Students and staff at two elementary schools face uncertainty about what campus they’ll call home after a new Paso Robles school board member requested that the district reconsider a February 2022 decision.
At the Feb. 28 board meeting, Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board trustee and Georgia Brown parent Laurene McCoy asked the board to reverse a decision moving Glen Speck from 17th Street campus to the smaller, renovated 36th Street campus and Georgia Brown to the new 17th Street campus.
This request comes after Georgia Brown parents cited concerns regarding the lack of after school programs, pickup and drop-off programs, and safety concerns at the temporary campus, which is slated to house students for at least two years until renovations at 36th Street are completed.
“You’re taking a population of 620 students and putting them someplace where there’s no convenient after school care for them,” McCoy told New Times over the phone. “Like how are they going to get there? Will there be an on-campus after school program, which would make a lot of sense because we don’t want them walking miles and miles. That’s dangerous.”
Georgia Brown parents have unsuccessfully petitioned the school district twice to move students directly to the new 17th Street campus, rather than moving them to a temporary campus while the 36th Street campus is renovated. The current plan moves Georgia Brown to a temporary campus, while Glen Speck remains at 17th Street until 36th Street campus renovations are completed, after which, Glen Speck makes the final move to 36th Street and Georgia Brown moves to 17th Street.
But now, Georgia Brown parents are asking the district to keep Glen Speck students where they are. McCoy asked the board to consider allowing Georgia Brown students and staff to return to the 36th Street campus after construction is completed.
Current plans for the 36th Street campus include redesigning it into a community school that would accommodate Glen Speck’s smaller student population, which ranges between 400 to 450 students. Board member Joel Peterson said that McCoy’s motion to keep Georgia Brown at the 36th Street campus would not change existing construction plans.
“This is not about stopping a process that’s happening; it’s about looking at what’s going to happen in the next couple of years when we have two really beautiful campuses, [and] who lands in those campuses,” he said.
There are several reasons why Georgia Brown parents like McCoy want their children to remain at the smaller 36th Street campus even after renovations are completed. For one, after school care programs, such as the Boys and Girls Club and the Paso Robles Library Study Center, are closer to the school. McCoy also pointed out that moving schools would “affect the culture” of the school.
“You would be taking Georgia Brown out of a culturally Hispanic neighborhood and putting it in a non-Hispanic neighborhood,” McCoy told New Times. “And it’s a dual immersion program. They learned Spanish, so why wouldn’t you want them to be in a Spanish-speaking community? Not that there’s not Spanish-speaking community members [at] 17th Street, but if you actually look at the demographics of Paso Robles, 36th Street campus is in a community that is Hispanically cultured.”
During the Feb. 28 meeting, McCoy said that Georgia Brown was already cutting back certain programs in order to accommodate the larger student body population at the smaller 36th Street campus.
In a 4-2 vote, trustees voted to table the matter until the March 28 meeting when there will be more information and reports regarding the move.
“I do feel that the current plan that exists is a good one,” said board Presdient Nathan Williams, who voted against the motion. “I’ve talked to a lot of parents who are willing to move with their dual immersion program to Glen Speck. For me, I’m comfortable with all the work we’ve been doing and have had staff do for over a year now.” Δ
This article appears in Mar 2-12, 2023.