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After Granada High School families and community members rallied together to save the International Baccalaureate Diploma program, the school district will reinstate a streamlined version of it for the 2023-24 school year and beyond at a reduced cost.
Just days before the 2022-23 school year came to a close, Granada principal Clark Conover sent an email to the campus community announcing that the decision to terminate the program has been reversed and that the courses with high student interest — such as History of the Americas and Language and Literature — will continue to be offered.
“I’m really ecstatic about it,” Granada IB student Sarah Suresh said regarding the program’s reinstatement. She said when she first heard of the plans to end the program, she and her peers were devastated and felt that decisions about their education were being made on their behalf without their input.
“I’m just very thankful that finally — after tons of emails and people going to the school board meeting and protesting — that somehow we were able to put enough pressure for them to listen to us,” Suresh said.
The initial plan to end the program was due to budget concerns. The Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District analyzed the participation and cost of the program and determined that the level of student interest was too low for the program to be cost effective.
Students and parents pushed back, arguing that the district’s data was skewed and misrepresented the level of interest and value of the program.
The IB program aims to help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills of students in order to help create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect, according to the school district’s website. The program offers rigorous courses and college-preparatory instruction as well as weighted grades and capstone exams that can result in college credit.
In the weeks following the announcement of its termination, a group of parents and community members started working on ways to save the program, including raising funds to offset the cost. Conover acknowledged their efforts in his email.
“We appreciate the many creative ideas that surfaced, both to help raise funds and to help reduce expenses. We value your support as we work through these economic challenges,” he said.
Members of the parent working group expressed gratitude to the district for listening to them and their children and quickly finding a solution.
“We appreciate that LVJUSD’s leaders and School Board Trustees considered the concerns of students, parents, and community members who advocated to maintain the IB program,” said parent Jennifer Wong in an email to Livermore Vine.
She continued, “It’s a shame that IB was considered for budget cuts at all, especially since it has turned Granada into a destination school. Over 400 students took at least one IB class just this year alone. IB brings revenue into LVJUSD with the students who commute from other cities to attend Granada. With the promotion this week of the first cohort of students who have completed the K-8 IB curriculum at Joe Michell, we are just beginning to see the impact of offering the full K-12 IB continuum in Livermore schools. Cutting that now would have been incredibly short-sighted.”
Skye McCloud echoed similar sentiments.
“The budget numbers given by the school district were inaccurate and misrepresented both the cost of the program and the cost per student. This gives us more time to look at the facts and determine the reality. It is a wonderful opportunity to have the school and community work together to get the program running even better at Granada. IB has put Granada on the map, bringing in students from other districts and attracting families to Livermore. Keeping IB is positive for the future of both the district and the city,” McCloud said.
Wong also noted that the group is hopeful that the district and community can work together to sustain the program indefinitely.
“The IB Parents’ Working Group is optimistic for the future of the program at Granada. We hope to partner with the school and district leadership to identify and implement strategies to strengthen and support IB at Granada over the long term,” she said.
LVJUSD officials told the Weekly that they are reducing the financial impact of the IB Diploma Programme by discontinuing non-required elements and limiting course offerings.
“This will allow us to continue to offer the courses that have high student interest, such as History of the Americas and Language and Literature, to all juniors and seniors regardless of their interest in pursuing an IB diploma, while streamlining diploma-specific course requirements in order to maintain class sizes that keep our budget intact,” district officials said.
However, they noted that even with a streamlined IB program, additional costs remain to be able to offer this option to students.
The district said it will need to address these costs through reductions in expenditures in other areas or increases in resources. Parents who have expressed interest in raising funds for the IB program have been directed to connect with the Livermore Valley Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides funding to support a variety of needs for the benefit of LVJUSD students.
