on the cover / By Ryan Burns

Crossing Schools

Will rearranging McKinleyville’s elementary schools save the district, or ruin it?

(Feb. 5, 2009)  Eight-year-old Lydia Kenyon stepped up to the microphone in McKinleyville Middle School’s multi-purpose room, which was packed on this December evening with 200-odd community members — teachers, students, administrators and parents, many of them upset, many downright angry. As she spoke to the McKinleyville Union School District (MUSD) Board of Trustees, Lydia sounded nervous and a bit sad.

“Please do not change the schools,” she said. “I like my school just the way it is. I love Dow’s Prairie so much and I want to stay there.” Applause engulfed her as she stepped down and her father, Tom Kenyon, took her place at the mic. “I strongly oppose this idea,” he said. “It would be a huge burden — dropping off and picking up my kids at two different schools while working full time. It’s important for my kids to go to school together. I will have that happen.” This was a declaration. A line in the sand. He proceeded to lay out his arguments forcefully and defiantly. A kitchen timer rang, signaling the end of his allotted three minutes, and Kenyon wrapped up his comments with an ultimatum: “If these proposals go through, I will have absolutely no choice but to leave this district. I’ve already made my decision.”

Fourth and fifth grade students in Elizabeth Riviera’s Spanish Immersion reading class at Morris Elementary participate in a comprehension exercise. Photo by Ryan Burns

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Raucous applause. Falsetto whoops of approval. Kenyon returned to his seat and another parent stepped up. “You have taken away our right as parents to choose how we want our children educated,” she said, “and that is wrong.” She was followed by a teacher, then another parent. One McKinleyville resident after another stepped to the microphone in a seemingly endless procession. A mom expressed fear for the well-being of her children. A teacher fretted that her wonderful school was about to be dismantled. Some people yelled. Many were in tears. The meeting, which had begun at 7 p.m., stretched toward midnight, and with each new speaker it grew increasingly clear: There is profound discord in the MUSD. Until recently, this rift has lain below the surface. But now, as the waters of funding and enrollment recede, the MUSD board finds itself faced with a decision that could very well spark a rebellion. If that sounds like an overstatement, you haven’t talked to the parents.

To an outsider, the fear and outrage expressed at the Dec. 3 special meeting of the district board would have seemed all out of proportion with the recommendation presented that evening. A nine-person steering team proposed that for a number of reasons, the district should reconfigure two of its three schools. Dow’s Prairie Elementary and Morris Elementary — both currently offering kindergarten through fifth grade — should be rearranged to form one K-2 school and one 3-5 school. (It hasn’t been determined which school would go to which campus.) To understand why this recommendation seems threatening if not downright offensive to so many, you have to look at the history and character of each school, and of McKinleyville itself — “where horses have the right-of-way,” as the sign north of town reads.

If the community has a claim to fame, it’s the totem pole that stands largely ignored in the parking lot of the McKinleyville Shopping Center. At 160 feet tall and 57,000 pounds, it claims to be the world’s largest, and while its Native American pedigree is dubious (Ernest Pierson of Pierson Building Center designed it in 1962 to celebrate the shopping center’s opening), the towering “potlatch” pole is an appropriate physical symbol for the town: Lay it flat and you have an approximation of McKinleyville’s business district layout. The long, straight thoroughfare of Central Avenue has sprouted numerous fast-food joints and pre-fab metal buildings over the past 15 years, as McKinleyville became the county’s fastest-growing community. Cul-de-sac mazes of tract homes have dropped onto cow fields with alarming regularity, yet McKinleyville remains unincorporated despite numerous efforts and a population that rivals Arcata’s.

On clear days, an ocean breeze rolls up the bluffs, picking up scents of horses, cattle and dewy grass on its way into town. Hiller Park and the recently expanded Hammond Trail, leading from the Arcata Bottoms to Clam Beach, have helped McKinleyville earn a reputation as a pet- and family-friendly place, with relatively low crime and a neighborly, backyard-barbecue demeanor. There’s even a lovely, if seldom seen, waterfall (its location guarded by those in the know).

For resident families, though, McKinleyville’s most important feature is its school system. The three schools in the MUSD — Morris, Dow’s Prairie and McKinleyville Middle School — have all been recognized as California Distinguished Schools. Generally speaking, parental interest and involvement run deep. (Note the aforementioned meeting.) So whence the discord? The answer is complex, but a good place to start is that long road bisecting town.

With few exceptions, Central Avenue serves as the dividing line for school attendance zones. If you live on the west side, your kid goes to Morris; if you’re on the east, it’s Dow’s Prairie. Over the years, each school has developed its own distinct character. During the 1990s, Dow’s Prairie came to be viewed as the “country club” school, drawing students from the more affluent neighborhoods on the east side of town. Morris kids, meanwhile, often came from families who lived in apartments and mobile homes on the west side. While both have the squat, utilitarian architecture of modern public schools, Dow’s Prairie sits on a rural road north of town, tucked behind a thicket of evergreens, whereas Morris is in town, its playground flanked by triangles in pastels and earth-tones — the roof-lines of surrounding tract homes.

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