Tearful testimonies and tales of trials and tribulations abounded at the Tamiscal High School “Hub” on Wednesday, Nov. 5, as Superintendent Courtney Goode and Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations Corbett Elsen presented plans to consolidate the district budget by merging San Andreas High School with Tamiscal High School. Both serve as “intervention plan” schools, or schools for students that faced issues at mainstream high schools like Redwood, with Tamiscal High School being a type-two intervention school and San Andreas a type-three intervention continuation school. Programs at Tamiscal High School would move to the San Andreas site. The proposed move would reduce staff at both schools, helping to lower costs for the district by $2.2 million. The move comes in response to lower enrollment, anticipated federal budget cuts and structural operating deficits.

Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) has seen a decrease in tax revenue and enrollment over the past few years. Elsen claimed that these two factors forced TUHSD to take decisive action to make budget cuts at Tamiscal and San Andreas, as they had already done at TUHSD’s larger campuses.

“[TUHSD] went through tremendous enrollment growth, and now we’re experiencing a significant decline [in enrollment],” Elsen said. “Tamalpais, Redwood and Archie Williams have already had [significant declines in enrollment,] so we’ve reduced and right-sized our programming there by about 38 teachers, counselors and administrators.”

At the meeting, parents and students asked for alternative solutions to TUHSD’s budget problem, but Elsen and Goode stated that there are no alternatives to their proposed solution. 85 to 87 percent of TUHSD’s budget goes to salary, and the only places left to make cuts are Tamiscal and San Andreas. Parents implored Elsen and Goode to consider the special nature of Tamiscal before taking any measures.

“[The budget cuts] read to me as if ‘this is a small population, what can we do to [inconvenience] the least amount of parents in the district because [Tamiscal] is a smaller population without making hard choices at Tamalpais and Redwood?’” One parent commented.

Tamiscal student Udo Funke was frustrated by what he saw as significant increases in funding at larger schools, while Tamiscal saw cuts.

“Superintendent Goode, since he’s been selected, has effectively nullified the bring your own device policy and spent a lot of money on Chromebooks. There are significant costs that come with the Chromebooks, like supporting IT staff and upgrading the Wifi. I think it’s insane that our district is actively spending more money while trying to cut $2.2 million from alternative education,” Funke said.

Not only were many frustrated by the budget cuts focusing almost entirely on alternative schools, but parent Ina Gottlieb was also frustrated by the rapid nature of the plan. Parents were first informed of the potential merger on Oct. 22, and the board will take steps to vote on the proposal on Nov. 18.

“There haven’t been any other alternatives presented, so it feels like this isn’t just a proposal; like this is almost a done deal, and we’re just being asked to go along with it,” Gottlieb said. “[The district] just doesn’t have answers yet, and so it feels like a tough pill they are making us swallow without giving us much information about what we can expect.”

Another thing that frustrates parents and students at Tamiscal is the fact that enrollment at the alternative school is actually rising. In fact, there is a waitlist for special education students at Tamiscal. Parents and students worry that right-sizing staff will likely mean the end of the continued support that TUHSD has promised.

“Tamiscal’s enrollment is actually very stable, and we’ve been seeing an upward curve in enrollment. The place where enrollment is the least stable is San Andreas,” Funke said. “I think [the merger] would actually hurt Tamiscal’s enrollment rate because some students who have very specific support in our programs would choose to opt out of our district and be entirely homeschooled.”

Parents, through emotional appeals, tried to ensure that Elsen and Goode understood how special the school was to their children, many of whom entered with significant learning challenges.

“I cannot have [Elsen and Goode] underestimate what is happening at [Tamiscal] right now. It is working. Really consider that [going to Tamiscal] isn’t just something that people do because they don’t want to do something else,” one parent said. “This school isn’t just life-changing, it’s life-saving.”

Tamiscal students and staff aren’t taking the proposed merger sitting down. Funke plans to appeal to not only San Andreas, but also the larger schools in the district. Funke also created a petition that already has signatures from 50 percent of Tamiscal students.

“[I plan on reaching out to] leaders at Redwood, Tamalpais and Archie Williams to see if there is a possibility for me to [appeal to students.] I am planning on hosting a benefit concert at one of the schools, if there is any way to do that, and bringing posters and petitions,” Funke said.

For students, staff and parents at Tamiscal, the board of trustees voting yes to merge the schools could see the end of a unique community of students and programs that thrived at Tamiscal.

“For many of the students who came to Tamiscal, they came to Tamiscal because the schools they were originally meant to go to didn’t serve their needs,” Gottlieb said. “They found a place that [serves their needs,] and taking that away from them seems unjust.”

Elsen and Goode will bring their plan to the board of trustees for a vote on Nov. 18.