Centennial High School meeting: Tensions flare after Columbia students to be at CHS long term

Passionate parents filled the seats at Monday night’s meeting at Centennial High School.

The meeting concerning Columbia Elementary students who are temporarily housed at Centennial High School while their new school is being built at a different location.

The meeting was supposed to be a place where parents, community members, and students could come together to voice their concerns to District Representatives and board members, about the possible decision to house Columbia elementary students at the high school long term, but the meeting quickly derailed.

Almost immediately after parents sat down for the meeting, they were asked to separate into smaller groups to express their concerns. At this point a heated conversation took place, the meeting was taken over by the student body, and parents remained in their seats to express their concerns.

Lisa Orta, a parent at Centennial High school said that they were misinformed about what was going to take place at tonight’s meeting, she said, “We were under the impression that as parents that we would be allowed to sit here, that there would be officials from downtown that would hear us out answer questions, hear our concerns, when we got here, we were told absolutely not.”

Parents said they want their input to be considered but feel the decision to house Columbia Elementary students at Centennial High School long term has already been made.

One of the major concerns that parents have is what they called the lack of transparency and communication on the part of the school board and the superintendent.

“We were unaware of what was decisions were being made without us that were going to affect our kids,” Orta said. “We were told that they would definitely be bringing in the Columbia students and they would be here for the next two to three years until their school is built.”

Orta told ABC-7 that there has been absolutely no communication from the school board or the superintendent about the plans for Columbia Elementary students.

Pearie Bruder, the School Advisory Council President said that parents and the community should be able to affect the decision. “Nobody wants to get rid of anybody. We want to come to a realistic decision as the stakeholders we want to have input and ability to change the outcome that is directed.”

Bruder said that an alternative option is to allow other elementary schools to absorb the Columbia Elementary Students into their schools. “That would be the long term solution, with the current direction two populations are being impacted when only one needs to be.”