Richmond parents still outraged by abrupt school closure
The schools in the West Contra Costa Unified School District reopened on Monday, but one stayed closed. Stege Elementary in Richmond was abruptly shuttered a few weeks ago to deal with major structural problems. Now, parents who expected the repairs to take months are being told it could be years before they can return to their neighborhood campus.
The sign outside Stege Elementary says they are temporarily relocating to a new location, on the back side of Lavonya DeJean Middle School. On the first day of classes, the interim campus didn't make a great first impression.
"It was chaos. They weren't organized at all. No parents are happy about it. They're really upset," said Donna Gayton, who dropped her child off at DeJean in the morning.
She took photos and videos of parents waiting outside while school officials seemed unsure where kids were supposed to go.
"Finally, they opened the door and they said they could start going in," she said. "But they had them against a wall. As soon as they walked in there's, like, a fence and a wall, and they had them all standing there. All the little kids looked scared. Some of them were crying. A lot of parents were upset."
There was probably no way the district could win. The community was already angry over the abrupt closure of Stege after parents revealed deplorable conditions there, including dry rot, broken plumbing and sewage backups in the restrooms. And a glowing evaluation of the campus only heightened the distrust of parents. The district report, filed with the state, gave the Stege campus an overall positive rating of 92.69 percent.
But last month, just days after a lawsuit was filed, the district suddenly closed the campus, citing "environmental hazards." After all that, Gayton said she was surprised that parents were not permitted to accompany their children into their new school classrooms on the first day of the new year.
"At least do it for the smaller kids," said Gayton, "where they would allow the parents to walk in and say, 'you're going to stay here, you know, this is your new school.' Something. No, they were like, 'Ok, here, drop off your kid...go.'"
Meanwhile, tickets were being written for parents who lingered too long on the crowded street. District Board member Otheree Christian admitted that was probably a bad look.
"No, there should have been no tickets, nothing like that being done. I heard about it, didn't see it, but I heard about it," he said. "There's still a lot of kinks to be worked out. Things have to be worked out to make it better and to smooth out whatever is lacking.
But what's really taking the parents by surprise is the timeline. So far, the move to DeJean Middle School has always been called "temporary," but Gayton said she just learned what that really means.
"I talked to the superintendent and I said, this is not working out. We need to be moved from this school," she said. "And his answer to me was, we're going to be here for 2 1/2 years. We are not moving from here. And I said, yes we are, because a lot of the parents are not...we're not agreeing on this. This is temporary."
To the parents, 2 and a half years at the DeJean location doesn't feel temporary at all. Some are suggesting they take over Alvarado School, an adult education campus about a mile and a half from Stege.
"I believe they're going to drag their feet as long as they can, so they can get the parents to give up," said Stege parent Christopher Bailey. "But fortunately, we have strong parents here and we're not going to give up and we're going to continue to fight."
It's hard to say what will happen, especially with one civil rights lawsuit already filed. But the parents who watched their school deteriorate without help from the district, don't seem very willing to put their trust in it now.
