Aligning to Thrive

In September 2026, Roseburg Schools Superintendent Jared Cordon recommended consolidating the district’s elementary school system from eight schools to seven by closing Fir Grove Elementary at the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year.

On October 28, 2026, the Roseburg School Board voted unanimously voted to approve the recommendation. 

Fir Grove would remain open for the rest of 2026-27 school year. Students will transition to nearby elementary schools beginning with the 2027-28 school year.
 

After reviewing the recommendation and supporting information, receiving public input and considering the impacts of consolidation, the School Board voted Oct. 28, 2026, to approve the recommendation.
 

Roseburg Schools serves fewer students today than it did a decade ago while continuing to operate essentially the same network of schools.

In 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 was basaed on 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 can 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.
 

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

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

Facility needs were 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 was not a judgment about the quality of Fir Grove, its students or its staff.

The recommendation was 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 came 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 closure of Fir Grove is expected to 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 also allows the district to plan a transition deliberately rather than waiting until financial pressures or building conditions leave fewer options.

Under new attendance boundaries, current Fir Grove students will transition to Eastwood, Hucrest or Fullerton IV elementary schools beginning in the 2027-28 school year. Families can view the updated attendance boundaries and determine which school would serve their neighborhood on this webpage. 
 

Based on current enrollment and capacity analysis, yes.

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

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

Consolidation will not automatically mean larger class sizes at the receiving schools. School boundaries have been adjusted to distribute Fir Grove students among Eastwood, Fullerton IV and Hucrest. These students would not simply be added to the existing number of classrooms at each school.

Staffing and the number of classrooms for the 2027-28 school year have not yet been determined. Those decisions will be made through the district's regular budget and staffing process in 2027, using the most current information about enrollment, student needs and available resources.

Roseburg Schools uses research-informed target class size ranges to help evaluate enrollment and staffing needs and determine the number of classrooms at each grade level. Today, class sizes vary across our eight elementary schools and by grade level, with most falling within or below the district's target ranges.

It's also important to distinguish between school capacity and class size. School capacity refers to how many students a building can accommodate, while class size refers to how many students are assigned to an individual classroom. A school can have unused building capacity while still having classrooms that are full.

Having multiple classrooms at the same grade level gives the district greater flexibility to balance enrollment. When a school has only one classroom at a particular grade level, there are fewer opportunities to adjust class sizes as enrollment changes. With two or more classrooms, the district has more opportunities to balance enrollment while considering students' different learning and support needs.

Class size matters, but numbers alone don't tell the whole story. A classroom of 25 students may have very different needs from another classroom of the same size. The district considers class size alongside other factors that contribute to strong learning environments, including the expertise of educators, ongoing professional development for staff and additional student supports.

Across our elementary schools, those supports include instructional assistants, Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs), Child Development Specialists, Learning Specialists, and full-time music and physical education teachers.

The district has also changed how kindergarten instructional assistant positions are assigned. Kindergarten IA support was not eliminated. Instead, principals now have flexibility to deploy available instructional assistant resources based on the needs of students and classrooms within their schools, including when class sizes exceed the district's target ranges.

The district will continue to use its target class size ranges to guide staffing decisions for 2027-28, with the goal of keeping class sizes within those ranges whenever possible.

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.

Fir Grove families will receive information about their assigned school and the district’s transfer request process as part of transition planning.
 

The district analyzed the home locations of current Fir Grove students as part of developing the new 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 will be developed and shared with families as part of transition planning process. 
 

Not during the current school year.

Fir Grove will remain open through the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year. Students will begin attending their new schools in fall 2027.
 

Families will receive information about their new schools well before the 2027-28 school year.

Students and families will have opportunities to visit their new schools, meet staff and become familiar with their new surroundings. Fir Grove families will 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 will also work with the Fir Grove community to determine appropriate ways to recognize the school’s history.
 

No final staffing plan has been developed.

Staffing will be adjusted across the elementary system based on student enrollment and program needs. Staffing changes will 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 will 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 will look for opportunities to align staff transitions with student transitions so familiar staff members can move with students to receiving schools.

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

In practical terms, consolidation will 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 will not eliminate those financial pressures, but it will 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 will reduce the amount of elementary school capacity the district must operate and maintain, but significant facility needs will 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 $2.52 million district 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 will 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 will continue maintaining the property while its future use is evaluated, including appropriate custodial attention, groundskeeping and general maintenance.
 

The district will consider how the neighborhood can 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.

The district is working 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 will continue.

The program will move to another elementary school location for the 2027-28 school year. The district will determine an appropriate location as part of transition planning.
 

We recognize that many features and mementos at Fir Grove hold special meaning for students, families, staff and the broader school community. While specific plans have not yet been determined, the district will work with the Fir Grove community to explore appropriate ways to preserve and honor these meaningful pieces of the school's history as part of the transition.
 

The Fir Grove Booster Club operates independently and manages its own funds and resources. Decisions about remaining Booster Club funds and items still owned by the organization will be guided by its own policies and procedures. Items previously purchased for or donated to the school become district property and are subject to district policies and procedures. As transition plans develop, the district will work with Booster Club leadership to explore opportunities for these resources to continue benefiting students.
 

The security improvements made at Fir Grove, including fencing and the secure entry vestibule, were investments in the safety of students and staff and have served an important purpose. As part of the transition planning process, the district will evaluate opportunities to repurpose materials and equipment where practical. While specific plans have not yet been determined, the district remains committed to making responsible use of its facilities and resources.
 

The district will continue to work closely with Fir Grove leadership, staff and families to ensure a thoughtful transition. Details and timelines will continue to be shared through ParentSquare and on this page. 

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 can also be found on this webpage.

No.

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

It will 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 will 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.