District unification study casts doubt on plans to reopen El Molino High School
Feasibility study examined a plan to break West County into two unified school districts—each with their own high school and elementary feeder schools
Last week, the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) released a long-awaited feasibility study about a proposed division of West Sonoma County Union High School District and ten elementary school districts into two unified school districts.
Christy White, CPA, conducted the study, and she presented an overview of her findings on Dec. 11 at a well-attended special board meeting of the Forestville Union School District, which had requested the study from SCOE.
White also conducted an earlier unification study, released in June 2022. (See our article on that.) This newest study was based on one of the many options listed in that previous study.
The new study examined a plan to split the massive, 400-square mile West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) and all its feeder schools into two new unified school districts: the Russian River Unified School District and the West County Unified School District, which would be centered on Sebastopol.
Russian River Unified would consist of El Molino High School, with the following feeder schools:
Fort Ross Elementary School District
Montgomery Elementary School District
Monte Rio Elementary School District
Guerneville Elementary School District
Forestville Elementary School District
Harmony Elementary School District
Oak Grove Elementary School District
West Sonoma County Unified would consist of Analy High School, with the following feeder schools:
Sebastopol Elementary School District
Gravenstein Elementary School District
Twin Hills Elementary School District
In her presentation, White examined this plan in the light of nine state-mandated criteria:
The reorganized districts will be adequate in terms of number of pupils enrolled. Study Conclusion: Met
The districts are each organized basis of a substantial community identity. Study Conclusion: Met with concern (the Harmony district area probably splits community identity between the Russian River and Sebastopol communities based on geography).
The proposal will result in an equitable division of property and facilities of the original district or districts. Study Conclusion: Met
The reorganization of the districts will preserve each affected district's ability to educate students in an integrated environment and will not promote racial or ethnic discrimination or segregation. Study Conclusion: Met
Any increase in costs to the state as a result of the proposed reorganization will be insignificant and otherwise incidental to the reorganization. Study Conclusion: Met
The proposed reorganization will continue to promote sound education performance and will not significantly disrupt the educational programs in the districts affected by the proposed reorganization. Study Conclusion: NOT MET.
Any increase in school facilities costs as a result of the proposed reorganization will be insignificant and otherwise incidental to the reorganization. Study Conclusion: Met
The proposed reorganization is primarily designed for purposes other than to significantly increase property values. Study Conclusion: Met
The proposed reorganization will continue to promote sound fiscal management and not cause a substantial negative effect on the fiscal status of the proposed district or any existing district affected by the proposed reorganization. Study Conclusion: NOT MET.
The two criteria that were not met—sound educational performance and fiscal status—are intimately linked, a fact White recognized in her comments. She noted that splitting up the high school district into two would result in two smaller high schools with roughly 700 pupils each and with less money all around due to the vagaries of state educational funding.
“It’s more expensive to run smaller schools, even though there are benefits of smaller schools…It would be hard for Analy to continue having a diverse course offering and hard for El Molino. Analy has done well—you know, the scores have ranged from low in math to very high in English language arts. It compares pretty favorably to the other schools.”
She noted that in terms of test scores, Analy had the second-highest test scores in the county, after Maria Carillo High School.
“Building a new, successful high school program at El Molino without negatively impacting the program at Analy—and with less money all around— it's a big risk,” she said. “It’s a big risk to both the unified districts, both an educational risk and a financial risk.”
The executive summary of the study put it this way: “As of today, this study found that reopening and creating new districts as a means to reopen El Molino High is risky both financially and educationally.”
That answer disappointed supporters of the effort to bring back El Molino High School, many of whom spoke during public comment.
“I respectfully disagree,” said Kimberly Lambert, a longtime proponent of re-opening El Molino. “Over the past two years, I have not met one single person who thinks reopening at El Molino for our West County students and families is a bad idea.”
“Unification would streamline administration, reducing the duplication of overhead costs across 11 districts,” she said. “The resulting savings could be redirected to classrooms, funding instructional programs and student support services. Reopening El Molino as part of a Russian River Unified District could significantly reduce commute time for rural students, giving them more time for academics, extracurriculars and families.”
Though a long line of parents and educators rose to speak in favor of unification, the rancor that had marked previous meetings on this topic was mostly absent.
Some parents criticized White’s anecdotal comment that many people at the local feeder schools had expressed a desire to opt out of the unification, something that would have made the unification less financially viable. They asked if she had talked to administrators or community members. In this case, White said she was simply repeating something that several administrators had told her.
“Throughout my travels, I heard, ‘We want El Molino reopened, but as an elementary school district, we don’t want to be unified because we’re afraid of what we would lose in our own program,” she said.
Joanie Blechel, who taught at Forestville School for 25 years, spoke to the frustration of hearing “no” from the powers that be over and over again on the question of re-opening El Molino.
“The reality is we need to think outside of the box,” she said. “What can we do? How can we get to the state, the county, the services we need in a creative way that also includes El Molino. I see we are all frustrated. I am too. My children went to El Molino…Let’s look to what we can do, how we can best serve all of the students in our area, and how we can all get that work done in less than the five years it took to get to this place.”
White emphasized that her study was “exploratory” and said it was not done in response to a petition for unification, nor did it preclude anyone from organizing such a petition.
“This is a preliminary exploratory look,” White said. “If you get a petition going, then that petition would have to be evaluated again for these nine criteria—by the county committee on school district organization and then, at some point, reviewed by the State Board of Education.”
Lambert seemed undaunted. “This is a lengthy process,” she said, “and this is just the beginning.”
Here is a link to a PDF of the entire report:
The meeting was recorded.
I believe at least one more element should be added to the study, which is how changed traffic patterns effect the various communities. Traffic in Sebastopol has been horrible since El Molino and Analy were combined. I try not to venture out on the roads when Analy lets out each day. Add to that the increased costs of road repair with the additional bus and car traffic on Sebastopol’s roads.