Interim superintendent recommends consolidating Bella Vista Elementary; board to vote after surveys and required notice

Interim Superintendent Terry Romo told the Sierra Vista Unified District governing board at a work session that she recommends consolidating Bella Vista Elementary because it has the district’s lowest enrollment and low building utilization. “Bella Vista came in the lowest with 212 students,” Romo said, and later noted Bella Vista is at about 51 percent capacity.

Romo framed the recommendation as part of a data‑driven effort to right‑size the district. She said she used enrollment, square footage and a facility condition assessment to rank elementary schools and modeled the district’s rubric on other districts’ processes. “I started with our enrollment, from all of our schools,” Romo said, describing the comparative figures for Town and Country, Carmichael, Pueblo Del Sol and Village Meadows.

Why it matters: consolidating a neighborhood elementary affects student assignments, transportation and special‑education placements, and could lead some families to choose charter or private alternatives. Board members raised concerns that sending Bella Vista students to Pueblo Del Sol would create long travel distances for some families; one member said Carmichael or Village Meadows might be closer for parts of the neighborhood and urged offering families two receiving‑school options if possible.

Romo proposed mitigating displacement by surveying Bella Vista families about which receiving campus they would prefer if consolidation is approved. She told the board she would also survey staff and hold additional town halls as required. “If you all vote or say yes, we want to consolidate Bella Vista to another school, then that’s giving me the okay to … survey Bella Vista families to see which school they would most prefer,” Romo said.

Legal and procedural constraints: the board’s legal advisor reminded members that state law requires at least 10 days’ notice and a town‑hall process before any closure vote, limiting what can be offered at the next regular meeting. “We are required by state law to give 10 days … there must be a town hall,” the legal advisor said, adding the board at the next meeting may pass, deny, or table the item but cannot lawfully present a newly developed second closure suggestion without the required notice and outreach.

Other proposals and next steps: Romo also asked the board to approve beginning work on a K–8 conversion at Huachuca Mountain as a pilot to keep families together and to solicit input from current fifth‑grade families about sixth‑grade placement. She said a recommendation on the sixth‑grade option would follow by winter break. Romo said the district would review open‑enrollment policies and transportation routes to reduce disruption if consolidation proceeds.

Budget and staffing context: Romo warned that staffing changes — not facility dispositions alone — drive the majority of potential savings. She described planned HR training for reduction‑in‑force procedures and said the district will try to limit disruption to current teachers and staff when reassignments are necessary.

Board response: board members expressed mixed views. Several said they supported moving forward but asked Romo to provide additional benchmarks and multi‑year enrollment trend data by school before a final vote. One member urged that the district present at least two closure options for board consideration; legal counsel clarified that presenting a second option at the next meeting would trigger notice requirements and additional public engagement.

What’s next: Romo asked the board to take two votes at the next regular meeting — one to permit moving forward with Huachuca Mountain as a K–8 pilot and one to authorize the consolidation process for Bella Vista, including surveying families — but the timing of any final action must follow the statutory 10‑day notice and town‑hall requirements. The work session concluded after procedural votes to adopt the agenda and to adjourn.