At the south entrance of Palo Verde High School, the whispers of a marimba and snare drums echo out of the performing arts building.
Inside, along the locker-lined halls, shiny medals and trophies tell more than 60 years worth of stories about Tucson’s athletic, academic and cultural communities.
In Mrs. Vasquez’s classroom, college banners hang across the full width of the walls. There’s one info board describing how to fill out financial aid applications and another that shows students how to take the military track after graduation.
These are the hallmarks of the Tucson Unified School District that keep families of both staff and students coming back year after year. And it’s what they hope the district would continue to provide, even if up to 10 schools close by 2029.
In the center of Mrs. Vasquez’s room, Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo stands at a wooden podium, telling members of the press that he’s committed to stabilizing the district through the closure process, and strengthening programs in Fine Arts and Special Education.
But Trujillo says he’s spent the last week breaking the news of his school closure recommendations to communities of five TUSD schools.
“Nobody wants to be here. I don't want to be here discussing this,” he says. “Our board doesn't want to be here discussing this. Our communities don't want to be here discussing this. But TUSD is not in a vacuum facing these challenges.”
A slew of demographic shifts, falling birth rates and school choice expansions have led TUSD to reconfigure its spaces and programs starting next school year. And Trujillo is right — this district is not unique.
Tucson’s Amphitheater district started this school year with four fewer elementary schools due to enrollment shortfalls.
In the Phoenix area alone, 10 school districts have voted to shutter a total of 26 campuses since 2024. In Portland, Oregon, up to 14 schools could close next year. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the district board already voted to shut 17 schools.
TUSD’s Tuesday board meeting was scheduled at Palo Verde to accommodate more attendees. The school consolidation plan was the only topic slated for discussion, and the public comment period was lengthened to allow for more voices than usual.
Parents like Colin Jones told the board they’ll be moving to a different district if their school closes.
Jones says he’ll be sending his two children, who currently attend Collier Elementary School, to Agua Caliente, a school in the Tanque Verde district. Trujillo’s recommendation is for Collier students to merge into Bloom Elementary School, which is four miles away.
“There’s nothing that you’re offering at Bloom that doesn’t already exist at Collier and nothing that is better than my alternative, which is now closer,” he said. “I think a lot of parents like me are going to be in that same situation.”
Collier parents are circulating a petition to keep their school open. It has almost 800 signatures — eight times the amount of kids currently enrolled.
“The staff are the sweetest and will make sure you are comfortable with all your work,” TUSD eighth-grader Amelia B wrote on the petition, noting she attended Collier from kindergarten through sixth grade. “They really try their best to keep the school going by planting flowers, repainting the school, and etc. Mrs. Langford and Mrs. Osborn are really the best principals ever!”
Governing board member Natalie Luna Rose also commented, thanking the community for voicing their thoughts.
“Before making any decisions, I will carefully examine the proposals from every angle, including the financial implications, the impact on students and families, the needs and capacity of the receiving schools, and whether alternatives to closure have been fully explored,” she wrote.
The district’s promises
Trujillo, who has served as superintendent for almost a decade, said he’s committed to seeing this closure process through. According to his recommendations, some schools would close next school year and others would close in the 2028-29 school year.
On Tuesday, the superintendent said TUSD’s “aggressive reconfiguration” is not aimed at budget stabilization alone, but toward district growth and “creating a superior and excellent academic product for our students better than what we're able to do now.”
Part of that solution is providing free before and after school care for students in merging elementary schools and even for students who are out-of-district.
“We're incentivizing families from outside the district who can see, ‘Wow, it's no cost. I'm going to go in here and be a part of this.’ And then also we want to cushion the blow for the closing school and make sure that we create a soft landing,” Trujillo said.
Trujillo also claimed no employees would lose their jobs at least until the end of the 2027-28 school year. He said all staff who work one-on-one with Special Needs students are guaranteed to move on to their merged campus.
Other staff who would be unnecessarily duplicated on their merged campus — like office managers, for example — would go on to fill vacant roles elsewhere in TUSD.
Transportation is the third non-negotiable in this process, Trujillo said.
“If a parent wants the bus, they’re getting the bus. It will be guaranteed transportation from the neighborhoods of the closing schools over to the receiving schools. The question on that one is: How fast can we make those routes?” he said.
The governing board that makes the ultimate decisions on the closures could change by January. Five candidates are currently in the running for members Jennifer Eckstrom and Val Romero’s seats.
If new members are elected on Nov. 3, Trujillo said they’ll have to catch up to see the closure process through.
“When we have a new board member, my job is to get them in, connect them to facilities, connect them to finance, connect them to all of these materials, walk them through so that they're best prepared to be in a position to vote on something,” Trujillo said. “Now, whether or not a vote will happen — that's beyond my pay grade.”
Trujillo's ‘We heard yous’
At Tuesday’s presser, Trujillo outlined four other pieces of feedback that many families expressed during September’s community engagement sessions. These are in addition to childcare and transportation.
- Continue Special Education programs: Trujillo said around 7,000 students in the district have Special Needs and each year, TUSD sees more with emotional disabilities and severe physical disabilities. He said Special Ed staff would move with their students to merged campuses and added that he foresees an alternative campus specialized for those students.
- Increase arts, physical education and counseling staff: Trujillo said some of the school consolidations would result in increased arts staffing and more investment in sports programs.
- Maintain healthy class sizes: Some of the students in closing schools would be stepping into larger classes. Trujillo said some classrooms would have teacher’s assistants. He also plans to ensure dual language students receive the instruction they need.
- Effectively reuse closed campuses: TUSD has closed 17 schools since 2000 through multiple consolidation rounds. Officials and community members have said the processes were rushed and left buildings vacant for years. This time around, Trujillo said, creative solutions would come from empty buildings.
“That's really a tough sell to say, ‘I've got a price tag on your school and it's this,’” said Jim Byrne, president of the Tucson Education Association. “But we can sort of flip your kids' school and invest that money elsewhere. It's a really hard and cold conversation to have so it makes sense the district's not leading with that, but if people are not seeing it, you need to tell them what the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is.”
So far, Trujillo has proposed the closure of Hudlow, Cragin, Dunham, Cavett and Collier elementary schools; and Magee and Secrist middle schools. Three other configurations may be announced in the coming weeks.
The TUSD board is set to vote on Trujillo’s recommendations on Dec. 8.
