The woman in charge of the Austin Independent School District is trying to resurrect a ten-year grand strategy for managing the 12 million square feet of AISD buildings and other facilities.
Superintendent Meria Carstarphen held a work session with the school board on Monday to try and hash out what changes should be made to the existing Facilities Master Plan to make it more politically palatable. The current plan, adopted by the board in March, was set aside by school board members in large part because it included an option to close nine schools.On Monday, Dr. Carstarphen will propose a timeline for shaping the existing plan into something that can actually be implemented. Under the timeline, district staff would take four months to present a revised strategy that draws not only from the current Facilities Master Plan, but also from a minority report presented to the board by dissenting members of the task force assembled to draft the strategic document. District staff will also consider new US Census data, community proposals like this one, and input from board members.
The new facilities master plan would be submitted to the school board at the end of October under the proposed timeline, giving board members two months to change the document as they saw fit. The document would be voted on for final approval in November, and district staff would begin implementing it in December.
You can provide your input on the plan at Monday’s meeting during citizen communication. Just sign up at the Superintendent’s office before the board meeting on Monday. Only thirty spots are available. People can speak for two minutes each.
