Bethel to hold farewell event for Shasta Middle School before closure

Bethel School District turned Shasta Middle School’s last spring into a community sendoff, hosting a farewell event at the Barger Drive campus as the west Eugene school moved toward closure at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

The gathering ran from 4:30 to 7 p.m. and brought together students, families, alumni, former staff and neighbors for an open house, food, lawn games, a photo booth, an inflatable slide and glitter tattoos. Bethel framed the evening as a chance to recognize the school’s role in the neighborhood while families also began sorting out where students will go next.

The closure itself is part of Bethel’s long-range facilities plan, which the school board backed on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. District leaders have tied the decision to declining enrollment, rising costs and limited state funding, saying those pressures have left Bethel with a $1.8 million structural budget deficit.

Shasta had about 250 students when the closure was announced, making it one of four middle school options in the district. KEZI reported that Bethel enrollment has fallen by almost 900 students over the past 10 years, a drop that has pushed the district to consolidate programs and redraw attendance boundaries.

The district has said no staff will lose their jobs because Shasta employees will be reassigned to other Bethel schools. Current 6th- and 7th-grade Shasta students will attend Cascade Middle School together in the 2026-27 school year, while younger students will be assigned through updated boundaries. Bethel also said its middle school Life Skills program will move to Meadow View K-8.

A special transfer window for some Shasta and Danebo/Irving families ran Jan. 19-31, giving parents an early look at the transition before next fall. Bethel has also encouraged families to order Shasta gear and submit questions through closure-related forms as it tries to manage the logistics of the move and the emotions that come with it.

The school’s closing also marks a shift in west Eugene’s neighborhood identity. Shasta was built in the 1950s, adding maintenance and heating costs to a district already under financial strain, and Bethel says this is its second school closure in two years after Clear Lake Elementary School closed at the end of the 2024-25 school year.

Bethel has said the building may still serve children and families after the middle school is gone. The Boys & Girls Club of Emerald Valley is in talks to become the primary tenant, a sign that the campus could continue to play a role in the community even as Shasta Middle School’s classrooms empty out.