Board votes to keep five comprehensive 7–12 neighborhood high schools, asks staff to refine maps

The Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education voted on Oct. 8 to maintain five comprehensive 7–12 neighborhood high schools and to give staff direction to plan around that structure. Trustee Omar Medina made the motion “accepting the recommendation of Superintendent August to maintain the 5 comprehensive schools for the ongoing future,” and the motion passed in a roll call vote after deliberations about capacity, transfers and timing.

The motion was presented as a way to provide stability while staff works through longer‑term planning such as the facilities master plan and transfer‑priority changes. Trustees and staff repeatedly emphasized that the decision was intended to stabilize the high‑school model for the next several years while staff refines attendance boundary lines and examines transportation impacts.

Trustees and staff discussed capacity concerns at specific campuses and the interaction of transfer policies with enrollment projections. Superintendent August and other staff noted that current transfer volumes have inflated apparent enrollment at some campuses, and that moving toward neighborhood boundaries would require a phased approach to transfers: “If instead of looking at all of the students that we have accepted as transfers, we looked at Maria Carrillo through the lens of being a neighborhood school… it would create a need for a school of 1,582 students,” a senior staff member explained while discussing projected campus fits.

Several trustees asked for additions or small adjustments to the map staff displayed; multiple board members said they want the map shown to the public and to feeder districts for feedback before finalizing implementation timelines. Trustee Nick Casten and others suggested minute boundary adjustments to balance walkability and busability; staff said they would return promptly with updated maps and transport modeling.

The board vote: After discussion, the board approved the motion to keep five comprehensive 7–12 schools. The roll call vote was recorded and the motion carried.

Ending: Staff will return with refined boundary maps and additional analysis of facility and transportation impacts so the board can make more detailed implementation decisions.