First grade teacher Kim Hooks works with her students at Ditmar Elementary School in Oceanside on Monday.
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OCEANSIDE: Parents praise school on the cusp of closure
By: STACY BRANDT - Staff Writer
School board to vote tonight on proposal to shut school | ∞
First grade teacher Kim Hooks works with her students at Ditmar Elementary School in Oceanside on Monday.
HAYNE PALMOUR IV Staff Photographer
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OCEANSIDE -- Ditmar Elementary School doesn't look like much from the outside, but teachers, students and parents want people to look a little closer.
They say the small campus at the corner of busy Oceanside Boulevard and Ditmar Avenue is full of life and learning that takes place inside aging portable classrooms and on a well-worn playground. They say the neighborhood school has created a tight-knit community where people treat each other like family.
And, they say, a place like that is worth saving.
Oceanside Unified School District officials agree the campus is special, but say declining enrollment and serious state budget cuts have left them little choice but to shut it down.
School district trustees will vote tonight on a proposal to close the 54-year-old school. The meeting is set to begin at 6 p.m. at Jefferson Middle School, 823 Acacia St.
If the board OKs the move, Ditmar will close when the school year ends in June.
Parents and teachers have protested the proposal, saying Ditmar represents a strong community that they don't want to see broken up.
"It's a great school," said Jennifer Robertson, who has two daughters at the campus. "Everybody is so excited and eager to make a difference and make an impact on these children's lives."
Community ties are so strong because most of the teachers have been at Ditmar for years and families often send more than one generation to the school, Principal Frank Balanon said.
A decade ago, five of Maria Ybarra's six children were attending Ditmar. Now her granddaughter is there, as well as nieces and nephews. Ybarra said she's thrilled to see some of the same teachers there who taught her kids 10 years ago.
"The staff is wonderful," she said. "It's very family oriented."
The vast majority of the students at the school are low-income Latinos and more than 70 percent of them are still learning to speak English, according to state figures.
Teachers want to stay at the school because they love working with those kids, said Kim Hook, who has taught there for the last 16 years.
"It's not an easy population to teach," Hook said, "but we all feel we're here for a reason."
Though students at the school have failed to meet federal testing standards for the last several years, scores have been improving during that time period.
Balanon said he is expecting the board to vote to close the school. He said he hates to see it go, but understands why the district is recommending it.
Students at the school also said they would be sad to see the school close.
"We love this school," said Caroline Ovieda, a first-grader there. "I'll miss this school."
Closing the school, the district's smallest, is necessary because enrollment has been declining in costal Oceanside for years, district officials said.
The move would save Oceanside Unified roughly $500,000 a year, important savings when district officials are expecting to have to cut $8.8 million from next year's budget.
-- Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.
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New school in O'side wrote on Mar 25, 2008 8:08 AM:What's the big deal, Oceanside has just built 3 new schools. The Ditmar kids will go there. Ditmar is old and out dated, close it and build a mini-mall!
realitycheck wrote on Mar 25, 2008 8:30 AM:Dimar Elementary may be a lot of things, including failing, but it is certainly not a "neighborhood" school. I live two blocks from Ditmar, and believe me, none of the kids in the area go to that school. They all go to St. Mary's or get transfers to South O. The kids at Ditmar all walk at least a mile to get there up Ditmar from the east side and downtown. The OUSD has housed non-English speakers there for years and the teachers have grown quite comfortable while continuing to do a lousy job in a crumbling facility. Believe me when I tell you that my neighbors and I can't wait for the district to close it down.
How about wrote on Mar 25, 2008 9:39 AM:the parents forking over extra tax money and the teachers taking a little less pay to keep it open. If both truly believe it is doing well and good for the kids this shouldn't be a problem, Right? Or do they only want to keep it open whether it makes sense or not, if someone else is paying the bill.
hey reality check wrote on Mar 25, 2008 11:12 AM:whats with the anger? little brown man steal your minimum wage job? I suppose you will also be protesting the commercial development that eventually goes in at Ditmar, then you will be missing an elementary school. Closing the school will increase class sizes at Palmquist, South O. and Garrison, great screw up 4 schools.
Thank the brainless Republican governor. Mr. spend spend spend, cut cut cut.
realitycheck wrote on Mar 25, 2008 1:05 PM:Not angry at all, but it sounds to me like you're worried the "little brown man" will mess up your lily white schools. I think non-Spanish speakers are much better served being integrated into the mainstream, just like disabled kids, so they can learn the English language, rather than being unfairly relagated to a crumbling pile of bricks. OUSD has been promising for years to put money into Ditmar and instead, the money goes to white schools like South O. And it happens because Spanish-speaking parents don't complain that their children are getting a second rate education in a failing school. It's racism at it's worst.
And as to commercial development, I'd rather see something on that corner that contributes to city coffers and helps my taxes any day of the week.
pearls o'wisdom wrote on Mar 25, 2008 3:28 PM:the ditmar school site is also a dedicated park for the city of oceanside.Has been for a long long time just few people know about it!
it will not be developed as a commercial site. sorry guys
To hey reality check.... wrote on Mar 28, 2008 5:33 PM:I also am a homeowner who lives within 2 blocks from the school and I couldn't agree with Realitycheck more!
And belive me, I'm sure at least 95% of the homeowners in the area don't have "minimum wage jobs" and also would like to see Ditmar close...if it stays in its present state!! Boy, if anyone sounds angry it's you! I'd love to send my child to a school that is a 5 minute walk away, but prefer to send them to a private school where their chances of a more balanced education are likely!
Drive by that school during recess and you won't see a fair haired child in the bunch!
Close it, and they will move!! At least that's my hope!
Bill wrote on Mar 31, 2008 11:48 AM:To hey reality check & reality check .. I too am a home owner in that area and am very glad they are closing it down. My kids couldn't go there without being a minority (they speak english). Buldoze the whole place and ease the congestion in my hood :-)
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