AUSTIN (KXAN) – After weeks of hearing from frustrated parents, the Austin Independent School District announced Tuesday it plans to wait at least another year to implement proposed district-wide school boundary changes.
In a letter to parents on Tuesday night, Superintendent Matias Segura said the board will still vote Nov. 20 on parts of the draft consolidation plan, including the plan to relocate schoolwide dual language programs and the proposal to consolidate 10 campuses.
Segura said the board will not vote on three of the 13 campuses it initially proposed closing next year: Bryker Woods Elementary, Palm Elementary, and Maplewood Elementary. The board is also set to vote on some of the proposed boundary changes that would impact campuses in need of turnaround plans, according to the letter.
In meetings with community members, Segura expressed that closing schools and redrawing the district’s boundaries would help reduce the district’s nearly $20 million budget shortfall and ensure the long-term health of the school district. According to Austin ISD, district-wide enrollment dropped 14.5% over the last decade.
In the letter, Segura said community members “brought forward significant concerns about the integrity of specific individuals leading the process of applying community feedback to the updated plan.” The district has not yet responded to multiple calls and emails from KXAN on Tuesday regarding the changes to the plan.
“We take those concerns seriously and will thoroughly investigate the claims raised by members of our Austin ISD community. Our community’s input has been vital to the development and refinement of this plan and will continue to be,” Segura said in the email to parents.
FAQ: Austin ISD’s plan to close schools, redraw school zones
The district’s plan to delay boundary changes and keep some schools open comes less than a week after the district released a different update to its consolidation plan to parents. Friday’s update allowed parents to keep their children at their currently zoned school – despite the school changing – and also allowed younger siblings, who are not yet enrolled, to attend the school as well.
Maplewood, Bryker and Palm
Since the district released its original draft consolidation plan in early October, parents at Bryker Woods and Maplewood — in particular — have organized to save their schools from closure. Parents put on a ‘Save Maplewood’ concert during the Oct. 29 school board meeting – and Bryker Wood’s parents organized rallies calling for a new plan for the B-rated campus.
Maplewood Elementary School was the only A-rated school the district proposed shutting down in its original draft consolidation plan. Although, according to the district, the building is considered to be in unsatisfactory condition and the campus is over-enrolled sitting at 122% capacity.
Austin ISD’s updated consolidation plan brings new transfer and sibling policies
The district’s plan was to reassign Maplewood students to Campbell Elementary School, which faces an academic turnaround plan after receiving three consecutive F ratings from the state.
In the plan the district released on Friday, Bryker Woods Elementary was still slated for closure, but the district changed at least one of the campuses that would have received students, adding Casis Elementary School in Tarrytown as the newly zoned campus for at least some of the students at Bryker.
The district previously released data showing the Bryker Woods campus was also over-enrolled and the building, which dates back to 1939, is in unsatisfactory condition. In meetings with the district, parents have talked about the academic successes at the school and urged the district to not rush its closure.
Under the district’s previous plan, Palm Elementary would close and students currently learning there would move to Perez Elementary — which also has a C-rating from the state.
According to Austin ISD, the school building is in average condition, but the campus is under-enrolled at 46% capacity. But parents at Palm Elementary, located in the Onion Creek area, told KXAN they are considering withdrawing their students from Austin ISD and exploring charter schools in the area if the school was closed.
