MARYSVILLE — Marysville School District leaders will recommend the closure of Cascade Elementary School, Liberty Elementary School and Totem Middle School for the 2025-26 school year.
The district announced the “potential plans” on Friday in an email to Marysville families and staff. Leaders will recommend the school board close the three schools in a “consolidation” plan, the email said, citing declining enrollment.
Staff won’t lose their jobs, the email said. They “will follow students,” who “would be distributed to other schools based on feeder patterns and through potential boundary shifts.”
Marysville teachers union President Becky Roberts said staff at the affected schools found the prospect of the closures “heartbreaking.”
Since August, the struggling district has been in so-called “binding conditions,” meaning it must work with the state superintendent’s office and local educational service district to solve its budget crisis.
Earlier this month, the district submitted a financial plan to the state that included plans to close two schools. The district had not publicly named which schools it had in mind until the district-wide email Friday.
“This decision was not made lightly,” the email said, “but with educationally and financially sound thought processes.”
It added closures would only happen “after a year of planning and community opportunities to learn more about the process, including final approval from the school board.”
The district-wide email was sent out Friday afternoon.
On Marysville social media pages, some locals expressed frustration.
“It is a full circle problem,” one wrote. “Levies don’t get passed, district doesn’t get the money they need. Then people get pissed because the district doesn’t have enough money to do what they want.”
The school district has turned off comments on all of its new Facebook posts.
The next school board meeting is at 6 p.m. Monday at the district headquarters, 4220 80th Street NE.
Here is the full text of a district email sent out Friday:
Dear Marysville School District Families and Staff,
Recently, district leaders met with staff at Cascade Elementary School, Liberty Elementary School, and Totem Middle School to share news and information about the schools and future plans, given the declining enrollment and the age of the buildings. As you may have read or heard about in local news or on social media, the district’s revised comprehensive financial plan states school closures or consolidation as part of the reductions based on declining enrollment. The district has also directly communicated with the schools’ families about the potential plans.
These three schools, constructed in the 1940s and 50s with some later upgrades, will be recommended to the school board for potential closure for the 2025 – 2026 school year. School closure does not mean loss of jobs for staff, as staff will follow students. Students would be distributed to other schools based on feeder patterns and through potential boundary shifts.
This decision was not made lightly but with educationally and financially sound thought processes. Over the coming year, there will be opportunities to learn more about the school closure process.
Please contact your school principal with questions or concerns or reach out through Let’s Talk at https://www.msd25.org/o/district/page/lets-talk.
As a reminder, this is NOT for next school year and will only occur after a year of planning and community opportunities to learn more about the process, including final approval from the school board.
Thank you for your continued support of the students we serve and our schools in the Marysville School District.
Sophia Gates: 425-339-3035; sophia.gates@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @SophiaSGates.
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