Parents question Sacramento City district school closure plans at emotional meeting
Published: Friday, Jan. 18, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Friday, Jan. 18, 2013 - 12:09 am
José Luis Villegas / jvillegas@sacbee.com
Dana Trobee, a parent with a child attending James Marshall Elementary School, looks over the jammed meeting room Thursday before the hearing by the Sacramento City Unified School District board on the possible closure of 11 schools.Nine-year-old Kimberly Rodriguez knew something was amiss by the number of phone calls her mother was receiving from friends and family.
There was no hiding it, her mom, Betty Rodriguez, realized. So she reluctantly told her daughter the reason for the ringing.
"Your school is closing," said Betty Rodriguez on Thursday night, recalling the conversation she had the previous day.
There was a moment of deep thought before the fourth-grader at Clayton B. Wire Elementary School perked up.
"Can I bring my piggy bank to school so they won't close it?" Kimberly asked.
Heart-wrenching stories like this were repeated for two hours Thursday night as Sacramento City Unified school board members listened to the public's reaction