New Schools Assigned for Glenbrook, Holbrook Students

Facing the smallest and quietest audience it has had since December, the Mt. Diablo school district board readjusted school boundaries for the soon-to-be closed Holbrook Elementary and Glenbrook Middle schools.

But the vote was a surprising 3-1-1, with trustees Gary Eberhart, Linda Mayo, and Sherry Whitmarsh in favor; new trustee Lynne Dennler voting no and outspoken trustee Cheryl Hansen abstaining.

District personnel met Monday with parents of children from the soon-to-be closed schools at three school sites to listen to their questions about boundaries and transportation to new schools.

The district divided the former Glenbrook attendance map into five areas. They are:

•Area 1: This is north of Highway 4 and includes Clyde. Students living here will attend Valley View Middle School.

• Area 2: This area is bordered by Highway 4 on the north, Highway 242 on the east, and Solano Way on the south and west.  Houses on the north and the east side of Solano are in this area. Students in this area will attend El Dorado Middle School.

• Area 3: Bordered by Highway 4 on the north, Highway 242 on the west, and Willow Pass on the south and east, students in this area will also attend El Dorado. 

• Area 4: This is bordered on the north and east by Solano Way (houses on the south and west side of Solano Way are in area 4), and on the east side of Highway 242. The east border is Grant Street and the south boundary is Clayton Road with houses on the north side of Clayton Road. Students living here will attend Valley View.

• Area 5: This is bordered by Clayton Road on the north, Galindo Street on the east, Walters on the south, and Meadow on the west. Students in this area will attend Oak Grove Middle School.

Holbrook students will be dispersed to Wren Avenue Elementary and Sun Terrace Elementary schools beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

The new boundaries are these:

• Area 1: This is bordered by Solano Way on the north and Highway242 on the east. Students in this area will attend Sun Terrace. 

• Area 2: It follows the current Holbrook borders on the north and south, Highway 242 on the west, and Port Chicago Hwy on the east. These students will attend Wren Avenue. 

• Area 3: This is bordered by Port Chicago Highway on the west, Olivera on the east (students on the south and east side of Olivera are in area 3), and the current Holbrook border on the south. Students living here also will attend Wren Avenue. 

• Area 4: This is north and east of Olivera and south of Port Chicago Highway and follows the current Holbrook borders to the east and south. Students living here will be in the Sun Terrace boundary.

For maps of new boundaries for both schools, see the attached pdf or visit the MDUSD website, here.

Superintendant Steven Lawrence said the district will try to help parents with transportation costs, which could run as much as $720 per student per year if the students ride Contra Costa Connection buses to school.

Lawrence said if 53 parents sign up per bus for a $400 annual pass (or $40 per month), the district could provide transportation from Sun Terrace, Wren, or Glenbrook to El Dorado or Valley View.

Lawrence also said that the district has been trying to work with the county's 511 transportation program, and it may be able to provide parents vouchers as an incentive to take the school district bus.

The district may also be able to run a late bus for students in the after school program at El Dorado, but it needs state approved to expand the afterschool programs at Wren and Sun Terrace to include middle school students, Lawrence said.

Dennler said the district needs to make sure students get to school, and should figure a way to pay for their transportation to farther campuses.

“I think we’ve lost sight of students and their families,” she said. “I have a difficult time imagining any family being able to put an additional $40 in their monthly budget.”

Trustee Linda Mayo said the district can’t afford busing any more.

“It’s not perfect and we regret that, but we don’t have the funds,” she said.

Hansen praised staff for moving ahead on the school boundary issues, but said many questions remained.

“I’m still with the group that wants an exact accounting of the savings the district gets by closing schools and the amount it will cost to move,” she said. “There are still so many unanswered questions.”