Trustees weigh 7–9/10–12 consolidation model; staff to return with enrollment, facility and cost comparisons

Amador County Unified board members spent an extended portion of their meeting discussing a proposed reconfiguration that would place grades 7–9 on one campus and grades 10–12 on another, consolidating resources to expand curricular offerings and reduce duplicate staffing.

Patty Horn, director of educational services, and district staff presented potential academic and developmental benefits of the 7–9/10–12 model and reviewed enrollment and facilities data pulled from the district’s 2022 facilities master plan. The presenters emphasized three themes: improved specialization and instructional depth, more efficient staffing and course offerings, and a smoother social‑emotional transition for students.

Academic rationale and staffing implications Horn and Superintendent Robert Critchfield described curriculum and scheduling advantages if junior high and high‑school resources were combined. The district currently shows 68 total high‑school teachers across two campuses; nearly half of those teachers prepare four or more separate course sections in a school year. Presenters said combining campuses could reduce the number of unique course preps per teacher, increase opportunity for specialized staffing (AP, CTE, language and arts) and allow previously constrained programs (CTE exposures at lower grades, more elective offerings) to expand into the junior high years.

Facilities and enrollment District slides compared permanent classroom counts, indoor square footage and portable classrooms at the two current high‑school campuses. Findings included: Argonaut currently uses more portable classrooms (about 20) while Amador has more permanent indoor square footage (about 21,000 additional indoor square feet). Neither campus would comfortably absorb projected combined enrollment without some facilities work, but FCMAT and staff said the work could be staged and would not necessarily require construction at the scale of a new two‑story classroom building.

Equity and local context A unique local factor cited by staff: six elementary attendance zones feed to two middle schools; the proposed configuration would end the common local problem of mid‑county students who form middle‑school friendship groups then split between high schools. Trustees noted consolidation could reduce families’ incentives to pursue intra‑district transfers for social reasons.

Board direction Trustees asked staff to return with specific fiscal analyses: a multi‑year staffing model that compares current staffing and operating costs against the consolidated scenario, utility and maintenance cost projections, transportation impacts, and a timeline that would allow community engagement before any final action. Trustees also asked for a clearer sense of which campus improvements would be needed under different timelines and whether COP funds could be repurposed for staged upgrades at both campuses. Several trustees emphasized that any consolidation decision should be deliberate and transparent; others urged the district to move promptly because of fiscal pressures.

What comes next Administration agreed to bring back updated enrollment projections and a fiscal comparison that models staffing, transportation and facilities costs under alternate consolidation timelines. Trustees asked for a public engagement element and, if consolidation remains an option, a clear board decision point so the community knows the district’s near‑term direction.