Parents, staff and community members took the mic one after another for the first time last week to express how they felt about the Austin Independent School District’s school consolidation plan. Some worried about the social and academic continuity of their children, others about layoffs. Many mentioned the possible impact on low-income communities and emerging bilingual students.
The school board's meeting Thursday was its first since the district had published the plan, which proposes to close 13 district campuses, redraws school attendance boundaries and makes changes to which schools offer dual language programs.
Officials say the plan will help them save $25 million amid a $19.7 million budget deficit. It would also help avoid state intervention after some schools have gotten low ratings multiple years in a row from the Texas Education Agency.
Parents told the school board that the plan was not thought through and did not take in community feedback. They brought their own budget estimates and attendance and enrollment numbers. Some said they had generated their own proposals that took into account the needs of their neighborhoods.
Community members repeated over and over that this plan would make them lose trust in the school district.
Mary Alice Rousey, who works at Sanchez Elementary, said she has seen the impact closures can have on students.
“We've already lived through the painful impact of past closures, consolidations and modernizations, disruptions that left deep scars on our families, students and staff,” she said. “Please, do not reassign our students again. Do not implement these boundary changes.”
After public comments, AISD officials went over the plan, explaining school consolidation and budget decisions. Superintendent Matias Segura said the plan does not consider layoffs.
“I’ve heard over and over again that this is a plan that is going to fire staff; that is not the case,” he said.
But the trust has already been lost in some cases. Maplewood Elementary teacher Tracy Dunlap, who's also a leader with Education Austin, the union that represents AISD employees, said that while staff have been told that they’ll have a job somewhere else, she’s skeptical.
“It seems like a layoff without actually calling it a layoff,” she said, adding that she is concerned about classified staff who are not under contract.
District officials said they examined previous closures to ensure they were learning from past mistakes. However, they also reminded the community that this is just a first draft, that changes could still happen and that they’ll be taking recommendations into account.
“I stand behind a lot of the decisions we make, but we’re going to miss some things,” said Rachael French, AISD’s director of Planning Services. She said they had received more than 1,700 comments and they will be reading through every one of them. “Y’all are able to really highlight in your specific communities how we can refine these boundaries and make even better decisions.”
But some parents worry they’re not being heard and that the timeframe given by the district is too rushed.
“My school's consolidation has a paragraph. It doesn't address programming. It doesn't address all of the many cultural issues that have to be addressed,” said parent Adam Sparks. “We need more time for this. We need a year instead of a month to make these generational decisions.”
Some parents have put together a website to ask the board for more time and to have their concerns all in one place.
The school board is set to vote on the plan Nov. 20, a day before the district needs to submit a "turnaround" plan to the TEA that would specify how to improve the schools that have gotten low ratings. The district will be hosting several virtual open houses for parents starting this week.
