Photo: Loyola Village educators

In December, the district announced plans to close Loyola Village Fine and Performing Arts Magnet Elementary in Westchester and merge the school with nearby Westport Heights Elementary. Initially, the district held meetings with educators and parents at each school and pitched the merger as a positive.  

But parents and educators at Loyola Village and Westport Heights didn’t buy it. Loyola Village substitute educator Jonathan Arkin was concerned about losing essential space for their arts programs in the campus merger.  

“Our fine arts, theater, dance, and yoga classes take place in dedicated rooms, which not all schools have,” said Arkin. “Closing Loyola Village would mean losing essential enrichment spaces.”  

Loyola Village substitute educator Jonathan Arkin

When Arkin started talking with educators, parents, and students he quickly realized he wasn’t the only one concerned about arts programs getting cut in the merger. When he called a UTLA meeting, he says every Loyola Village educator showed up. 

Meanwhile, at Westport Heights Elementary, Parent-Teacher Organization President Melodey Colyer said when she heard the news that Loyola Village Elementary would be moving to their campus, something felt off.  

“The information from the district didn’t add up,” said Colyer. “And we saw how it affected our teachers.”  

Colyer recalled the successful fight to stop the closure of Wright Middle School to make space for a WISH Charter company school in 2022. She said, “seeing that fight showed me this wasn’t unusual — it was doable.” So the Westport Heights PTO met over winter break to strategize and started emailing and calling parents to contact the district.  

The two schools reached out to their UTLA elected Area leaders and got connected with Reclaim Our Schools LA and other parent groups to elevate their fight against the district’s school merger. Educators and parents pushed back at every district meeting, submitted information requests to review parent surveys that the district used as justification for the move, and circulated a petition to Carvalho and the school board.  

In early February, they heard from the district that the plan to close Loyola Village Elementary is on pause. Educators and parents at the two schools are feeling relieved for now. Melodey Colyer says although the fight against school closures in their area is ongoing, they now have more time to keep organizing. 

“Instead of reacting, we’re focusing on what we actually want our schools to be,” Colyer says. “We’re demanding meetings about enrollment, and we’re envisioning what our schools should look like, not just fighting what we don’t want.” 

Jonathan Arkin says as long as educators keep raising our voices, the district will have to listen.  

“The district doesn’t like pushback,” Arkin says. “That’s how we won our last two contracts — we stood firm, and the district had to negotiate.”