Trustees and district staff spent a large portion of the April 23 meeting reviewing the district’s consolidation and transition plans for the 2025–26 school year. Presentation and discussion items covered site-by-site logistics, capacity planning, student safety staff assignments, special education placements and communication plans for families.

Key operational items discussed: staff said the plan will place some middle grades on high school sites in junior–senior configurations and that the DeSoto Building will house Santa Rosa Middle School programming at Santa Rosa High for the coming year. Staff described efforts to preserve middle-school–specific spaces (for example, keeping the DeSoto Building’s bathrooms predominantly for middle-school use) and said bus and drop-off plans are being developed to reduce student congestion during peak times.

Enrollment and waiting lists: District staff reported pre-enrollment figures and waiting lists for multiple schools. At the time of the April 23 presentation the district reported 131 applications on a waiting list for Maria Carrillo High School and 128 for Santa Rosa High School; they also reported lower-than-expected pre-enrollment for incoming seventh graders at Rincon Valley, Hilliard Comstock and Herbert Slater. Staff said they will re-evaluate capacity at three checkpoints (May, June and July) and — if space becomes available — fill openings through public lotteries as board policy requires.

Special programs and staff: Trustees and staff discussed the placement of ESN (special education) classes, the need for temporary fixtures such as portable sinks to meet art and science needs in repurposed spaces, and steps being taken to avoid overburdening instructional staff (for example, limiting teachers to no more than two distinct classrooms where possible). Special services staff said they are hiring additional special-education teachers to return students from nonpublic placements and are coordinating with SELPA and the Sonoma County Office of Education for behavioral supports and training.

Community concerns raised in public comment: Numerous speakers — teachers, parents and students from multiple campuses — urged the district to preserve electives (choir, culinary, ethnic studies, some music classes, biodiversity) and to ensure access to counselors and bilingual family-engagement personnel. Several Slater and Montgomery parents said promised culinary and other electives had been discussed in empowerment-team meetings and then removed; parents said they need clearer, earlier notice about actual class offerings. Parents and teachers also sought detail about bathroom and locker-room access for middle-school students on high-school campuses and asked whether the district would provide additional supervision and separate facilities where possible.

Labor agreement and teacher protections: The board approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) negotiated with the Santa Rosa Teachers Association to address the impacts and effects of school consolidation and closure. The MOU, approved by roll-call vote, covers priority procedures for involuntary transfers, limits on how many classrooms a teacher must run, compensation for moves and other protections for certificated staff during the reconfiguration process.

Next steps and board direction: Trustees asked staff to improve coordinated communications to families, to provide clearer, synchronized messaging about program availability and transportation, and to continue to work with empowered teams at each site to plan bell schedules, drop-off maps and program placement. Staff said they would return with additional updates at later meetings and promised a rapid-turnaround parent survey focused on rising seventh-grade families to better understand decisions that might be affecting pre-enrollment.

Ending: The board’s action on the MOU and other agenda items moves planning forward; substantial operational questions remain and will be addressed in follow-up reports as the district refines schedules, transportation plans and facilities work prior to the 2025–26 year.