This blog on Texas education contains posts on accountability, testing, K-12 education, postsecondary educational attainment, dropouts, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, environmental issues, Ethnic Studies at state and national levels. It also represents my digital footprint, of life and career, as a community-engaged scholar in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin.
T.A. Brown to remain shuttered after school deemed unsafe
Austin American-Statesman
Highlights
The Austin district could close up to 10 schools
that are in poor condition, consolidating or replacing them.
If LASA is moved to Travis High School, it could nearly double in size to 2,000 students.
It’s unclear which projects will be recommended to
the school board to include in a November 2017 bond package.
The
Austin district could close up to 10 aging schools that are in poor
condition, consolidating them with others or replacing them, according
to a preliminary report from consultants working on a 25-year master
plan.
Six new schools across the district could be built, and the nationally ranked Liberal Arts and Science Academy, LASA, now located on the LBJ High School campus, could be moved.
District
leaders said the goal is to modernize the district and its campuses
with help from a building-by-building assessment that was completed this
fall. The district’s average facility is 40 years old, and some are
over 100 years old. One in three has been determined to be in poor
condition.
The abrupt closure of T.A. Brown Elementary School last month underscores the problems at some schools, which persist after voters rejected $400 million of $892 million in bond funding the district sought in 2013.
The
list of possible closures, consolidations and other options is the
beginning of the brainstorming and community work that the district
plans over the coming months as it prepares for the next bond package, which could come as early as November 2017.
Last summer, the Andy Roddick Foundation kicked off its
Third Annual Summer Learning Program for 90 students at Pecan Springs
Elementary ... read more
The
projects will come with a steep price tag, as the district already has
about $2 billion in deferred maintenance. A new elementary school costs
roughly $30 million, while a new high school costs about $100 million.
The
consultants’ options were presented Wednesday night to a facilities and
bond planning advisory committee. In coming weeks that committee will
have a series of high-stakes meetings to determine which options to present to the public.
“We
can accept them individually or not make them at all,” said Rich
DePalma, a committee member. “I feel comfortable hearing their options,
but I see it as just another data point. I want people to be involved in
the process and be participating in the process. This committee is
focused on the community’s interest and is thinking of the district as a
whole. We are thinking of the kids and that’s whose back we have.”
The projects the district moves forward
with are likely to be broken into a series of bonds over the next two
decades, with high-need items first. It’s too early to determine which
projects will be recommended to the school board to include in a
November 2017 bond package, district officials said.
District
Chief Financial Officer Nicole Conley said the facilities and bond
planning committee members will examine the options and will create an
initial proposal for the community to vet at the end of January.
“They
have to layer on the qualitative information and take into account the
academic needs that haven’t been incorporated here, our reinvention
projects, administrative concerns,” Conley said. “There are a lot of
things that haven’t been factored in that have to be coalesced into an
ultimate proposal that will be vetted by the community. … It will look
dramatically different by the time we get to the end.”
Six
new campuses, including an elementary in the Mueller neighborhood for
Pecan Springs Elementary students; an elementary school in Northwest
Austin; an elementary school in Southwest Austin; and an elementary,
middle and high school in Southeast Austin.
Moving the
nationally ranked Liberal Arts and Science Academy, LASA, to Martin or
Covington middle school, which would close those campuses and would
allow LASA to slightly grow. Or LASA could be moved to Travis High
School, allowing it to nearly double. Students at the high school could
possibly move into neighboring high schools until a new high school in
Southeast Austin is built.
Rebuild or overhaul: Brentwood,
Casis, T.A. Brown elementary schools; the Rosedale school; Ann Richards
School for Young Women Leaders and Sadler Means Young Women’s Leadership
Academy.
Consolidate the Webb Primary Center, which is exclusively in portable buildings, into Webb Middle School to create a K-8 campus.
Sanchez Elementary School students dance in their seats
to Mariachis de Oro, from Crockett High School. Sanchez Elementary is on
a ... read more
Shaun
Cranston, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce chairman for
education, lauded the work by Superintendent Paul Cruz’s administration.
“Dr.
Cruz and his team deserve a lot of credit for tackling this complex
issue,” Cranston said. “By presenting these options, we encourage AISD
and the community to work together to finalize a master facility plan
which looks to the future and renovates, modernizes and effectively uses
each building in the district, while continuing to serve its current
students.”
District officials said their decision to release all
of the options early, with calls for the community to weigh in, is meant
to avoid the kind of backlash that came over a former facilities plan
that incited protests from the community in 2011. That proposal
included nine campus closures to save $11 million, and it prompted more
than 1,500 parents and community members to pack meetings to rally to
save their neighborhood schools.
“We’re
looking at ways to put our kids in better, more modern spaces but at
the same time repurposing some of our physical assets to meet new needs
in the communities, (and) leverage those assets to make investments in
those communities,” Conley said.
The options
As
they build a 25-year plan for Austin schools, a facilities committee
and trustees will weigh options that include closing some schools,
consolidating them with others or replacing them. Up to six new schools
could be built. LASA, now located on the LBJ High School campus, could
also be moved. Possible Closures:
Brooke Elementary
Dawson Elementary
Joslin Elementary
Lucy Read Pre-Kindergarten
Ortega Elementary
Pecan Springs Elementary
Ridgetop Elementary
Sanchez Elementary
Sims Elementary
Dobie Pre-K Center New Schools
Elementary in Mueller development
Elementary for Goodnight Ranch development
Elementary to relieve overcrowding at Kiker, Baranoff
Elementary to relieve Doss and Hill
Middle school next to Blazier Elementary
New high school in Southeast Austin New home for LASA?
The
nationally ranked magnet high school could be moved to campus of Travis
High, Covington Middle School or Martin Middle School.
Source: Preliminary report, consultants Brailsford & Dunlavey
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