NEWBERG, Ore. — The Newberg-Dundee School Board will hold work sessions Oct. 27 and in November before it is scheduled to consider a motion Nov. 17 to choose a school restructuring model, and despite being named in all scenarios, Superintendent Dave Parker declined to call the closure of Ewing Young Elementary a certainty.
Ewing Young closes in each of the four models the district’s restructuring committee narrowed from eight: C, D, G, and H. The other closures vary: Antonia Crater Elementary under Model C, Joan Austin Elementary under Models D and H, and Mountain View Middle School under Model G. The board received the committee’s findings Oct. 13 but was not asked to vote.
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Parker was asked in an Oct. 15 interview whether closing Ewing Young is all but certain.
“All of the options are still in play here,” Parker said. “It would be incorrect to say that any of these models are certain at this point.”
The board is not limited to those four models. It may select any model, any combination of elements from the models, or direct staff to develop a further option, according to the Newberg-Dundee Public Schools board packet.
The board will meet in a work session Oct. 27 to finalize which models get a closer look, Parker said. A second work session will be added in November, but the date has not been set. The district hopes the board decides Nov. 17, he said, but the board will take more time if it needs it.
Parker said even a Nov. 17 decision would still leave a tight timeline for a fall 2027 start, because boundaries must be finalized and bus routing software must be set up after a vote.
“We need to be moving in January with the planning for this,” Parker said.
The district’s schedule also lists presentations for staff and parents at every school from Oct. 20 to Nov. 13 and a community feedback form.
“I think the big thing for me is to make sure that we’re engaging the community and making sure the people understand what’s happening and why it’s happening,” Parker said.
The district estimates the models would save a net $1.08 million (C), $1.18 million (D), $1.21 million (G), and $1.40 million (H) a year, according to the packet. Parker said the restructuring is targeting savings of at least $1 million, which would help the district add back approximately four school days and bring the total number of school days up to statewide standards.
Committee members, who did not vote, gave Model D the most support. Of the 78 people who answered the committee’s wrap-up form, 51 named D as one of the two models most deserving of the board’s closest look, compared with 37 for H, 35 for C, and 29 for G. In the Oct. 1 ratings, 75% of responses on D were a 4 or 5 on whether the member could support it, compared with 48% to 52% for the other three.
Members tended to rate lowest the model that would close or change their own school, according to the packet. For example, Joan Austin members gave Model D, which proposes the closure of Joan Austin and Ewing Young elementary schools, an average of 2.60 out of 5. Mountain View members gave Model G, which proposes closing Ewing Young Elementary and Mountain View Middle School, an average of 2.12.
“It’s a tremendously emotional process for folks,” Parker said.
Under the district’s estimates, Model D would leave Antonia Crater with 458 students in a 500-seat building, and Models G and H would put Chehalem Valley Middle School at 582 and 588 students in a 595-seat building.
The district says it is acting because of enrollment and staffing. The packet says enrollment has declined from more than 4,000 students to roughly 3,700, and that 17 of 36 elementary grade levels are staffed with fewer than two teachers. After voters rejected a five-year local option levy in May, the district adopted $5.7 million in cuts that eliminated about 35 positions and raised its elementary staffing ratio from 20.5 to 24.5 students per teacher. The district said it is not proposing to close any building because of its condition.
“We’ve dropped every year,” Parker said. “We have larger high school graduating classes. We have smaller kindergartens. Our enrollment is not going up.”
After voters rejected a five-year local option levy in May, the district adopted $5.7 million in cuts that eliminated about 35 positions and raised its elementary staffing ratio from 20.5 to 24.5 students per teacher, according to the district. Parker said the district is not proposing to close any building because of its condition, as was the case with the now-closed old Dundee Elementary School building.
No attendance boundaries have been drawn, and the district has said the student counts in the models are assumptions, not placements. It has not decided what would happen to closed buildings or said how many positions would be eliminated, citing retirements and turnover.
Newberg-Dundee is one of several Oregon districts weighing closures as enrollment falls, according to reporting by The Oregonian/OregonLive in early October.
Portland Public Schools released two scenarios Oct. 5, one that would close 14 schools and one that would close 11, with a board vote expected by mid-December. Salem-Keizer Public Schools is recommending the closure of six of its 42 elementary schools, with a board vote scheduled Dec. 8. Beaverton School District has begun a two-year process that could lead to boundary changes and closures, with no school predetermined and a board vote in December 2027.
The school board will complete its two work sessions in October and November and reconvene to make a decision at the Nov. 17 meeting. Parker said that if board members do not feel certain about the decision and need more information, they will not be forced to make one.
However, with limited time to begin implementing the changes needed during a school reconfiguration and potential closure, a delayed decision may push implementation beyond the 2027-28 school year, Parker said.
“If we need more time, then they’re going to take more time,” Parker said.
