Concerned families, teachers, and community members packed the house at the San Jose Unified School District’s community meeting Tuesday evening after receiving news last week that up to a third of its elementary schools may be shuttered due to a 20 percent drop in enrollment.

As Bay Area News Group reports, the San Jose Unified School District created a “Schools of Tomorrow” committee last fall consisting of parents, district staff, school employees, and educators to come up with a plan to address the loss of almost 6,000 enrolled elementary school students since 2017. As KTVU reports, the committee will be considering school sizes, programming, and staffing when weighing its decision, which could include the closure of up to nine schools, consolidations, or boundary changes.

Per Bay Area News Group, more than 250 attendees showed up in person at the San Jose Unified School District office Tuesday evening, filling the meeting and overflow rooms to capacity with some gathering outside the building, along with 1,000 additional people attending the virtual livestream. Parents were reportedly given three options to consider Tuesday, which consisted of differing choices regarding which schools would be closed or consolidated.

Parents said they were reeling at the news of the potential closures, which they just received last week. “Our parents are shocked,” Williams Elementary parent Heather Kangarloo said, speaking to NBC Bay Area. “We found out about this almost one week ago.”

Teachers were reportedly notified at the same time as parents. “We only heard of it just a week ago, even the teachers,” said parent and teacher Sharilyn Smyth, per KTVU. “We heard at the same time as the parents did.”

Bay Area News Group reports that many of the attendees at Tuesday’s meeting were parents and teachers from Simonds Elementary School, Williams Elementary School, and Los Alamitos Elementary School, which are the three locations most affected by the new plan. Parents expressed concern over longer school commutes, poorer academic performance, and childcare challenges.

"We don’t want to have more displacement in our neighborhoods," one parent told the committee, per KTVU. "We are already facing a very difficult time. We’re struggling with different things, fear, and it’s something that our kids don’t need anymore."

Per Bay Area News Group, another parent from Williams Elementary School said that about 200 families from Williams have said they’ll likely transfer to another district if the school 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, per Bay Area News Group. “That’s not just disruptive. It’s directionally wrong.”

Another parent said the district is likely planning to rent out empty school sites to charter schools. "Closing schools should not be our first priority," said Reed Elementary School parent Angel Zimmer, speaking to NBC Bay Area. "We need to improve them. Once they combine schools, they're saying they’ll likely rent out those empty buildings to charter programs, which are then going to have new enrollment issues."

The committee ultimately voted Tuesday to consider a combination of two options while eliminating the third in order to prioritize special education programs and student transportation. The committee also voted to create a new option that would establish a single new school for students from all the closing schools instead of distributing them across the district.

The school district said in a statement that the committee will hold several public meetings over the next few weeks and “may discard options, modify options, and/or consider new options before developing its recommendation to the Board of Education.”

The next committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24, and the board of education is expected to vote no later than March 12.

“I recognize that seeing a school’s name included in discussion about consolidation, attendance boundary changes, or relocation is deeply emotional,” said San Jose Unified Superintendent Nancy Albarrán, per KTVU. “We know families love their current schools. At the same time, we know that thoughtful school portfolio changes can help ensure strong, sustainable programs for both current and future students throughout the district, continuing our long-standing legacy of tackling challenges with a focus on what is best for our students.”

Image: Williams Elementary School/Facebook