Austin ISD superintendent will serve another 2 years

Austin ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde will serve until August 2024, per the district's board of trustees unanimous vote during the Oct. 28 meeting.

"I feel like we made the right call," trustee Arati Singh said just before the vote. "You really were who I think we needed during a major crisis."

The meeting began with public comments from more than a dozen AISD teachers who spoke about burnout and vacancies in their schools. The board discussed their concerns with Elizalde adding the district is working on a plan to survey teachers. The board then went into a three-hour closed session.

After opening the meeting back up to the public, trustee Kristin Ashy thanked Elizalde for encouraging the district to gather data and make it public "even when it doesn't make us look great."

Singh echoed Elizalde's efforts to dig to the bottom of issues.

“When we hear things like we heard tonight from teachers who are in so much pain, I know that, like you said, we’re going to look into it, and we’re going to work on this, and I have 100% confidence that you will because you’ve being doing that all along,” Singh said.

The board voted to extend her contract to Aug. 31, 2024.