Inglewood students walk out over planned closure of Morningside High

More than 100 high school students walked out of classes Wednesday morning. April 3, to protest Inglewood Unified School District’s planned closure of Morningside High and four other schools.

The students gathered in the school’s parking lot, carrying signs criticizing the school district’s plan and accusing decisionmakers of selling out to capitalize on Inglewood’s stratospheric property values. Morningside High School is in a highly valuable location, sitting approximately two blocks from the Clippers’ new $2 billion arena, the Intuit Dome, and the $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium property.

“Save our school,” the students chanted.

Posters created by the students called out the disparity between the multibillion-dollar investments occurring blocks away and the financially strapped district’s shuttering of six schools in the past two years.

“More schools, less stadiums,” one sign read.

“MHS is not 4 sale,” said another.

Evelyn Perez, 18, and other students said they participated in the walkout because the district did not include them in the process. The students are demanding a meeting with the county’s appointed administrator, James Morris, but so far, the district has not responded to their efforts, according to Perez.

“This is all gentrification,” she said. “They’re just going to turn it into luxury apartments or parking.”

“We believe the community should be the ones to make this decision,” Perez added.

School officials warned the students they’d face repercussions if they left the campus grounds, according to multiple students. A security officer initially barred media representatives from coming onto the property to speak to the protesters, but eventually allowed it in an effort to get the students to return to their classrooms sooner.

In a statement, district spokesperson Jessica Ochoa said Inglewood Unified “promptly intervened to ensure the safety and well-being of all students.”

“We strongly advise against student participation in walkouts, as it could jeopardize their safety, well-being, and academic progress,” Ochoa stated. “While we respect students’ rights to express themselves, prioritizing a secure environment is paramount. We encourage students to engage in dialogue, express their viewpoints through appropriate channels, and seek guidance from their parents/guardians.”

Asked if Morris planned to meet with the students, Ochoa did not respond.

Inglewood Unified has been in state receivership since 2012, when it was forced to take a $29 million bailout to avoid insolvency.

Morris, appointed last year with the goal of finally guiding the district out of receivership, blamed declining enrollment for its troubles, saying the district anticipates more than half of the seats available in its classrooms will be empty by 2029-30. IUSD dropped from 18,000 students in 2002 to less than 7,000 today.

Morningside had 833 students in the 2018-19 school year and has since dropped to 465 this year. That’s expected to be halved within the next five years.

“Simply put, we need to close some schools to remain competitive, improve instruction, and repair the schools that will remain open,” Morris said during the announcement of the closures.

Community activist Fre’Drisha Dixon, who helped the students organize the walkout, said parents, students and alumni are upset because the receivership precludes them from having any say in the closures. School board members are elected, but Morris, as the county’s appointed administrator, has the final say on any decision.

“For some reason, this Black and Brown community is not trusted to choose their own democratically elected representatives,” Dixon said.

Dixon is pushing for a bill, the California Public Sovereignty Act, that would return control of the district to voters and reduce the interest rates on the remaining loan payments to the state.

Inglewood previously closed one school, Worthington Elementary, in 2023, over the district’s declining enrollment and persistent fiscal struggles. In March, Morris announced the district would add Morningside High, Crozier Middle, and Hudnall, Highland and Kelso elementary schools to the chopping block in an effort to consolidate the district to fit its current enrollment numbers.

Those five schools are expected to shutter at the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Like Morningside, Kelso Elementary also is located on prime real estate, right across the street from the Kia Forum.

Morningside High student Amia Harris, 16, worries her younger siblings are being “set up for failure” as the district’s future seems bleak. The school system should be investing in and promoting the existing schools if it wants to stop the hemorrhaging enrollment numbers, she said.

“They’re putting property values over people’s education,” she said. “They say we’re closing because of low enrollment. We’re closing because they don’t want to invest in us.”

Alumnus Tristan Castillo, who graduated from Morningside in 2021, attended the walkout to support the students. Castillo heard rumors that Morningside would close even when he was a student.

“We saw the numbers declining year after year,” he said. “It hit home, but it isn’t anything we’re surprised about, because they haven’t been supplying us with the resources we need.”

Castillo recalled how teachers had to use their own money on classroom supplies when he was a student. Before he graduated, Morningside lost water for days, forcing students to use portable toilets until they, too, staged a walkout to draw the district’s attention to the issue.

“All of that money was put into these stadiums, but nothing is happening in the community, nothing is happening in our schools,” he said.