Music students at Dana will perform what may be the school’s last winter concert ever in the Jackson Theater at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15. In the district’s emerging school realignment plan, Dana’s unique 5-6 grade configuration will be eliminated and the school site will become a K-8 Pacific Rim language magnet program. Under the proposal, fifth-graders would be absorbed into elementary schools and sixth-graders would move to Correia Middle School. “We’re more than facility and square footage,” said Principal Diane Ryan. “We’re about children and programs and need to remember that every step of the way.” Over the years, generations of Point Loma families have invested in keeping the school open and improving its facilities. Just last month, The Peninsula Beacon reported on the school’s completion of a $25,000 upgrade to the Ann Tripp Jackson Auditorium. All funds for the project were raised by the community. When word reached parents about the district’s realignment plan, tempers flared and someone hung a banner outside the building that read: “Don’t steal our school.” The sign was taken down immediately and Ryan sent an email home to parents reporting the incident and asking them to focus on their children’s education. She encouraged people to share their ideas at Danamiddle.blogspot.com. San Diego Unified School District trustee Scott Barnett is using the blog to address parents’ concerns. Regarding Dana, he wrote: “How can I, in these drastic budgetary circumstances, convince my school board colleagues that Point Loma should have TWO middle schools in one high school cluster? In these awful times, academic success is, unfortunately, not the overriding issue.” Dana is no stranger to turf wars. When the district tried to unload the land in the past, Jackson, a former president of the Point Loma Association who died in 1990, led a community battle that got the site rezoned for educational use. The one-time administration center eventually became a sixth grade and then in 2002-03 became the cluster’s 5-6 school. Jerry Hooper is the school’s former school principal. He retired and then, last month, became the principal at Correia Middle School. “I get the money thing, but acknowledge us,” he said. “Over 50 percent of our students take part in band, orchestra, musical and theater arts. This has been a priority of the community.” With a capacity for 1,056 students, Dana is at nearly 74 percent of that number, with an enrollment of 776 students. Of those, 604 are residents from within the boundary and 172 are non-residents from outside the cluster. The cost per pupil for the 2010-11 school year is nearly $3,679. “All of us need to step back, look at the big picture,” Ryan told the Point Loma Cluster Foundation’s ad hoc committee. “Our district is in financial mess and months away from receivership,” she said. “Changes must happen and need to happen by the end of the year. Realistically, something’s gotta give in Point Loma and it will look different.”