Make California Post a Preferred Source The Long Beach Unified School District is expecting to shut down two schools due to low enrollment and underutilization of the institutional capacity.
The district has recommended that Edison Elementary School and Gompers Elementary School be closed at the end of the 2026–2027 school year.
Edison Elementary School has a current enrollment of 415 students, nearly 40% of whom attend through the School of Choice process, the district said. The school is significantly underutilized, currently operating at approximately 44% of its program capacity.
Similarly, Gompers Elementary School has a current enrollment of 370 students and is operating at approximately 38% of its program capacity, according to the district.
The matter will be discussed during the upcoming Board of Education meeting on Oct. 7. If the closures are approved starting in the 2027–2028 school year, students from both campuses will be reassigned to neighboring elementary schools.
Edison students will move to either Chavez or Oropeza elementary schools, both located within a mile, while Gompers students will attend Cleveland, Holmes or MacArthur elementary schools, all within two miles.
Some parents have already started gathering support to push back the idea during next week’s meeting. An online petition started by parents of Gompers Elementary School students to keep the school open has already received nearly 1,500 signatures.
“My oldest son who is 13 now at Marshall middle school went to Gompers from Tk-5th. We loved the community and the feeling of family. My youngest is now there, in 1st grade. It still has that homey feeling that we don’t get anywhere else other than Gompers,” Vanessa, a Lakewood resident, wrote on the petition page.
A Long Beach resident, Amy said that Gompers is part of the history and backbone of the Lakewood community.
“My mom went to Gompers over 50 years ago. It would be devastating to all the children in the area that have a safe school to walk and ride their bikes to. After all the money poured into the school in the last few years for repairs, it makes ZERO sense to close it down,” she wrote.
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