The McKinleyville Union School District Board of Trustees voted earlier this month to move forward with consolidating the district’s three campuses into two in the face of declining enrollment and budget shortfalls, but several decisions remain on the table.
Currently, students in transitional kindergarten through second grade attend Dow’s Prairie Elementary, third through fifth grade students attend Morris Elementary School and sixth through eighth graders go to McKinleyville Middle School.
Under a possible consolidation plan put forward in December, the Morris school site would transition over the next two years to house a preschool, the independent study program and district offices, while Dow’s Prairie would become TK through third grade with fourth through eighth graders attending McKinleyville Middle.
According to a March 17 letter from the district, the board approved having next year’s third grade students move to the Dow’s Prairie campus but delayed consideration of where to place fourth and fifth graders starting in the 2026-2027 school year until its April 16 meeting, with a possible decision at that time.
“In the meantime, our goal is to share out how we’ve taken feedback and input (this letter is part of that) and to offer our community at least one more opportunity to share their thoughts on which configuration works best for MUSD,” the letter states.
The decisions made at the board’s March 12 meeting followed a presentation from the Possible Consolidation Committee, made up of parents and staff, on four main options for distributing grade levels at the Dow’s Prairie Elementary and McKinleyville Middle School campuses.
Those included having both schools serve students from transitional kindergarten (TK) to eighth grade, one campus serving TK through third grade and one serving fourth through eighth grade, one serving TK through fourth and the other fifth through eighth grade or one school housing TK through fifth grade and the second sixth through eighth grade.
The district’s letter states the committee determined two TK through eighth grade campuses “would not be feasible.”
“While this configuration is often held up as a desired possibility for McKinleyville, it would result in a significant increase in busing, staggered schedules to accommodate busing, many combination classes, a lack of teacher collaboration by grade level, a reduction in elective offerings and many of the rivalry issues we dealt with when Morris and Dow’s were K-5 schools,” the letter states, adding the district “will continue to explore opportunities to provide a TK-8 setting in McKinleyville in the future as it (is) clearly a desired configuration.”
Superintendent Julie Giannini-Previde sent out a letter to parents in December outlining the declines in enrollment and school funding behind the consolidation proposal, noting the district was “currently running three schools at approximately 50 percent capacity.”
For example, Dow’s Prairie served 287 students in the 2024-2025 school year compared to 410 in 2015-2016 and 533 in 1994-1995. Likewise, Morris Elementary School’s enrollment dropped to 252 last year compared to the 370 students enrolled in 2015-2016 and 520 in 1994-1995. McKinleyville Middle School, meanwhile, has 307 students in 2024-2025, down from 376 a decade earlier and 506 in 1994-1995.
After the December announcement, Giannini-Previde held three in-person listening sessions and the district sent out surveys, the feedback from which resulted in the formation of the Possible Consolidation Committee after it became “clear that the decision about which grades would be at each site was the key concern,” the March 17 letter states.
The letter notes there are “still important decisions to be made” and encourages those interested in giving input to attend the district’s board meetings or email members of the board.
The district also sent out a press release this week announcing the decisions from the March 12 meeting and noted the “board has committed to ensuring that there is ample opportunity for further community input before any final decisions are made.”
“At MUSD, we are committed to making thoughtful, informed decisions that will guide our district toward a sustainable future,” the release states. “We are deeply grateful for the hard work, dedication and care shown by our staff, teachers, parents/caregivers and community members during this important time. Your input and involvement are what make our school community such a wonderful place to learn and work.”
For more information on the consolidation plan, visit the district’s website at
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