Aligning to Thrive

Superintendent Jared Cordon is recommending that Roseburg Schools close Fir Grove Elementary at the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year and consolidate the district’s elementary system from eight schools to seven.

If the School Board approves the recommendation, Fir Grove would remain open for the entire 2026-27 school year. Students would transition to nearby elementary schools beginning with the 2027-28 school year.
 

No. The superintendent has made a recommendation to the School Board, but the Board has not made a final decision.

The Board will review the recommendation and supporting information, receive public input and consider the impacts of consolidation before taking action.
 

Roseburg Schools serves fewer students today than it did a decade ago while continuing to operate essentially the same network of schools.
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n 2016-17, Roseburg Schools enrolled 5,842 students. As of September 2026, enrollment is 5,221 students, a decrease of nearly 11%.
The district’s eight elementary schools have a combined functional capacity of approximately 3,295 students and served approximately 2,434 students in 2025-26. That means the elementary system was operating at about 74% of its combined functional capacity.

At the same time, the district faces rising operating costs and significant needs across its aging facilities. Consolidation would better align the elementary system with current and projected enrollment while allowing the district to concentrate staffing and resources across fewer campuses.
 

No. Financial sustainability is one consideration, but the recommendation reflects six interconnected factors outlined in the Aligning to Thrive report: student experience and educational opportunity, declining enrollment, elementary school capacity, aging school facilities, financial pressures and stewarding taxpayer dollars.

In determining whether to recommend Fir Grove specifically, the superintendent also evaluated different consolidation configurations based on student experience, enrollment and capacity, facility needs, financial sustainability, transportation and geography, and impacts on people and school communities.

Consolidation could provide greater flexibility to balance classroom sizes, reduce the need for blended-grade classrooms, strengthen grade-level teaching teams and organize staffing and resources around student needs.

No single factor determined the recommendation.
 

If the School Board does not approve the recommendation, Fir Grove would remain open as an elementary school and the proposed attendance boundary changes associated with consolidation would not take effect.

The district would continue operating its current eight-school elementary system at this time while continuing its broader work to address enrollment, financial and long-term facility needs.
 

The recommendation is based on how several factors come together in this particular consolidation configuration.

Fir Grove currently serves fewer than 200 students. Under the proposed configuration, those students can be accommodated at nearby schools with available capacity without adding transportation costs or creating long bus rides. The proposed configuration would also require fewer students outside the Fir Grove attendance area to change schools than other options analyzed.

Facility needs are another consideration. State facility assessments identify approximately $8.5 million in anticipated needs at Fir Grove over the next 10 years to maintain existing building systems. Fir Grove has also not undergone some of the extensive capital improvements made at other district schools, including a major seismic rehabilitation.

Taken together, these factors led the superintendent to determine that the Fir Grove configuration would reduce excess capacity while limiting student disruption, avoiding increased transportation costs and reducing significant long-term facility investment needs.
 

No. The recommendation is not a judgment about the quality of Fir Grove, its students or its staff.

The recommendation is based on the configuration of the elementary system as a whole and how enrollment, capacity, geography, transportation, facility needs, finances and impacts on students and families come together under different consolidation options.
 

Yes. The superintendent considered the elementary system as a whole and evaluated different consolidation configurations.

Options were considered using a consistent framework that included student experience, enrollment and capacity, facility needs, financial sustainability, transportation and geography, and impacts on people and school communities.

The proposed Fir Grove configuration would affect fewer students, allow students to attend nearby schools with available capacity, avoid additional transportation costs, and reduce significant long-term facility investment needs.
 

Long-range facility and staffing decisions require the district to consider both current enrollment and the number of students it can reasonably expect to serve in the future.

Roseburg Schools has lost nearly 11% of its enrollment over the past decade. Local births have also declined, and independent demographic forecasts project substantially fewer young children in Douglas County over the next decade.

The district continues working to attract and retain students and expand educational options for families. Future housing development could also affect enrollment. However, those possibilities must be considered alongside the broader demographic trends already affecting the district.

Acting now would also allow the district to plan a transition deliberately rather than waiting until financial pressures or building conditions leave fewer options.
 

Under the proposed attendance boundaries, current Fir Grove students would transition primarily to Eastwood, Hucrest and Fullerton IV elementary schools.

Final school assignments would depend on the attendance boundaries approved as part of the consolidation process.
 

Based on current enrollment and capacity analysis, yes.

After the proposed boundary adjustments, Eastwood would operate at approximately 91% of functional capacity, Hucrest at approximately 90% and Fullerton IV at approximately 77%.

Those estimates indicate that the schools can accommodate additional students while preserving some capacity for enrollment changes over time.
 

Yes. As is currently the case for all Roseburg Schools families, parents and guardians may request for their child to attend a district school outside their attendance boundary.

Approval of an in-district transfer request is determined by the receiving school principal and is generally based on available space and the school’s ability to accommodate the student.

If consolidation is approved, Fir Grove families would receive information about their assigned school and the district’s transfer request process as part of transition planning.
 

Consolidation would change how students and staff are distributed across the elementary system, so individual classroom configurations would be determined through the district’s annual staffing process.

One purpose of consolidation is to create greater flexibility to organize classrooms around student needs. Larger grade-level cohorts can provide more options for balancing class sizes and reduce situations in which a school has only one classroom at a grade level or must combine two grades into a blended classroom.

Consolidation does not guarantee a particular class size, but it would give the district more flexibility when determining classroom sections and staffing.
 

The district analyzed the home locations of current Fir Grove students as part of developing the proposed attendance boundaries.

That analysis found that students could be accommodated at nearby schools without adding transportation costs or creating long bus rides. 

Specific transportation information would be developed and shared with families as part of transition planning if consolidation is approved.
 

Not during the current school year.

If the School Board approves the recommendation, Fir Grove would remain open through the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year. Students would begin attending their new schools in fall 2027.
 

If consolidation is approved, families would receive information about their new schools well before the 2027-28 school year.

Students and families would have opportunities to visit their new schools, meet staff and become familiar with their new surroundings. Fir Grove families would also be connected with their receiving schools through ParentSquare so they could begin receiving information and participating in school activities before the transition.

The district would also work with the Fir Grove community to determine appropriate ways to recognize the school’s history.
 

No final staffing plan has been developed.

If consolidation is approved, staffing would be adjusted across the elementary system based on student enrollment and program needs. Staffing changes would be made in accordance with collective bargaining agreements, applicable law and district procedures, including provisions related to vacancies, retirements, attrition and employee assignment rights.

Reducing positions does not necessarily mean that the employees currently serving in those positions would be the employees affected.

Based on current staffing levels, however, the district anticipates that some reductions may be necessary to achieve the projected savings.
 

Where staffing needs and employee assignments allow, the district would look for opportunities to align staff transitions with student transitions so familiar staff members could move with students to receiving schools.

The district would work closely with Fir Grove employees and communicate staffing decisions as early as possible.
 

The district has a responsibility to consider not only what it costs to operate schools today, but also how public resources are invested over the long term.

With fewer students and significant facility needs across the district, continuing to operate more elementary capacity than the district reasonably expects to need means continuing to spread staffing, operating and facility resources across more campuses.

Consolidation would allow the district to concentrate more of those limited resources across fewer schools while reducing some ongoing operating costs and avoiding significant anticipated facility investments at Fir Grove.
 

Based on current staffing levels and anticipated staff transitions, the superintendent estimates approximately $1.3 million in annual General Fund savings.

The final amount would depend largely on staffing decisions made as transition planning moves forward.

The district could also reduce some grant-funded expenditures as staffing and services are aligned with the consolidated system.
 

Not necessarily.

The projected savings represent costs the district would no longer incur. Declining enrollment, rising operating costs and other financial pressures are expected to absorb much of those savings.

In practical terms, consolidation would reduce the amount the district might otherwise need to cut or redirect from other priorities.
 

Roseburg Schools reduced its 2026-27 budget by approximately $4.5 million, primarily in response to declining enrollment, reductions in some grant funding, and rising costs related to PERS and inflation.

Additional cost increases are expected in coming years, while funding for the 2027-29 biennium will not be known until the 2027 legislative session.

Consolidation would not eliminate those financial pressures, but it would reduce some ongoing operating costs and allow limited resources to be concentrated across fewer campuses.
 

State facility assessments identify approximately $116.2 million in anticipated needs across Roseburg Schools facilities over the next 10 years. Approximately $47.7 million of those needs are at elementary schools. 

The estimates include deferred maintenance and the projected repair or replacement of existing building systems as they age. They do not include major modernization or improvements. The district considers these estimates a conservative planning baseline rather than a ceiling on future facility needs. 
 

Oregon school districts rely on voter-approved capital improvement bonds to fund major renovations and new construction.

Roseburg Schools’ most recent successful capital improvement bond was approved in 2000. The district has continued investing in its buildings through grants, General Fund resources and other available funding, including more than $30 million in facility improvements since 2020-21.

Those resources, however, are not sufficient to keep pace with all of the district’s projected long-term facility needs.
 

No. Consolidation would reduce the amount of elementary school capacity the district must operate and maintain, but significant facility needs would remain across Roseburg Schools.

State facility assessments identify approximately $116.2 million in anticipated needs across the district over the next 10 years. Decisions about how to address those needs, including whether to pursue a future capital improvement bond, are separate from the School Board's consideration of this consolidation recommendation.
 

Yes. Different district investments serve different purposes and may come from different obligations or strategic priorities.

The Roseburg High School softball field, completed in 2024 with a $1.5 million General Fund investment, addressed requirements resulting from a Title IX complaint and conciliation agreement with the Oregon Department of Education.

The district’s investment of up to $2.5 million in the Umpqua Community College partnership will provide Roseburg High School students access to instructional space and expanded healthcare career pathways through a 25-year agreement.

Those investments do not eliminate the district’s responsibility to maintain its schools or operate efficiently. The district must balance facility needs, legal obligations, financial sustainability and investments that directly support student learning and future opportunities.
 

No decision has been made about the long-term use of the Fir Grove property.

Closing Fir Grove as an elementary school would allow the district to evaluate future uses of the facility rather than continuing to make all of the investments necessary to operate it as an elementary school.

The district would continue maintaining the property while its future use is evaluated, including appropriate custodial attention, groundskeeping and general maintenance.
 

The district would consider how the neighborhood could access outdoor recreation areas when it can be done safely and responsibly.

Any future access would need to balance community use with the district’s ability to secure the campus when necessary because of vandalism, unauthorized activity or other safety concerns.
 

The Complex Needs Classroom at Fir Grove is operated by Douglas Education Service District and serves students from across Douglas County.

If consolidation is approved, the district would work with Douglas ESD to identify an appropriate location that can continue meeting the educational and support needs of the students served by the program.
 

Services provided through the Profound Developmental Learning Center would continue.

If consolidation is approved, the program would move to another elementary school location for the 2027-28 school year. The district would determine an appropriate location as part of transition planning.
 

The recommendation begins the School Board’s consideration. It does not conclude it.

The Board will review the superintendent’s recommendation and supporting analysis, receive public input and consider the impacts of consolidation before determining whether to move forward.

The district’s goal is to reach a final decision by the end of 2026 so that, if consolidation is approved, students, families and staff have the remainder of the school year to prepare for the transition.
 

Community members will have opportunities to provide input as the School Board considers the recommendation.

Questions may also be submitted through the district’s online Ask a Question form on this page. The complete Aligning to Thrive report and additional long-range facilities information is available can also be found on this page.

The district will continue sharing information throughout the Board’s consideration of the recommendation.
 

No.

Consolidating one elementary school would not eliminate the district’s financial challenges, resolve all of its facility needs or remove the need for future investment in schools.

It would be one step toward better aligning the elementary system with the number of students Roseburg Schools serves and expects to serve in the future. It would also allow the district to concentrate limited staffing, operating and facility resources across fewer campuses.

The broader work of planning for the district’s aging facilities will continue regardless of the Board’s decision on this recommendation.