With San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) trustees canceling most of a special committee’s campus closure proposals, the raucous chant that reverberated across the city for nearly two months to “save our schools” was rendered nearly inaudible. Not in the Mission Bay High Cluster, however, where neighborhood parents are still raising their voices to keep Pacific Beach Middle School open and Mission Bay High School viable. Cluster parents presented a plan last week to stop a recommendation by the SDUSD that would close Pacific Beach Middle school and consolidate the middle school and high school campuses into a 6-12 international baccalaureate academy. “Parents have done an amazing job,” said Michelle Scherrer, a parent with two children in cluster schools, who addressed the school board during a special meeting Nov. 29 at the district education center. “More and more of us are keeping our kids in (neighborhood) schools.” The two biggest issues facing the Mission Bay Cluster are low enrollment of students within its boundaries and the murky future of district-funded transportation for students brought in from outside the cluster. The parents’ plan to keep the cluster schools open is to increase student achievement with a specific focus on Mission Bay High School (MBHS) and Bayview Terrace Elementary School, and to promote local campus choices to boost neighborhood-based populations and choice populations at the high school from its current 25 percent enrollment to 60 percent enrollment by the 2015-16 school year. The SDUSD board is scheduled to act on the Mission Bay High Cluster’s recommendation at its next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13. Jennifer Tandy, chairwoman-elect of the Mission Bay High Cluster, said that because of the busing component that impacts the out-of-cluster enrollment figures for local schools, there is a misconception about the quality and attractiveness of neighborhood campuses. “There was a tipping point where Mission Bay High was no longer perceived as a community school,” Tandy said. “But it is a wonderful school with great things happening.” Tandy, who has two children at Mission Bay High and one at Pacific Beach Middle School, said the perception that cluster schools are not quality nor neighborhood schools has nothing to do with reality. “Many parents have never met a teacher, done a school tour, but they make assumptions without having information,” she said. “I encourage everyone to attend a school tour.” Mission Bay High School has an enrollment of 1,437 students and is the largest user of the district’s busing services. About 78 percent of the MBHS population arrives by bus. Enrollment is comprised of 334 students from within cluster boundaries and 946 from elsewhere in the city who rely on district transportation. Another 157 students commute to the cluster on their own. “Parents have fought for neighborhood schools for 11 years,” Tandy said. “The community has locked arms and accomplished great things. My goal is to have parents trust PB Middle and Mission Bay High and learn more about all they are doing and help us build on all the good.” Tandy points to the international baccalaureate curriculum at Mission Bay High, a magnet program that is only offered at MBHS and San Diego High School. “We have the IB program at Kate Sessions Elementary, PB Middle and an IB diploma at the high school,” Tandy said. “San Diego High is impacted [overcapacity]. Therefore, we want to collaborate with them to ensure the funding of the program and continue the IB curriculum in the district.” Currently, 350 students from the San Diego High Cluster attend Mission Beach High. The Mission Bay Cluster has an enrollment of 3,399 students at four K-5 schools, a 6-8 middle school and a 9-12 high school. By comparison, the Point Loma Cluster, with seven elementary schools, a 5-6 middle school, 7-8 junior high and one high school has 6,385 students. The Point Loma/Ocean Beach community staved off the district’s closure plans that would have impacted every school in the cluster except the high school. But the case made by Mission Bay Cluster officials may also be resonating with SDUSD decision makers. “The closure of the Pacific Beach Middle School campus would be a tremendous loss to the community,” said Phil Stover, deputy superintendent of business, during the Nov. 29 school board meeting. He asked the board to table closure of the middle school based on community input. In October, the school district — on the brink of bankruptcy with a possible $100 million deficit — presented a plan to close 14 schools citywide to save $500,000 per school annually. The district’s new closure/realignment plan is no longer based on cost, but instruction and facilities. The initial closure/realignment plan has since been narrowed down to a five-point proposal, one of which targets the merger of Pacific Beach Middle School and Mission Bay High. The fate of the proposal is expected to be formally determined Dec. 13.