“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work, reporting or approval of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to viewpoints@wchl.com.
To Keep CHCCS Strong, Keep STEAM2 Together
A perspective from Alice Whiteside
The day after the CHCCS Board of Education voted to close Glenwood Elementary, my kindergarten son brought home his first school yearbook. We hadn’t yet told him the news; I still needed to process my feelings. He was eager to look through every page with me and point out everyone he knew: teachers, his friends, the janitorial staff, Nurse Traci, his teacher’s kids, his friend’s older siblings, and so on. I did my best to mirror his joy, hiding not only my sadness that we will be saying goodbye to Glenwood in a year but my worry that we will lose the school’s STEAM2 magnet program along with it.
This spring, the Board made the difficult decision to close an elementary school due to district-wide low enrollment, high facility costs, and significant budget challenges. At the beginning of the decision-making process, the Board stated multiple times that they would not cut programs. On June 4th, they voted to close Glenwood, again stating that they intended to preserve the programs. However, referring to Glenwood as two programs is incorrect. It is a school-wide magnet program called STEAM2 (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math, Mandarin). There are two pathways within the program, and families choose either the Dual Language (DL) or World Language (WL) lottery to enter the school. While most CHCCS elementary schools are under-enrolled, the district’s two magnet schools (STEAM2 and Frank Porter Graham Bilingüe) are at capacity.
STEAM2 was implemented in 2020-21. Five years in, we are seeing remarkable progress in closing the achievement gap, a robust and engaged community that supports teachers and contributes to student success, and a school where teachers are not only effective but also feel supported and want to stay. This isn’t accidental, it’s how the program was designed. The two pathways are deeply interconnected, sharing a STEAM curriculum and a focus on Mandarin language and culture. Kids are greeted at the car line in Mandarin, all signage in the school is bilingual, and Chinese culture shows up throughout the curriculum, in school events, and in hallway and library displays.
While we were drawn to STEAM2 for the opportunity for our child to learn Mandarin, what we found is a diverse, tight-knit school community where finding commonality across differences is embedded into the curriculum where, with a focus on raising global citizens, every culture is truly celebrated. If STEAM2 is split, what would the two pathways look like?
Will the STEAM and Chinese FLES teachers travel between schools, and how will we retain staffing for hard-to-fill positions? Will the current World Language of the neighborhood schools be replaced with Mandarin, or will there be two languages taught within these schools, increasing costs? Will Mandarin and STEAM resources be duplicated? How will the current trajectory of success continue, and what will the district do if it doesn’t? All of these questions relate to keeping families in CHCCS.
Enrollment is directly tied to the district’s finances; every child enrolled brings $7,500 in state funds to the district, plus an additional $6,290 from the county. Every family that leaves CHCCS for charter, private, or home schools is a loss of revenue. A new study out of Stanford looks at the effect of school closures on district financial health in CA, where state funding is likewise tied to the number of students. Depressingly, it found that on average school closures did not improve a district’s financial position, with operational savings offset by an equal loss of revenue from families leaving the district. It recommends that following a school closure, districts focus on retaining enrollment, “investing in transition quality, [and] managing the community engagement process in ways that limit family attrition” (p. 23). As the district has not yet answered our questions, and the Board intends to finalize a decision about the future of STEAM2 over the summer (a fast timeline with limited opportunities for community engagement), we are not off to a great start.
Innovative programs like STEAM2 keep families in the district. Its success benefits the whole district, supporting students at all CHCCS schools by stabilizing revenue. Glenwood will close in a year. As the district prepares for this transition, my fear is that we will lose our program, enrollment will worsen, the district will not realize the hoped-for savings, and in a few years CHCCS will again be facing the terrible necessity of closing another school. My hope is that the Board will instead choose a path with a clear vision and plan for how STEAM2 will continue to thrive. The district should build on our program’s success, not dismantle it.
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
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