School board endorses an 18-month timeline driven by community involvement to consolidate or reconfigure the district; school closures not ruled in or out
By Damian Mann for Ashland.news
An 18-month plan to gain community support to restructure Ashland schools in light of declining enrollment received approval from the school board Thursday night.
Superintendent Joseph Hattrick, who laid out the multi-part effort, first had to dispel a widespread rumor that Bellview Elementary School was targeted for closure.
“I am not proposing closures,” Hattrick said. “I’m not proposing anything tonight.”
Hattrick, after the meeting said, he didn’t know what prompted the rumor mill.
“Not a clue,” he said.
Hattrick laid out a multi-stage community outreach that would help inform a plan to restructure the school district, which again posted an enrollment decline in December to 2,399 students. Last year enrollment was 2,490.
Despite a continued projected downward trajectory, Hattrick said, “We’re going to be OK.”
He said there are efforts in the works to improve enrollment numbers.
He pointed out that, despite lower enrollment, the latest budget numbers showed improvement after years of budget woes.
Hattrick said the restructuring would take a middle-of-the road approach between a fast — “run” — response and a slow — “walk” — response, but wouldn’t be a response to a “crisis mindset.”
“I know there’s a great deal of anxiety,” he said. “The community loves our schools.”
During the meeting, Hattrick said any consolidation or reconfiguration doesn’t mean any school property would be sold or closed. He said the goal of plan is to “innovate.”
Hattrick said that his hope is to develop a plan that lets the school district excel.
“How can we be the best school district in Oregon?” he asked.
Hattrick offered three timelines, which he referred to as walk, jog or run that would offer faster or slower timelines.
Based on community feedback, he recommended the “jog” approach, which offered a slightly longer time frame than the “walk” approach but slower than “run.”
The first stage of the “jog” approach, endorsed by the school board, will culminate in spring 2026 and will analyze data, develop preliminary scenarios and have initial community engagements.
In fall 2026, the district will solicit community feedback, impact analysis and implementation planning.
At the end of 2026 into the spring of 2027, final scenarios will be presented, school board approval will be sought and then the district will undertake planning for the transition.
The earliest the plan would be implemented is later in 2027 or 2028.
School Board Member Russell Hatch said, “What I’m pleased by is this slower approach.”
He said he was encouraged by Hattrick’s track record of finding ways to improve the budget during his 18 months on the job.
Hatch said the “jog” approach provides a clearer timeline for the community that is wondering what the plan will look like and what affect it would have on the district.
Board Member Jordyn Rooklyn suggested the district hire a communications director to provide outreach to the community as the plan is being developed. She requested monthly updates for the board on the plan’s progress.
Hattrick said a letter will be sent to families and the media soon about next steps, with further updates going forward.
“There is nothing that deteriorates this kind of plan more than the rumor mill,” he said.
Board Member Deltra Ferguson welcomed the plan concept with its emphasis on community engagement.
“We can as a community and city stay away from that reactive space,” she said. Board Chair Rebecca Dyson also praised the plan concept.
“All of us joined the school board not to sit on the status quo,” she said.
Several residents spoke to the school board about the Bellview closure rumor.
Ashleigh Cropper, who spearheaded a petition signed by more than 200, urged the school board to cautiously approach any changes.
She said she thought the board and Hattrick struck the right timeline to allow for community engagement.
“I think the ‘jog’ plan felt more like the ‘walk’ plan that we envisaged,” she said. The petition urged the school district to take the “walk” approach.
While a decision remains about 18 months away, Cropper said she is still not sure about what might happen to Bellview.
“I still don’t feel at ease,” she said.
She said she sees some hope in the Hattrick plan and she wants to collaborate to help guide the district toward a solution.
“It was truly my hope to have the school board and Dr. Hattrick see how much our community wanted to come together and be strategic, creative, and help, not in any negative light but simply in hopes for an opportunity to collaborate which he echoed last night,” she said.
Cropper said both her and her husband grew up here and were living in Louisville, Colorado, which she said was named the most family friendly city in the U.S.
Because of their experience growing up in Ashland, they decided to move back here to raise their two children.
But they said with so many of Ashland’s institutions threatened, she found Ashland to be a different community than she remembered.
“We feel like it is a shell of what was,” she said.
Cropper said she doesn’t know how the rumor started about Bellview being shuttered, but she said the district’s use of the “consolidation” to describe the plan seems to point in that direction.
Stacia Stimak, a Bellview parent, spoke out against closing the school.
After hearing what the school board and Hattrick had to say, Stimak said Friday that she appreciated the thoughtfulness of the board in taking 18 months to engage with the community and explore different scenarios.
She said she had concerns about the possibility the district might rely too heavily on outside consultants in helping to develop the plan.
“Consultants cost money, and too often they approach problems in a calculated, generic way that doesn’t fully capture the real, lived experience of our teachers, parents, and community members,” Stimak said.
She said consultants don’t know the classroom experience, the families in the community and “don’t carry the day-to-day history and nuance that people here do.”
“If we’re going to spend resources, let’s invest in listening first, genuinely and deeply to the teachers, staff, parents, and community members who are directly impacted by these decisions,” Stimak said. “Their expertise and insight should drive this process, not just inform it.”
Her hope is that 18 months from now the school district isn’t once again in crisis mode instead of a resolution.
“I genuinely hope this extended engagement is treated as a call to action, not just lip service,” Stimak said. “Our community deserves real progress, not delayed outcomes.”
Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at [email protected].
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