VISTA — Frustrated families and teachers in the Vista Unified School District are demanding clear timelines from administrators regarding the fate of Vista Innovation and Design Academy and the recently closed Rancho Minerva Middle School campus.
Vista Unified closed two schools, Rancho Minerva and Beaumont Elementary, in June as the result of a school consolidation effort last year to “right-size” schools with low enrollment and deteriorating facilities. Along with these closures, the district agreed to relocate VIDA to the Rancho Minerva campus on a still-undetermined timeline.
While VIDA remains open for now, community members say many teachers and families are leaving the magnet school due to uncertainty about the relocation and whether the school will continue offering valued programs, including theater, aquatics, and design labs.
Community members were eager to hear about the future actions for VIDA and Rancho Minerva at a planned district workshop last week. However, many were disappointed when district leaders canceled the workshop and rescheduled it for the upcoming Nov. 7 school board meeting.
“The purpose of this shift was to have this important topic accessible to the community at large both in person and through our regular live stream process,” said Vista Unified COO Shawn Loescher.
Trustees Rosemary Smithfield and Rena Marrocco decided to proceed with the workshop anyway, and around 40 people gathered outside the district office on Thursday night to share their thoughts.
Marta Agustin, whose son attends VIDA, said she would have sent him to a different school if she had known VIDA would be relocating or substantially changing its programs.
“We could have looked somewhere else,” Agustin said.
Other people said they want to see more concrete plans for how the district will transfer over VIDA’s key amenities, such as the theater and pool, which they said are two of the school’s greatest draws. Rancho Minerva has neither of these.
“One of the big attractors for kids was the aquatics program … and they don’t have a theater, and that’s a big part of VIDA culture,” said parent Carrie Thomas. “They can’t tear down VIDA without telling us what they will do with the campus and how we will pay for it.”
Frustrations
Several community members said they are still frustrated with the district’s decision to close Rancho Minerva and use it as the new site for the VIDA program. They argue that the decision was made too quickly without considering all the impacts on families and teachers.
Members of the district’s asset management advisory committee, formed last year to recommend whether to close schools, said they were prohibited from discussing any factors besides the state of facilities. As a result, they said they felt pushed toward the specific outcome of closing Beaumont and Rancho Minerva and relocating VIDA.
Linda Rust, who taught at Rancho Minerva for 17 years and has moved to Roosevelt Middle School, said committee members and meeting attendees were “shut down” if they tried to talk about the impacts of closures on families or transportation.
“Rancho Minerva is the newest school that’s been built in the district. It made absolutely no sense for the school to be closed,” Rust said.
Rancho Minerva’s campus was built in 2007 after the district obtained the land through eminent domain in the 1990s. However, it only utilized around half its 1,000-student capacity by the 2023-24 school year.
By comparison, the 60-year-old VIDA campus is at capacity with around 800 students but needs around $59 million in repairs.
During the meeting, Marrocco and Smithfield claimed the district board itself was pushed toward the decision to close Rancho Minerva and relocate VIDA, an outcome decided early on by Superintendent Matthew Doyle and Loescher.
The two trustees also noted that the $247 million Measure LL bond is nearly dried up, leaving no money for massive facilities projects. The district was pursuing another $364 million bond to go before voters this November, but it will no longer move forward after Marrocco and Smithfield voted against it in June due to concerns about the district’s financial management.
“There’s no money to do the plan they decided behind closed doors,” Marrocco said of Doyle and Loescher.
When asked about these claims, Loescher noted that a district board majority approved VIDA’s closure and relocation. He also said the district has been providing support for affected families, particularly by repurposing existing transportation routes to take Rancho Minerva students to Madison and Roosevelt middle schools.
“The former Rancho Minerva Middle School Site has been used this school year for a number of district and community uses and is undergoing a full review to be prepared for future use after the Board of Education votes on the remaining topic of when the Vista Innovation Design Academy will move there,” said Loescher.
There has been more community consensus around the decision to close Beaumont, which had deteriorating facilities that district leaders said posed a danger to staff and students. However, some community members have expressed confusion about the campus being used as a swing site for Bobier Elementary students while their school is rebuilt.
“My frustration is with openness. If the plan was always to move Bobier to Beaumont, then just have that conversation,” said VIDA parent and school board candidate Zulema Gomez. “We are adults, we can handle hard truths.”
Community members can attend the Nov. 7 board meeting in person at the district office at 1234 Arcadia Avenue or watch the meeting virtually via the district’s website at vistausd.org.
