Scottsdale mother says she was ‘blindsided’ by news that 2 schools might close

SCOTTSDALE — Two schools within the Scottsdale Unified School District could be shutting down next year, and one parent isn’t happy about the closure process.

Ellie McKnight has a daughter currently enrolled in SUSD’s Pima Elementary School, which teaches kindergarteners through 5th graders. It’s one of the two schools that could be closed in the 2026-27 school year due to declining enrollment.

She said she first learned the school might close in the 2026-27 school year due to declining enrollment from a staff member.

“We were totally blindsided of what was going on,” McKnight told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Later on, she received communication from the district about the possible closure of Pima Elementary School. The timing bothered her because she believed it contradicted SUSD Superintendent Scott Menzel’s previous promises to be transparent.

“Menzel said various people in superintendency and the governing board said they were trying to be transparent, but the transparency has been very opaque,” McKnight said.

The other SUSD school that could shut down next year due to enrollment is Echo Canyon School, which teaches kindergarteners through 8th graders.

Why could Echo Canyon School, Pima Elementary School close?

Menzel told KTAR News that enrollment in district schools has been declining for the past 15 years — and now, both Echo Canyon School and Pima Elementary School have fewer than 300 enrolled students.

“The birth rate has declined faster than our enrollment decline,” Menzel said. “We graduate over 1,800 students (yearly) and our incoming kindergarten class is between 1,200 and 1,300.”

The governing board will face a tough decision on the proposed closures in December, he said.

If approved, the school buildings would likely be repurposed, and district boundaries would be redrawn to place students from both schools into other campuses.

He also noted that closures weren’t discussed earlier because of concerns that some parents might immediately pull their children out of the affected schools.

The district is holding a public hearing on Nov. 13 at Coronado High School to hear the community’s concerns about the potential closures. The event will be livestreamed.

Scottsdale parent says schools shutting down could hurt community

McKnight said the Pima Elementary School has been around for 66 years, and it’s been very emotional for the students, parents and teachers to wrap their heads around the closure.

“This is a community. We have not just my sons and alumni, but we have parents that are alumni of Pima. We have grandparents that are alumni at Pima. We have one of my daughter’s friends- she’s a third generation Pima student,” she said.

Families have been picketing against the closures outside of SUSD board meetings.

Menzel recommends that parents use the district’s open enrollment on Nov. 3 to sign their child up for a different school, just in case the closures happen. If the closures aren’t approved, those new enrollments would be canceled.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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