The Tucson Unified School District has announced five potential elementary school consolidation plans for the next two school years. Two middle schools are at risk of closing and merging onto high school campuses.
The reconfigurations are contingent on the governing board’s Dec. 8 vote.
On Friday, Nov. 6, TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo announced his first alterations to the school closure plan.
Trujillo scraps proposal to close Dunham Elementary School
About a week after a contentious meeting with staff and families at A-rated Dunham Elementary, Trujillo decided against recommending the school’s closure.
He initially proposed closing the east side school and merging it with Marshall Elementary, a B-rated PreK-5 about a mile away. At the meeting with Trujillo, parents made the case for Dunham, emphasizing that it’s stronger academically, has small class sizes and a tight-knit community.
All the parents who spoke threatened to take their kids out of TUSD if Dunham closed because they were not confident in Marshall staff.
“I’m going to say it respectfully: If the Marshall staff were here, they would push back on all the things being said about their school. I’m just being real. I’m being honest, okay?” Trujillo said, over shouts from the 50-person audience in the Dunham cafeteria.
“The test scores speak for themselves!” one parent said.
That night, Trujillo told AZPM that modifications to the closure recommendations could occur.
In his announcement about the reversal, Trujillo said Dunham has been A-rated for the last three years, making it one of the highest performing schools in the district.
“I want to thank all of the parents and staff members who met with me to provide such valuable insights and perspectives on your experience at Dunam Elementary as well as your passion in advocating for your school community,” he wrote to Dunham families.
About 135 students are enrolled at Dunham, located along 29th Street between Harrison and Old Spanish Trail roads. Marshall is located about a mile east of Dunham along 29th Street.
Both schools are meeting around 40% of their capacity. At Dunham, there are around 130 students while Marshall has about 270 students enrolled.
Magee Middle School could close in 2028-29 school year
The proposal to merge Magee middle schoolers onto the Sabino High School campus was initially slated for 2027, but has been postponed to the 2028-29 school year.
Magee is a C-rated middle school located on Speedway Boulevard between Pantano Road and Camino Seco. Its 270 students are in grades 6-8, fulfilling 35% of building capacity. Sabino High School, an A-rated 9-12 school, is about a 15 minute drive north near the intersection of Snyder and Harrison roads.
Parents and staff have shared concerns about middle schoolers attending high school campuses, due to the presence of drugs. TUSD officials, however, say they’ll work to separate the populations wherever appropriate.
“Both of the secondary academies will feature separate departure times, separate arrival times to sort of prevent the after school mixing of the students,” Trujillo told the press in October.
Secrist Middle School students would also be transferring to Santa Rita High School under Trujillo’s recommendation. He added that merging these students would encourage collaboration between middle and high school level teachers, in turn preventing failing academics.
