Parents were raising their hands to speak and wiping tears from their eyes on Thursday night in the Dunham Elementary School cafeteria.
Some students slouched over their mothers’ and fathers’ laps in their pajamas from Thursday’s spirit day. Several of them were red-eyed, too.
“What can I do to help keep this school open?” one parent asked.
Under fluorescent lights and surrounded by red brick walls, Tucson Unified School District Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo presented his recommendation to shutter Dunham and consolidate it into Marshall Elementary School next year.
But that proposal did not sit well with the receiving end — about 50 parents, students, alumni and staff, many of whom said their families have been involved with Dunham for generations and many who said they enrolled in TUSD to attend Dunham specifically.
“The staff here know every kid’s name. They know what each of them likes to read,” one person said.
About 135 students are enrolled at Dunham, an A-rated school, which is located along 29th Street between Harrison and Old Spanish Trail roads. The 270 students at Marshall are located about a mile east of Dunham on 29th Street.
Both schools are meeting around 40% of their capacity.
In response to parents in the room suggesting the closure of Marshall and its consolidation into Dunham instead, Trujillo said Dunham doesn’t have the space to absorb Marshall students.
Countless people shared that Dunham staff members have been “like family.” One staff member and mother compared the school’s potential closure to the time she was evicted from her apartment because she couldn’t afford rent.
Allison Muzzy, a teacher of 30 years at Dunham, said all of her own children attended the school.
“Thank you to all of you for coming to support us because it’s not easy. This has been my home,” she said, over the applause of families surrounding her.
Concerns about Marshall Elementary School
When one parent suggested that the district would lose students to charter schools and other districts because of the closures, dozens of others nodded. The majority agreed they would refuse to send their children to Marshall because it’s B-rated and the building is 10 years older than Dunham’s which was built in 1973.
Several parents also shared alarming experiences they had or heard of at Marshall.
One mother alleged that her son, who was on an Individualized Education Plan, was left “naked in a corner” for six hours in a Marshall classroom until the school finally contacted her. She claimed he had left the classroom in disarray and that Marshall staff forced her to clean up her son’s mess herself.
“They didn’t know how to help him,” she said.
TUSD spokesperson Karla Escamilla responded to AZPM’s request for comment on the allegation:
“Regarding the very serious allegation involving a special needs student being left unsupervised at Marshall ES and the act of unprofessional conduct alleged by the meeting attendee, our administrative teams at the principal, and district administrative level have no record of any such incident ever occurring. If this incident would have occurred there are very specific protocols and procedures that would have been required to provide a safe environment and to assist the student, the parent would have been contacted immediately, and the parent would not have been requested to clean up the environment.”
One father alleged that claims of a teacher physically hurting a student at Marshall went viral on TikTok last year. Escamilla wrote:
“The administration does acknowledge an incident of inappropriate physical contact in an attempt to restrain a student that was not deemed as an assault. The teacher involved in this incident was placed on administrative leave, suspended without pay, and is no longer employed by the district. Though the incident was referenced as having “gone viral” on Tik Tok, the administration has no authority to regulate what private citizens choose to claim through Tik Tok or any other social media platform.”
Another Dunham mother said her nephew didn’t get the support he needed while struggling academically at Marshall, so he had to retake fourth grade.
“How am I supposed to feel confident?” she asked Trujillo, about moving her own kids to Marshall next year.
Could Trujillo modify his recommendations?
Throughout the consolidation process, Trujillo has framed his recommendations as a response to a “resource distribution issue” rather than a mere budget issue. But he also said that without Arizona’s universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program — something he called a “knockout punch” for the district — these closures would be off the table.
Since 2024, TUSD has lost about 230 students to the yearly billion dollar ESA program that gives families vouchers to pay for private school, homeschooling and microschools.
Trujillo said, in total, ESAs are claiming $37 million annually that would otherwise have gone to the district.
After meeting with Dunham families, Trujillo told AZPM that modifications to the seven consolidation proposals he’s made so far are not off the table. He said he heard lots of valuable feedback that night.
Here are some of the suggestions parents made:
- Include Marshall staff in the transfer portal in addition to Dunham staff: To avoid layoffs at least for another school year, Trujillo’s plan is to either send staff from closing schools to their new campuses or fit them in where there are vacancies at other schools. Dunham parents encouraged Trujillo Thursday night to consider Marshall staff for transfers too, because they felt it was unfair to only put Dunham staff on the line.
- Be transparent about school improvements: Speakers at Dunham want to see where the money saved in this process is going. Many said they were not confident that their students would be taken care of academically or culturally at Marshall. At least three different families said they were worried about their kids getting bullied or having trouble getting to know a new set of faces. Trujillo said communication with principals and efforts by the School Improvement Team will help monitor progress at merged schools. Trujillo said failure isn’t an option and that it’s “do or die.”
- Give the new Dunham principal a chance: Parents and staff praised principal Mary Anderson, who started at Dunham in July, for turning things around for the school academically. Anderson told AZPM that she’s been the principal at four other TUSD schools and that it would be possible to turn Marshall around as well, if that’s where Dunham staff end up. Trujillo said he’s encouraged Anderson to apply for the principal position at Marshall, which is currently filled by an interim role.
Collier Elementary School parents and staff reject Trujillo’s recommendations
Parents of Collier Elementary School students are feeling similarly to those at Dunham. According to Trujillo’s recommendations, they would be expected to go to Bloom Elementary School, about four miles away.
Collier parents are circulating a petition to keep their school open. It has more than 900 signatures — about nine times the amount of kids currently enrolled there.
“I hope to have kids someday soon and Collier Elementary being so nearby was a big plus to buying a home here. Kids need a small community school in the neighborhood, not a morning and afternoon commute. Please save Collier!” a community member named Ryan wrote on the petition.
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.
In an email to AZPM, Collier mother Tiffany Rodriguez wrote: “The possibility of Collier closing is very upsetting. Collier goes beyond giving our kids an education. It fosters a sense of community that they take with them beyond elementary school. Our teachers, students, and parents have a bond that you don't get with larger schools. Our kids are more than just a name walking down the hall. Teachers know what after school activities our kids are in and what their likes and dislikes are. Losing this is very disheartening to students, teachers, and parents alike.”
Frankie Maldonado is a sixth grade teacher in their second year at Collier.
“In my 16 years of teaching I have never felt more at home than I do here. The sense of community is everywhere, from the students, parents, staff, and the surrounding neighborhoods. To close a school that embodies this sense of home would be a travesty,” Maldonado wrote.
The governing board’s meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 17 at Sahuaro High School will be dedicated solely to public comments about the closure plans. Members are set to vote on Trujillo’s recommendations on Dec. 8 at Palo Verde High School.
