Vallejo school district faces ‘sad and mad’ community while reaffirming decision to close three schools

VALLEJO – During a contentious meeting Wednesday, the Vallejo City Unified School District’s Board of Education unanimously reaffirmed its decision to close Lincoln, Pennycook and Highland Elementary Schools.

The board had initially voted to close the schools in December in an effort to make the district more fiscally stable, but decided to revote on the closures due to concerns that the original vote may have violated the Brown Act, a state law that requires local public agencies to discuss most matters in public. 

The revote came after the Vallejo Sun published text messages between Trustee Glenn Amboy and Superintendent Rubén Aurelio which appeared to show them agreeing to discuss school closures in a private board meeting before the public meeting in December. The California School Employees Association then sent a letter accusing the district of violating the act and demanding a revote last month.

During the meeting Wednesday, Aurelio denied the union’s accusation but recommended the district revote in the interest of building public trust.

“While we fundamentally disagree with the allegations presented,” Aurelio said, “we’re choosing a path that prioritizes clarity, public trust, and procedural integrity.”

“What we are doing tonight is strengthening the process so that when decisions are made they are durable, defensible, and trusted by the community that we serve,” Aurelio said. He was met with loud boos from several members of the crowd.

It was one of dozens of instances where attendees, including staff, students, parents and community members, expressed anger or sadness towards the board and district leadership. 

One student who attends Pennycook stated the sentiment directly in a public comment, and received applause from the vast majority of attendees.

“Everyone here is sad and mad at you guys for closing these three schools,” she said.

The meeting was tense. Audience members often yelled out. Several cursed at the board, including multiple public speakers.

Despite the fact that Vallejo students and teachers are currently on spring break, the meeting’s attendance was much higher than a typical board meeting, as more than 180 people showed up. The meeting took place at Hogan Middle School’s auditorium, not the board’s meeting room at the district offices on Mare Island, which has a capacity of about 80 people and generally doesn’t fill up. 

Roughly 40 of the attendees wore purple shirts to show support for Highland. Staff members with the school also hung signs outside the meeting saying “keep Highland open,” and served pizza and chicken before it started. 

Wednesday was the first time the Highland community had spoken out during a meeting against their school’s closure. Before the December meeting, Aurelio had recommended the board close Cooper Elementary instead of Highland, and a district committee recommended against prioritizing Highland for closure. In interviews before the Wednesday meeting, several Highland community members told the Vallejo Sun that, when the district voted to close Highland in December, they were surprised.

“I felt very blindsided and a lot of disbelief because it was unexpected,” Highland Assistant Expanded Learning Coordinator Tanea Fukushima said.

Tiffini Hardy, also a coordinator at Highland’s Expanded Learning program, said that she was surprised Highland was closed given its attendance. With 510 students last school year, it was the second-most attended elementary school in the district, according to state data. By comparison, Cooper had 335 students.

Shortly before the December vote, Aurelio cited the Highland’s large size when he recommended against closing the school.

Vince Barma, a parent of two Highland students, said that if the school had been higher on the closure list, he and his family would have come out to board meetings sooner to speak out.

“Highland wasn’t very represented the first time they made the vote because we felt like we were so far down in priority we thought we for sure were fine,” Barma said. “We weren’t even on the radar.”When the district voted to close the school with little warning, Barma said classrooms were filled with crying kids the next day.

Barma said the text message exchange between Aurelio and Amboy didn’t surprise him but “he’s glad it came to light” because it helped to force a revote which has allowed him to speak out and have some “camaraderie” with fellow Highland community members.

During public comment, over 20 speakers pleaded with the board not to close schools. Several people who signed up to speak about the closures appeared to have left beforehand as the time the board allotted for the public to speak about the closures came two hours into the meeting.

While some public speakers addressed Pennycook’s closure, Highland received the most public speaker support. 

Kindergarten teacher Natalie DuMont pointed to the school’s rising test scores in math and English language arts. While the board never discussed Highland’s closure in depth publicly before the December vote, Trustee John Fox made a passing reference to the school’s comparatively low test scores in a meeting shortly before the vote. DuMont’s comment appeared to be reacting to Fox’s reference.

“Your main concern is that we were underperforming academically,” DuMont said. “I wanted to point out we are growing stronger and stronger in English language arts and math.”State data shows that Highland’s math, English language arts, and English learner progress test results all rose from 2024 to 2025.

While the majority of public speakers spoke out against closures, they weren’t the only issue to spark ire at Wednesday’s meeting. Over a dozen speakers criticized the board for proposed cuts to classified staff, which are currently set to eliminate 130 full time positions. Special Education Paraeducator April Nelson said that the district has “not been bargaining in good faith” with her union about these cuts.

Several speakers also complained about the district’s decision to enter into over $600,000 in contracts with Eryck “Boomer” Bennett for anti-bullying and after-school care support work, in light of recent reports that he boasted of using his access to Vallejo students to “turn them into champions for Christ.” The district recently cut off Bennett’s access to district campuses.

Some speakers connected these issues. Sheila Womack, an intern with California School Employees Association, said that Bennett’s contracts “took work away from our classified employees…while raising significant constitutional concerns.”

“The students and the classified employees are forced to pay the price for administrative mismanagement,” Womack said. “Stop balancing this budget on the backs of our classified employees; stop treating our schools like disposable line items.”

Trustee Carlos Flores, who appeared remotely, spoke about why he voted to close the schools in December, and for the first time disclosed the board’s reasoning for closing Highland. Flores said that more infrastructure grant funding had been allocated to Cooper Elementary, and therefore he was hesitant to close it. Traffic was a factor, Flores said, as Highland is located on a one-way street. Additionally, he said Highland is more expensive to operate than Cooper.

Flores concluded by saying the economics has forced the board’s hand, and closures are necessary to keep the district running.

“I hate that right now it seems like all of this just means numbers to me,” Flores said. “I need the community and teachers at Highland and Pennycook to know you all aren’t numbers; I really understand that. But unfortunately as we continue to lose students, money goes away.”

Vallejo’s school district has steadily been losing enrollment for decades, and, like all California school districts, its funding is largely based on its enrollment.

No other board members spoke about why they were voting to close the schools. Shortly after Flores’s speech, the board voted unanimously to close the three schools. Immediately following the vote, the audience became loud, with some attendees chanting “shame” and calling the board members names and cursing. In response, Amboy called a five-minute recess.

Barma told the Vallejo Sun that Highland’s closure would force his children to attend school at Cooper if they are to remain in the district, which would pose transportation problems for his family as the school is far from their home. He said that the location change coupled with the breaking up of relationships his family has formed at Highland might lead his family to consider different schooling options.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we filed to get them out of the district,” Barma said. “I’m pretty sure we’re not the only ones.”