Austin ISD board votes to close 10 schools, intervene at failing campuses

Additionally, the board approved the following program reassignments:

• The school-wide dual language program at Sunset Valley Elementary, which will close, will relocate to Odom Elementary School as an unzoned school-wide dual language program.
• With the closing of Winn Montessori, a Montessori Program will be created at Reilly Elementary School.
• Reilly Elementary’s school-wide dual language program will be introduced to Wooten Elementary School as a two-way dual language program. The Mandarin program will also move to Wooten Elementary.
• Blazier, Mathews and Lee Elementary schools will no longer have a sixth grade starting in the 2026-27 school year.
• International High School will close due to low enrollment, and students will return to their home campus to be provided with specialized support.

In total, 3,796 students will be reassigned, and 6,319 vacant seats will be eliminated under this plan. The plan is expected to save around $21.5 million in costs for the district.

Also of note

The board approved turnaround plans to implement at 24 failing campuses in the 2026-26 school year—23 of which have received two or more consecutive unacceptable A-F ratings from the state and one of which failed to meet federal accountability standards. The district is required to submit these plans to the TEA by Nov. 21.

AISD will implement school improvement plans at 12 campuses with one or two unacceptable ratings. The plans, totaling around $6.25 million, will focus on investing in support staff, professional development for teachers and monitoring students’ progress.

The district will spend around $12 million to close and reassign students from seven campuses and restart Linder, Sanchez, Paredes, Pecan Springs and Wooldridge elementaries using the Accelerating Campus Excellence, or ACE, model.

School board President Lynn Boswell expressed concerns about reassigning students from Winn Montessori and Widén Elementary to D and F-rated campuses and made a motion to pull those turnaround plans for a separate vote. The turnaround plans to close and reassign students from Winn and Widén narrowly passed with a 5-4 vote.

After closing the seven failing campuses, the district will apply the turnaround plan requirements to whichever campus the majority of students are reassigned to.

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.

This school year, the district restarted Burnet, Dobie and Webb middle schools using the ACE model after they each received their fourth consecutive F rating.

If AISD does not see improvement in reading and math performance at turnaround schools, the district may choose to partner with a charter school to operate the campus, Segura said.

In 2022, the AISD board voted to partner with charter-network Third Future Schools to operate Mendez Middle School after the campus received five consecutive failed ratings, according to previous Community Impact reporting. Segura told reporters Nov. 5 that the district is seeking to regain control of Mendez in the future.

If a Texas public school receives five consecutive unacceptable ratings, the TEA commissioner must close the school or replace the board of trustees with a state-appointed board of managers.

In late October, the TEA announced it would takeover Fort Worth ISD after a campus received five unacceptable ratings. Houston ISD has been led by a board of managers since June 2023.

What they’re saying

At the Nov. 20 meeting, dozens of community members expressed their disapproval and frustration over the school closures. Many speakers asked the district to vote against an agenda item to close dual language campuses Becker, Ridgetop and Sunset Valley elementaries.

According to changes released Nov. 14, students at Becker, Ridgetop, Reilly and Sunset Valley will be given priority over other applicants but will not be guaranteed a seat at the new schools offering two-way dual language programs.

Ridgetop Elementary parent Joshua LeMaire said he was disappointed that his child's neighborhood school will now be split between multiple campuses. Although his daughter has thrived at Ridgetop, LeMaire said he is now considering enrolling his children in private school.

“I want stability, and I'm really concerned AISD is taking on too many things all at once and will kind of hasten a TEA takeover of the district,” LeMaire said.

Some community members said they didn’t feel heard by the district and felt blindsided by changes to the school consolidation plan. Other speakers shared concerns about equity across AISD and said they were considering leaving the district.

“You've broken the trust of our community,” said Cheryl Bradley, a former AISD trustee. “We don't trust you, and nor do you do anything to regain that trust.”

Winn Montessori parent Alexei Sefchick told Community Impact he is concerned that his son is being rezoned to another campus with three consecutive F ratings—Palm Springs. Sefchick said his son will not be promised a spot at Reilly Elementary, which he fears may not have the time and staffing it needs to successfully house a Montessori program.

“This is going to drive a ton of kids out of the district,” Sefchick said. “We're going to be in this spot again next year, because Pecan Springs is going to likely fail again... This is just setting up the schools for failure.”

Reilly parent Clair Croslin asked the board to approve the school closure proposals to allow her family to begin planning for next school year.

"Please, let's get started on planning for the next school year," Croslin said. "We really need to understand what these options look like as soon as possible to make our decision."

Many AISD teachers and employees have expressed fears over whether they will be able to continue working with their students or not knowing where they will be placed next school year, said Trasell Underwood, vice president of AISD’s employee union Education Austin, in an interview with Community Impact. Underwood said the district has lacked in its communication about the school closures.

“Our biggest job is job safety, ensuring that in this process no one loses their job,” Underwood said. “We still have a lot of questions [about] how they will move certain positions around.”

How we got here

On Oct. 3, AISD officials shared an initial school consolidation plan to close 13 schools and rezone 98% of campuses. Following weeks of community push back, the district announced Nov. 4 that the board would no longer vote to close Palm, Bryker Woods and Maplewood elementaries in November and postpone any proposed attendance boundary changes until next year.

Many parents at Maplewood and Bryker Woods elementaries held rallies to protest their schools’ closure on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, respectively, and voiced their concerns at recent board meetings. Maplewood Elementary parent Adam Sparks organized community members and launched “Let’s Get it Right AISD”—a campaign asking AISD to wait a full year to vote on any campus closures.

Community members shared concerns about the integrity of certain staff members working on applying community feedback to the school consolidation plan, prompting AISD to launch an investigation, according to a Nov. 4 letter from Segura. The district placed Ali Ghilarducci, senior executive director of communications and community engagement, and Director of Planning Services Raechel French on administrative leave Nov. 4, an AISD spokesperson confirmed to Community Impact.

"When I think through the magnitude of this decision, it was important to me... that I believe in every aspect of how we got here,” Segura said in a private news briefing Nov. 5. “More work needs to be done to ensure that I am confident that community voice has been brought into the process in a way that I can support.”

Going forward

On Nov. 21, the district will send letters to staff along with preliminary survey on their preference for future job placement.

AISD will host informational clinics about enrolling in dual language programs from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on:

• Dec. 9 for Becker Elementary
• Dec. 10 for Ridgetop Elementary
• Dec. 16 at Reilly Elementary
• Dec. 17 Sunset Valley Elementary

AISD officials will further discuss updates on the school consolidation plan related to enrollment and transition planning at the Dec. 18 board meeting, Segura said.

The district will select principals for turnaround plan campuses in December. In January, AISD will implement a district-wide hiring freeze and offer positions to current teachers who meet turnaround plan requirements. The district will continue to fill positions throughout the spring semester, according to AISD information.

Around 600-700 district employees may be affected by the school closures and turnaround plans, Underwood said. AISD officials have promised Education Austin that all current staff members will be provided a position in the district, she said.

This spring, the district will begin re-envisioning the future of the Bedichek and Martin middle school campuses, Segura said. In late October, district officials discussed moving Garza Independence High School to the Martin Middle School building and reopening Bedichek Middle School as a dual-language campus with additional grade levels.