San Diego Unified is getting rid of some K

This story has been updated.

San Diego Unified met with a group of principals on Friday to make a big announcement: the district will begin phasing out the middle school portions of four of its K-8 schools starting next school year. While the middle school grades will close, the elementary school portions of the schools will remain open.

The schools are largely concentrated in the southeastern corner of San Diego Unified, where schools serve a higher proportion of low-income families. All K-8 schools north of Interstate 8, like Clairemont’s John Muir Language Academy, were spared. Mission Hills’ Grant TK-8 was also spared.

Three of the schools – Audubon, Fulton and Bethune – are located in the Morse High cluster. Middle school-aged students who would have previously attended those schoo