The closing of Maria Carrillo High School would

1. Force ~1600 students to be displaced or dropped out of the Santa Rosa City Schools system to seek out stronger alternatives.
2. Penalize teachers, school-level administrators, and especially students who have committed to exceptional academic performance.
3. Severely damage the economic and professional ecosystem for the City of Santa Rosa. MCHS is a highly sought out public school, which draws medical doctors, software and hardware engineers, and other professionals to our City so that their children may attain a strong academic education. Closing MCHS could impact the inflow of all types of professionals, while simultaneously causing families to move their kids out of the Santa Rosa City Schools. This would further impact the local economy with potentially declining property values.
4. Send the wrong message to teachers and students that their performance is irrelevant, when Santa Rosa City Schools make a decision as to which schools to close.
    

Background

MCHS has the highest overall academic achievement in the district and exceeds state standards.

School ratings for MCHS and schools in the district based on 2024 California Department of Education data referenced on SchoolDigger.com:  MCHS is in the 90.2 percentile for California school ratings overall, compared to 23.4 percentile for Elsie Allen, 45.3 percentile for Piner, 69.4 percentile for Santa Rosa High and 63.2 percentile for Montgomery high school.   Another measure for school performance is college/career/vocational school readiness rating, which is a composite score including California Dept. of Education data on testing scores in Science, English, Math, graduation rates, advanced courses, percentage of students meeting UC standards, students chronically absent and suspended, and others.  MCHS is highly scoring in college/career readiness with a score of 87%, compare to 69% for Santa Rosa High, 64% for Montgomery High, 40% for Piner, and 5% for Elsie Allen (greatschools.org). 

The student population at MCHS has grown 8.8% over the past 5 years, and is the only school in the district that has grown in student enrollment over the past 5 years (Schooldigger.com).  Meanwhile the other 5 high schools in the district have a combined decrease of 6.4% enrollment over the past 5 years. 

Despite its large size, the per student operating cost of MCHS is the second lowest of the district out of 5 schools based on committee report.  MCHS also has a large capacity to accept transferred students, with an excess capacity to accept 552 students; the second highest of the SRCS schools. 

MCHS was categorized inaccurately regarding demographics and diversity by the SRCS School Closure Committee, reporting that MCHS has a low demographic diversity of 25%.  This is false:  our student body consists of 48% non-white students that span 5 different race groups, with greater number of ethnicities represented than many other schools in the district. 

Families seek out MCHS for its academic programs offered, including 18 AP classes in 7 subject areas, enjoying the highest participation in the district, and the highest AP pass rate of 91% in the county.  There is a high participation rate of 30% at MCHS.

MCHS has a growing and robust Encore visual and performing arts program encompassing 30 different fine arts classes ranging from instrumental music, voice, dance, theater, and art, taught by 7 faculty members.  The estimated student population enrolled in Encore classes is 900 students, which encompasses 56% of the student population, and encompasses the largest instrumental music enrollment in the North Bay as well as the largest public student orchestra in the North Bay.  

MCHS has a well-known mariachi class in the district.  The Honors Jazz I group and Honors symphonic band have received 13 years of Unanimous Superior ratings, the highest rating possible in music competitions.  Similarly, the Honors Jazz band honed 5 division first place finishes at the esteemed Folsom Jazz festival including last year.  The Encore Performing Arts Center theater lighting was recently upgraded from a state grant totaling 1 million dollars. 

The School Consolidation Advisory Committee failed to include the Encore performing arts program and theater as “special programs that can or cannot be relocated” for MCHS.  Our state-of- the- art theater with recent one million dollar upgrade in lighting is not included as an asset, and should be figured into our worth in this school ranking, and is arguably non-transferrable.

We have a newer faculty member, Matthew Bowker, in MCHS instrumental music department who has been integral in enabling the instrumental music program to grow and flourish.  Here are a few examples:  Matthew Bowker has helped grow our music program from 5 classes (with 2 being co-taught simultaneously by one teacher) in 2022 to 10 classes in 2024.  Mr. Bowker is the director of the Mariachi youth program at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, and his ensembles have garnered public accolades including being featured on television in Fall 2024, featured in La Prensa and the Press Democrat newspapers, and they recently were invited to play at Weill Hall alongside the Santa Rosa Symphony.  

Unfortunately, Mr. Bowker is at risk for losing his job since on paper, he is a less senior teacher in the Santa Rosa City school system.  I would submit that Mr. Bowker is a key factor for empowering youth of all kinds to be excited about music, bridging the gap between cultures and demographics for inclusivity in music, and is an irreplaceable asset for MCHS.    

David Chen

Organizer, Save MCHS