Austin ISD approves EMHS timeline, staff to develop proposal for school's potential partner

She suggested the board should select a partner by the end of April so that it has the full month of May to negotiate an agreement.

Jayme Mathias, the trustee for the district in which EMHS is located, encouraged board members to approve the timeline and ask the administration to develop a Request for Proposal, or RFP, to make available to potential entities who could partner with the school.

"There has been a lot of work put into this," he said. "I think that we're going in the right direction."

The approved timeline states the board is scheduled to post the RFP on March 7, and it will likely stop accepting applications from potential partners March 26. On April 4, the board aims to hold a public meeting during which potential partners for the reconstitution plan can share presentations on what they could do to help EMHS. According to the approved timeline, possible approval of a partner could occur by April 22.

Consequences and feedback

Carstarphen said the board's vote on the timeline means there will be no academic programming on the IDEA Allan campus by the end of the school year, and the school is "effectively closed."

As part of the reconstitution plan, the board must develop a plan for the school and its vertical team, which comprises the high school and the middle and elementary schools that feed into it. Carstarphen said closing the school efficiently will be a major focus during the coming months.

During citizens communication, attendees voiced their opinions. Parent Christina Melendez referred back to the board's move to cancel the IDEA contract, adding she thinks the trustees who voted to end the contract did so to appease the vocal community against the charter group without taking the children at the school into consideration.

"It seems to me that you're catering to anger without caring about the children on the east side getting a good education," she said.

EMHS student Julian Medrano said he attended the board's workshop Feb. 23, and he was pleased to see the trustees making progress on its plans.

"Some of us were tired of hearing some of our students afraid that our school was going to be closed. I just don't want our students to be afraid anymore," he said, noting students invited the commissioner to visit the campus and talk with them last week. "[Williams] basically said, 'I'm going to wait to see what the board has to plan.' I have faith in y'all, and my friends have faith in y'all."

Another attendee, Steve Swanson, spoke about the board's plan to develop an RFP.

"Should you issue an RFP, use the RFP process to obtain special help to plan schools according to the education code," he said.

Cynthia Valadez asked the board to develop an economic assessment of bond dollars based on need east and west of I-35 to address functional equity.

"Please provide EMHS immediately with the resources and staffing they need ... to reach their full academic and student potential," she said.