VISTA — As K-12 schools prepare to wrap up the academic year next week, the community at Rancho Minerva Middle School is saying its final goodbyes ahead of the school’s impending closure.
Families and teachers learned last summer that 2023-24 would be the last school year at Rancho Minerva and Beaumont Elementary schools after the Vista Unified School District board decided to consolidate both sites to address declining enrollment.
The district will also eventually make Rancho Minerva the new site of Vista Innovation and Design Academy, or VIDA, currently located on Olive Avenue. This process will not begin for at least another year. Next year, the school’s campus is planned to sit empty.
On Tuesday, families and teachers gathered at Rancho Minerva for a celebration, and a similar event took place at Beaumont earlier this month.
Linda Rust, who has taught at Rancho Minerva since it opened in 2007, said the school’s closure is “bittersweet.” She will be following her students to Roosevelt next year and continue to teach seventh grade.
“The two other middle schools — Roosevelt and Madison — have been very welcoming to the teachers. I can’t tell you how wonderful they’ve been. I’ve never felt so welcomed, and that’s a great feeling, to feel like you’re wanted and needed somewhere,” Rust said.
Rancho Minerva PTA President Amanda Remmen has sent all four of her children to Beaumont Elementary and currently has two kids at Rancho Minerva who will be transferring to Roosevelt. Her youngest is a fifth grader at Beaumont, who was also planning to attend Rancho Minerva.
She said she and many other parents are frustrated with the district’s decision-making around the consolidation and believe it would have been better to delay the closure of Rancho Minerva so as not to overwhelm the other middle schools. This frustration has spurred her and fellow parent Zulema Gomez to run for the school board this fall.
“I will say, it’s been a rough year, especially being close with the staff at both sites for so long,” Remmen said. “I’m a little nervous to see what next year looks like.”
The 64-year-old Beaumont campus will not continue to be used as a school in the long term due to its deteriorated condition from cracks, mold and water intrusion. However, the population of Bobier Elementary School will be temporarily relocated to Beaumont for the next two school years during the rebuild of their own campus, planned to begin in June.
Vista Unified will provide transportation for all relocated students to their new schools, including additional bus routes planned for Roosevelt and Madison middle schools, and new routes to transport Bobier students to Beaumont.
Following the allocation or spending of most of the $247 million Measure LL bond, Vista Unified leaders are facing a shortfall of funds. Therefore, they strongly consider placing another bond measure of around $364 million before voters this fall to fund future facility projects.
