Parents and teachers urge Torrance Unified to halt Walteria preschool plan that would move kindergarteners to portables

Torrance Unified School District trustees heard more than an hour of public comment on May 6 about the district's preschool expansion after administrators said they plan to pilot two preschool classrooms at Walteria and Fern elementary schools as soon as January 2025.

Parents and teachers at Walteria told the board the proposed move would relocate four kindergarten classes into portable classrooms behind the school, removing a self-contained kindergarten wing with attached bathrooms and a private playground. "The paid preschool be put in is atrocious," said Jason Yim, a Walteria parent, calling the plan unsafe and citing Title 5 classroom requirements.

Speakers raised concerns about smaller classroom footprints, shared bathrooms, increased noise from adjacent playgrounds, longer walks to the nurse and cafeteria, and loss of storage and intervention space. "We should not negatively impact 100 children in order to positively impact 12 to 16 preschoolers," said Abby Withy, a PTA co-chair and parent, who said a petition opposing the move gathered hundreds of signatures within days.

District staff framed the proposal as a staged expansion. Katherine Castleberry, coordinator of early childhood education, told the board the district aims to place preschool classrooms at students' "home sites" to smooth transitions into TK and kindergarten and to create inclusive classrooms serving students with IEPs alongside peers. Castleberry said the program would offer a mix of State-funded, launch (special education) and fee-based full-day options, and that facility licensing, staffing and classroom design remain outstanding tasks.

On enrollment priorities, staff said state preschool-eligible families have first priority and the State preschool inclusion target currently remains at 5% for students with disabilities; exact student-to-teacher ratios and classroom capacities will be set by licensing. When asked about the timeline, staff described January 2025 as a "soft start" for the two pilot classrooms and emphasized they will not open until licensing and facility work are complete.

Parents and teachers urged the board to delay or redesign the pilot at Walteria rather than use that campus as a first test site. "It feels like Walteria is being experimented on," said Steve Balderas, a longtime Torrance resident and former parent, asking the board to seek alternatives that would not displace kindergarteners.

Board members acknowledged the community's concerns and said they would convene further site visits and gather additional information; administration said it was meeting with site leaders and the board early the following morning to compile more details. The item remains a district initiative in its planning phase; no formal action to relocate kindergarten students was taken at the meeting.