001[Music] Good morning parents. Buenos. We are going to start already our meeting this morning. We want to say thank you parents for being here. I know this is uh a meeting having to do with our uh with a plan, the draft plan. And right now we want to say thank you to Matias Segura, our superintendent. Gracias. Uh, we also want to say thank you to all the leadership team that is here this morning. But most importantly, we want to say thank you to you parents for being here. I know this is uh uh you probably have questions. We have enough time later on as the presentation moves along. Okay, I'm gonna pass it over to Alli. >> Good morning everyone and thank you so much for being here. My name is Ally Gillarduchcci. I'm the
002senior executive director of communications and community engagement for Austin ISD. I just want to run us through the agenda so everyone knows what to expect. So, we have our welcome, of course. Um, we're going to go over some meeting norms and the purpose of today's meeting. Um, we'll do some introductions because we have some folks here to answer some various questions you may have. Um, we're going to give you an overview of what is in the proposed plan so that we know that everyone is on the same page about what we're proposing. Um, and then we you guys some of y'all submitted comment cards via this QR code that's on the table. Um, and so we pulled some of those questions and comments that have already been submitted. Um, this is open until October 28th,
003so there's still time to get your ideas and comments in there, but we pulled some in advance so that we could respond to those questions today. And then we'll take questions from y'all that you have today as well. Um, and then we'll talk about next steps. Um, and so here's some of our meeting norms. We want to we're we're working to build the future together. And that means acknowledging the challenges of the situation that the district is in. But we also want to focus on ideas and solutions that make our district stronger, more equitable, and sustainable for years to come. We want to honor time. We're going to ask that each speaker um both our speakers as well as y'all. Try to limit your comments to about a minute so that we can make space
004for everyone. We want to honor each other and speak respectfully to one another. We want to honor our process. We are trying to be really thoughtful about how we create this space so that we can have um a healthy dialogue. Um and we want to honor intent and impact. That means that we can disagree on ideas but we want to assume positive intent that everyone wants the same things which is what is best for our kids to support them in their futures. Um we want to honor space and voice. So if you've already spoken once, we'll call on other people before we go back to the same person twice. And we want to try to stay solutionoriented um discuss focusing on ideas, solutions and understanding. Um and we are trying to embrace transparency and empathy.
005We know these are difficult conversations but we are going to share with you everything that we know um as we are going through this process. [Music] And here's our those same norms in Spanish. Um, and so for the purpose of our meeting today, we want to first and foremost respond to some of the questions that were submitted because we know these are we saw some questions that came up a few different times in the comment cards. So, we're going to respond to those and make sure that y'all have an opportunity to follow up and ask follow-up questions or new questions you may have thought of. We want to make sure that we all have a shared understanding of what is being proposed and all the implications. Um, and then we as district leaders want to
006gain insight into your experiences, your concerns, your ideas to help inform any potential changes to the plan because we will be create uh creating a draft revi or a revised version of the plan um that's going to be released October 31st. And so the ideas that we hear from y'all help us shape the plan and make it work better for y'all and for the district. Um, so with that, I'm going to go ahead and um share pass it over to our superintendent, Matias Sagur, who's going to talk to you a little bit about the vision and the why behind this process. Hola, Matura, soy, superintendent, the Austin ISD. I'm Matias Sigura, the superintendent for Austin ISD, and I want to thank you uh for being here this morning. Your presence, your love for your students,
007your advocacy for your school and your community means everything. Uh I want to also just recognize how harmful, how disruptive all of this is. It's not easy. I also want to share with you that there are lots of things happening right now that are putting pressure on Austin ISD. But our goal, our collective vision is to ensure that every single part of Austin, no matter where you live, has access to strong, vibrant, loving neighborhood schools. That's the goal. We have great schools in Austin. This is a great school. But the reality is that we do not have the resources to continue on in the way that we have been and still ensure that all of our students, especially those that look like me, that look like many of us in the room, get what they
008need to be successful. That's the honest truth. This plan, it's complex. There are lots of elements, lots of pieces to it because we're trying to address several things all at once. And I will tell you that if we didn't do it this way, it is very likely that significant burden, the burden of change, whether it's closures or consolidations or boundary changes, would be even more heavily weighted in East Austin. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to sort support a plan. I will not bring a plan forward that doesn't distribute that change across the entire school district. So, there are a couple things that we're trying to do. One, we want to align feeder patterns in Austin ISD. When I talk about aligning feeder patterns, I'm talking about having one elementary school go
009to no more than two middle schools and one middle school to go no more than two high schools. Right now we have middle schools that go to four and five high schools. You cannot keep community together. You cannot align programming. You not cannot build up pathways with that type of fractured feeder pattern. Now, we do have clean feeder patterns in Austin. And where do you think they are? They're not in East Austin. So our plan addresses that. Two, we have to acknowledge that the funding, the support for public education hasn't been and is not going to increase in the near term. Right? The cost of education has increased. We need to pay our teachers more. We need more resources for our students. All of those things cost money and our enrollment has declined. and the
010cost of education has only increased. >> So in order to address that, we have to identify efficiencies in the system by removing empty seats. And we have over 20,000 empty seats in Austin ISD. This plan does that through consolidations, through boundary changes, and attempts to balance enrollment. The other thing that we have to do, we have to align programming so that it's sustained for years to come. And I'm talking about our wallto-wall dual language programs. We have four of them in Austin ISD. These wall-to-wall dual language programs require really for best practice that 50% half of the students are emergent bilingual students and the other half note emergent bilingual. But what's happened is over years as the city has changed the numbers of emergent bilingual students in these programs has decreased year-over-year. So now we
011have 17%, 21%, 24%, and 44% when they should all be roughly 50%. And so what we know is that our emerging bilingual families don't have the same access. Many of our families are working multiple jobs. And so we are moving the programs to where our emergent fam, bilingual families live in an effort to increase access. We want our families to take advantage of these programs and to do that and to ensure sustainability, we have to move them. The other thing we have to acknowledge that there are incredible schools all throughout Austin ISD, but we live in a state that has an accountability system that relies on a single test taken on a single day. And that letter grade, right, wrong or indifferent, has significant meaning. And we as a school system have to acknowledge that
012that is the state Right? Whether it's a D school, F school, A school, B school, whatever it may be, we as a school district have to take ownership of it. Acknowledge that there are improvements to be made. But if we're not aggressive in shedding the weight, like getting rid of the accountability weight, then the risk of state intervention, the risk of someone else coming in and telling us how to educate our students will be increased. And so we have to address the turnaround plans, the taps, you may hear the word tap over and over again for both 3UA, which is an acceptable rating, and 2UA. And that's kind of where we find ourselves here at Bington. We're kind of in this moment where we're trying to tackle all of this at the same time. And
013the last thing I'll say is we need to address our transfer policies. Our transfer policies have been in place in some cases for decades and it's created opportunities for families to choose schools outside of their area and for there are reasons why that occurred in the past. But when you have that type of movement, it's really hard to grow and stabilize loving, strong neighborhood schools. And so this plan includes us addressing transfers. So it is complex. There are lots of moving pieces. Every single time we make a change in one of our schools, it impacts adjacent schools. And so I want you to know if we go to the next slide that this plan uh does a couple things specifically for Bington and the Bington community, Wooldridge as well as uh GT Guo Thompson. First,
014the plan includes that the majority of students at Bington will be re reassigned to Guo Thompson. So, the reason that that assignment is important and why it's the majority, and we'll talk about this a little more detail, is that the state of Texas requires by way of a turnaround plan as one of the options to reassign the students to a school that is higher performing. Right? And again, the reason that our schools are are performing the way they are is because of Austinite. It's because of the the us, not our students. Just to be clear, it is our system, not our students. But I have to break that accountability chain. I have to. So, we're at a moment where the majority of students based on where they live will go to Gro Thompson and the
015other students will go to Woolridge. Woolridge will also get support. It'll be a modernized school. And so in this way we can reduce the number of seats in the area because you always look at an area and at the same time address the state turnaround plan requirements and these are requirements. We cannot miss the date. If we do or if our plan isn't accepted, the state can take interventions up to installing a board of managers which means your trustees, superintendent, the majority of leadership changes. and we know what disruption does to this community to to our entire city. And so I'm going to um to to pause there. I know we're going to go through some other comments and questions, but I just want you to know um this is a draft plan. It will
016refine. Your input is valuable. The team is working every single day taking input and thoughts and feedback. What I want to say though is that we have to make a decision. This is urgent. It may feel like a compressed timeline like everything's happening fast, but we have been working on this for some time. And what I do not want to take away from our families is time to plan. If you do not if we do not make a vote or do not take a vote in November, then the systems that we have to enroll our students, the staffing, the hiring of the principles, all of those things that occur will be delayed and it will not ensure that we have a successful start of the next school year. I will not introduce a change or
017make a change in the spring semester. It's too disruptive. So I I just want you to know when people ask like why the timeline why the timeline will one of the timelines is set by the state but also we're already well underway planning for next year and if we slow it down it will be very very disruptive to our families and to our students. >> Good morning everyone. My name is Christine Steenport. I am the operations officer for Austin ISD. And so I'm just going to kind of bring you into real quickly what does this mean and so we can really get to the meat of the questions today because that's what we're here for are your questions and answers. So want to talk about what does this mean for my child next year. So
018um if this proposed plan was voted yes then this would be in effect for the next school year which would start in August of 2026. So just wanted to kind of level set with our timeline. Um, so if you live in the b the Bington Elementary current boundary, you can either go to Guerrero Thompson Elementary School or Woolridge Elementary School based on your address. And I'll show a couple of maps of what that looks like. And we also have um I think it was on the slide previously, it is a school map locator. So if you can't see the map and you're saying, I want to type in my address and understand where my new boundary would be, you can type in your address there. And then at the end of this, we'll have a
019lot of resources of where everything we have, our maps, our school map locator, anything that you want to look through and we'll go through that to make sure you understand where those uh items are located. If you are a transfer student, I'm not sure if we have any transfer families here. Um, but if you're a transfer student to Bington, you can return to your zone school or apply to a transfer with another campus. We understand that there are some students that if you're a transfer, you feel that you're a community of Bington and you want to move with the community of Bington. And so, um, we will have, uh, ways for those for those families to do so if you are a transfer. Next slide, please. So, this is the current boundary of Bington Elementary
020right now as it currently is. So if you live within this area, you currently go to you are zoned to Bington Elementary. In the in the proposed plan, what we have here in yellow, if you live in this zone of the bound of the boundary for Bington, you would be then zoned to Guerrero Thompson. If you live in this zone that is hatched in red here, then you would be zoned to Woolridge Elementary. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear of what that what that looks like. And we have that on all of our information and we can go over that as well. >> Yes. Thank you. >> The street that's divided. Um let me see here. Right here. I think that's the creek. Walnut Creek. >> Walnut Creek. Yep. If you're
021north of Walnut Creek, you would go to Guerrero Thompson and which is right here. So, we know that right right here we're in Bington. Guerrero Thompson's right down the street here. Um, and then Wooldridge Elementary is over here. And so, if you live in this zone, it would be Woolridge Elementary. Okay, next slide. Okay, what would this mean for our turnaround plan? So, I'm going to hand this over to Ally to kind of talk through that of what that means for Bington. Thank you so much, Christine. So, if you all have been involved in the conversations, we've been having conversations since maybe early September about the turnaround plan that that our superintendent was talking about. And that is the plan that the state requires us to put in place for Bington because of the three
022un he called those UA the unacceptable accountability ratings. Um, so Bington had received three years in a row of unacceptable accountability ratings. And again, that's based on students performance on the STAR test, that one test, that one day a year. That's how the state gives a letter grade to our schools. So because Bington had three years in a row, we have a turnaround plan. Well, one of the other rules is if if the district chooses to close a school, as we're proposing with Bington, and reassign to another school, wherever the majority of students go, that turnaround plan is going to go with them. So, we can't just close the school and the turnaround plan disappears. It has to go with the students and we have to implement it. So because if you saw on the
023earlier slide um whoops that the majority of students are going to go to Guerrero Thompson, a smaller amount will go to Waldridge. The turnaround plan, this arrow goes to is going to go to Guerrero Thompson. So the combined Bington and Guero Thompson students will then adopt that plan. Let's see. Um and so in that um instance the appointed principal which principles if once this is voted on whatever is voted on in November in December is when the district will determine who are going to be the principles that lead the combined school communities. So that those appointments will happen in December and the the appointed principal would then have the authority to hire teachers and staff that meet the turnaround plans staffing criteria. So when you have a turnaround plan, there's certain criteria. The state wants
024to make sure that when you hire staff to support the school that they are what they call highly effective, that they have a certain amount of experience and that they're they have shown and demonstrated that when they work with students, they help those students grow significantly in a school year. Um and so we have to make sure that when we're staffing that we're selecting stu teachers and other staff that that meet that criteria. um any current staff at Bington or at that the receiving school that don't have that criteria um that's okay. It it means that they're probably not going to be able to be selected to work at that school, but we have a plan as a district to make sure that we can find another home for them in Austin ISD. We will
025be doing a hiring freeze in starting in January because in a normal school year start gearing up for the following school year, we actually usually start recruiting more teachers from about 5 to 600 teachers every single year that we recruit to start for the next school year. We're not going to be doing that recruitment process because we want to make sure that anyone who whose position gets is is eliminated due to a closure or consolidation that we find another place to place them in the district. So that will be our goal is to find a home for everyone that we can. >> And and just to be clear, that's not just teachers, it's all staff. All staff, right? So food service workers, custodial staff, counselors, teachers assistants, everybody is part of this plan. We teachers
026are what we kind of led with, but I wanted everybody to know that it's all staff. >> Thank you. Um, and then the last thing to note is that because Bington and Gro Thompson would have that turnaround plan, part of this plan is that, you know, Matias said that this is about us being able to free up our resources to be more efficient. But what is it that we're going to do with those resources? If we're saving money, we are going to be reinvesting them in the schools that have these turnaround plans because Bington is not alone. We have 24 schools across the district that have these plans. And so this consolidation plan, this big district-wide effort frees up about $25 million. But we're going to reinvest over half of that money into those schools.
027And that's going to allow those schools to have lower student teacher ratios, to hire additional counselors, to hire more instructional coaches or content interventionists to support our students. And each school will be able to kind of determine how they're going to use that extra money. But it's going to infuse those extra in it's going to infuse those extra resources in the schools that have those turnaround plans. Okay. So, we had about I think four or five questions that we pulled from the comment cards that we're going to go over first just to get the conversation started. If you have any questions while we're answering these, please feel free to raise your hand and we can go around and um and get to y'all's questions. Um but the first question that we had that came up
028for us, we saw someone commented um this is Sally R. And these comments, some of them I've had to cut a little shorter so they fit on the slide, but this is their direct words. Um, Oldridge currently has a pending 2022 bond project and are expected to be and students are expected to be displaced to Dolby PreK as their school is updated during construction. So that's that is true. During the 2022 bond, Waldridge is supposed to get a brand new building, but while they build that building, the students need to find a new place to learn while the school is under construction because there's not room on the site. So, this person is asking, Bington was also supposed to be part of the bond project, and the plan for construction would not disrupt students or
029make them move because there actually is space on Bington to have construction while also having the kids learn in the current building. So this person is asking if Bington has that extra space, why was Bington chosen to be the school that closes instead of I think instead of Waldridge which doesn't have that space. >> Yeah. So um no one specific data point drove the decision. Uh it was multiple inputs. We had a a rubric that we used to identify misalignments kind of where we weren't operating in a way that we probably should have intended or we were designed to. That informed kind of our deep dive area by area. And so when you think about what we're trying to address here, we needed to address the turnaround plan as well as the empty seats in
030the area and do what we could to put as many students in modernized facilities at the same time. And so Wooldridge because Wooldridge will be modernized and because um we feel confident that with this turnaround plan we will break the accountability chain and at the same time mo all these schools are slightly underenrolled we can get to a healthier enrollment with this strategy. The other way may not and will likely not break the accountability chain. Matias, can you explain what you when you say when he says break accountability chain, that means if you got an unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable, if you get an acceptable rating, that means you break the chain. So now you don't have a series of unacceptables. >> So if you have an F, an F, an F, you need to get to
031a C by your fifth year, >> right? And so if you get a D, it's a pause. A C will break at year five. If you do not break the accountability chain, get a C or better, the state can intervene, will intervene in fact by law an education code and install a board of managers, which is take out our trustees or close the school. So, we have to understand and recognize that is a real risk given that we're in year three, right? Um, so when it comes to the bond project, one of the things that we will look like look at as we plan together is what should occur with Wooldridge as they plan to receive students. Previously, they were going to swing to Dolby. Does that somehow need to change because of the decisions
032we're making here and ultimately the plan as we move forward? We will look at that. We have seen some opportunities to reduce the amount of movement um in these construction uh steps, but we don't have a final decision yet until we get feedback from our community. >> And Matias, as a followup to this, because I know this is something that came up at Waldridge. Um we're I know there were questions about because Waldridge was supposed to move to Dolby PreK midyear. Has a decision been made yet about where Waldridge students will be learning while their school is being built? And because that would include the Bington students that are assigned there if the if the plan goes as proposed. >> Yeah. So right now the plan is to um in its current form as as
033Ally said have the students go to Dolby. We've already started those plans. We have worked with the city. We're starting construction uh temporarily for the swing space. Um, we have the ability to adjust, but we cannot start that process like in earnest until the board takes a vote because we would have to expend resources. We would have to begin to relay out the plan. And we're in this in between time where we want to start to work and make sure that things are are moving forward, but we still don't have a vote, right? And so what we're trying to do is to plan and prepare and identify options so that once the vote occurs, we can move quickly, but that may be ultimately one of the adjustments in the construction um swing space solution. So
034to be clear, the options could be either Waldridge and Bington could be learning at Dolby PreK next year as the swing space while their school is being built at Waldridge or it's possible if this plan passes that potentially Bearington could serve as that swing space for for them to learn while is being built. So that correct is a decision we can't make until we have a vote and we know for sure whether or not Bington is going to be closing. It would be less expensive to move here combined and then move back by millions of dollars. >> Okay. So, the next question that we had from the comment card, it is essential that TEA, the Texas Education Agency, not pressure Austin ISD into hasty decisions that could compromise proper planning and the academic support our
035students deserve. We also ask that AISD prioritize genuine two-way comm community community engagement. Educators, families, and students should be actively involved in shaping consolidation plans, not simply informed after decisions are made. Let's take the time to do this right. How is the district incorporating community feedback to ensure that the most impacted schools and families are heard and supported through this process? And that's from Abby B. >> I can start. You want to start? >> Yeah. So, that's part of the reason that we're here today. Um, the engagement process for these consolidations started all the way back in the spring. You may remember that we had put out a survey to help us understand what matters most to families. We had over 14,000 responses across all of our schools. And one of the big things that
036came up there, and I think this, you know, a lot of people could assume this, but that one of the big things was that transportation was a huge priority for our families. So, one of the things that we did look at while we were trying to develop these plans was how do we make sure that we're limiting travel distance for for families and of course our policies as a district always is if there is a hazardous route um crossing major highways that that transportation would be provided by the district. So that that engage that early engagement informed kind of the development of what we called our rubric which helped us evaluate where we had challenges in our schools when it came to either overcrowding or underenrollment. Um and then when we moved on to the
037next step of looking at different regions and understanding what challenges we had and what options we had, um that's when we kind of developed a plan and brought that out to the community. And so we released that in October, early October. And that's why we're going around and talking to families to help understand um what what about this plan you do you think is has some promise? what about this plan maybe is going to present challenges for your families that we need to be able to work through or come up with solutions to better support y'all. Yeah. >> Um but you can maybe talk a little bit about the the timeline. I know you've touched on that already. >> Yeah. Thank you, Ally. I want our families to know that we are desperately trying to
038position AISD and all of our students to be successful for decades to come. If we do not act now, we will lose precious time because you cannot make decisions like this in the spring or the summer or the fall. you effectively lose a whole year. So what happens in that year? Well, your budget deficit continues to grow. You do not truly address the turnaround plans that are required by the state of Texas. You know, enrollment has been impacted here and in many other schools in the Rberg area in east in East Austin because we have immigrant families who are not coming to our schools because of what's happening at the federal level. And we have families in our schools that are choosing not to come because of what's happening at the federal level. And all
039of that is limiting our resources. And so I I the word here hasty to me um is something I want to respond to. I would say that it's urgent. I would say that we're being proactive. And I would say that we're being very thoughtful in trying to do all of this together. If we were just looking at turnaround plans, it would be very different. If we were just looking at consolidations, it would look very different. But because we're doing it all together, we have a unique opportunity to not have it burden any one area of the city um more than it than we would see otherwise. The last thing I'll say is there are school districts right now that are being um for lack of a better word taken over by the state of Texas.
040They wish they would have made difficult decisions years ago. Like we're not going to do that. We are going to keep local control so that our trustees who you all elected are the ones that are guiding how we educate our students in Austin. Like all of this has to be considered. So is it urgent? Yes. I I don't Hasty I I have concerns about saying it that way. I do think that it needs to be thoughtful and it is multi-layered. You want to >> thank you. Um, I also wanted to kind of touch on this last part is how are the most impacted schools and families being heard and supported? And I know Ally talked about that a little bit in the beginning. Like that's why we're here. We also have 73,000 students. We have
041a lot of families, but we want to hear from every one of them. But how do we do that in a way that is um is that organized and efficient so we can get through all of those responses and comments and feedback? And that's why we're asking if you do have that comment, you do have that feedback, that QR code, type it in because we have a form that we can categorize and organize. And we have teams dedicated to looking at those two to three times a week and seeing if there's the themes, what we're seeing. And then if there are themes of saying, "Hey, this boundary is wonky. It's weird. It doesn't make sense." We will look into that. Would there be a change? Possibly. May there be a change? maybe not. It all
042depends on the greater impact of everything around there. So, I just wanted to kind of talk through the process of what we're doing to hear the feedback and take that and incorporate it. So, if you have feedback, we can always take that verbally. We're here to listen and also our feedback form. So, just wanted to touch on that as well. Did you have a follow-up to this? I appreciate you guys being here and I hear you saying it's urgent, but I don't think you can both say it's urgent and you're moving quickly and you're listening to us because I don't think Bington has felt heard or like we've had a say. Um, it's really like every meeting has been telling us what's happening to our school and there's a chance for feedback, but it doesn't
043seem like that matters because it's moving quickly for the reasons you're saying, but it doesn't feel like it's community-led discussion or it's familyled. Maybe that's not an option because of TEA, but we have like, you know, charter schools in our neighborhoods trying to get students out of Austin ISD and like, you know, you're closing our school and that's exactly what TEA wants is they want less public schools and more charter schools and like that's what we're getting. So, I don't feel hurt at all from this. >> Yeah. So, I appreciate that comment. Um, what I will say is there are things that are firm because of what the agency requires. That's just the honest truth. If we were a 2UA or a one UA, meaning like you only had, you know, two Fs or you
044you were further back in the process, right, which goes back to 22, 23, 21, 22, we would have more options. But what was happening at that time coming out of the pandemic, we didn't have educators. you had three superintendents in two years. I mean, we as a system were not um I would say prepared to acknowledge the changes in the accountability system while we were going through that change. That's the honest truth. And then the compression like all these accountability, the lawsuits, everything getting stacked up created this timeline that is very very tight. We created our plan building it off the long range plan, building it off other things that we felt would give us more of a thoughtful process and then the state agency came in in August and said here are the timelines
045that you have to submit by November 21st being when you have to submit our taps. So at that time it put milestones in our plan that we could not move. And so yes there are things that are firm meaning we cannot do certain things because of where we are in the accountability process. The fact that we have three UAS here at Bington. Um and I I hear you. There have been lots of comments from our community saying Matias can you go ask the agency about this? Can you ask the agency about this? We have over 20 schools that we have to develop turnaround plans for and we do make asks. We are asking questions and getting feedback. But I never want to bring to our community something that I know will not be accepted by
046the agency. Uh to me that would be um it it would be very uh disingenuous. I want you to know where we're at, what is likely to come, and I want to move through that process, get feedback to refine and to improve. But there are some things that we're just not going to be able to accomplish because of the pressure from the state. That's just the honest truth. Um, but we will refine for you. For those that have worked with me, who have seen kind of our approach, we will make adjustments. But I do not want to spend a tremendous amount of resources and time getting to a decision when the decision is pretty well defined as far as what we can do. I would prefer to spend the time in planning with communities, planning
047to make sure our staff are supported, planning to make sure our students are supported so that we do the opposite. I would argue that if I have the resources, we're distributing them equitably and our students get what they need, then we will draw back students because we will have high-erforming, vibrant, loving schools everywhere in Austin. But we can't do that when you have 116 schools and 70,000 students. It's just we're just too too thin. We don't have the resources. So, I I hear you and I apologize. I would say a lot of it is kind of compression. Uh but we genuinely want to engage. It's just that this process limits what we can offer and and really what routes and paths we have. >> And Matias, I'm just going to add to that because you
048referenced the long range plan and I want everyone to understand. So the long range plan is the kind of it was the building blocks of the 2022 bond. That work was something that was done over the course of almost two years. Um, and but it got us the 2022 bond where over 80% of the investment was in our title one or our more economically disadvantaged parts of the city because the district had not historically invested as much. The work that we did, that's probably some of the most um some of the work that I'm most proud of that this district has done in terms of how that work was driven because we went out to like every one of our schools. We listened to families in small groups like this and they told us what's
049working, what's not in their schools and that was what drove the long-range plan and many of the things that are in this plan about making sure that our programs are placed in the communities that they're intended to serve so that our Spanish speaking families are getting the high quality instruction and bilingual teachers that they need. Um to make sure that we have access to high quality program in all parts of town. the balancing enrollment where you have some schools that are very underenrolled and they don't have enough staff to support their students. All of these things are things that we heard directly from the community through that process and are things that this plan attempts to address. So, while we don't have the timeline of two years like we had for that plan, it is
050very informed by things that our community and our most under historically underserved communities have told us were problematic and that we're trying to address in this plan. I think we have two more questions from the comments. Um, so how are you considering the long-term impact on the children in the community? Bington Elementary has always been a place of pride, a beacon of stability, care, and positive energy. And this is something, it was a comment that came up from multiple people. And I'm going to read it along with the next one because there's a kind of a tie to it, but um, somebody Sarah F asked, "Please make sure that the city of Austin parkland that was condemned in advance of modernizing Bington is conveyed back to the city of Austin for parkland as was originally
051intended. Um, the joint use facility website says that the condemnation was only done for construction purposes and that the intent was to reestablish a joint use park under city of Austin ownership. So, can the district make a clear statement at this time that the community will that this will happen and that the community will get the park land back at Bington, whatever comes of this process. Thank you for this question and I appreciate this question because when we started the bond project of you know the building of Bington this is a part of what we had to do and there are other schools in Austin ISD that have shared joint use with parks and recck department and so Bington is one of those and so what we had to do was condemn that part of
052the land for parks and wreck for us to be the full owner because at that point we were partial owner to be able to build on on that other site. So what we do in the future with Bington property will be up to what we call a public facilities corporation and so that is a board of directors that is some of our board members and some community members that serve on that and we will have to build a process to see what we do with our unused sites if you will. So we'll have several unused sites that were former schools and we can do one of three things. We can sell the property, we could lease the property, or we could repurpose the property. And so, if you know some of our schools, we're doing
053some of those things at Peas Elementary, the former Peas downtown, that is something that we're working on repurposing. And when I talk about that, we are um partnering with United Way to make affordable child care there. Do we have it there yet? No. Are they under construction? Yes. They have getting their permits. They've got a grant from the they've got a federal grant to partner with us. So, we still own that property, but we're repurposing it to be affordable child care site. So, it's it's really up to the future of what the site of Bington looks like and those other sites, and that will be deemed by our our our PFC and our board of directors. >> Yeah. When it comes to um our students taking care of our children, that that is what we
054need to focus on. uh the feedback that you provide, the work with our principles, the work with our staff is all going to inform our transition plan and what we do as an organization moving forward. Like these communities are all very connected. We want planning to occur collaboratively so that we spend time not only the rest of this semester but into this spring semester thinking about how do you precisely address the question just before this which is what do our students need moving forward and what does stability look like to honor the legacy at Bington to honor the work here to honor the communities it will look different for every one of our schools that's going through a transition and I'm committed to making sure that we engage with you, we work together, and we
055ultimately get to a plan that can be supported, can be executed because we have to have the funds to do it and moves us in a direction towards having strong neighborhood schools throughout Austin. >> All right, you can just go to >> So, that was all for the presubmitted questions. Um, so this is just a timeline of the school consolidation process. Um, so phase one, like I said, had started back in April. We're now in phase three. We had released the draft plan. We're doing the digital um engagement which is on those comment cards and inerson engagement like this. I'll get right to you when I'm done with the timeline. Um that the the next um big date we actually our board just added a workshop where they're going to be publicly discussing the draft
056plan. On November 6, they're going to have a conversation about the revised version of the plan. So we're going to be making after all these conversations we're having, we're making edits to the plan. We'll talk about that revised version and then the we'll have a final vote on the plan on November 20th. So, I just wanted to make sure everyone had that those kind of dates in their mind. Um, and we we do have a hard stop at 9:30, but that gives us about 35 minutes that we have for um questions from y'all. transferridge. I understand the question, but you want >> Did you Okay. >> Um, so my my son or my child um is in the life skills plan program here at um Bington and um I want to know what's going to
057happen to him because does not have life skills or that program at this time and I I know that we're splitting them between Waldridge and Guerrero and so what's going to happen to my son and being in that program does not happen. >> Okay. Okay. And so we also have someone from our um Dr. Cherry Lee who is our assistant superintendent of special education here. So she can respond to that. Thank you for that question. It's an important one and thank you for advocating for all students that are receiving special education services. So your child's special education services are going to continue in this school district. If your child is receiving speech therapy or occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing services, he will continue to receive those services. And and you indicated um specifically about life
058skills, right? And so you're saying that the life skills services are not uh currently being offered at this school that your child may be moving to. So what we're doing at the district level is we're looking at all of the programs and services and staff members that are here and we're going to ensure that those services move to the other campuses to the receiving campuses. In some circumstances, there may be situations where your child would be receiving specialized service like life skills or early childhood that may not be at the new campus and we may be looking at another campus. In this situation, because like you said, there is life skills here and there. Students receiving those specialized services. Most likely those services are going to be provided at that new elementary school at Guedto
059Thompson. All right. Most likely that is what's going to happen is those teachers will be moving. So the staff members that are here will be offered positions at that campus and we'll be transitioning over there. We'll be communicating with families in February. You would be receiving an email from our department that would let you know where your child was going. And then we would also be offering an R meeting in the spring for you. And we'll also be offering additional time for your family to to visit the new school in August to visit your child's new case manager as well. >> So um I have two questions. The first one will be um why if we have a DFF we were the ones to be closed instead of that have FFF just a simple please
060explain it to me like a kindergarten student cuz I didn't understand. So um are you talking >> irrespective of Waldridge or Gro Thompson, right? You're talking about any other school. Is that what you're referring to? >> Well, Woolridge was in the in the same list at us, not Guerrero. Why us were the one picked to be close with DFF and why not Waldridge with FFF? >> Yeah. So there are um the state looks at unacceptable ratings as three 3Ds or NEF or and there's different combinations. So, Bington is a 3UA, which means that you will have had to have submitted a turnaround plan, had that plan um approved, and be implementing that plan in tier 4. because 23, 24, and 25 all compressed the turnaround plans, we now are in a situation where uh the
061submissions for those um kind of come into conflict with how we would typically do it because you're building the plan while you're kind of implementing in year two. And so that's that's what happened. When it comes to movement of students, we think about okay, where uh where are our students currently? where are they moving to and what school is going to receive the majority of the students. So if we like so Bington has historically performed well and so that's why the majority of the students here are going there. So we could you know have more students going there. The challenge that we run into is we begin to introduce um different zones and perhaps a um student population that is so big that it ends up um not being um being able to be supported
062long term. So it's not necessarily Woolridge and Bington. It was always Guro Thompson and Bington. And once we were clear like hey this is what we can fit. this is what makes sense based on the boundary, the creek. Then it became um that split. It was never about one school over another. >> Okay. Um I think you didn't answer my question. Maybe I didn't explain it correctly. >> Well, I want to make sure we're clear on the the number of D's and Fs for each school because I I think that's the challenge. >> I think one to answer succinctly to the state, a D and an F are both unacceptable, right? And so it doesn't >> correct. >> So because Waldridge So I'm to repeat her question. She was asking because Waldridge also has those
063three unacceptables. Baldridge also has a turnaround plan, right? And so the Bington turnaround plan is going to go to Guerrero Thompson and the W when and the students from Bington that get assigned to Waldridge will be then working on that turnaround plan for that school, the Waldridge one. Does that make sense? >> So she asked why why didn't Bington have the option to do a turnaround and keep students here? So again, we look at we look at all all the seats in the area where we have movement of students and what ultimately aligns Peter P. remember there's lots of things we're trying to do at the same time. And so um I know we looked at lots of different scenarios in every part of the city. Um when we looked at you know the movement
064of students and what ultimately accomplishes most of the goals that we had again aligning feeder patterns reducing the number of empty seats in the school district being responsive to the turnaround plans putting students in modernized facilities given where they are in construction sequence. This move ultimately was the the one that was recommended. I will say that some of it regarding Wooldridge um it is a smaller student population. Woolridge is is further along in the construction process than Bington. Uh there are lots of little things that kind of came into it. It wasn't safety, it wasn't performance. It was really trying to do all of it together. Um you know, that's just the honest truth. So there's both are three turnaround plans. One will be a reassignment, one will be a restart. And just to be
065clear, Waldridge restart means that staff, it means that um leadership will have to go through a hiring process. It is approved by the agency. So it's not like Waldridge will just be stay the same way that it is now. >> Okay. Yes, that's I understand that part and I don't I don't mind moving and starting in another place, but I was thinking about more my students, you know, to stay here in a safe place that they know and they belong. But okay. And my qu my second question is for you. Um, this I know this is your third year as a superintendent and I think this is your second time in our school and the first time was like a month ago. >> That's not true. Okay. I I never see you. I've been here
06610 years and I never seen you. Just like a month ago when they have a meeting with a lot of principles and persons and you were here uh that you arrive a little bit late and you were catching them and then today. So my question is why if we know that we are struggling cuz I know this letters these grades were now at the end like altogether but why didn't show up in like an earlier or showing us like okay what can we do better it doesn't matter if we we were doing wrong or not but you know showing you your face more and why you didn't come and talk to us the staff there were other people that come and talk to us, the the boss and the other person from the district. But
067but as a teacher, we want to see you. We want to talk to you. Not today. My co-workers are not here. They are in the classroom, of course. And I am here because I make my arrangements, but why? If if in my house is something is going on, I'm the one that going to tell my kids. If something goes in my classroom, I'm going to tell my parents. If something goes in the school, my principal is going to talk to me. Why you didn't show us? Show up and talk to us and show that human part, you know, cuz we are struggling emotionally. Uh cuz we have to leave our kids behind, our families, and our jobs. And it's not easy. Start over. And we want to feel that human side from you cuz you
068are the head. And I don't know, maybe you can do something better at department. I know there's a lot of schools and a lot of situations and you are only one, but at some point we as staff want to see you talking to us. >> Yeah. So, um I I I am someone that deeply believes in engaging and spending time with community. I think if you took a and looked at how I engage the time that I spend, you probably would see that it's much more than any previous superintendent's ever spent in our schools. And I'm not talking back. That's it is what it is. Um, I will say that we are at a moment where I am wanting to be with community. I'm wanting to have these conversations, but I'm also having to make
069sure that all the other things that we're tackling, you know, stay um focused and are progressing. The TA greed order from two and a half years ago, the thing that was going to take Austin ISD down. Do you remember that? That is almost done. That is almost done. We were here talking about TEA taking Austin ISD over two and a half years ago. We built a plan. You all executed and have done an incredible job. And and I I apologize for not being here more. Um I desperately try to be where I can. I often tell our principles I they she know I mean I ask our principles, tell me where to go. There's 116 schools events all the time. I do not want to come into a place and ever feel like I'm being
070disruptive. That's the first thing. Secondly, this is why trust is really important for me. like anybody, any place should feel comfortable having a conversation with me. Two, like I need to know, you know, I I I try to go where I'm needed and I and I want to be there. Um, but given what we're tackling with the budget, with the fact that that's over 20 turnaround plans, uh, this is one of 12 that are kind of in this moment and we just went through Burn Web and Doby. Uh, I apologize for not being here more. Um, I I have been here more than just a month ago. I will say that. uh and I have been here for three years um total uh yeah about oh not three years a little less than three years
071um in the role uh I can commit to coming back and spending time I just will will say that um this feedback is helpful I appreciate it uh it's always helpful to know what is needed from me um and I and I I will commit to being there that's the honest truth um but it is a large system there are lots of moving pieces it hasn't been because I don't want to or I'm afraid I hope our family knows knows I will show up every single time our families are there. I will show up when staff is there. I will show when principal is there. I will show up with anybody's anywhere. I will engage. So it's not that I am trying to avoid a moment. That is the opposite of what I do. So
072we'll have that conversation and I'm happy to come and talk to staff. I know it's difficult and um you know I'll be there for them. I love our staff. That's why I'm going through great lengths to keep all of our staff. It doesn't have to be that way. >> But I believe that our staff are part of the solution. They're part of who we are and we're going to keep them with Austin ISD. So, thank you. >> Hi, good morning. So my question is why is not Marington given a chance and the help that they need to improve but you're willing to provide the help in this case will be um will reach like for example what you did with Adobe and web this is what like the what I'm talking about like the chance
073to you know >> yeah so um it's Well, it's it's not that I don't believe that we are on the right path. The the data shows that and I will share I I I am confident that our system is responding. All of our numbers are moving in the right direction. And I will tell you, you know, two years ago when there were schools that are 45s and then two two a year ago 55 and then just this last year 59 that is moving. The system is responding and I see it. But to the state that's still an F, an F and an F. That's just the honest truth. And so with Burnit Web and Doby, we think about well, what is their size? Could we could this even been an option given the way the
074timeline worked? You know after engaging with communities it became clear that the restart was the option for Dolby and web and that was painful I mean that was hard you know spending time with community going through that process was very very difficult here we have 12 schools while we while we're doing um enrollment loss while we're addressing budget while we're addressing um putting students in modernized facilities all of it's compressed so we don't have the ability to do that same thing over and over and over and over again, we won't be able to afford it. And so all the things I would want to commit to, we wouldn't be able to do. So we are going to commit to lowering student teacher I mean uh counselor uh to student ratios. We're going to lower student
075teacher ratios. We're going to add instructional coaches. We're going to add other supports. And just to be clear, we have been making those changes along the way for Bington and many of our other schools. There are schools right now who have 180 students, 220 students, and if you just went by our traditional staffing allocations, they would be so there'd be so few resources on that campus, there's no way they could be successful. So, this board, this administration said, you know what, no matter how small you get, we're going to create a floor. And so, um, what I'll say is it's it's a function of where we're in and the type of change that has to occur which led us to this decision and or this recommendation, I should say. Um, you know, this feedback is
076helpful. Um, I would say that a restart um is also very very challenging. You know, that would mean that the staff would not be here next year in the same way. I would hear about 1882 partnerships. Matias, could you look at a teaching partnership? That means no staff is Austin ISC staff. And what I continue to hear from our community is that something we want to do. So I don't have lots of options given the complexity and the weight that we have that we're managing. Um, and so that's what led us to this. But I'm happy to make adjustments. I'm happy to refine. And if ultimately our board wants to go in a different direction, then I'll make that adjustment also. >> Go ahead. Sorry. But um I know that you explained that even if
077we have a D you know DFF it's the same as D FFF but like why you willing to provide that help to a FF in us you know that's like you didn't you didn't answer my my question >> so there Bington 29 2019 was an F, right? 2020 was a a pause year, then it was a D, then it was an F, then it was an F. So, I want to be really clear. All of that counts. It's not just the last three years, it's the last seven, the last uh since 2018, all those years. And so, a D just pauses. So, if you have an F before a D, the the F still continues. >> So, I just want to be really really clear. This goes back till 2019, 2020. There's lots of things
078that occurred at that time. And so by the time we came together in 23 24 of the things were already in place, right? All the weight of those ratings were in place. And so we have been doing the work to get out. And y'all have been doing work. Y'all been doing amazing work. And it's moving. It's just I'm at a point now with the timelines that the state has. I don't have the options without introducing significant risk from the AY's perspective. And that risk is great. It could take control of our ability to support education out of our local elected officials. And that is a place we do not want to be. >> Okay. So what I get from all this is that no matter what we think or what we um say or opinion
079like you're going to close the school. So that's what I get from everything. So I don't think it matters what we say or what we think or what we express. You know, I guess y'all make that decision already. >> So we arrived at this draft plan through ma working through all of it. So it wasn't just one element or another or we this school it had nothing to it was all of it coming together. So it wasn't like uh we arrived at it by to this conclusion by accident like there was a process there was an analysis there was a thoughtful consideration of all the adjacent schools before we made this recommendation. So ultimately will there be refinements? Yes I am taking all the input and making adjustments. So nothing is final. That is the
080honest truth. That is the honest truth. Um you know there and I expect there will be refinement in the plan. uh and nothing will be final until the board votes. But I will say that the turnaround plan required by the state has to be accepted and we do have an understanding of what things they will and will not accept. Uh and I do not want to put our district, our community in a position to submit something that will be rejected and then put us in a difficult spot moving forward. >> Matias, I want to kind of just take everything that's been said because it was kind of tied to your question and your question just to make sure it's kind of all wrapped together. I think something that Christine just shared with me, our our
081operations officer, is that in this area there's 4,800 seats. So 4,800 seats. Then there's 3,000 students who reside. So that's 1,800 empty seats, right? And so when you look at So then you've got what schools? You have Guerrero Thompson which is right across Brunberg. You've got Waldridge which is up the road and you've got Bington in that area, right? the you don't have a lot of options because Bington requires a turnaround plan that either needs to be a closure or a restart. Waldridge also requires a turnaround plan that needs to be a closure or a restart. Guerrero Thompson is a B or >> A and B. >> Is it A or B rated school? So TEA looks at that like that's the school where you should get most students because that's the the high performing
082school to TEA, right? And so when looking at the area that we need to reduce the number of empty seats because we don't want to pay for empty buildings, we want to use those dollars to pay our teachers to pay all the support. We had to make a decision. And like Superintendent Sigura said, Waldridge is was further along in construction. I'm going to be honest, if it was the other way around, if Bington were further along and Waldridge hadn't started, it could have possibly gone the other way, right? So there's lots of different factors that are all constraining the options that are available to us. >> Well said. >> I'd like to follow up on on her comment. Um I get it. You're under the gun by tea. There's nothing you can do as far
083as everything that has been discussed. I get it. Um I've kind of made my peace with it. me and my children cried about it. Um, my concern now, I've been at the school since 2018 and I'm struggling emotionally. I don't know how I'm going to do at the end of the year. My heart is with the teachers. These teachers have been there when my daughter I have three daughters, so they cry a lot. Um, when they, you know, when they get their feelings hurt, when they scrape their knees. Um, my second grader was three months old when my seventh grader now enrolled here. So they have seen her grown up. Dr. Sanchez has seen her grown up and now she's in second grade. So I'm I want to make sure because I think the consensus
084is is is that kind of a lot of credibility has been lost. Um the community kind of doesn't trust the district because of what we've been saying is we don't feel heard. we're kind of just being told what's going to happen. I understand now after hearing what you're saying that you're under the gun by TA. This is what we have to do. And the alternative of having a charter school come in here if they were to keep the school open. I would not like that either. Um, so my question to you is, and I would like to have a commitment is, are you really going to take care of our teachers? And because there is some feeling that the district or the teachers feel that once the school year is over, you're on your own.
085and I have a relationship with a lot of the teachers because I've been here for a long time and my heart is with them and I already don't agree that they don't get paid enough and and we all know that and we all fight for that. But I want a commitment that they will be taken care of because at the end of the school year we're not going to see them anymore. And are they really going to be taken care of because they somehow feel that they will not be taken care of and they're going to be looking for jobs elsewhere and that the district is not going to fill them somewhere else. So right now that's what I would like to know and I would like to make sure that there that it is
086crystal clear that our teachers will be placed elsewhere because I just can't with the thought of that they're not going to have a job after all the hard work that they have done for my family and for everybody else here. >> Yeah. So that is a commitment of mine and our board has made that clear to me. So, I have not at any point in my three years ever at any point not communicated my sincere appreciation and commitment to supporting our educators. Whether it's compensation of the last three years, whether it's improving climate and culture, whether it's preserving planning time, like I I am the son of a teacher who taught here for over 40 years. Like, I will do anything for our educators. This plan in the documents that were uploaded had detailed processes
087for how we're going to protect every educator. We said we recognize that every plan is going to be slightly different. A turnaround plan has certain requirements from the agency. Number of years of experience, certain certifications. We have some um uh schools that are going to do a program shift, right? So, are you uh certified for dual language? That'll be a requirement. And then we have other moves that are generally just kind of a blend, right? And in those instances, in all these instances, we have the ability to set the hiring plan. I've been really clear. There was a comment on some Facebook page at some point that said, "We are going to fire 700 teachers." That is absolutely not true. I've never said it. I've never mentioned it. No principal. I mean, I this is
088not true. It is a complete lie. That is not true. Secondly, I have never in one moment thought about contracts ever. I I didn't even think about it until someone brought it up two weeks ago and said, "Matias, are you looking at one year, two-year, and three-year contract?" No, that is not who we are. We protect our educators. I've done everything possible to try to increase the number of educators who stay with us. We're at 88% staffing rate and 97% staffing rate, 88% attrition rate. I mean, sorry, um, retention rate. That's up almost 20% from three years ago. Like I hope our staff and community know that this organization, me leading it, will do everything possible to protect our teachers. So yes, we have plans. We're doing freezing. We're not hiring anybody outside this school
089district until April. That gives us over four months to go through doing meeting fairs, making sure that we're placing, getting surveys. Our princ our teachers are going to receive surveys. Where do you want to go? I have teachers right now that say, "Matas, I live in Flugerville. I've been working down in South Austin for the last 15 years. please find me a school further up north. We will make that happen. We hire almost 700 teachers every single year. We will find them a home. There's no doubt. Um what I want to also be really clear about is that um every set of um moves campus by campus is going to look slightly different, right? Because one of the things that you probably want to know is who is the principal going to be at these
090schools? I have to set the principal in December because the principal then is going to help higher. If I delay the vote, if we or we delay the process that now occurs in January or February, which then now puts immense pressure on our teachers to go through the process and finding a home. So this plan I have done I I hope that you can see in the details that we have put together a plan that is responsive to teacher need. Um I'm committed to it. If anybody ever hears or says something about us terminating teachers, that is not who we are. That's not what we're doing. I will tell you, if someone comes in here and does this work for us, they will not go through this process. They will not go through this plan.
091There'll be something very, very more just more aggressive. So, that's my commitment and it's in the documents. I have it. I can certainly bring it up if I need to. Um, but yeah, that's that's that's what we're doing. We are 100% committed to our teachers. So, I mean, I don't know if that was helpful. Sorry. I just Any other questions? What other questions do you have? She said it's not fair. She said that um it's not fair to move the students from here to take them out of here to bring another school here on the until they build their school that she think is not fair. and she was asking me if doing a strike will help the the board of trustees to take our side and and see us. And that is the district
092fault that she said And she said that is the district fall if the job people or teenagers are in. >> Okay. That is the fault of the district that students or teenagers are in the streets because lack of education. If they don't have the like the same system, they don't have the safe place and they are we are breaking like what they have already. >> So um it is our responsibility to educate our students in Austin. Period. Every student deserves access to a high quality education, but it needs to be done in a way that aligns with our values. Just to be honest, I mean, we want students who are great humans, understand how to talk to someone that doesn't look like them, students that believe being bilingual is a superpower. There are so many
093things that we want for our students. And I will tell you, we need to lean into those values and at the same time be mindful of the system that we're in. That the accountability system is real and we want our students to be on grade level and be successful academically. I don't have the ability to provide resources everywhere they're needed because there are students in East Austin that just need more. And that's okay. We know that. We talk about it all the time that there are students that need more. I don't have the ability to make that work under the current configuration and it has been going for 144 years. We have to make a change if we're going to be who we need to be in for the next 50 years. If we continue
094doing what we're doing now, we'll be right here next year, the following year, and five years from now talking about why are our students not getting what they need from Austin ISD. I'm not going to be part of that. I want to be part of a system that is responsive to everything our community needs and has the ability to actually do the work. Now, I'm not going to speak to the strike piece. That's not I mean, but what I will say is I hear you. I am so sorry that we're going through this. It's not something I ever wanted to be a part of as a leader, but I'm trying to do it thoughtfully and in a caring way, and I am committed to doing that. Um, and if we don't do it, it very
095well could be done to us. Um, so I hope that was helpful, but you know, I can't speak to the side. Oh, the other thing I'll say, you talked about moving um, it's not fair for another school to come. Here's the thing. If that ends up saving $4 million, you know, I I need to be honest about those are resources that we don't have that we would be wasting in portables. I would rather our students don't care where they are, not be in portables, be in buildings where they're secure, where we have systems where teachers feel supported. It so I I hear you on the fairness piece, but I also want you to know that we want to be thinking about that aspect as well because I'm not if I'm I can save $4 billion
096and that can go into making improvements in facilities elsewhere or even at that school and and and that's that's that's hard and I understand that. But that is the reality of the decisions we have to make. >> Okay. While Ally gets the screen going, we have a couple we have five more minutes for a few more questions. Does anyone have a question? >> I must um we are like across the street and down two houses and we're really concerned about what's going to happen here. Uh you can see the homelessness around the area. Um We're concerned that that it will be encroached. >> So, so this probably makes an argument for actually Waldridge coming over. I mean, so because what you here's the thing, we never want to have a shuttered school. We want to
097work with community, identify what works for the community, and also be really honest about what works for Austin ISD. I've gone into community meetings and someone says, "Matias, we want a dog park." Like, we're I'm not going to do that, right? I mean, that's just not something because we need to figure out a way if we can to generate some to monetize the asset in some way. It doesn't mean that we can't be creative and have an early childhood center or have a community asset, teacher housing, there's lots of things we can do. Um now if if in the event we did not move Wooldrich here right we are still going to um ensure that the um building operates that there's movement that it's protected or we have our own police department you know we
098will not ever let a a building become uh shuttered >> but that being said you know Waldridge coming over for a period of time would ensure that it's vibrant while we go through our planning process so by the time we all move back to the new school that's fully built, you know exactly what's going to be here and we're already starting that work. Like to me, that would be a way to to do both. But I also understand the comment that that was just made about it being maybe not desirable. So So that's how I would approach it. Um and I hear you. I do not want shuttered buildings. That's not who we are and we care about our neighbors. Um so thank you for living in the neighborhood. Um so thank you. >> Okay.
099So, I'm going to go ahead and show you a few resources where you can find them. Um, one that I was thinking of, you were asking about the teachers. So, where you're going to find everything, it's austinisd.org and it's a forward slconolidate. Once you get there on the left hand side here, there's a lot of there's FAQs, there's the upcoming meetings, but if you click the resources button, thank you, Christine. uh specifically the staffing questions you were asking. We have a staffing guide book here and there's an English version and a Spanish version and it goes through the timeline that we talked about about where how we're going to freeze external hires while we work to find positions for all of our internal staff. >> So, so um go this way. So, we're are selecting
100principles in December. That's important. I want our families to know who the principles are going to be before we go to winter break. Clarity is kind. like we have to communicate as soon as we know December we are doing the internal hiring freeze and then we're going to begin doing match fairs in February and March and back down way down here into April is when we open it up but if you can go down real quick to the next couple slides something I want to show each stop right here each school as I mentioned before has a different transition plan for staff if it's a tap this is likely going to be your your pathway if it's a consolidation with no tap this is the hiring structure so on and so forth. So, we're very
101very clear. This is what all of our staff can expect. We are taking lead on that. We actually had our meeting here at Bington Monday where um our senior uh executive director within talent strategy met with all staff and asked questions and got feedback. So, I want you to know we're already way in this working through it to make sure our teachers are supported and staff are supported. Here is a flowchart. You know, uh we have our plans tied to each one of these moves. Does the employee meet the requirements? Yes or no? Then you go through this process. But here's the thing. At the end of the day, we were going to protect everybody if they don't get matched. We will find a home. We value who they are. They're working to Austin ISD.
102This is detailed. It's in here. If you go to the next one, you can see how they're very different based on the um needs of the school. Um but there's a and then you can kind of see the ratios like everything. Like I I want our community to know like we've been very very This is very important to me. advice is very important. >> Christine, if you go to We were talking about the extra investments in the schools with turnaround plans. So, these are staffing examples for a high school, a middle school, and an elementary school. Um, and each campus Oh, that got quiet. That's nice. Um, each campus will get to kind of they're going to have extra resources and this is just an example of how they could invest that to better support,
103but they can of course tailor it to what the needs of those schools are. And so what we gave examples of what it could look like, the extra resources that the turnaround plan schools will have. Um if you want to exit this. So yeah, back to the slides. So you'll if you go to the homepage, um a lot of if that big huge plan we released on October 3rd, um we actually created videos in English and Spanish that walk you through the whole thing. Um so that can be really helpful. Um trying to think of other Oh, and the last thing I wanted to show you was um the review proposed school assignments. If you click here, that is that tool we were mentioning that if you enter your address, it'll tell you what your
104proposed elementary, middle, and high school will be. Um so that's how you find that. It takes a little while to load because it's a big program, but you enter your address and um that will tell you the proposal. And if anything changes between now and the vote, we would update this so that it reflected what's going to happen next year. Um, so I think that is we are exactly on time. I want to just thank everyone so much for all of your thoughtful questions. Um, hopefully that we were able to accomplish our purpose today of making sure we walked away with a shared understanding of kind of where we're at. Um, just to review the timeline one more time. Um, re any revisions to this first draft plan are going to be shared publicly um,
105on Friday and our board will then discuss it the following Thursday. So that's the 31st and the 6th of November. Um, and then that final vote that we anticipate from the board is November 20th. Um, so once we know exactly what's happening, that's when we can start making some of these questions you asked that we don't have firm answers on. Once we have a board vote and we know what's approved, that's when we can start being more firm on some of those answers like the swing space for Waldridge um, and all the staffing things begin from there. So, thank you so much everyone. We really appreciate you and um, we will stay in touch. you'll hear from us um next Friday with kind of the revised version that's going to come to you in your
106inbox via text. It'll be on socials, media, everywhere. So, thank you very much and have a wonderful rest of your day. >> Thank you.