Flowery School parents, students, grandparents and graduates gathered at Sonoma Plaza Friday, May 23 to protest the Sonoma Valley Unified School Trustees’ vote to close, in June 2026, the bilingual elementary school located in the heart of the Springs. Protest organizer Nancy Íñiguez said they came to the Plaza so more people could see who they are and what they are standing for. Protestors held up signs with a variety of messages, some in English and others in Spanish, including “Our Future Matters,” “Our Children, Our Voice, We are Flowery,” “Don’t Move Us” and “Latino Kids Matter.”
Flowery neighbor Chelsea Livingston, parent of a transitional kindergartener and a fifth grader, told the Sun, “The majority of cars, trucks and commercial vehicles who drove by honked enthusiastically or gave a thumbs up.” The Trustees propose to close the school and move the entire Dual Immersion program, currently 368 students plus teachers and aides, to another site in town, probably Sassarini School. Livingston added, “The community understands the importance of Flowery’s location for the surrounding business and nonprofit community, as well as the success of the dual immersion program.”
Seily Alcocer came to protest with her three children, two who are Flowery alums, one currently at Sonoma State, the other a UC Berkeley grad who lives in the Springs and hopes to send his children to Flowery. Alcocer, who for twenty years has lived in Springs Village, the Burbank affordable housing project on Vailetti Drive, affirmed the importance of the Flowery site. “All of us have always walked to school. Some of my neighbors don’t drive. It’s very important to us to be able to walk to our school, to connect with it.”…