Austin ISD revisits south high school discussion

Background

In 2008, voters approved $32 million in bond funds for a land purchase for the site of a proposed high school in south Austin. In 2013 AISD held community meetings about academic programming for the school—a decision that must be made before the district can build a campus.

On June 2, trustees reviewed the findings of the south high school planning committee that conducted that community outreach. The consensus in the community was for a comprehensive high school, AISD Chief Academic Officer Pauline Dow said, noting that the committee's charge was to determine the academic needs of south Austin, not where the land purchase should take place.

But the public discussion about the south high school has been centered around where it should be located—on the southwest or southeast side of Austin.

Resident Bob Wittmeyer stood at the podium backed by a group of other Southwest Austinites in support of a Southwest Austin high school.

"It's been over 20 years since you've built a high school in southwest Austin," he said. "You look at just the numbers we have in Clayton, Baldwin, Kiker, Mills, Patton, and a little bit of Oak Hill [elementary schools], you'll see that there are plenty of students coming in there. If we could believe the projections that you have in front of you tonight, don't build a high school anywhere; we don't need it. But historically, those projections have been really bad."

Monica Guzmn, who said she is running for City Council District 4, stated that census information indicates growth in south Austin is happening in a "barbell fashion," with eventual greater growth expected in Southeast Austin.

"Southeast Austin needs and deserves its high school; demographics will bear this out," Guzmn said.

Trustee Jayme Mathias said he is concerned about finding long-term solutions to relieve Akins and Austin high schools. He noted Bowie is in need of short-term relief as overcrowding continues, but the school's enrollment is expected to drop off around 2018.

Robert Schneider, the trustee for District 7, said enrollment has not declined despite past projections, as people have continued to move to the area based on the perception of Bowie as a strong school.

Changing the conversation

Trustee Schneider proposed a few options related to the south Austin high school, including the implementation of Liberal Arts and Science Academy, or LASA, programming in south Austin.

"There has been frequent talk of a LASA south, and I would like to see a discussion of implementing a LASA south at some school that has capacity," he said.

Such a program would bring about 300 students who could attend Bowie but instead attend the district's existing LASA school back to south Austin. Doing so could relieve overcrowding and transportation issues, he said.

He said he would like to have a community conversation during the 2014–15 school year about the proposal and look at implementation in the 2015–16 school year to provide short-term relief for Bowie and other south high schools.

Schneider also advised looking more closely at long-term relief and moving forward with land purchase plans soon.

"My recommendation would be that we tie a specific purchase of one or more pieces of land to the timeline for implementing something to really do the short term relief about at the end of the 14-15 school year," he said, adding: "We've already heard that we need a comprehensive high school, so where does it need to be located based on the number of kids that need to be relieved?"

Trustee Ann Teich said she would support looking at attracting students to underenrolled high schools such as Travis and Crockett.

Teich added she has faith that the Austin community can work together and avoid the acrimony that is beginning to build.

"I understand all the passion around trying to decide on buying a piece of land and that kind of thing. But I am very concerned. I share trustee Moya's concern that this has become an east-versus-west war, and I don't want that to happen. I think we do need to have space to talk as a community in south Austin about how we can address some of these pressing overcrowding needs and some of these under-enrollment needs," Teich said.

Some trustees said they would be open to talking about other options other than a new school to provide relief for the south Austin community.

"Without being disrespectful to the work that our committee did, I really do agree that we do need some space to have some conversations with the community, because I really think we have to have a different kind of conversation," Moya said.