With school closure possibilities may open for some

Nearly two months after the Alpine Elementary School Dis­trict Board of trustees voted to consolidate Alpine Elementary School with Boulder Oaks El­ementary School later this year, the district has not released exact details regarding which employees might be transition­ing to other schools within the district.

Superintendent Richard New­man said in April that teachers are welcome to apply for positions within the district ac­cording to their personal and professional goals, and that the district has been moving ahead with plans to have students and staff integrated by the fall.

“The transition has been fantastic. We’ve had joint-staff meetings, we’ve had parent meetings, we brought over all the students from AES to Boul­der Oaks for a field trip and had all the students mix together and had a great day in a big event for everyone so we could begin to plan early for our students’ tran­sition. We’re updating the build­ings for next year, in fact over spring break classrooms were being repainted, floors were be­ing redone,” Newman said.

Newman, however, did not indicate if all nine Alpine El­ementary School teachers or if the 14 other school employees would find themselves working at other district schools.

Alpine Elementary School principal Travis Wall, who is in his third year at the school, was laid off from the district prior to the board’s March 19 decision to consolidate the schools, how­ever, he remains there until the final day of classes June 13 .

Linda Ramos, representative for Alpine Teachers Associa­tion, would not comment about the staffing changes and re­ferred questions to Newman.

Alpine elementary school first-grade teacher Betsey Pfohl said that how one regards Al­pine Elementary’s June’s closure depends on attitude.

“This is bittersweet with memories and nostalgia but it’s life. Everything changes. I choose not to dwell on the sad­ness or anything negative. I choose to look ahead to the light, the good, the wonderful and positive things that will come from this change,” Pfohl said.

Newman said he sought in­put from teachers about which instructional programs would carry over from Alpine Elemen­tary. However, the gardening program —with plants from Alpine Elementary cared for by students over summer va­cation—will remain as a sym­bolic representation of growth through transition.

Currently there are 165 stu­dents attending the Alpine Bou­levard campus which has been operating since 1953.