Cesar Chavez Elementary in downtown Long Beach. Image courtesy LPA.
10:32am | Many Long Beach Post regulars may have already read the back and forth discussion between two guest commentators, Dennis Smith and Vera Woodson, regarding the Long Beach Unified School District’s current financial crisis. Smith’s budgetary solutions were largely rejected by Woodson because in her analysis, they relied on an incomplete understanding of bus schedules and the assumption that removing a few bad apples can solve deeper problems. At the risk of stating the obvious, my diagnosis is that in California, we overall dedicate insufficient resources to education. After all, when adjusted for variation between states in the cost of living, California ranks almost last in terms of education spending per student. Even with this distressing and important reality in mind, the current malaise can serve as an opportunity for revisiting the status quo. There should be no sacred cows when trying to do more with less, and education is no exception, even as we continue to lobby for renewing our state’s investment in this crucial area.
The question of doing more with less is complex indeed when considering the Long Beach Unified School District (hereafter LBUSD). With nearly 100 campuses encompassing hundreds of acres across Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, and even Catalina Island, the district has an incredible regional footprint. Most schools have libraries and open space, which is crucial because many are located in communities underserved by public parks and with public libraries overstretched by the needs of local youth. The City of Long Beach tries to address these needs by purchasing available parcels to convert to open space, and also by developing new libraries when resources become available. At the same time, the LBUSD struggles to preserve staffing levels at their school libraries and recess areas. Too often these difficulties mean schools must share librarians, or asphalt their entire outdoor play area to minimize maintenance costs.
Given these shared difficulties with libraries and parks, the LBUSD and City of Long Beach should consider sharing resources, maintenance, staffing, and liability. This concept is not unprecedented locally or nationally. Cesar Chavez Elementary School in downtown Long Beach is a noteworthy example. Students use the adjacent public park for their outdoor recreation area; in exchange, the school gymnasium and health clinic are available to the public on evenings and weekends. Having reciprocal benefits for each party is an essential component to establishing such joint-use arrangements. LBUSD and the city both need to derive a benefit from the relationship. With the current fiscal crisis, models for collaboration like this are worth exploring more broadly.
The kind of mutual benefit exemplified by Cesar Chavez is a model for crafting other successful collaborations. For instance, it would be far less expensive for the City of Long Beach to improve and maintain the Franklin Middle School recess area (3.90 acres), in return for public access, than to acquire a remotely similar plot of land anywhere else in the North Alamitos Beach neighborhood. Were we to negotiate in this way for public access to six LBUSD campuses on the west side of Long Beach (Cabrillo H.S., Hudson M.S., Muir E.S., Stevens E.S., Garfield E.S. and Webster E.S.), we could double the available park space for this environmentally-impacted community. In addition, half of these campuses are adjacent to existing public parks, providing the opportunity for integrated maintenance and supervision. Of course, making this kind of idea a reality would take negotiations far beyond the limits of this oversimplified scenario; my point is to open a conversation about possibilities in this time of economic strain.
Due to a combination of shifting demographics, the development of new school campuses, and budget constraints, the LBUSD may close Buffum Elementary School (in Long Beach) and Burroughs Elementary School (in Signal Hill). Understandably, local residents are concerned as to how the closures will affect their children. Might there an opportunity for Long Beach and Signal Hill to enter into long-term lease agreements for using these two campuses? One possible scenario would limit enrollment to students residing in the immediate area of each campus, with excess building space used by the respective city governments. This could provide municipal governments affordable space while giving the school district a revenue stream.
As part of Measure K, the LBUSD will invest $150 million into Jordan High School. At the same time, less than a mile south along Atlantic Avenue, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency may invest over $10 million to build a new community library as part of the North Village Center. While public and school libraries obviously differ in terms of book collections and staff requirements, there clearly might be synergistic possibilities between the two projects. Imagine a state-of-the-art library adjacent to Jordan High School, even larger than the 20,000-square-foot facility currently proposed by the city for North Village Center, featuring more books and better access to technology. Because it would be used by students and the general public at different times, the library would be active all day long; it would offer more than what either the city or school district could individually provide, and both parties could save money. The combination of an improved Jordan High School, this amazing new library, and nearby Houghton Park would constitute a defining center for this part of North Long Beach.
These are just some examples of existing and potential shared-use arrangements between local city governments and the LBUSD. Each neighborhood in Long Beach has unique needs, and each school campus in town provides a distinct opportunity for collaboration. Let the economic crisis motivate us to discuss in depth possibilities for efficient and creative sharing of resources.