photo credit: Jordan Triebel
Parents and students gather at Santa Rosa High School's auditorium to discuss possible campus closures. 

Santa Rosa City Schools is planning on closing a few of its campuses and withdrawing district boundaries in the process. 

On Jan. 27, hundreds of people packed into the Santa Rosa High School auditorium to talk about these closures. 

Over a thousand people requested to comment online, according to Advisory Committee chair Ben Wolf. 

“We have heard your voices,” Wolf said. “We’ve heard our voices, we’ve heard the community’s voices.” 

The committee has been meeting since Aug. 2024, since district officials said they are facing a $20 million dollar deficit due to the expiration of COVID relief funds and low attendance rates.

The school board of Sonoma County’s largest school district announced at least four schools will close at the end of the 2024-25 academic year, Wolf said. 

“There’s lots out there, this is a very painful situation we are all in,” Wolf said. “We have heard your feedback loud and clear across the board.” 

Each school was put into tiers that ranked least to most likely to close. When it came to elementary schools–Albert Biellal, Brook Hill and Steele Lane were selected as the most likely to close. 

Montgomery and Elsie Allen High School were ranked most likely to close at the high school level, the minutes of the School Board's Jan. 17 meeting said. 

Parents and students said they have concerns these schools are being pinned against each other. 

Jason Wiking is a parent of three district students and said he feels frustrated with the process. 

“I personally think the state should come involved,” Wiking said. “I feel like they would be a very impartial observer. I’m sure they’ve seen this many many times.” 

Wiking said he believes there should be more discussion over the California Department of Education’s guide to best practices for school closures. 

“We specifically moved into the neighborhood specifically to send our kids to the adjacent schools,” Wiking said. “Most of them seemed very well established. So this whole process of the school closures came very much out of left field.” 

The most recent advisory committee finalized different scenarios for next year’s budget cuts. 

Six proposals are on the table and the committee favors three elementary and one middle school closures. It wants the board of education to decide which high school will close. 

At the same time, the board came up with alternative ideas that would keep all high schools open. 

Co-Present of the Montgomery High School Parent Foundation Libby Dalton, said she’s in support of saving all the high schools. 

“Our kids just got their forms to fill out for classes next year,” Dalton said. “They should be excited for their junior and senior year, but instead they’re dealing with this.” 

All six proposals will be under consideration by the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education at a meeting on Feb. 19.