Are Monta Vista or Homestead Closing? Here Are the Facts.
Updated: 2 days ago
Some voters in Trustee Area 3 have recently heard that FUHSD may close Monta Vista High School or Homestead High School. We understand why that would be alarming. These schools are at the heart of our neighborhoods. So let's look at what the public record actually says.
The short answer: No closure has ever been proposed, put on a board agenda, or voted on. The district has repeatedly and publicly ruled it out.
Where the rumor started
The rumor traces back to a June 2023 article in El Estoque, Monta Vista's student newspaper. Student reporters asked how FUHSD might respond to declining enrollment. The article listed six options, ranging from "doing nothing" to reopening Sunnyvale High. One of them was the possibility of closing a school someday.
In that interview, Superintendent Graham Clark discussed closure only as a hypothetical. He said it could become conceivable if enrollment kept falling unevenly across the five schools. He also said he did not see it happening within five years, and that "I'm trying to keep all five schools open." The district's stated goal was to balance enrollment across all five schools, not to close one.
Homestead was not described as at risk at all. It is one of the district's larger schools, and it sends students to Monta Vista through a transfer program.
A few months later, a local website reposted the article under the headline "FUHSD Superintendent Publicly Admits School Closures May Be Inevitable." That headline is not what the article said, but the claim has circulated ever since.
What the district and board have said since
August 2022: When the superintendent reconvened the Citizens Advisory Committee on Enrollment, the district stated in writing that the strategies it would consider do not include school closure.
District FAQ (still posted today): FUHSD states it has "absolutely no plans to close any of our five high schools." It adds that the district still has more than enough students for five comprehensive high schools, and that its five-year enrollment projections show no need to close one.
February 2024: At a community session at Monta Vista, then-Board President Jeff Moe said: "zero of the school board members would vote to close any school." He noted that closures usually happen for financial reasons, and FUHSD's finances are in good shape.
September 2025: Superintendent Clark said FUHSD has "plenty of students to operate school for the foreseeable future."
September 2026: Trustee Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto again rejected rumors of either school closing. She explained that the district aims for about 1,400 to 1,500 students per school, enough for a strong selection of courses and electives.
What FUHSD is actually doing
The district's real response to declining enrollment has been to strengthen Monta Vista, not close it. Since 2023, the Monta Vista Supplemental School Assignment Program has let up to 30 incoming ninth graders from the Homestead area choose Monta Vista each year. The program is accepting students again for 2026-27. A similar program has supported Lynbrook since 2016. These programs exist to keep every campus healthy.
Promising to stop something no one has proposed
Rosa's opponent has pledged to oppose closing Monta Vista or Homestead. Every current trustee has said the same thing, and no plan to close either school exists. A school closure would also require a majority vote of the full five-member board, so no single trustee can cause it or prevent it alone.
Voters deserve candidates who address the real challenges facing our schools, not ones created by a misleading headline.
Where Rosa stands
"I will never support closing Monta Vista, Homestead, or any of our five high schools. Every one of them is a community treasure, and I will keep working to make sure each one stays strong."
Rosa has served all five of our schools, including a year as the board's liaison to Monta Vista. She knows these communities, and she'll keep working to make every one of them stronger.
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