Opposition Grows to Strobridge School Closure

A proposal to close Strobridge Elementary School was opposed by parents, staff, teachers, neighbors, and even the Hayward Unified School District’s superintendent during a packed online meeting last Thursday.

No one speaking at the meeting thought the closure was a good idea. District officials led by Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne said the meeting was one of several scheduled to gather views around the district about changes including some potential closures. The district held similar public meetings about the fate of Strobridge last month.

A revised proposal is expected to be issued on November 9 and available on the district website on November 12. The Hayward Unified School Board of Education is expected to hold its final vote on the matter on November 17. 

Strobridge School, located at 21400 Bedford Drive, is just over the Hayward city line and serves many students who live in Castro Valley. It is the northernmost school in the Hayward Unified School District.

The draft proposal by the district would close Strobridge after this school year and send its students either to Cherryland School or to Fairview School, both some distance away. The district has said it is dealing with a long-standing city-wide drop in enrollment, leading to state funding cuts. The district is also assessing upcoming needs for expensive repairs at some older schools.

A number of parents said they and their children loved Strobridge School and its learning community, while they and others complained about the long-distance children would have to walk to their proposed new school. 

Two Strobridge teachers said that after a long slog through distance learning, they had rejoiced to be reunited with the students at the school—only to be told it would soon close. 

Participants during the online meeting also brought up their concerns about possible dangers students could face walking to, and around, their new school. 

Several parents during the meeting claimed Cherryland School is located in a high-crime area that would endanger children. There were no similar fears voiced about Fairview School.

District officials have said repeatedly that Cherryland School itself is safe, new, and underused, and Dr. Wayne said that again Thursday. He said the district needs to “right-size” the number of schools it operates.

Local resident Sandra Macias said, “A new building doesn’t make you safe. It doesn’t protect you from bullets.”

Macias said the area around Cherryland School is dangerous, with three murders reported on one block in a 12-month period and ongoing gang activity. Getting there is a long walk, without sidewalks, and large potholes that cars swerve to avoid, endangering young pedestrians. There is Kelly Hill for children to climb, as well as their having to cross several major streets, she added. 

Dr. Wayne said he knew there were issues in the neighborhood around the school, and that he hoped to gather people’s experiences around safety in the community meetings.

Other parents and residents agreed with Macias.

“Amen Sandra!” wrote Lili Marilao in the meeting’s chat room. “There is no way this is walkable, or safe.”

A participant signed in as Andrea Psychologist said there is already plenty of work for school psychologists among traumatized Cherryland School students. The route students would take to walk there from homes near Strobridge School is loaded, she said, with registered sex offenders and other dangerous people.

Dr. Ann Maris, president of the Grove Way Neighborhood Association, said the district’s proposal left out several major issues about closing Strobridge School. She cited a way to get children safely to school, the many learning resources in the neighborhood around the school, and children breathing in car fumes deeply as they walk along and across major roads.

Assistant Superintendent Allan Garde said that the district would adjust school attendance boundaries to minimize each student’s walk to school and try to make that walk as safe as possible.

Dr. Wayne said that delaying closing schools, as many parents seem to want, is possible but this would require the district to make big cuts almost immediately in other operations.

The district asked that further comments be sent to osinput@husd.us until today: November 3.