Live Oak School District plan to move students to new school sparks parent backlash

Live Oak School District‘s plan to transfer several transitional kindergarten students to different schools to balance class sizes has sparked fury among parents who say the move would disrupt their children’s education and language learning.

The district faces a staffing dilemma: State law requires one aide for every 10 transitional kindergarten (TK) students, meaning classes exceeding 20 students need additional staff. With enrollment higher than expected this year at Live Oak and Del Mar elementary schools, officials say they must either hire more aides — straining an already tight budget — or move three students from Del Mar and four from Live Oak to Green Acres Elementary.

For families at Live Oak Elementary, the transfer is especially concerning because it would pull students from the school’s popular dual-language immersion program, where children learn in both English and Spanish. The program, unique in the district, has become a key draw for families.

Parent Cassie Gazipura told Lookout on Tuesday that her daughter Ruby has worked hard to adapt to TK at Live Oak Elementary and to the school’s dual-immersion program. The news was hard to receive on Friday. 

“[We felt] really upset and kind of panicked,” she said. “It wasn’t an easy transition for our daughter, and so I’m really concerned about the emotional impact that this might have.” 

Gazipura and her family are considering moving to another school district if they ultimately have to move their daughter to Green Acres: “Because I don’t think that we would trust that our kid would ever be secure at the school that they were in.” 

LOSD Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Marilyn Rockey wrote in the letter on Friday that the district is asking families to volunteer to make the switch by Wednesday. If the district doesn’t get enough volunteers, Rockey wrote that officials will reassign students based on the order in which they enrolled, starting with the most recently enrolled students at Del Mar and Live Oak.

“As a district, we are sometimes faced with these kinds of decisions, and it is common practice to allow enrollment to settle at the beginning of the school year before making adjustments to balance class sizes,” wrote Rockey. “To ensure that every child has the best possible learning environment, we will need to move a small number of students to Green Acres Elementary.” 

This marks the second time in a year the district has asked students to move, further frustrating parents in the district. In May, parents were similarly upset when the district announced that it was phasing out the English-only classes at Live Oak Elementary and therefore needed to move the school’s third and fourth grade classes to Del Mar Elementary starting this school year. 

Over the past decade, Live Oak School District, like many districts in Santa Cruz County and across California, has struggled with declining enrollment and budget deficits, which has led it to implement layoffs and shuffle students and staff among its schools. The layoffs and the sudden moves erode trust and will ultimately cause families to leave — further reducing enrollment, says parent Marisa Morris. She also has a TK student at Live Oak Elementary and said she opposes the move.

Morris said after the uproar over how the prior superintendent, Daisy Morales, implemented budget cuts, and last year’s decision to move Live Oak Elementary third and fourth graders, parents are frustrated with the news that more students will need to switch schools. 

“This felt like another poor decision, and another poorly communicated decision and another decision that doesn’t feel like it’s in the best interest of our students and our families,” she said.

Lookout sought comment from Superintendent Pat Sánchez but he said was unavailable this week and shared a letter sent to families about the decision-making process. The letter was signed by Rockey and Brian Meisenheimer, executive director of human resources.

The letter says that required ratios for TK classes are 10 students per teacher, or 20 students with a teacher and an aide. Rockey wrote that with the moves, the district will have 20 students in each class at the three schools with two classes at Live Oak Elementary. She said that if a 21st student enrolls in a class then a second aide needs to be hired. 

Rockey added that if the district makes no adjustments to the classes, it would need to hire two additional aides, and potentially a third aide. The maximum number of students for a TK class is 24 students but, she wrote, that’s not ideal for young learners. 

Some parents have asked why the district doesn’t add a third TK class at Live Oak Elementary, where the district runs a dual-immersion program  taught by bilingual educators. Live Oak Elementary is the only school in the district with a dual-immersion program, which has attracted families to the school. 

“Opening another [dual-language immersion] class at Live Oak would require finding a qualified bilingual TK teacher — something extremely difficult to do as they are required to have additional coursework and training,” Rockey wrote. 

Gazipura said her family felt at home with Live Oak Elementary School when they were researching where to send their daughter and they weren’t certain about whether to send her to TK or to keep her in preschool. Then she went to an open house night there “and we sort of fell in love with the school, the leadership, the principal, the teachers there – and the concept of dual immersion,” she recalled. 

They were late to enroll, so now, she worries they might have to leave. 

She added that Ruby doesn’t have the same level of exposure to Spanish as other students, who might speak it at home. But in her first six weeks, Gazipura said, her daughter has started to adjust and loves her teacher. 

“Dual-language immersion has been a really big commitment for our family and for our daughter,” she said. “It’s been a really hard transition for her, and we’ve really been supporting her … because we really believe in it and in this community.” 

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