Activist Scholarship in Action: The Prevention of a Latino School Closure

Abstract

Primarily because of underutilized schools (caused by declining enrollments) and the need to address budgetary deficits brought on by dramatic reductions in average daily attendance, many public school districts, in decades past and the present, have been forced to close numerous schools across the nation. The school boards of these economically troubled districts have resorted to consolidation to help alleviate their financial woes. In highly segregated biethnic or triethnic districts, school boards continue to struggle in deciding which schools to close. The closures of schools with high enrollments of Mexican American or other Latino students who are of low socioeconomic status and who are English language learners are particularly problematic, given their vulnerability for school failure. This article involves a case study of 1 such school proposed for closure, Park Oaks Elementary School in the Conejo Valley Unified School District (Southern California). Via activist scholarship, I relate how my efforts in documenting a goodness of fit at Park Oaks Elementary School proved successful in preventing the school from being closed. A major implication stemming from this study is that educational equality for Latino students and their parents can be achieved without having to resort to litigation. Unfortunately, months after this article was accepted for publication I received some very bad news that the school board reneged on its decision not to close Park Oaks. I explain these events in the Epilogue.

Keywords:

• school closures
• Latino students
• Latino education
• educational equality
• social justice
• activist scholarship

Notes

¹This section on historical school closures draws from, with revisions, Valencia (1984a, pp. 1–2, 7–8, 17).

²See Valencia (1984a) for a discussion of these four policy implications of school closures.

³For a compressed discussion of these lawsuits and my role as an expert, see Valencia (2008, Chapter 5).

⁴California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell described the schools that receive the Title I Academic Achievement Award as follows: “These schools deserve high praise for improving student achievement … They have addressed barriers to student success and were able to create a school environment conducive to learning. I congratulate the teachers, staff, paraprofessionals, parents and students who all worked hard this past year to improve. I hold these schools up as models for their success in ensuring that all students without regard to race, economic status, or physical or mental challenges are given the kind of education that allows them to achieve to their fullest potential.” Retrieved from http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr08/yr08rel183.asp

⁵See, for example, Barnard (2004); Jeynes (2005); McWayne, Hampton, Fantuzzo, Cohen, and Sekino (2004).

⁶See, for example, González et al. (2005); Valencia and Black (2002); Moreno and Valencia (2002, 2011).

⁷The four schools and their respective White enrollments as percentages (based on the 2010–2011 academic year) are Glenwood (17.3%), Ladera (62.9%), Lang Ranch (69.8%), and Wildwood (68.2%). I retrieved the ethnic enrollment data from the California Department of Education (2011).

⁸The California Legislature passed the Brown Act (§§54950–54960.5) in 1953. The basics of the act state, “Meetings of public bodies must be ‘open and public,’ actions may not be secret, and action taken in violation of open meeting laws may be voided” §§54953 (a), 54953 (c), 54960.1 (d). Retrieved from www.thefirstamendment.org/Brown-Act-Brochure-Dec-03.pdf