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Alta Vista School will be closed at the end of the current school year, a majority of Auburn Union Elementary School District trustees decreed this week. A marked decline in district enrollment — and the resultant drop in district revenue — was the reason trustees Shana Fain McDonald (the board president and an Alta Vista grad), Linda Beasley and Lynn Hargrove voted to close the hilltop school off East Lincoln Way at Oak Street in the city. Trustees Clark Gehlbach and Chuck Heisleman cast nay votes.
Alta Vista boosters obviously were disappointed at the board’s
decision. Supporters of Rock Creek School in North Auburn were relieved
that it had been saved from closure, at least for now. The district had sufficient funding to operate all its schools when its
enrollment numbered 3,000 a few years ago. Now that the number of
pupils has declined to about 2,200, one of the schools had to be
shuttered, or so the school board majority thought. The high cost of Auburn area housing and the decline in the birth rate
were a couple of reasons cited for the sagging enrollment. Most of the Alta Vista students are expected to transfer to Skyridge in
the South Auburn area. The district plans to lease the Alta Vista
property.
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