photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Students address the Santa Rosa City Schools
board during a packed meeting held at city hall in
December, 2023.

Santa Rosa City Schools trustees are scheduled to make a final, and likely controversial decision on school closures Wednesday evening.

Shrinking enrollment across the city's schools continues to squeeze the district's budget.

Ahead of the school board meeting, students at Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa's Roseland neighborhood walked out of classrooms, protesting the possible closure of their school.

Close to half the school's 980 students joined the walkout, according to one estimate reported in the Press Democrat, with close to 50 remaining on campus and speaking out against the possible closure.

Santa Rosa City Schools trustees have chosen Elsie Allen as the high school that would be closed under the 3-3-1 scenario; a cost saving plan that would shutter three elementary schools, three middle schools, and one high school.

The plan is projected to bring almost $27 million dollars off the district's books over two years.

But critics of the 3-3-1 plan say closing Elsie Allen, the only high school on Santa Rosa's south side, would disproportionately harm the school's already disadvantaged student body.

Elsie Allen's student population is over 90% Latino, 1/3rd are English learners, and 571 of the school's 980 students are eligible for free or reduced meals according to the California Department of Education.

Trustees are also weighing up an alternative plan which would shutter all middle schools in the city, consolidating students in K-6 elementary schools and 7-12 high schools. 

The Santa Rosa City School's board of trustees meeting starts Wednesday evening at 6PM at Santa Rosa City Hall.