Pacifica, CA – Ocean Shore School (OSS) is the only K-8 school in Pacifica that provides an immersive project-based learning and parent participation program in the district. This award-winning school has a 50-year history of providing excellent education in Pacifica. It is now under threat.
The Pacifica School District is proposing to dismantle Ocean Shore’s K-8 school. The proposal will have the school’s 6-8 graders absorbed into an existing middle school in the city. And the K-5 program will relocate to share classrooms with another K-5 school. This plan will destroy one of the foundations of this much-loved and unique educational pathway. It will also reduce educational choices for all students in Pacifica.
This proposal aims to balance the district’s budget and fill a possible cumulative 3 million dollar deficit over 3 years. While the school district insists that this is not a school “closure” but a “relocation” – as school closures are governed by due process in the California Educational Code – families who have benefited from this school argue that this change will essentially result in the school being shut down.
On January 11, 2025, the Pacifica School District convened a board meeting where they invited parents to attend and learn about the possible restructuring and consolidation of schools in the district. The board was presented with only one solution to the budget shortfall – which was to merge the 6-8 grade students from two of only three K-8 schools into the dedicated middle school in the city. And to relocate Ocean Shore School’s K-5 program onto another school site.
The Pacifica School Board is due to vote on this proposal on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 only 11 days after presenting this proposal for the first time, with no further opportunity for wider discussions with the parents and wider community partners. “This is a school closing,” says Kendra Vera, co-treasurer, Ocean Shore School. “There is a very specific legal process that school boards have to go through for a closure, and we’re asking the board to go through that process”.
Pacifica parents and taxpayers are outraged by the Pacifica School District’s lack of transparency and community collaboration after they worked hard to pass a school funding measure last November. They are calling for the school board to put an immediate pause on these proposals and to convene a much wider collaborative group to help resolve the budget deficits which are the main reason for the proposed school closure.
Media Contact
Karen Kee
Ocean Shore School PTO
president@osspto.org
