Education
The West Contra Costa Unified School District board voted 3-2 late Wednesday to table a proposal to close Betty Reid Soskin Middle School and relocate the district’s growing Mandarin immersion program to the Soskin campus.
The board approved only the current year’s fiscal solvency measures and delayed voting on the school merger proposal until February 11 to allow more time for community input.
West Contra Costa School District faces $127 million deficit, plans major cuts
The West Contra Costa Unified School District is confronting a $127 million budget shortfall over the next three years, prompting officials to propose widespread staff reductions, program cuts affecting 400 positions and restructuring that could merge small middle schools and reconfigure K-8 campuses. Superintendent Cheryl Cotton outlined the financial situation
Soren Hemmila
The tabled proposal calls for merging Soskin with Pinole Middle School at the Pinole campus, combining 279 Soskin students with 324 Pinole students. West County Mandarin School, currently a K-8 program with 577 students, would move to the vacated Soskin campus.
Jose De Leon, an executive director for the district, presented the merger proposal during the Tuesday night meeting.
“The suggestion is looking at a merger of Betty Reid Soskin and Pinole Middle,” De Leon said. “Making a transition for Betty Reid Soskin and Pinole Middle School to be combined at the Pinole Middle School campus will meet the needs of the students, and moving the West County Mandarin School to the Soskin campus will let them grow because it is one of our only schools that takes in students from outside the district.”
District officials said the Mandarin program has the highest enrollment demand in the district and that, due to space limitations, they are unable to accommodate any out-of-district students each year.
The school merger is part of a proposed $127 million three-year deficit-reduction plan, driven by declining enrollment and a structural budget crisis. The district has lost 450 students in the past year. The board approved only current-year measures on Tuesday, delaying decisions on the larger cuts planned for 2026-27.
Parents and teachers objected to the proposal during public comment, citing inadequate notice and lack of community input.
“The first we heard of a possible closure of the school and merging with Pinole Middle was yesterday, and we only learned at this meeting today,” said Brian Mendez, a parent of two special education seventh graders at Soskin. “If parents are only finding out about this at the last minute, then you haven’t done the work that you need to do.”
Cristina Kountz, an elective teacher at Betty Reid Soskin Middle School, urged district leaders to reconsider proposed changes she said would disproportionately harm vulnerable students and families.
“These proposals are rushed and harmful. Families will leave, and I’m asking you to think about community schools,” Kountz said. “Our district has a pattern of disrupting its most vulnerable communities. That is structural racism. It’s not fair that district leaders can resign and take accountability with them. I’m a child of that harm, and I’m fighting for my child and my students so they don’t experience it. Please reconsider voting on these proposals.”
District officials said the merger would provide expanded opportunities for students at both schools. Putting Soskin with Pinole Middle would actually give both students a more robust support system, including community school support and access to more electives and classes.
Trustee Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy made the motion to approve only the 2025-26 fiscal solvency plan and “table all other proposals for the February 11 meeting to get further feedback,” while directing staff to “bring us a plan for revenue enhancement strategies” and to meet “with the various groups affected, such as our labor groups, K-8 schools, Betty Reid Soskin, Pinole Middle.”
Trustee Jamela Smith-Folds questioned the delay, asking what alternatives exist to the district’s proposal.
“This is the plan. Their plan is what has been put before us,” Smith-Folds said. “What’s the board’s plan to create that gap in revenue that comes when you don’t do what was presented?”
Gonzalez-Hoy responded that the public and labor groups needed more time for input.
“We might not find solutions, and we might end up in the same place, but we need to do that. We can’t do that in a silo,” Gonzalez-Hoy said. “We have two weeks. It might not be very long, but we can go sit in a room together with different groups and hear them out. We owe that respect to them, and they might have better ideas.”
The vote came at 11:31 p.m., when the board was legally required to adjourn. Trustees Cinthia Hernandez, Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy, and Guadalupe Enllana voted yes on the motion to table, while Leslie Reckler and Jamela Smith-Folds voted no.
The school merger proposal is expected to save the district more than $900,000 annually and will be reconsidered at the February 11 board meeting.
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