Fountain Valley Board Votes 8th School Closure

FOUNTAIN VALLEY —  About 200 parents watched in helpless outrage Thursday night as the Fountain Valley School District Board of Trustees voted to close the city’s oldest elementary school because of low enrollment.

In an emotionally charged meeting that lasted for two hours, about a dozen parents spoke against the proposed closure of Fountain Valley Elementary School--and threatened legal action to keep it open.

Despite the opposition, the board voted, 4-1, to close the school.

“We will not let this die,” parent Barbara Emerson said of the vote. “We will take it straight to court.”

Rabbi Stephen Einstein, who cast the dissenting vote, received a standing ovation from the audience when he told fellow board members that strong community opposition warrants re-evaluation of closure.

“To hear parents attend every meeting with valid concerns over this matter made me think twice, and I believe the school should not be closed,” he said. “But I do feel that each board member voted the way they felt best.”

The vote came after several months of heated debate between community members and officials of the school district, which has had a steady enrollment decline for the last 10 years. Seven schools have been closed in the area since 1979; many parents believe that one more is far too many.

“We don’t feel the board is listening to us or addressing our concerns,” Cherie Dwhytie, a leader of the opposition group, said before Thursday night’s meeting.

The group told board members that their concerns center on the lack of an environmental impact study by the district to determine what effect closing the eighth school in 10 years would have on the district.

“They have not addressed how the increased traffic will affect our neighborhoods or our air,” Dwhytie said. “Closing this school will overflow the other open schools, causing more traffic for them and forcing the cancellation of many programs for lack of space, not to mention what happens to people’s home values when there isn’t a neighborhood school.”

But board members say a school must be closed this year to compensate for the loss of money from the state because of dwindling enrollment. Fountain Valley Elementary School, with just 302 pupils, is the obvious choice, board members argue.

The board’s decision means that the school’s pupils will be relocated to three other schools--whichever one is one mile from their home or nearer, according to district officials.

“We want to know what happens when the population begins to climb,” said Carol Barnes, a member of the opposition group. “Our figures show that the birthrate is beginning to do just that. But will there be schools for them?”