Citing low enrollment, the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education approved a plan Wednesday to close Hudson Elementary at the end of the academic year.
For the current school year, the West Long Beach campus enrolled only 231 students and has just one teacher for each grade level from kindergarten through fifth. Hudson was originally built to host over 1,300 students.
Enrollment was expected to dip below 200 students next year and remain below that mark for the next several years, LBUSD Executive Director of Facilities, Development and Planning David Miranda told board members at an Oct. 16 meeting.
Starting next fall, a majority of the Hudson students will attend Garfield Elementary School, about a half mile away. Garfield will be the default school for anyone living in the previous Hudson boundary, but Hudson parents can also choose to send their children to another school within the district.
The special education program will be transferred to Bixby Elementary School, roughly six miles away. Special education students are provided transportation to and from the program of their choice and are located throughout the district, not necessarily close to Hudson, said LBUSD Superintendent Jill Baker.
Maria Isabel López was the only board member on the five-member panel to vote against closing the school over concerns about the lack of transportation options for students.
LBUSD stopped offering bus service for all schools in 2013.
“We’re going to have families that are going to have challenges getting their kids from Hudson Elementary to Garfield,” Lopez said.
Staff are still assessing whether transportation or a crossing guard on Santa Fe Avenue are needed for the students now set to attend Garfield Elementary in the fall, Baker said, noting that about 30% of Hudson students live closer to Garfield.
Area 4 School Board Member Doug Otto expressed confidence in the process and that any remaining student needs would be met.
“We’re not talking about closing the school for another seven or eight months and a lot can be learned in that time,” Otto said.
Garfield Elementary School is currently at about 43% capacity, Miranda told board members. Garfield should be able to “absorb quite a bit, if not all, of the Hudson students,” according to Miranda.
Hudson’s closure is the latest symptom of declining enrollment districtwide.
In the 2017-18 academic year, the district served just under 75,000 students. This year, that number is below 64,000.
In Dec. 2020, the Board of Education voted to eliminate the middle school-grade offerings at Hudson. The school’s “utilization rate” is “under 20% currently,” Miranda told board members on Oct. 16.
Low enrollment limits financial resources that the district can allocate toward counselors or a school librarian to support students. State funding is doled out on a per-pupil basis.
Lack of multiple teachers in each grade also decreases the quality of the education offered, said Brian Moskovitz, LBUSD chief academic officer.
“One of the greatest ways that we can ensure teacher success is that teachers have a partner to collaborate with, somebody to help create assessments, somebody to help to support students,” Moskovitz said at the Oct. 16 meeting.
District officials aim to use Hudson’s campus to host students of schools set to undergo construction in the coming years.
Its campus can serve elementary and middle school students, has an operational HVAC system, a student drop-off zone and ample parking lot space.
Butler Middle School, which closed in 2017, is currently hosting students from Washington Middle School while it undergoes construction funded by Measure Q.
Passed in 2022, the $1.7 billion bond measure will allow the district to upgrade schools by improving plumbing systems, maintaining safe drinking water, renovating facilities and adding air conditioning systems.