Eugene School District 4J

Family School will co-locate with Camas Ridge Community School at Cama Ridge’s current building along 30^th Avenue starting this coming fall.

The school board unanimously approved the co-location at its meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 4, as it authorized a final phase of budget cuts to close a projected $30 million shortfall for the 2026-27 school year. District staff will now work on next steps for co-location, including devising a transition committee that will include staff and families from both schools, and choosing a new principal for the campus. 

The move would save an estimated $160,000 in reduced staffing in 2026-27, with more annual savings into the future. It also saves the district from spending some $1.1 million in needed maintenance and capital improvements for the building on Crest Drive that currently houses Family School.

Family School is one of 4J’s smallest elementary schools, with slightly more than 100 enrolled students. It’s the last remaining alternative school at the elementary level that is not part of a language immersion program. Families must request enrollment through 4J’s school choice process and receive placement via lottery.

Last year, Camas Ridge moved into a new two-story school building designed to accommodate up to 450 students. Camas Ridge’s projected enrollment for the coming school year is 250 and its current enrollment sits at 263. The construction project was paid for with proceeds of the bond measure district voters approved in November 2018.

Dr. Mickelson arrived at her recommendation after meetings with families and staff from both schools and careful deliberation. Camas Ridge opened in 2009, itself the result of a merger between neighborhood and alternative elementary schools during 4J’s last major downsizing in the midst of the Great Recession.

Family School’s pending move will return it to a co-located setting that’s marked its decades-long history at 4J:

• The school originally had co-located at the former Ida Patterson Elementary School. In 2004, when César Chávez Elementary School was constructed and Patterson and Westmoreland elementary schools consolidated in the new building, Family School moved to the new location along with the Patterson students and staff.
• In 2009, as Chávez’s enrollment grew, Family School then co-located in the former Arts & Technology Academy building.
• Ahead of the 2015-16 school year, when the new ATA building opened, Family School moved to its current location on Crest Drive, the first time in its decades-long existence that it had its own building.
• The sole occupancy was short-lived as Chinese Immersion School, now Hé Lín Chinese Immersion Elementary School, co-located with Family School at the Crest Drive site when that program started in the fall of 2017.
• Family School returned as a lone occupant when Hé Lín moved to co-locate with Kennedy Middle School ahead of the 2021-22 school year.

Dr. Miriam Mickelson announced a new principal will be selected to oversee both programs.