Widén Elementary School Community Meeting: October 28, 2025

001Welcome to Carl T. Wedane Elementary. We are the proud home of Wedane Wildcats. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I love it. I love it. [applause] So, I do just want to start off by saying it it means a lot just to see everyone turn out to come out for our meetings and just being part of the conversation. Uh, and also want a big a heartfelt thank you to the Mr. Superintendent Matias and his team just kind of making sure they create a space for us to kind of voice have a a space for us to voice how we feel and what we're thinking and how we can navigate this together. So much graciasto ISD. So turn it over. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is Ally Gillarduchcci. I'm the

002senior executive director of communications and community engagement. Um before we get started in the content, we just want to talk about what you can expect today. Um so we just did our welcome. We are going to briefly go over some meeting norms and just the purpose of the meeting. Um then we are going to introduce our panel, the folks that we have here that can help respond to questions. Um then we will provide you with an overview of what are what are the proposals that the proposed changes that are currently in the draft plan so that we all are on the same page about what's currently being proposed. Um and then we want to and that's so that we can hear from y'all understand what's working, what your concerns are. Um and that's so that

003we could potentially inform any potential changes to the draft. Um then we y'all submitted questions via the comment card. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted those questions. You have QR codes on your table. Um that card is actually open until tonight. So if you think of anything after this meeting you want to submit, get it in today. Um but we pulled questions from there and we're going to answer some of those questions that came up frequently in your comments. And then the last 45 minutes or so is going to be just Q&A and time for us to hear any questions we maybe haven't answered from the comment cards. And then we'll just talk about next steps. Um, so I just want to briefly go over meeting norms. Um, we're here because we want

004to build the future together. We want to acknowledge the challenges that, um, our district is currently facing while focusing on ideas and solutions that will make our district stronger, more equitable, and sustainable for years to come. Um, we want to honor time. So, when we do get to the Q&A, we're going to ask that people attempt to limit your comments to about a minute just because we have a lot of folks here and we want to make sure there's space for everyone. Um, we want to honor the process. So that means following along with the agenda. Um, staying on course. Um, honoring intent and impact. So, we know that we may disagree on things, but I think that we can all hopefully agree that one thing that we all have in common is our goal

005to have strong, equitable schools to serve our students. Um, we want to honor space and voice. And what we mean by that is if you do get called on to speak, um we're going to make sure that before we get to you a second time that everyone else who hasn't spoken has an opportunity. Um we want to stay solutionoriented as much as possible. So focusing on ideas, solutions, and understanding. Um and then we're here to embrace transparency and empathy. You have our commitment that we're going to tell you what we know, what we believe is possible, what we what constraints we might be facing. Um, and we want to just we recognize these are really hard conversations and that we are asking families to experience a fair amount of change and we understand that and

006we're here to understand how we can move forward and make that an easier transition if that is what we end up um pursuing. Um, the norms are here in Spanish for y'all. Um, and then just to reiterate the meeting purpose. Um, so like we said, we want to make sure we respond. We know that we got some questions that came up over and over again in the comment cards. So, we're going to go ahead and come out and answer those right away for y'all. Um, then we also, like I said, want to gain a shared understanding of what the proposed changes are and some of the rationale or the why. Why, you know, we saw a lot of questions. Well, why this instead of that, right? And so, we're going to explain our thought process

007um behind all of those proposals. Um, but what we really want to know is, um, we want to gain insights from you that are going to help us inform potential changes to the draft plan because we released a draft and this Friday, we are going to be releasing a revised version of that draft and it through conversations that we've had with communities through the comment cards. We have read every single one of those, every single idea. If we hadn't already explored it, we made sure that we looked and explored it. And you will see this Friday that many adjustments will be made from that initial plan. Um it may not be every adjustment you were hoping for, but we are making adjustments and it is directly based on the feedback we hear from y'all. So

008um that's a big part of why we're here today. Um because ultimately we want to get a final draft presented to our board on November 20th and we want to make sure it it captures the feedback that you have shared with us. Um, so with that, I'm going to go ahead and pass it to our superintendent to talk a little bit about the vision for this process and then we'll dive into kind of what's proposed in the questions. >> Sorry. >> Thank you, Ally. Um, so first off, I just want to say thank you uh to all of our families and staff uh for being here this afternoon. Uh, it's not lost on me. This is a commitment of time. Uh, we very much appreciate you engaging. Uh, as Ally said, this is a draft

009plan. your feedback uh what you share with us will help us move forward. Uh and so I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you. Um I also want to acknowledge that this is a very disruptive, painful process. Um and I want you all to know that I just apologize that we're having to go through this. Uh it's never something I thought I would have to be a part of. Um, but given where we are as a school district, we have to do something. Uh, the way that we have been operating, the way that we have been supporting our students cannot continue on if we're going to evolve as a school district. Our goal as a school district is to ensure that every student gets what they need to be successful. Period. Right. And what

010we know is that in Austin ISD for decades, black and brown students, students who have been historically underserved have not gotten what they need to be successful. And we know that. Look at where our schools are. Look at how the resources have been deployed for decades. And I would argue that if we keep doing those things, our students who look like me, who look like many of you in this room, are not going to get what they need from us. Austin ISD, the organization that I lead, has to change. So we talk about what that change looks like. We talk about having strong neighborhood schools. A neighborhood, right? We want our families not to feel like they have to go across town to get to a strong neighborhood school, but some families feel as though

011they need to do that. We want students that not only do well on a test, but love learning, love reading. Like, that's what we want. And the reality of it all is that we do have strong schools and we do have strong neighborhood schools, but they're not everywhere. And so we as a school district have to do something to evolve. And we have to do it at a time when there is immense pressure everywhere from the state and not fully funding public education from the federal government and the challenges that it's pushed and placed on our immigrant families right to the everchanging accountability system that's changed multiple times in the last three like what we do moving forward has to be mindful of all of this. And so this plan, there's a lot in it

012and it covers the entire district, but there are several things in it that we hope to accomplish. One, we wanted to make sure that every student in Austin ISD was in an aligned feeder pattern. Well, what does that mean? It means if you're in an elementary school, you go to no more than one or two middle schools. And if you're in a middle school, you go to no more than one or two high schools. You keep community together. Programming alignment improves. We have schools that have feeder patterns like that. They're not in East Austin. In East Austin, we have schools that have four and five high schools that they go to. You cannot keep community together if you continue to have those splits. This plan aims to clean up and align those feeder patterns. Two,

013we have budget challenges, y'all. We just do. We invest in our educators. We put money where our teachers are and in our classrooms, but the cost of education is rising every single year. and no one's helping us out. We've gotten some funding from the state, but it didn't really move the needle. So, we have to figure out how do we find resources and how we distribute them to ensure that they're going to our students who need them the most. So, we got to become more efficient. Three, we have to address these transfer policies that have been in place for decades. They're moving students all throughout Austin and are giving families the ability to navigate different ways and moving students from their communities to other parts of Austin. Now, there's reasons why they occurred in the

014past, but we really have to look at them as we move forward. So, that's part of this plan as well. Four, certain programs have evolved over the last many years. In Austin ISD, we believe in dual language. There are school districts all across central Texas that are moving away from dual language. Not us. We're leaning into it. But there are some programs who just because of how the city has grown the student population in the walls of that school of those schools that it was originally intended for. So our emerging bilingual students. So, if we're going to support these programs, we have to create access and move those programs to where our students live. That's part of the plan. And then lastly, this plan has to be responsive to the accountability pressures in the state

015of Texas that we are facing. It's not lost on me that in Wedane in 2022 had an accountability rating that was academically successful. Y'all know that the same kids, the same teachers the following year had an unacceptable rating. That just shows you how much that test changed in one year. So, we have to adjust ourselves because the state's not changing. So, this plan has to be responsive to it. And if we are not responsive to it, then the state will take everinccreasing interventions and introduce risks that could at some point take away local control. It's happening right now in the state of Texas in the last week with a school district that looks very similar to Austin ISD. So, we have to do all of this together. This plan is a draft plan. We're refining

016it. We're improving it. But I want you to know that each of these things is woven in together and every time you make a change in one school or one program, it impacts another. And so we'll go through the impacts for Wedane. We're really um hopeful that you have an share with us y'all's concerns, thoughts, ways that we can improve. It's not a perfect plan. No plan is given how complex that it is. Uh but I wanted to share with you kind of why this plan looks the way that it does. Go to the next slide. So the plan So in this plan for Woodane Elementary School acknowledging a couple things. The first is that we have lots of seats in this area um empty seats and there's over 20,000 in Austin ISD. And so

017this plan attempts to remove some of them by going through boundary changes and consolidations. And so Wedane also acknowledging that we have to respond to a turnaround plan arrives at this draft scenario. Wedane Elementary School will move into Rodriguez Elementary School and into Houston Elementary School. The percent of students will be about 70% to Rodriguez, 30% to Houston. This is based on geography and kind of where our students live and where our students live in proximity to those schools. So, the plan, and you see the the little kind of the size how it's a little bit bigger. Um, Rodriguez Elementary School would be the school that receives the turnaround plan that's required by the state of Texas for Wedane. And so as we work with that campus, if this plan moves forward, then Rodriguez would

018be um the school that is responsible for breaking that turnaround plan. And we I mean the turnaround um breaking the um the accountability chain and that would be the obligation between the entire community. And then Houston Elementary School is going through a modernization. I certainly want to acknowledge that this they don't have the same historical uh ratings. Uh there's fluctuation. We know they're they're a D prior to that there but they're not um a three unacceptable rating. They're a two. And based on what we're seeing there with the investments, we do believe that they're moving in the right direction and they'll be able to break their accountability chain as well. So you can see uh this is being thought kind of responsive to the number of seats we have in the area as well as

019addressing the um turnaround plan required by the state of Texas. Um so I'll go ahead and cover this. So what does this mean for your student next year? Well, if you live in the current uh elementary school boundary, you would attend either Rodriguez or Houston. Uh we have um a tool on our website where you can go and add your address and it'll tell you precisely which school you will go to. If you are a transfer student into uh Wedane, we are going to be sharing with our board and with our community that you will be able to move uh with your cohort as you choose. Meaning that if you transfer in and you know your community is going to Rodriguez, then we would approve that transfer. If you prefer to choose uh Houston, then

020we would approve that as well. That is a superintendent level decision. I want to make sure that our community stays together as best we can and that's way we can that's one way that we can help do that. You want to speak to this Christine? >> Yeah. >> Thank you everyone. My name is Christine Steampport. I'm the operations officer for Austin ISD. So I just kind of want to walk through the boundary maps um and talk a little bit about that. So this boundary map is the existing Wedane boundary. So this boundary is the existing Wedane boundary. So if you live in here, you would you're assigned to Wedane. And so since this school is proposed for a closure, this is what you see as the boundary. And so this little piece, so what this

021is called is called a little bit of feathering. You may or may not have heard that term. when we redraw boundaries to imbalance our enrollment through all of our schools and make sure that we're at a healthy range of utilization for how big that school is versus how many kids live in that area. Um, I'll kind of walk you through why some of these little squares are a little bit different. So, this is why I know Superintendent Sigura kind of walked us through how most of the students will go to Wedane based off where they live, excuse me, Rodriguez, based off where they live and where that boundary is redrawn. So if this boundary is no more, this um part would go to Rodriguez and then this part would be reszoned to Houston. So if

022you want to go through the other maps and this just kind of shows Houston's boundary and the changes there for Perez. So that bit of that feathering, that domino effect of shifting and moving. And then uh this is that piece that you saw on the previous map. So just wanted to point that out. And then this is Rodriguez's as well. So this piece here would go to Rodriguez. And so that just kind of showcases that. So I just wanted to walk through kind of those three boundary changes and the shifts. And if there's any questions, happy to walk through it anymore. And just the last piece that we wanted to talk about. Do you want me to talk about the turnaround plan? Sure. So we just want to make sure that everyone's clear on the

023turnaround plan. So as you know, Wedane requires a turnaround plan. Um, TEA wants to see to the best ability possible if we have to reassign students that we do what we can to get the majority of students into a school that is higher rated. So, Rodriguez is one of those schools that is higher rated, which is why we have assigned the majority of students to that school. Um, as Superintendent Sigura said, when there is a turnaround plan, um, that plan and a school closes, that plan follows the students. So Rodriguez would inherit the Wedane turnaround plan and that would become that combined schools turnaround plan. So we're drafting those plans now. If they are approved that and that work would start together for the two school communities to work together to refine that plan because

024they're there that joined school community will have to adopt and implement that plan. um the principal for the schools when we're consolidating schools. Those are going to be decisions that are made um administratively by our superintendent. Um and we recognize that there's a lot of uncertainty in this process. So, one of the things that we're going to try to to provide some certainty on is once we have a vote in November and we know what changes have been approved, um we will be appointing principles for any of these consolidated schools in December. And that allows that principal then to begin to start figuring out what the staffing will be. So we know we get a lot of questions for example about maybe you have certain services your child receives and you want to know are

025they going to have the same teacher or are they going to receive those services? Um we want to get that principal um in place and figured out so that they can start figuring out which staff. And one thing that we um haven't talked about yet but is we have a staffing guideline u guide book that we've created. It's also on our consolidation page in the resources and it outlines when we have school communities coming together, we want to make sure that wherever our kids end up that they have familiar faces. So, we want to make sure that students at Rodriguez still have teachers and um staff that they recognize, but we also want to make sure that Wedane students that would be going to Rodriguez would also have faces that they would recognize. So our

026goal is going to be to look at what percent of the students at this combined school come from Woodane, what percent are at Rodriguez or Houston, and then trying to make the staffing um more or less meet that. So if you have if it's say it's 50/50, then about half the staff we would want to try to be at one school and about half the staff would be from the other so that everyone has those familiar faces. Um it won't be perfect of course, but that's going to be our goal. Um and then if there are any current staff that don't find themselves landing either in in um Rodriguez or Houston, at that point we are going to hold um career fairs and placement um events so that we can identify other places in Austin

027ISD where they can continue to serve because our goal is to find a home for everyone that we can um rather than trying in a typical year we would be trying to hire staff starting in early spring to staff for the next school year. This year, we don't need to look outside our district, right? Because we're going to have staff that's freed up and we want to make sure we find homes for them. Um, and then the last piece is any school that has a turnaround plan. So, y your school would be one, whether it's both at the one that goes over with students to Rodriguez or the one at Houston, those campuses are going to receive a significant investment of extra resources to support that turnaround plan. Um, so this pro whole process does

028free the whole point of us doing this process, one of the big goals is to free up dollars to put them where they're needed most, right? And so we know our schools that have those turnaround plans need those extra resources so they can then hire positions like extra counselors to support the transition. Um, extra content interventionists who can support students who maybe need a little extra curriculum help um or instructional coaches to support our teachers. So those schools will get extra resources and they can kind of decide how they need to spend those resources based on the goals they set in their turnaround plan. Um and so with that, we are going to go ahead and start with the presubmitted questions that we had in the comment cards. Um and if you have any follow-up

029questions while we're going through it, we're happy to um also address those. So I'm going to start with the first one, and this one came from multiple commenters. Um could you explain the turnaround plan requirements from the Texas Education Agency? Why are students from Wedane being reassigned to another school that requires a turnaround plan? So, we've kind of touched on that. >> Yeah. So, um the state of Texas requires turnaround plans whenever you have two unacceptable ratings or they call them unacceptable uh counts. And what made this last uh year very challenging is that we had 2023 accountability, 2024 accountability, and 2025 accountability all come out within five months. Do you remember? Because there were lawsuits that took place. And so what the agency says is if you are drafting an accountability plan, a turnaround

030plan, you have six strategies that you can use. And typically you're drafting those on your second UA or unacceptable accountability rating count. Uh and so what happened is you have six that you can evaluate. Now if you grab if you get your third unacceptable uh count which we have here at Wedane, there are certain ones that are available but you know won't be accepted. An example of this would be um like a restart or a new school. If you're in a year two, you could restart, have a new school, but the second year would give you one whole year to plan. And then year three, you would implement that plan. In year four, you would break the chain, and in year five, you would get out. because all of it came together in a relatively

031short period of time. Uh we had to draft and build turnaround plans that we knew would be accepted and ones that we felt um met the time that we have to address the rating. So once we get we're in year three, right? So we're starting year we have to get through year three and year four. If you get into year five, if you start the fifth year and the students take the STAR exam and do not break the accountability chain, the state of Texas can intervene and install a board of managers, which is replacing the board and the superintendent. And then so for us there are um different uh available options but I will tell you that when you work with the agency they will tell you you have six but you really should only

032be looking at three. And so when we have these conversations we're always testing you know what would this look like or how could this possibly work in Austin ISD. We get that feedback and then we take the next step in producing these plans. Um, and so whenever it comes to reassignment, because I would one of the approved strategies to reassign the students to a school that's academically acceptable. So in its simplest form, if there was a school that historically had been not met accountability and there was an A-rated school, the state's perspective would say just move all the kids to the A-rated school. Break the accountability chain. That's what they would say is the best option. in cases where you have lots of schools that all have different uh kind of um programs and different

033um kind of different challenges. We can't always it's not that simple. So for us, we had to really think about where did we have a school that would meet the criteria of being academically acceptable so they could carry the the turnaround plan. And what the state says is the majority of the students have to go to that school. We could not do it the other way. If the majority of the students went to Houston, that would not be accepted. Uh and so there are other options. You can do a restart where this uh AISD restarts the entire school. Uh we did that recently at Dolby, Bernett, and Web. Uh there are restarts with an 1882 partner, right? That's what Mendes looks like. And we know as a school district that, you know, we would prefer,

034strongly prefer to have our students be educated by our staff, our way you with our values. We also have um other options including um kind of resource schools, but those are typically for two-year um turnaround um plan options. So, there's different options. There's six in total, but ultimately when you have three UAS as we have here at Wedane, you have fewer options. Go ahead. Question. >> You have a microphone? >> Can you come? >> Or I can maybe restate your question if I can. We're recording so it would really help if you could speak in the mic so that it is caught on the >> video. Sorry about that. >> I think this might be as far as we go. >> So my question is more about the unacceptable ratings. Um you mentioned that we

035had three unacceptable ratings that all came out at one time. Now, in a previous meeting with Miss Pace, she did say AISD was aware that some schools had three unacceptable waitings, but y'all sat back and I think the word was that you hoped that the one that was tied up in litigation would not be released. And so my question is, why was AISD not proactive? Why were they not here and say, "Hey, regardless of what happens with TEA, regardless if this 2023 accountability rating comes out, your obligation is to our students." And so if it comes out or not, if the litigation comes out or not, you all knew that our school had 3F. So where was the proactive Yeah. >> staff? Where was extra staff? Where was extra tutors? Any of that? That that's

036what I would like to know. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. [applause] So, first off, we we never hoped um we were not in the lawsuit. Uh you know, we uh felt strongly that if we were going to uh improve academics and improve outcomes in Austin ISD, we were going to do it our way. So, what does our way look like? Well, it means that in 2022, 2023, you had massive vacancies all throughout Austin ISD. Think about that time. We're two years removed from the pandemic. You know, our fill rate, our staffing rate was in the low 80s. Now, we're at 97%. So, we said we need educators in the classroom, right? First and foremost, we need to build systems. We need to align our curriculum. We need to invest in instructional coaches, which we did.

037We need to invest in content interventions which we have. We need to go and pass a tax rate election to get uh compensation increase for our teachers. Like all these things we were doing and have been doing. So I don't want anybody in this room or outside this room to think that for the last two and a half years we were not moving the system. Now could you go quicker? You could, but you're probably going to adopt behaviors and strategies that do not align for who we are. So what we said is let's build out thoughtful response and um initiatives. Let's align with the scorecard that the board approved in the uh summer of 2024 and that was our strategy. Now we 23 24 25 we knew that the schools had been making progress. many

038of our schools have um honestly when the a when the uh accountability came out it did put pressure on our system but we don't want to do is to lean into something that we don't believe in. Uh but I don't want anybody to believe that urgency wasn't there or that we weren't deploying resources where we could. We were coming out of a period of disruption and trying to improve the entire system. That is so that's that was what we were doing and that's how we tackled it. So we never hoped. I mean >> that's not true. No. Yeah. So, what I would say is um that's not we weren't doing it everywhere. That's that's I want to be really clear. What we did um in 23 24 is we created a source u a resource

039index so that we and we organized all of our schools and we looked at student demographics and we said if you are in this band then we are going to ensure that from a staffing perspective a resource perspective you are supported in a different way and our principles understood that our system understood that and that is how we responded so no we did not apply the same thing to every school. We're very intentional. In fact, in many cases, we actually held minimums where he would have otherwise made more aggressive decisions and we said, "No, we're not going to do that." And there are lots of examples of that. Um, but I don't want anybody to think that what we that we were homogeneous in our approach to how we supported our students. That was not

040the case. In fact, we went out of our way to produce a index that allowed our operations folks, our finance folks, our talent strategy folks to make decisions based on need. and that's how we've been operating ever since. >> Um, I think we have a follow-up question here, Matias. >> So, I've been on this campus for 10 years, and I'm sorry, sir, with all due respect, you really didn't answer the question because I have been here from the very beginning. I was I've been here since before Miss Pace was the principal here. And I, me working here, being with the kids, being in it every day, did not feel the difference in the past three years. We had we have had three different executive directors in the past three years and before >> Mr. Medina

041I saw me saw them maybe two three times on the campus. Now whether they met with Mr. F or they met with Miss Chilton at the time or whoever that was unbeknownst to us and whatever strategies that were put in place I mean we we have made progress. I we are looking for an actual factual answer, not just the political answer. What was done here? >> You want to speak to that? [applause] >> Here at Wedane Elementary School, not in the area, not for Rodriguez, not for for whatever, not us numbers on a on a piece of paper on a spreadsheet here at Wedane. What was done here when our intervention is >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Fawn. Uh so as superintendent Siguro was saying some of the things that have been done specifically for

042Wedane um as well as some other campuses that have been struggling is providing an instructional coach providing a content interventionist providing in addition to that when we level because classes are underenrolled these campuses are protected from losing teachers. Even if the classes are not quite full enough um to maintain, we're leveling smaller class sizes impact learning. And let me just say this you guys. I just want to say this. Part of the reason for the consolidation plan is not just accountability, but when we are under budget, when we have a budget deficit and we cannot provide the supports that campuses need and there's campuses that are similar to Wedane that have three unacceptable ratings that we don't have the funds to because you may not need just one instructional coach or just one content interventionist.

043You may need multiple. You may need to have quite a few classrooms that are under 18. We cannot do that when we are operating 116 campuses and many of them have needs. And so that is part of the plan for consolidation is because we know you need more and we want to be able to give that. >> Um we have another question. Does is it related to this or something a different topic? Okay, go right ahead. Okay. I'm a parent volunteer. I'm here pretty much every day helping out the school. Uh my daughter goes to this school. I understand the need for consolidation and the need to meet budgets and everything that your your proposal is attempting to to achieve. Um I disagree with a lot of the solutions that you've chosen. Um, a lot

044of the solutions in the proposal indicate one reason, but they appear to be due to accountability, but they say it's something else. My point on the turnaround that uh that we're discussing here is that Austin I should ISD and none of the other schools in Texas should be going through turnarounds right at the moment because those scores were not provided per Texas law. Um, Texas Educational Code 39.05. 054 A3 requires that those scores be provided by August 15th of each year. Okay. Since those scores weren't provided, this the commissioner should have provided a not rated score to all the schools so that anybody that's in the condition that we are where we're trying to improve our school and get back into accountability has additional time to do that and the scores weren't available to react

045upon. Um and so I think that if we could present that the commissioner should have provided us with not rated on those scores, we can actually adjust the um consolidation that we need to in a more effective way that a closes schools that should be closed. Um, for example, like Becker is the um current dual language school in the south and I can understand wanting to close that school because they're 29% emergent dual language there and we want to move it to a higher population dual emergent dual language school. Well, Rodriguez is a perfect example of a school that would be available for emergent language dual language or emergent uh dual language school. um and then split the difference between Houston and Wedane again as if the turnaround was not an odd on the table.

046That would put both schools in a better geographic position for all the students that are in this area so that they have a shorter commute to school. Rodriguez would be a better commute for anybody in the south for getting to the wall-to-wall dual language school compared to Sanchez, which would increase it would basically shut off the dual language capability to anybody in the south because it's north side of the river. And so there's just some solutions that and and that's just in the south end. I I see sections in other parts and I'm writing a counter proposal that I hope to have to you guys this week um so that you can review what other options would be available if the turnaround thing were taken off the table. Yeah. >> So, um thank you. >>

047I want to be honest with y'all. You have to the turnaround plans. The commissioner, the Texas education agency has already proven and demonstrated to other school districts that the environment we're in is not going away. They upheld the lawsuits, districts lost. That's the honest truth. They have immense power. They have the authority to do everything I said. There is nothing that we can do that's going to keep us from having to submit these plans. And if we do not submit them, I promise you the response will be aggressive and it will take more control and hurt our students and create more harm than we can probably even like comprehend. Like that that I I appreciate that because that's what school districts fought for, right? in 2023. That's precisely what the lawsuit was about is that

048school districts were not given enough time to actually adjust to the new STAR test. It had what hundreds of school districts sue in the courts and the commissioner won. Period. So, I I don't want I I I don't want our community to to spend energy on something that is not on the table because it's not. I just I know that our commissioner and our agency is not going to allow us to not submit these turnaround plans and I as the leader of this organization have to submit them. I have to because if I don't then what happens if you do not submit a plan and it's not accepted you have 45 days to submit a new plan. If that plan is not accepted you have 15 days. If that plan's not accepted, the state can

049move forward and install a board of managers, which is replace all of your trustees. You lose local control. It's what happening in Fort Worth right now. And then replace the superintendent and you can and then you're back into that period of disruption. So, I appre I want to see your proposal. I I very much exp want to explore different ideas and solutions, but I don't want to have you all leave here thinking that's a viable option because it's just not from my perspective. And I know there are many of the school districts that have already fought that and have lost. >> And Matias, I just want to add something because I want to make sure everyone followed when we talked about the options that are available because we've had conversations at Wedane, right? Um, basically

050we have been told by ETA that the when you get to that three unacceptable, you have to either restart that your school or you have to close it and combine them with a higher performing school, the majority of students, right? Those are the only two options that TEA is going to accept. And so when we had um what's that? >> Or partner with a with a charter to do either of those things, right? Um and so we had 13 schools that had that three unacceptable and those were the choices, right? We cannot restart every single school, right? There wouldn't be enough staff to meet the requirements to do that. In some instances, we had to reassign students to a school that is already meeting that accountability that TEA had. Otherwise, we would not be able

051to recruit enough staff that met it just to keep everyone. >> So, >> and we understand that and I think we didn't do a great job of responding to that piece. Um >> the the fact is that Rodriguez does not have quite enough room for all of fit, right? But to tea, they want to see the majority of students. If there are follow-up questions, can I get folks to come up because it's going to be hard to hear folks and I'd like to try to have one conversation at a time. >> Okay. >> I mean, I we're >> Did you have some >> Well, he has he asked a question about Houston and being a 48 two years ago. >> Yeah. So, >> okay. Let's talk a little bit about Houston and then we'll get

052to your question. You're welcome to stay up here, ma'am. question. >> So to the gentlemen, so there's a couple things I want to acknowledge is that one is we have so many schools that have moved and are on the brink of getting a D and pausing right there. There are many there's nine schools that have 59s, several that have 50A. >> Houston is not one of them, but they're also 2 UA. They're they have a they have a a D in the middle that breaks up their accountability chain and so they are one year behind where Wedane is. That's the honest truth. Now the other thing that I would say is what I'm telling you is feed based on feedback we have from the agency whenever students are moved into a new facility or whenever

053it's a population that isn't the majority then they do feel that is a viable option. Now the alternative it would take all students to Rodriguez right that's the only other option and in that case could it be done it would potentially create an overenrollment issue at Rodriguez which can lead to you know unsafe conditions so that's really what we're balancing I agree with you not every plan is perfect >> they don't know anyone any So, one of the things that we're going to do, um, >> folks, again, I'm going to ask that if we want to ask questions, if we can get to the mic, we're recording and it's not going to pick up the voices that call. >> Folks, can I have people, if you would like to ask a question, please come. Ma'am,

054>> ma'am, could you ask your question up here? We're happy to give you the mic if folks want to get in line. Yeah. I wanted to know what's going on with the special education. My son have autism with HD. >> Yeah. So, uh, special education. So, our students that receiving special education services, uh, as I think this most communities know, we have been working very very hard over the last two and a half years to improve our systems. We under a TA read order of special education, we place staff and resources based on need. And so in this plan, the way that it would work is based on where your student is going to be located. We would say, okay, what services are going to be at either Rodriguez or Houston, that is not a

055talent and strategy like that's not um generally staffing. That comes from our special education department. And what they do is say okay based on these students needs we are going to place these staff here and if that resource doesn't exist at that school we will place them. That happens all the time. So I will tell you >> let me tell you something. Yeah >> about the special education. >> My son started a school when the co start there supposedly he was going to Houston. Houston I have a special education but then I have a teacher at that time. I come here and I find the teacher NY and this is his house to my son with eight years he's working hard all the people here the teachers the principal know my son my son know

056the school is just like a he can go here because he know where is all the places and you are thinking oh it's because the school this is I understand Houston. I have a lot of comments from bullying Rodriguez. They're complaints about kids, their uh their suffering, uh their accidents over there, bullying. What can I expect with my son over there? And it's not only that. It's hard when you have an asset with a um a disability when he come here. The doctor told me he don't go have empathy. It's going to be hard for him. My son read I have empathy. He know that how >> no no that's not um >> last multiplication at five. He knows now I fight because his teacher doing that job because I have empathy for my son

057because I take care of my son because my son is someone here in the school and you're saying oh this how many years you was trying to close web my son got to web my another son got to Travis Travis mil the the high school come on Travis I have a lot of problems too. And he graduated the past year with honors and right now is working in a company here. But he was a student in the teacher. That is how it works. And here all the people work with empathy with dedication to the kids. No, I understand. >> And let me tell you something. I'm afraid because I see in the news and Instagram, Tik Tok, there are kids going to another schools. They're suffering. What his teachers doing uh painful to the kids.

058I'm afraid for my son. You cannot say, "Oh, he can't go to Houston. He can go to Rodriguez." It's not that easy trying to explain my son the school is got closed only because oh don't have the standards when he learning everything they know in here trying to explain to my son you know what a outings is heart and now you go take the only place my son he feels safety. >> It's not that easy. >> [applause] >> Um, so I wanted to ask if you could address why Wedane is getting all these exceptions when it comes to the plan. So, originally before the plans were released, we were told that if our school closed, our students would only go to a school that had a C or above and that TAP principles would be

059required to meet certain requirements to be employed at the TAP school. Well, we have since been told obviously they're not going to a C school. They're going to a D and another F school, a lower F than what we had. But also, when we asked about staffing, we were told, well, we have to make another exception. So, we made an exception about not sending them to a C school, and we're probably also going to make an exception for the principal at Rodriguez because we don't have enough principles that would probably meet those requirements for all of the TAP schools. So, why are we still considering going through with a plan when we have already been told we cannot implement it as it's supposed to be implemented? >> Yeah, so great question. Um my what I

060would say is um exceptions. We we we haven't asked for exceptions. Um what I will tell you is that the Texas Education Agency understands how how many we have to to work through. Right? As you heard Ally say, we have 13. That's only three UAS. That's there's 12 more right behind them. And so we as a school district have 116 schools, which means that about a quarter of the schools have to go through these plans. And if you are working through those many plans and you don't um kind of recognize how any one of these changes impacts the next school and the next school and the next school, you won't be successful. So there's not necess there's not exceptions. What we're saying is if you were doing one thing in isolation, it would fit in

061this box, which is what we talked about. You know, certain requirements, certain um definitions regarding a highly effective teacher because we are doing it all at once, which has to be done. Then we we are saying we can make these adjustments, but we also have to invest at these schools. So, um, what I will say is that this is Woodedane is not the only school that's going through, uh, a transition that has some of these differences and changes in it. There are others. Um, just to be very, very clear, it's not wood aim by itself. There are many others. And when you think about geographically where the schools are, unless we're going to bus kids all across town, which I'm not going to do, right? We're not going to do that. This is their community.

062they deserve to be in this area. We have to find alternative solutions. So, what I'm saying is let's pitch a strategy that responds to the largest elements in the plan and then make adjustments and and get it have it get accepted. That's that is the approach we're taking. I am confident that it will be uh accepted. Um but to your point, these these aren't exceptions like I'm asking them for an exception. What I'm saying is this is our district-wide plan. We don't have an infinite number of principles. We don't have an infinite number of teachers. If we are going to try to make it work, it has to work this way. Um, if there are concerns in this specific adjustment in this plan, I want to hear them so we can refine and improve. But

063that's why it's like that. Yeah. So if if we were so one of the things I would say is to if we were to follow a if if we were to be as rigid as the plan the state requires, right? One one option would be a dayto-day2 partnership, right? like we have that across the street at Mendes. That is one option. What I've heard from this community time and time again is that if they're going to be in our schools, they're going to be AISD staff. That's what I hear. So, we were responsive to it. The other thing that I've heard and is that we want familiar faces in these schools. It was Ally who just mentioned if the students if we are if this plan gets approved and these students go to Rodriguez and

064the others go to Houston, our staff will have the option and ability to go if they choose to go. I want to make sure that our students feel welcomed, that they have familiar faces. That's how this works. If I have to restart a campus and it's all new staff, to me, that is further away from what this community would want because you would want your your staff there. I I don't have the option of restarting here. I don't have these other options available to me in the way that we we would have if it was years past or if it was a different situation. So, we're I'm trying to find a balance. It's not perfect. it it's the the way that it's designed the state tightens up as you move through the process and I

065am trying to find a solution that balances our values supports our students and limits disruptions but I do know that it's disruptive >> I'm going to go next we had a question from Michelle O in the comment card um has the district considered the impact of the proposed closure of woodane that it would have on the surrounding services of the community such as the library recreation center, etc. I do want to start out with this question because we had a similar question um this morning. We were at Pickle Elementary and they also they have a rec center actually on site, a library, and one of the things that we talked about this morning was that um if it is more convenient for families to pick up their kids at the rec center because it's actually

066closer. We talked about um kids could theoretically go to the school they're zoned to and then their bus could take them back to and similarly I think that we could potentially do a solution like that rather than the afterchool program being that your child would participate at Rodriguez or Houston they could actually just get on the regular bus back to this neighborhood if they wanted to participate at the rec center and then families could get them from the rec center. So that was just one solution that we were talking about that we could potentially apply to here. I don't know um if if you wanted to talk a little more about this one. >> So so our schools are are foundational to our community. They just are right. These are neighborhood schools. That's why this

067is so painful. Like I I want to acknowledge that this these schools would in this community many like many of our other schools in their communities are anchors, right? That's where community comes and and gathers. That's where if there's an event like a winter weather event, that's where families come. Like we know that. I know that we have set up winter weather events. We've done vaccination sites. These are community assets. So, have we considered it? Yes. That's what makes this so hard. Many other schools have are going through this as well. So, if this were to be approved, we would work with our community to determine what happens next. Right. I will tell you that our board and myself are very much aligned in wanting these as these these schools to remain community benefits. Now,

068it will depend on what that benefit is for this community because it will be different for some communities. Some communities would prefer that it be, you know, um community space or partner space. Uh there's been um opportunities for early childhood centers. We've done that in schools that were uh closed. We've had uh housing projects. We can do lots of different things, but we're going to do them with community. We're not going to just uh go through a process uh and just propose something. So, We have a systems across the street from school every time they come back from the doctor. That doesn't happen. make us a national example considers us an exception. >> There's nothing like this. They don't have a block rad. [applause] Why don't we have more electives and specialized right now. Why

069does the effect of consolidation robust access? >> No, we we've we've we've actually improved vacancies significantly. But so that's your your point is is the is the main >> point just like I'm old west mother my children all graduated from deceas from Austin Henry I mean Garza Matthews they never went to a meeting like this I never had experienc Yeah. >> You're not considered numbers. That is why in the heck does elementary school have an IV program and why do they pay a Spanish teacher who isn't a native Spanish speaker to have that teacher $250,000 just fornival you all have left us. >> So, so yeah, here's something >> I that so I here's the thing. >> I continue. I'm sorry. >> She can come up. >> She's She can You want to give her

070the >> mic? >> She can have the mic. I don't need one right now. [snorts] >> So this is so I I agree with you that there are huge inequities in Austin ISD 100%. I I just talked about why if we do not do something this is going to continue for the next 50 years. We're 144 years old. Breerwoods Cassiss Austin High all the schools that you named. Think about the feeder patterns. Think about the alignment in curriculum. Think about the supports they have. We are desperately trying to find resources to deploy in East Austin. The 2022 bond program was an example of that that the investments we made as part of the tax rate election with instructional coaches or the are the investments we made in our our educators like we have been moving

071the system precisely to do what you are saying. The challenge that we have is that the state has applied real deadlines and milestones and I wish we could have been back five years ago or seven years making different decisions. We did for whatever reason that didn't happen. And so now we have to balance >> the staff down here. >> I don't think I I think that why do all the schools in West Austin have ABC ratings? Why? Why do we And I have this question for you all and it's in here. I want an audit of this school over the last 10 years as far as test scores. There is no reason why we should see across the board test scores where they go FFF BB FFF. That's a problem with you all and the

072principles and the administration there. There should no excuse until you can fix the inadequacies in your the the environment we have already that we have now. You can't fix that. Why are you trying to fix us before you fix you all? >> So, [applause] and another thing I don't see this administration setting up schools for success in the east side. Those schools in West Austin are set up for success. boy. Unbelievably, we are not. You do not come in. You make it more difficult for anything to happen, for us to do our job. And it we need to be treated equally down here over here. It doesn't need to be like growing up where was the east side and the west side. >> People don't need to be embarrassed. >> I agree. [screaming] Miss, she

073means business, man. >> No, but I really do. >> So, so I just described how >> makes no sense to these parents or even >> one of the things that I said when I started was that in 2022 had a B. In 2023, hang please let me finish please. >> When we got sixth grade in our campus. >> Okay. So, hey, so going to be >> exactly how no so the account >> because of the principle >> you we are agreeing I am telling you right now that the 2022 accountability to 2023 changed the they changed the system in Texas you had the same teachers the same students and they went from a B to an F we had 12 schools that were B's that now became Fs and AC >> they went A to

074see. So that's exactly right. So so that's the thing in black people start that we weren't addressing. >> So the accountability system changed on us and when the accountability system changed it hurt our historically underserved students to a greater degree than the nonhistorically underserved city groups. >> I that's the state though that I I agree with you. Thanks. >> So the there's a there's a comment on that. >> There's a comment that was made here around sixth grade because I want to talk about that. >> You mentioned sixth grade. You said sixth grade made it well, you didn't say it, but I think I heard you say it. >> I did say it. >> That sixth grade um being moved into these uh elementary schools from Mendes, >> right? made it more challenging uh and

075ultimately made it more difficult for each school to meet accountability for a variety of reasons whether certifications or the complexity of having sixth grade coming in. What happened in 2023? The administration made that decision in April of that year. You remember y'all remember that? That was harmful. In April, the super the administration made a decision and then over the course of the summer, everybody tried to move to try to get our schools including Wedane prepared to receive those students. >> Rodriguez, Wedane, the list goes on and on and on. It didn't work. That should have never happened. I And that is one thing that I'm telling our communities. We cannot make decisions in the spring semester, which is why we're having these conversations now because I can't take away the one thing that our families

076absolutely need and what our principles absolutely need. That's time to plan. So there's other things that happened in this community, but I just want you to know that that is I agree with you that created harm and I'm not going to make those types of changes in the spring semester. It's not going to happen. >> Uh my question is related more to special education. I'm a teacher and a parent and AISD has been under fire for special education violations left and right. Our legal fees through the roof. That's public record. The amount that we have to pay to defend time and time and time and time again. And somehow making the like moving these babies here, we I mean I have 50% sped in my classroom right now. 50% special education students in my classroom

077right now. Do you know how much support I get? Like none compared to that. I have my amazing team here that help me out. I would be nowhere without our one special education teacher, my one TA who comes in and helps us out. That's it. That's all I have for a 50% class of special education. You're going to move them and expect there to be smooth, no violations, none of that. So those legal fees that we already are paying out the wazu, what is the plan to make sure that we stay in compliance when we are already out of compliance with special education as it is in this district? Already out of compliance. >> So I would fix I'll push back on the out of compliance piece, but >> Oh, no, no, no, no. I

078I am a parent. We are out of compliance on special education. >> So I agree with you. For the last two and a half years, no. So two and a half years ago, three years ago, before we took on the TA agreed order, we had thousands of evaluations back >> thousands. Yeah. Okay. So we're at hundreds now, right? >> Well, no, we're way >> you're not going to win this. >> You're not going to win. >> But to [laughter] say that we have not been moving the system to improve, I think and and >> Yes. >> Okay. So, and then you talk about legal fees that has gone way down like there's a lot >> answering that. >> What's your question? >> My question is what what is the plan for these special education students?

079Because if it is, we're going to give them a transfer AR and we're going to send some of their staff, who by the way, most of us don't even meet the TAP plan requirements, but you're going to send our friendly faces over there and that's going to fix it. I guarantee you next year at this school, Rodriguez, you are going to see massive behaviors and all kinds of other issues that are going to come up that are going to put us right back in legal situations if we do not address it. And so far the only answer I have been getting been given has been we're going to make sure they they get their services at their campus. That's not how that works. Don't say we'll just send them services there because you don't. That's

080that doesn't ever happen. >> And I I appreciate your question and your comment and your concerns. Um I hear you. We hear you. Um my name is Christa Ethridge. I'm the interim executive director of special education. Um we have started proactively planning very early. My team meets uh weekly. Right now we're actually meeting almost daily to um to really plan and look at the data, look at the students individually. Um it's like you said, it's it we understand it's not just going to we're going to move it and it's going to work. It's going to take a lot of planning. Um, and >> yes, >> so here here's so one of the things that we talk about often So, >> everything So with autism, children needs things like that transitions do not happen very well.

081We know that. So we can't be like, "Oh, >> can can I ask you what was what do you think if this were to be successful? If this has to happen, how can we be successful? What do you need? >> Massive intervention at the new schools. You are going to need more than one resource room. You are going to need plenty of peace areas. You are going to need trained staff, not trained on a computer screen that we do at the beginning of every year. You are going to need handson trained staff by special education individual like the TAs who know their job as a TA, the teachers who know their job, right? All of those things, the staff who know those students, they're going to walk in those doors and they are going to

082panic. They're going to run, they're going to elope, they're going to do all those things. And the amount of time we get at the beginning of a school year in August as teachers to plan, we already don't get enough time to plan for the sped students we have now. And that's students who are returning and now we're going to have a whole bunch of new ones like that are going to have no idea what's going all their safety is gone. All those BIPs that we spend all that time on, those are out the door there. There's some outlines there. Yeah, but they're in a whole new environment. So, you're going to need to have a lot more feet on the ground. And that's my question. What What are those feet on the ground going to

083look like at these schools? So what you're describing is precisely why we need to make decisions now. You you just mentioned sixth grade coming in in April of 2023. One of the reasons that we need to have a conversation is so that we can build the plans together like with the frameworks yes the structure the expectations that I have but I cannot build the plan unless your voice is in it unless our family's voice is in it. And if I start building that plan in April and May, we will not be successful at the start of the school year. Which is why you need to start in December and January so that we can hire, we can position, we can pay the siphons, we can get people to be in place. I I'm being honest

084with you. If I created a plan because if I created a plan, it would not meet your expectations. It wouldn't meet our family's expectations because I don't have that information yet. We don't have a vote. This has not happened yet. >> School make their own plan. Why don't we do? Y'all need to stop and slow down. Administration does. Every neighborhood from around the entire district is saying stop, slow down. You all push this on us way too fast. Why don't you all stop and slow down? Why? Why in your community? What will make this work? Let us instead of wasting our time all the time, let us have in school meetings. >> And and I I want to apologize for there there are lots of things that should none of us were this admit. We

085were not here three years ago. Like there's there's the the board there lots. >> I know it's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's our it's it's the district's fault. It it is our fault. I am desperately trying to find a way to move us forward with the pressures that are real like slowing down delaying the state won't let us do that. This is a >> threeway building that you all bought that you should have never bought. >> So, so much money I mean that did y'all own it? >> Uh, yes it was owned. How much did y'all go by building that expensive? >> So that is real estate. That's your area of it. They're not selling. I mean, why would you sell off that expensive piece of property and not invest it back

086in? So it doesn't >> we have >> So I am finding I am I am doing everything possible to find funds. I I we can certainly talk about >> funds funds period not >> ma'am ma'am can we try to one person talk at a time I want to let him try to respond please. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. So, so in 2016, because that's what we're going back to to talk about that pro that um be that was mostly before I got here, but the idea was to consolidate four different sites. So, it wasn't just central office at sixth street. There was also the Baker building, which some of y'all remember. There was also the planning space out at ALC at the time. So, AISC was operating four buildings, all very, very costly. And

087so the plan at the time, again, this is previous administration. This is before I got here. The idea was to consolidate all of them, become more efficient administratively. So that was the decision. The real estate funds were used to buy it because I didn't they didn't no one wanted to take funds from the general operating budget because that's the budget that goes and pays for compensation and for programs. So it was a self-funded real estate offset. And since then, we've been trying to find more ways to monetize it. We've leased out floors. We're doing everything possible. But here's the thing. It is, if we sold it, it would evaporate in a moment because our budget is a billion dollars. A billion dollars, right? We give 700 million to the 780 million to the state every

088year. Like if we if we sold that building, you might get relief for two months, three months, you know, and then all of a sudden I'm going to be having to figure out how to move hundreds and hundreds of staff into our schools, improve those spaces, probably going to lose staff in the in the in the place. And we talk about principles needing support. All that comes from the system. Like we're all together. So we can go we can deliberate about it. But I I want you to know that we are finding every opportunity to generate revenue to offset our cost. I have downsized central office. I'm doing everything. I told our community and I I will share this with you all. Like I never wanted to be here. We made lots of hard decisions

089before we got here. We made commitments before we got here. We're just at a point where we have to take a step forward if we're ever going to get to to be a different school district that actually can allocate resources to where they're needed most. And I they're needed in communities like this. >> Okay. I don't have time. >> We have about 10 minutes left. We actually have another community meeting in East Austin up at GR Greater Calvary Bible School at 6 PM and it's about a 30 minute drive. So, um it looks like we have I I know you haven't spoken. There's four. I think we'll have time for these last four questions. Um, and then we're gonna have to get on the road. >> Hi, I'm not an educator, so um I'm kind

090of drinking out of a fire hose right now, but um I'm kind of going back to Houston um and Rodriguez and the tap kind of the intersection of the tap and the um consolidation. So, my kids would be going to Houston if this plan goes forward. Uh but I know that from reading and from getting information from other educators that the tap is also tied to resources. So what I'm understanding from AISD is that my kids are not worth those resources. >> So to clarify both um Rodriguez and Houston will get the extra resources for turnaround. So that's that's the problem. We don't have funds. >> I don't think your mic there you go. >> Yeah. So So that's one of the things that >> we're we're that's your point is exactly the point that

091I we are trying to make is wherever we can. Right now we are an inch deep and a mile wide. You got 116 schools all across the district. We have needs. We have instructional co. There's so many things that we need to offer our students and we simply do not have the budget. We're running a budget deficit right now. But you and your staff had a really big increase in salary recently. So how do you justify that? [applause] >> So when when was that? >> Because I I believe there so since I've been here the only salary increase occurred in 2023, right? 23 uh was the board vote. It applied for the 2324 school year. It's the same time that we did 7% increase for teachers. We increased stipens >> and 34% for yourself. Correct.

092Or something in the 30s. I haven't gotten a pay increase since I started the job. >> So, I mean I like I just want you to know like I have none of our staff >> I mean I could do an open record request and get it. It's okay. >> Yeah. No, that's fine. I I will. >> But along those lines, since resources are short, um how many staff at AISD headquarters could we expect to also lose our jobs since we don't necessarily need that big of an AISD staff anymore since there's going to be less schools? >> Yeah. So um this past summer before we even started this process we reduced our central huh >> okay so a so after okay so we just so we took this is the third consecutive year that we

093reduce central office staff we're probably down 200 positions at the moment whenever we think about what positions have been increased they're all around special education that's really where we've seen the large the largest number and instructional coaches because they're coded to central office. So if you go and look at just the total number of staff, you're going to see they're coded to central office, but they're deployed to our campuses. So there are lots of things like that. We have we I will our board knows I think they know our community knows I will always try to reduce our like imprint in the system. I've done that year over year. Every single time we've had a budget, I've reduced our staff. There are people who have had um maybe not demotions, but people who have changed

094positions. We have >> actual demotions. Yes. >> Yeah. I've taken actual demotions. I have held vacancies. I have vacancies all throughout the district. I will not post them. So, you look at the or chart, there's vacancy, vacancy, vacancy, vacancy all over. And I'm holding them even though it's really impacting our ability to support our schools because I know how disruptive and how challenging it can be to see that occur before we do this. So, yes, I will always look for opportunities to reduce our costs. I've done it every single year that I've been here and I will continue to do it. >> Ma'am, I'm going to go to the gentleman next to you because you've had the chance to speak. So go ahead, sir. Are you are you in line? >> Did you have a

095followup? >> Well, I one follow up with her. I think we were thinking more executive directors because if executive directors are tied to campuses and we have 13 less campuses, we don't need that many executive directors, right? But my my it's a common question in one. Um, and what was bothering me is I feel like when we're addressing our accountability and these scores, we keep mentioning the east side, the east side, the east side in this community, right? And that the test got harder. The state, the state, the test made it harder or they changed the test or accountability, whatever we keep saying that they changed. Okay, I a few years ago worked at the Harmony Innovation right here. Many of you are probably very familiar with. When I first started at Harmony, it was

096an F school. Ironically, because we got scores from Jay Houston when Jay Houston students moved over there. So, I went through this same process with Harmony. They did not throw their students under the bus. They did not use their teachers and their staff as scapegoats. They put their boots on the ground. They gave more resources. And that school over [clears throat] the last three years that took the same test has students from the same community got a B and this most recent year got an A. So, can we please stop blaming the state and talking about east and west because obviously they have figured it out. They have figured out how to be successful in this community without displacing all of their teachers and all of their students. >> So, >> Matias, we only have

097five minutes before you need to get on the road. So, I want to get to the other questions. >> Hello. [clears throat] Um, I am a Did you have a question? >> I'm not I'm not I I communicated what's changed, right? I I don't I I am not I am simply saying that we are in an environment and the state has authority and control and power. So, we have to be responsive. I don't know what Harmony's doing, but I can tell you that there are lots of people have said, "Hey, um, Menddees across the street, they have a B. They have an A or a B and a B." And so, so that's the thing. You can get the results, but it may not be the way that you want to get them. So, I

098am not going to speak to that. I will never speak about another school district. That's not what I'm doing. That's not who I am. But I I want you to know that I strongly believe that whatever we do, it should be done in alignment with our values, Austin ISD values because you can get quick results. It's happening in Houston right now. They have great results. That's not who we are. So, I just don't want to go down that path. But I will tell you that I am committed to making sure that our students in Austin ISC grow academically, but they also feel comfortable in their own skin. They also feel comfortable talking to someone look like them. I mean, they're great humans. like I I I appreciate and understand that your position, but I wanted

099to share with you just that response because you asked for the response. >> Hello. Um father of a a daughter that goes to this school. Um love it. Um and just want to say it's great hearing the voice of the the teachers hopefully be elevated tonight and actually want to speak to how I know a lot of their faces is exactly the follow-up question want to have to hear is recognizing them from the park or from the rec center or from the event. um you know at the library and I do not think you can find another school we've looked at this you know more connected than than weed and so I almost want to rephrase the question is have you considered that weedane is the solution to this wicked challenging problem that you have

100because I hear about like staff retention what about you know the ability to just go quick take a quick jog or go check in on your kid at the daycare or tie into a program here at the library I think this would be an awesome place to work and if you need to retain the teachers, you got these communities. I love this city. I believe in this city. I believe in the district. They're going to be building towards these rec centers. They're going to be building towards the park. We're going to have mobility like we haven't had in the future. There's a lot of resources and synergy we can tackle tie into here. And it does feel like I know I don't understand the grading issues and and how all that relates. But if the

101question is how do you plan for long-term best school location, this is it. There's not another location. And I can walk you through maps. I'm hoping some of these made, you know, rounds last time where it shows Wedane is the most connected school. You talked with Pickle this morning. It's just behind. But there is not another school that scores as strong as Weedane for community connections. You got a community schools program. It's here in Austin. Only one on the south side. Outdoor learning programs. Where is a better spot to have in here? Let's work with a golf course. Let's work with the state park. Let's make this better than anything else in the state of Texas. There is a lot going on here that you cannot find and it's going to be irreoverable if we

102walk away. And I so I the question is is we d the solution? Are we walking away? Is AISD walking away from this? Because there's a lot of benefit and I'll say even if it's not an elementary school, it feels like it could benefit AISD in so many ways. Thank you. >> Hi. Um I'm a substitute teacher. I'm the oldest person in the building and possibly in the district and I've been around and I'm a New York City um native. I'm sorry to have to say this, but I haven't seen this much snow thrown around since I lived in New York. I come I'm here every single day and I look at the faces of my co-workers, >> my co-workers, the administration, the kids, and especially the parents. Let's be honest, okay? You had the

103meeting last week. You have this meeting tonight. You're going to make a final decision on November 20th. Be kind to these people. Let's tell them right here and right now. Is there any way in God's good earth that you're going to keep this school open? If you're not, be honest and tell them it's over. Stop with the bull. So, as I as I I have never intended to um you know to say anything that I didn't believe was uh the honest truth. So, uh we are refining the plan. We're updating the plan. I can't say for certain, sir, uh kind of where we'll end up. I don't make the vote. That's the board's decision. I have to address multiple things. you're providing feedback. I appreciate the feedback. There was a comment this gentleman said earlier

104that kind of is spurring, you know, different ideas, but I I want to be honest. Something has to change here. I have to respond to the three UAS. I just want to be really really clear. That's not the board. That's not Matias. That is the state of Texas requiring a response and they expect the intervention to meet the risk that they see, which is 3Fs. Even if there's progress, they still see it. And so, investing in us. >> All right. She said that you're gonna go ahead. >> I know. >> Um, you're going to be uh putting our kids in a place where there's bullying. >> So, So, please solve it. Uh don't don't just uh close it. Um we're all a big family here. Uh we're all a community. >> Thank you. And I

105have two daughters that studied here and now they're at the university. I have one in Boston, one here. >> That's something that's not always possible, but uh with the teachers that we have had here, that's something that you can do. >> Thank you. And this is going to be the last question we have time for. Thank you. >> Hi, how are y'all? I have a different energy tonight. Um my name is Steve Rivera. I've been a classroom teacher for about 36 years. Maybe a little less, maybe a little more. Yes. And um thank you. Um this is really a very magical place, Mr. Sagura and um Mrs. Pace, how are you? I I want to say that because um this is a magical place. this community, these loving teachers, this awesome principal that we have,

106Mr. Fosb, he is topnotch. Um, I I just want to say that when I entered this building, Mr. Sagura, I was a very young teacher. Okay? So, twothirds of my time was here at Wedane. So, this is my home away from home. and I am coming to the end of my journey. But it's saddened it feels very sad to me because I've been working for AISD since Dr. Ellis. I don't know if any of y'all remember, but it it's been long time coming. Dr. Foron, I've seen a lot of administrators, a lot of superintendent, a lot of teachers, a lot of parents, a lot of students. And yes, I've come from being the young teacher to being the one who became a mom who became a grandma and now a great grandchildren. And it just

107feels so sad to to to I cannot even believe that we are here talking about White Day closing. And I just want to say if there's and I speak from my heart if there is any way possible that this beautiful campus would elementary it is so special. It's so different than all the other clos that are going to close. I I've seen these schools that they've been our sister schools for a long time and nothing has taught Wedane. And I know Miss Pace, I know that you know this. You know me as a teacher. You know that I worked really hard and all these teachers that are here with me, Miss Fawn, Mr. B, Miss Aila, so many teachers that have been here since the the beginning of time, we are special. We are very

108different. Yes, you can give me the F and everything that our children have accomplished. But let me tell you, this type of school, it's a very hard school and it takes a very special teacher. It takes a very special principal and vice principal. It takes a very special community to come. I can't believe that this would come to a close. Please, I beg you all with all of our hearts. All of my heart as I tell you, I came in as a very young teacher and I will be leaving as a very old teacher. But my heart it's here at Wedane. What can I say? What can I do? How can I plead? Keep Wedane open. I love these children. Miss Face, you know us. you know what we're about. You were part of us.

109And then Mr. Fazband came in and he continued and kept it just top-notch. These teachers, I feel for them because when I came into this profession in AISD, oh my gosh, I couldn't wait to get into AISD. I was I went to Taylor. I went to California. Nothing topped AISD. I feel so special and blessed that I've worked here. Please, I beg you, don't let AISD close at Wedane. This is a magical place. Miss Wood, Miss Pace, you know that. You know us. You know what we're about. And Mr. Fosbonda, I don't know about most of you, but we work day in and day out with this gentleman and he is awesome. He loves his children. He cares about his teacher. He cares about his community and this particular school especially. It would be so

110sad to see it all go away. Please, Mr. Sagura, I don't know how to beg you. I don't know what to do. But I beg you from the bottom of my heart. I believe in AISD. My children graduated from Austin High and Longhorn country here. I I I just want I want this for Wedane. It for it to close would be just such a grave massive mistake. I don't know how to tell you, but if I wasn't here for twothirds of my life, I would say, "Yeah, it's just another school." But it's not. Most of these parents, I probably had you all as children. I don't know. But I already know that I've seen so many kids go in and go out. They come, they visit me. This is really a special place. And all

111these all of these campuses here, I mean, all of these flags here, they stand for something, especially for that middle one. And it starts at Wedane. I just want to say that I I I love Mr. Fazbanda for having been the best principal ever to have done what they did. Miss Pace, help us out. You know us. You know our heart. God bless you, Mr. Sea. I hope that you reconsidered in some way because this building cannot it cannot perish. It has to be alive with the children. All these parents, God, if I could tell you what kind of parents they are. Oh my gosh, they've been backwards for this school. All of these parents, I look at them. They could be my children. No, I'm serious. Look, I wear the ranks. But I love

112Wedane Elementary and I've known it forever. God, if I can only just throw that magic to you all that you don't understand from this school, except for maybe Miss Face, she knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, Mr. Fosbond, for whatever it's worth, thank you for everything and may God bless Wedane Elementary. I hope we're still considering that. Thank you. Thank you so much. [cheering] [applause] >> Um before we head out, I just wanted to reiterate the timeline so everyone is on the same page. So, this coming Friday, we will be um releasing revisions to the plan. Um there's actually a a special board meeting tomorrow night where they're going to talk about some of those revisions that you might see on Friday. Um but you will get an email, you'll get a text letting you

113know that the plan is available and links to our website, where to find everything. Um, and then we will we have the board will be actually discussing the actual revisions next Thursday at their board info session and then the November voting session November 20th. That's when we anticipate they're going to vote on the the final plan. Um, and so if you'll go one more slide um you still have these at your tables. The um the QR code, again, that QR code closes this evening. So get your comments in. It's actually probably going to close first thing in the morning if you're a night owl. So, there's still time to get comments in the comment card. Um, we thank you all for your time and we will um you'll be hearing from us on Friday. Okay.

114Thank you so much.