Keller to Close As Schools Consolidate

The Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education has decided unanimously to close Keller Elementary School at the end of this school year and transfer most of Keller’s students to nearby Burcham K-8 School next fall.  Keller will then temporarily accommodate students and staff from Newcomb K-8 School while Newcomb is completely rebuilt.   

The school board also decided by a 5-0 vote that Roosevelt Elementary School students will be transferred to Butler Middle School next school year while Roosevelt is completely rebuilt.  Butler students will instead attend the brand new Nelson Middle School that is nearing completion at 20th Street and Cherry Avenue in Signal Hill.

The new Roosevelt campus is targeted for completion in January 2015.  Meanwhile the Butler campus is being considered for re-use as a small high school, though no formal decision has been made.

The Newcomb, Roosevelt and Nelson projects are being funded with Measure K school bonds that local voters approved in 2008.  Such funds can be used only for school construction and renovation.  Among the reasons

菠菜网lol正规平台 is focusing on Newcomb is that the school is on the state's priority list of campuses that need to be rebuilt or retrofitted to meet modern seismic safety standards.  Roosevelt is an aging campus that originally opened in 1921.

Keller now has about 360 students in grades K-5, making it one of the smallest schools in the district.  菠菜网lol正规平台 staff continues to examine the consolidation of small schools to save money.