In a letter sent to parents on Friday night, Steven Dorsey, the area superintendent overseeing the cluster of schools which includes Bethune, didn’t waiver on Bethune’s closure. He seemed to indicate it was a done deal. 

“This message is to inform you that Bethune will no longer offer middle school grade levels after the 2026-27 school year,” Dorsey wrote. 

This move, though, will have “tremendous benefits,” he wrote. Students at Bell, Dorsey wrote, “will have access to more course offerings and programs currently not offered at our smaller K-8 school sites.” 

But by Wednesday morning, Bagula sounded less certain.  

“I’m still holding true to the three schools,” Bagula said, referring to Golden Hill, Audubon and Fulton.  

When it comes to Bethune, though, she’d wavered on whether to actually follow through with the cuts. She plans to attend yet-to-be announced community meetings before she makes her decision. 

Bagula had initially wanted to keep Bethune open because the school’s test scores were higher than the other K-8’s middle school grades on the chopping block. But when developing the closure plan, she’d met with other district officials who told her that if they were to close Audubon and Fulton, in essence endorsing Bell, “then it should be a full endorsement.” That “full endorsement,” though, would have to include closing the middle school portion of the other K-8 school siphoning students from Bell – Bethune. 

But now, she feels she perhaps should have been more “definitive” and followed her gut on not closing Bethune in the first place. 

“I want to make data-based decisions. When I looked at Bethune’s data, that’s the one that I was like, ‘Maybe not.” 

Trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne, whose subdistrict includes Bethune, struck a similar tone. 

“Bethune, I understand is the school that has more issues [with closing] and I kind of agree with [the parents.] I think the superintendent is changing their mind too, because she could see they’re offering a better program than the others,” Whitehurst-Payne said.  

She also acknowledged that the district should have “brought the community along with us,” as they made these decisions.  

When it comes to the closures, Bagula said she’s sensitive to concerns parents may have and understands that this decision may “feel like a loss.” But Bell is different now than it used to be, she said, acknowledging the school has had a negative reputation. Bell now offers language pathways, a wellness center, visual and performing arts and is a certified community school, she added. 

“I hope that they see that the options that we’re giving them are actually good ones for their children, that that’s what we’re trying to do, not trying to remove something from the community, but actually trying to add value,” Bagula said. “Let’s give Bell a try, because it has transformed.” 

What We’re Writing 

At a board meeting last month, Escondido Union High School District Trustee Carol Durney came out as trans. It was a culmination of a yearslong journey that has left the 64-year-old, a conservative and former president of the Escondido Republican Club, navigating both her new identity and the fraught political reality it brings. But the announcement also incited vicious pushback, which in turn brought a wave of support. 

San Diego Unified officials have pledged to build affordable housing for at least 10 percent of district staff and in March officials took the biggest step toward completing that goal yet. The board issued a request for proposals from developers to turn five sites across the district into affordable housing. It yielded more than a dozen submissions, but details on what’s in them are still scarce. 

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