By Anna Pier
Trustees of the Sonoma Valley Unified School Board will meet in Special Session Tuesday, September 23 in the City Council Chambers, 177 First Street West. Open Session of the meeting will start at approximately 5:00 PM, following a Closed Session. The Agenda is confined to continued discussion of elementary school consolidation, and a vote on Resolution 26-07, in which the Trustees could name the elementary site to be closed at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The public is invited to comment on this issue at the start of the meeting.
At the meeting, which is scheduled for 5 – 7 PM, Trustees will continue to discuss materials gathered at the Trustees’ request by Acting Superintendent Rena Seifts on Elementary School Consolidation, in particular, the closure of Prestwood School; now all four elementary schools are in the Board’s sights. The information has been updated since the September 11 Board meeting to include a summaries of community input, of the Community Forum on Consolidation, and arguments both for and against consolidation.
The Special Session on this date was on the original calendar for the school year 2025-26. In response to a request to change it from Rosh Hashanah, Trustees attempted to find another September day when all five could meet. Unfortunately, there is resulting public confusion about when the meeting will occur.
To view the agenda, CLICK HERE
To attend the meeting by Zoom, go to:
https://sonomaschools-org.zoom.us/j/93631688605
Zoom attendees will have an opportunity to make public comment.
Trustees Ponder School Consolidation
09/20/25 – Prestwood Elementary School parents gathered in the Plaza on the afternoon of Friday, September 5 to show their opposition to the proposed closing of their school in June 2026. Almost 50 parents, teachers and students held up signs in support of the Eastside elementary school at the Friday protest. The Prestwood parents are responding to the Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) Board of Trustees’ decision at their regular August 14 meeting to explore the possible closure of the school.
On Monday, September 8, approximately 35 parents and teachers, plus six people on Zoom, attended the first Prestwood PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) meeting of the school year held in the school library. The first hour of the meeting was dedicated to questions for Acting Superintendent Rena Seifts and Director of Special Education Troy Knox. Seifts reminded the crowd that she does not make the decision, but assured the parents that she would convey their concerns to the Board. She told the group that closing Prestwood would save the District $1.4 million annually, largely by reducing administrative staff and consolidating grade level students, to reduce the total number of teachers.
The aggrieved, often angry parents expressed many concerns. One was the inequity of closing the only school on the east side of Sonoma, especially since the east side middle school, Adele Harrison, was just closed. Several parents spoke to the fact that Prestwood has the highest test scores in the District, and referenced the California Attorney General’s school closure criteria which include not moving students from a higher-performing to a lower-performing school. Another parent berated the trustees for their handling of closure as “the worst marketing campaign ever,” also asserting that Prestwood was chosen because it is the most valuable property. The assertion that the Board is only thinking about money was reiterated.
Several parents voiced concerns about moving the Extensive Support Needs (ESN) students, a more fragile student population and a group that requires a special playground and other adaptations. Objections were also expressed that Prestwood’s residential campus was safer than the Sassarini site on heavily trafficked Fifth Street West. The ESN program was transferred in 2023 to Prestwood from the even quieter site at the now-closed Dunbar Elementary School in Glen Ellen. Director Troy Knox responded to these concerns and explained he had met with the ESN parents.
Another parent, himself an engineer, criticized the Board for not following a decision matrix, “a must for any engineering project.” He asserted that the closing of Prestwood affects the most students, an assertion that the Acting Superintendent disputed.
SVUSD is in a financial crisis, linked to – but not solely due to – the steep drop in enrollment. Student population has declined more than 40 percent since 2012, with a drop of 66 students at the start of the 2025-26 school year. The current Sonoma Valley student population is heavily concentrated in the Springs and El Verano areas on the Westside.
At the September 11 meeting Seifts, who is also the Chief Finance Officer of the District, presented the Unaudited Actuals budget, which revealed an unexpected increase in revenue, due to the reassessment of property taxes. The Trustees wrestled with what that might mean for their decision-making, but after discussion they concluded that the District was still far from meeting the appropriate level of reserve funds, with a current six-percent, and a goal of 16 or 17 percent of budget in reserve, so it was still necessary to close an elementary site.
In the spring of 2023, when the Trustees closed Dunbar School, it had a student population of around 80. In June of 2025 the Trustees closed Adele Harrison Middle School, and all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students in the District are now attending Altimira Middle School. Of the two middle schools, only Altimira had the capacity for all those students. Trustees have been facing the necessity to close a second elementary site at the end of this 2025-26 school year. They voted in May to close Flowery School, but rescinded that vote at their next regular meeting in June.
At the August 14 meeting the Trustees had asked Acting Superintendent Seifts to direct staff to prepare a proposal for the process required for the potential closing of Prestwood and consolidation of student and teacher populations into the three other elementary sites: Sassarini, El Verano and Flowery. The Trustees also spent almost three hours discussing the potential closure of Prestwood at a subsequent Study Session held on August 20.
The new figures prepared for the September 11 meeting show Prestwood with a current enrollment (2025-26) of 274 students, or 54 percent of capacity; Sassarini with 272 students, almost 57 percent of capacity; and El Verano with 289 students, or 50 percent of capacity. Flowery, where the 25-year-old and highly successful Dual Immersion (English/Spanish) program is anchored, has a current enrollment of 355 students, almost 81 percent of capacity.
District staff were also asked to adjust and update attendance area boundary maps, to explore the logistical considerations, and prepare a transition plan.
At their regular meeting on Thursday, September 11, the Trustees listened to public comment, at two minutes per speaker, for approximately an hour and a half. When the Elementary School Consolidation item came up on the Agenda, Acting Superintendent Seifts presented the logistics and boundary adjustment information together with a transition plan. Although the issue was an information item only, the four Trustees present concluded their over two-hour discussion with statements of their position at that moment. Trustee Ching and President Landry both wanted additional input from the community before making a decision, and both inclined toward keeping Prestwood open.
Trustee David Bell expressed his readiness to vote to close Prestwood. Trustee Gerardo Guzman spoke eloquently of the importance of keeping the schools where the students live. He said that the Eastside/Westside division has been changed by demographic reality, and suggested that Verano Avenue, not Broadway, now marks the East/West division in our Valley. Citing equity concerns, and pointing out that “neighborhood schools” can refer to areas with multi-family housing and commercial development, Guzman concluded by expressing an inclination to close Prestwood, where the fewest students live, but wanted more time for a decision.
The next SVUSD session will be a Special Meeting in late September – the original date was the 23rd, but out of respect for Rosh Hashana, a new date will be announced – in the Sonoma City Council Chambers, 177 First Street West. Trustee Jason Lehman, who has been absent on vacation, will be present for that meeting, but it is unlikely the Trustees will vote on closure at that time.
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