Macdoel, Cal. – Butte Valley Middle School in Macdoel, California won’t be opening for classes next fall…but school officials aren’t calling it a ‘closure’.
Butte Valley Middle School student Baylin Holbrook says she’s sad that she won’t be returning to her school in Macdoel this fall…
“Pretty disappointed. I just wanted to graduate here, finish middle school.”
School district Superintendent Ed Brown says the Butte Valley school board voted Wednesday night not to re-open the middle school in the fall, and bus the students 11 miles north of Dorris…
“They unanimously voted to merge the middle school’s students into the elementary school.”
Brown says the move will help to bridge a quarter-million dollar budget gap…
“So that we don’t have to make those really deep cuts that could hurt classrooms.”
Brown adds that the ‘merger’ preserves the option to re-open the school later on, if funding is restored…
“The closure is just a technical means of saving the money of having to re-open the school later on.”
Many of the students at the middle school went to elementary school in Dorris, and say they don’t want to go back.
“There’s still a lot of emotions.” Explains Vice-Principal Jason Allen. “Still a lot of anger, but they’re starting to recognize what could be next year.”
In a closely-knit school of only 47 students, those emotions run deep.
“I kind of like the small school.” Notes Baylin Holbrook. “Because we’re all kind of like family, I guess – we all know each other, we’re all friends.”
The Superintendent says the merger is expected to save about 76 thousand dollars.
Other cuts include holding off on some maintenance and purchasing, not replacing some staff positions lost to retirement, and cancelling summer school.
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