Less than two weeks before the Austin Independent School District votes on a sweeping plan to close 10 campuses, parents are urging the district to slow the process and questioning the trustworthiness of district officials.
At Thursday’s board meeting, dozens of parents questioned whether the district adequately incorporated community feedback into the its updated plan, which includes relocating AISD's dual language schools. District officials have said the plan will generate roughly $20 million in revenue amid a $19.7 million budget deficit.
Three schools were taken off the list of potential closures on Tuesday after many parents believed the list of 13 schools was solidified. Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura delivered the update in an email to parents and said the board would not vote on redrawing district boundaries, except those related to improving student outcomes at failing schools.
“We were told that there was nothing we could do to change any of the plans,” Becker Elementary parent Selina Martinez said. “And it’s definitely swayed people to give up before this process really got started.”
Adam Sparks, who is a parent of a first-grader at Maplewood, said he felt “whiplash because the unchangeable plan was changed.”
Sparks said the investigation the district opened into at least two employees for mishandling community feedback added to his lack of trust in district leadership.
“I think the main thing is that nobody feels confident in the captain of the ship right now. I can’t imagine that the board does either,” Sparks said. “You can’t expect to make this kind of random change with as little information as they’ve given and expect the community to just accept it.”
Sparks said the district should delay voting on school closures and instead focus solely on approving state-mandated turnaround plans for more than a dozen schools after they received consecutive failing grades.
AISD officials have held several community sessions since first announcing the school closures plan in early October. Before those sessions, Segura said feedback would be used to refine the plan but maintained the district could not “do nothing.”
More aspects of the plan could change before the board takes a vote on Nov. 20.
Board President Lynn Boswell said certain aspects of the plan, including a proposal to relocate students from an ‘F’ rated school to a ‘D’ school gave her “profound concern.”
“I just really want to understand why there’s confidence,” Boswell said. “I just want to understand that before I vote for these things that give me real concern.”
