Families said they were shocked by St. Paul’s Lutheran School’s sudden decision to suspend K-8 operations next school year. The school, which opened in the 1940s and has served generations of families, sent an email to the community on July 1 announcing the decision: “St. Paul’s Church and School has made the difficult decision to suspend K-8th grade school operations. This was not the desired outcome, as the school is a treasured part of our ministry.”   The message did not explain why the school was closing. “It’s right before school starts, so parents are kind of scrambling and everyone’s devastated,” said parent Nicolette Turner.   The school said it would support families as they transition, but Turner said parents wanted more information and a chance to help keep the school open. “If it was low enrollment or they needed higher tuition, I wish they brought the families in just so we could have a say in if we could have saved it,” she said. Turner added schools like St. Paul’s are rare. “Schools of this caliber are few and far between. You don’t find schools like this. They’re a hidden gem,” Turner said. Turner moved her son, Nikolas Musegades, to San Diego and enrolled him at the school last year after he lost his dad. Musegades said he quickly felt welcomed by the community. “I felt just like part of the family of the school the second I walked into the place,” Turner said. The 9-year-old started a petition to save the school that has received about 150 signatures so far. “How could you close the school? Like this means so much to people from 1941 to now, 2026,” Musegades said. Turner said there were about 120 students enrolled last year. NBC San Diego has reached out to St. Paul’s multiple times for more clarity but has not received a response in time for this story’s publication. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less