Simple Facts:
Cupertino Union High School is the largest school district in Northern California. There were 20 elementary schools, 5 middle schools and one K-8 school (before the 2021 school closures). It also has the highest students per household per the 2020 census data.
Begining 2020, three board members at CUSD began pushing for closing schools.
At the end of 2021, the CUSD board voted to close three neighborhood schools at one time: John Miur Elementary School, Meyerholz Elementary School and Regnart Elementary School. On that night, two board members Jerry Liu and Satheesh Madhathil voted NO. However, three board members voted YES, they are Lori Cunningham, Sylvia Leong, Phyllis Vogel.
In the email exchange among the above three board members, it is found that they even discussed to close more schools in CUSD. There were seven schools on the potential closure list. They are Miller Middle School, Hyde Middle School, Stevens Creek Elementary School, West Valley Elementary School, De Vargas Elementary School, Faria Elementary School.
The three school board members claimed that they have strong proof to support their school closure decision during the COVID pandemic. One reason was that CUSD was lack of funding. Sylvia Leong even cried in the board meeting said, our kids wouldn’t have money for field trip if we don’t close schools. Another widely used reason is enrollment decline. But are these information true of not? Let’s look at some plain facts.
What is the real problem of CUSD?
Some board members and the administration team spread misleading information