Austin ISD names principals for schools affected by closures and turnaround plans

The background

In late November, the AISD board of trustees voted to close 10 campuses and adopt turnaround plans to provide intervention at 17 additional low-performing campuses. The board’s vote comes nine months after the district began discussing consolidating campuses to address failed state ratings, reduce a $63 million budget shortfall and account for an ongoing decline in enrollment.

The district will restart Linder, Sánchez, Paredes, Pecan Springs and Wooldridge elementaries using the Accelerating Campus Excellence, or ACE, model.

The ACE model involves offering stipends to recruit high-qualified teachers, lowering student-teacher ratios, extending instructional time and providing additional support staff. To teach at a turnaround plan campus, AISD teachers must be fully-certified, have at least one year of experience in the specific subject area, and meet certain performance benchmarks, according to district documents.

To lead a turnaround plan campus, principals must have at least one year of experience as a principal and demonstrate turnaround success or academic success at a high-needs campus for two or more years, according to AISD documents. Principals will be authorized to hire teachers and staff who meet the turnaround plan criteria and prioritize employees from the merging campuses.

Stay tuned

AISD will enter into a hiring freeze on Jan. 5. On Jan. 9, principals will receive survey results from current staff members on where they would like to work and may begin extending job offers.

From Jan. 12-23, the district will ask families to rank which schools they would like to attend through a survey. Families will be notified of their informal school assignment by email from Feb. 9-13, according to AISD information.

Every student will be guaranteed a seat at the campus they are zoned to, said Victoria O'Neal, executive director of family experience and enrollment, at a Dec. 18 board meeting. The district will use a lottery system to place transfer students at campuses if the number of applicants exceeds the school’s available seats, O’Neal said.