During the week of January 9th, teachers, school leaders and families were informed that Summit Public Schools plans to close Denali High School and Denali Middle School, both in Sunnyvale, at the end of this school year. This decision will become final at the June 2023 Summit Board meeting.
We are devastated by the disruption that this news brings to the community of students, families, and staff. Summit’s plan to close these schools will be harmful to our greater Summit community and especially to our young people who have been developing deep relationships with their friends and teachers. With Summit’s ample reserves, we are confused why Summit Public Schools would impose this decision without community or teacher input. Summit Public Schools owes it to our students and families to keep Denali open!
Unite Summit, our teachers union, is appalled by the lack of transparency about this planned closure. We have many questions as to why and how Summit came to this decision and we want to make sure that Summit Public Schools is held accountable to the families and teachers, and that they are making the best decisions for all students. Summit Public School management has refused to acknowledge their contractual and legal obligation to meet with our union over Denali’s closure as well as a variety of other issues that have come up this year. Call on Summit Public Schools to follow the law and bargain with Unite Summit!
Families were notified of the closure in a last minute Q&A session on Wednesday, January 11th that many were unable to attend. The Summit Board also has added a special board meeting added to January 23rd from 1 to 3pm to listen to the public’s concerns. Unite Summit is deeply concerned by the intentional lack of access that these meetings provide to families, teachers, and other stakeholders by having their Board meeting during the work day. We demand a meeting of the school board that accommodates the times and needs of our most affected community members.
This is an absolute failure of Summit’s organizational leadership to adequately serve our communities. While you and your student may not be directly impacted by Denali’s closure, the manner in which the decision was made should be cause for concern for all of our schools. Read our FAQ for more information.
If you would like to support the Denali community, please take the following actions:
- Sign and share our petition to keep Denali open!
- Email the Summit Board meeting for accessible meeting times.
- Attend and comment at the next Summit Board meeting on January 23 from 1-3pm (sign up to speak here for Agenda #6)
- Email your school administrators and Summit management your concerns to keep Denali open and to bargain with Unite Summit.
If you have any other questions, send an email to UniteSummitTeachers@gmail.com.