San Jose parents rally to protest elementary school closures

Hundreds of students, parents and community members rallied at the San Jose Unified School District district office Tuesday evening to protest the potential closure of up to a third of the district’s elementary schools.

Announced last week, the proposed school closures are part of the district’s “Schools of Tomorrow” initiative, which was started in fall of 2025 to address a loss of nearly 6,000 enrolled students since 2017. The district’s school board is expected to vote on the closures by March 12.

Parents from elementary schools at risk of closure showed up in droves to voice support for their neighborhood schools at Tuesday night’s “Schools of Tomorrow” implementation committee meeting. Made up of parents, district staff, school employees and educators, the implementation committee is tasked with recommending to the board of education the best way to implement potential school closures, consolidations or attendance-boundary changes.

“I worry about what this could mean for the lower income communities and our families,” said Lizeth Hernandez, a parent at Lowell Elementary School. “We are already facing a very difficult time. We’re struggling with different things, fear…Not only are we coming out from COVID that our kids are barely stepping up academically, emotionally and mentally, these changes are now going to put our kids at risk to suffer more, coming into schools where they’re not welcome.”

More than 100 community members crowded the district’s meeting room, while at least 100 others were seated in overflow rooms and an additional 50 individuals stood outside the building doors, which district staff locked due to maximum capacity. The district had also said it anticipated the virtual livestream of the meeting would meet its 1,000 person capacity.

Community members held signs in support of their local schools, which read, “Save Simonds” and “Save Williams,” while others expressed opposition to the district proposal, like “No school closure” and “Don’t ignore our voices.”

Outraged parents from impacted schools across the district, including Simonds Elementary School, Williams Elementary School and Los Alamitos Elementary School, voiced concerns that the proposed school closures and consolidations would cause longer school commutes, poorer academic performance and struggles with finding childcare.

But parents and community members were split on which of the three proposed options they would like to see the district implement, as they differ vastly in terms of which schools would remain open and which would be closed or relocated. And even schools that are not at risk of closing could see new attendance-boundaries.

Option 1: Closes nine elementary schools, relocates one

• Almaden Elementary
• Anne Darling Elementary
• Canoas Elementary
• Gardner Elementary
• Lowell Elementary
• Rachel Carson Elementary
• Selma Olinder Elementary
• Simonds Elementary
• Walter L. Bachrodt Elementary
• Relocates Hammer Montessori at Ernesto Galarza Elementary to Rachel Carson Elementary

Option 2: Closes nine elementary schools

• Empire Gardens Elementary
• Gardner Elementary
• Lowell Elementary
• Rachel Carson Elementary
• Reed Elementary
• Selma Olinder Elementary
• Terrell Elementary
• Walter L. Bachrodt Elementary
• Williams Elementary

Option 3: Closes eight elementary schools

• Almaden Elementary
• Empire Gardens Elementary
• Ernesto Galarza Elementary
• Gardner Elementary
• Grant Elementary
• Rachel Carson Elementary
• Reed Elementary
• Williams Elementary

Yurie Doubov, a parent at Los Alamitos Elementary School, said under two of the three proposed options, his Croydon neighborhood would be reassigned ‘to significantly lower performing schools.”

“If change is inevitable, it should not result in a clear loss of educational quality for our children,” Doubov said.

But the third proposed option, which leaves Croydon at Los Alamitos Elementary School, means closure for Ernesto Galarza Elementary and Williams Elementary.

Priya Ghandikota, a parent at Williams Elementary School, said that over 200 families said they would likely leave the San Jose Unified School District if Williams Elementary is closed.

“Our analysis shows that options two and three would displace more than 1,000 students…and move more students into lower performing schools than into higher performing schools,” Ghandikota said. “That’s not just disruptive. It’s directionally wrong.”

The implementation committee discussed other options outside of the three presented to them by district staff earlier this month.

Parents and community members advocated for the committee to add a fourth option to pause any discussions or decisions on school closures. Board member Nicole Gribstad also urged the committee to include an option that delays a decision and exhausts all other financial alternatives, rather than closing schools.

The committee did not vote Tuesday to create an option that bars school closures. Instead, the committee voted to consider combining the first and second proposed school closure options in an effort to prioritize transportation for students and special education programs. The committee also voted to create an option where all students at closing schools would be moved together to a new school, rather than split among schools. Committee members also voted to remove the third school closure option, which district staff said prioritized minimal disruptions to families and school communities.

The committee will meet again on Tuesday, February 24. The board of education is expected to vote on school closures no later than March 12.