001Thank you so much for making connections with each other. We really appreciate um all that you do um who you are and who you represent and uh thank you for being here for our kids. Um if you don't know me, we do have some visitors in the room. My name is Paula. I'm the very proud principal of Maplewood Elementary. [cheering] I do have some quick announcements. Um, in case you need to scoot out um early, if you just need to take a break, we do have the library. Uh, that is an open space for you. Um, um, just wanted to make sure that you knew that that was available. Um, in case you need to leave um, to get somewhere, please exit through the rear and then you can exit back out the front and
002then just remove your name tag as you go. We really appreciate you. And then thank you so much parents for pre-registering. That helped us all get the whole family in much quicker this morning. Um, I do have some announcements. I'm going to make most of my announcements at the end. This does serve as my Friday coffee. Uh, but just in case, I wanted to make you very aware that we do have a book character parade. Huge event here at Maplewood. It happens this Friday at 8 o'clock. Uh, please uh come and attend. It'll last about 15 minutes. Um, and we'll do it in the cafeteria. So, you'll need to badge in and then come in the cafeteria and then we will parade um all of our wonderful kiddos in their book character costumes uh through
003this venue for you to see and be a part of. Uh once again, thank you for bringing uh your whole self here today. Thank you for being adult peacemakers. Um and thank you for what you represent. Thank you for how much you love your kids. I'll turn it over to Ally from the district. Awesome. Good morning everyone. My name is Ally Gillarduchi. I'm the senior executive director of communications and community engagement. Um I'm just going to go over our agenda, the meeting purpose, and some norms. Um and then I'm going to pass it over to our superintendent to kind of welcome everyone and share a little about the vision. But we've already had our welcome. Um I'll go over the norms and the purpose. Um I'll introduce some of the folks that we have here
004to help answer questions. Um, and then we wanted we had some ideas come from your community. I think you all provided us with three options you wanted us to consider. So, um, if there are folks here that are, um, wanting to actually kind of orient everyone to those three options, we we welcome our PTA to the PTA to come up and kind of share that, but we have those ready to kind of discuss. Um, we also pulled questions from the comment cards that y'all have done. Um, and so we have some of those pulled and prepared if we want to make sure that we get answers to those common questions that came up through the comment cards. Um, and then we're going to discuss next steps. Um, and so for our meeting norms, we are
005here to build the future together. We and we appreciate I think that y'all did this through the proposal that you had is just acknowledging the challenges of our current situation while focusing on ideas and solutions that will make our district stronger, more equitable, and sustainable for years to come. We want to honor time. So, when we do invite folks to um ask questions that maybe weren't answered in the comment cards, we ask that people try to limit their comments to about a minute. We have a lot of folks and we want to create space for everyone. We want to honor the process. So, um we'd like to try to stay on schedule on the agenda. Um we want to honor intent and impact. So, we may disagree on ideas, but I hope that we can
006all agree that we're here um to focus on our shared goal of having strong schools um for every single child in our district. Um, we want to honor space and voice. So, if you speak one time, we're going to ask that we make sure that we let others speak before we come back to the same person to speak. Um, we're going to try to solutionoriented. So, focusing on ideas and solutions and understanding. Um, and we want to embrace transparency and empathy. We know these are really difficult conversations. Um, and we are here to be transparent, open, and honest with you about um, kind of the constraints that we face and what ideas we think that we can maybe further explore and what ideas maybe just aren't options. Um, these are our norms in Spanish. Um,
007and the meeting purpose. So, like I said, we want to respond to questions submitted via the comment card and provide opportunities for y'all to have follow-up questions. We want to discuss the ideas that y'all have developed. Um, and then we want to we as an administration want to gain insights that will inform potential refinements to the draft plan before the November 20 vote. Before I hand it over to superintendent, I just want to let y'all know kind of the staff that's here real quick. Um, so I'm going to go ahead and let them introduce themselves real quick. >> Good morning everyone. Christine Steampport, operations officer. >> Hi, good morning. Rachel French, uh, director of planning and project manager of the consolidations. >> Good morning. Sandra McWills, elementary executive director that supports Maplewood. >> Good morning.
008Cherry Lee, interim assistant superintendent of special education and health services. >> Good morning. Victoria O'Neal, executive director of um campus and family engagement. >> Good morning. I'm Amanda Reyes, director of evaluations for special education. >> Hi, I'm Marian Maxwell and the assistant superintendent of academics. >> Good morning. My name is Ibec Gardinus and I'm the executive director of academic programs um pleasure of working with multilingual education and early learning and just really quickly want to thank the folks that we have for my team that are recording our interpreters so that we can make this meeting accessible to our Spanish speaking families as well. Um go ahead um Superintendent Siguru we're going to let you kind of share a little about the vision. >> So uh thank you everybody for showing up this morning. Um, these
009are difficult conversations. Uh, and the worst thing that could happen is for us not to engage, have a deliberation, and talk about kind of what this is, the moment we're in, and what we as a school district are trying to tackle. So, I very much appreciate you all showing up. And I also acknowledge just how painful and disruptive this is. Uh, our entire city is going through a transition. Our schools are the foundation of our entire city. I've said that at every step along my journey. I believe it in my heart. Our city like has can only thrive if there are strong schools in it. With that being said, it's not true that we have strong schools everywhere in Austin. That's that is not a that is not a fact. Right now, we have some
010schools that have the ability to provide the resources to all of their students and meet their needs. And we have some some schools that cannot. This is not a function of our students, not a function of our staff. It's a function of our inability as a school district to provide those resources, right? And this isn't a just built up over 144 years. There are things that we have done over the last many, many decades that have led us to this moment. And so as we move forward, one of the things that we have to do is we just have to evolve as a school district. If we want to save who we are as an independent school district and educate in a way that aligns with our values, we just have to change. And so
011when we took on this effort several months ago, and you think about just the work coming out of the long range plan, one of the things we talked about is we wanted to have thriving neighborhood schools, right? schools in your neighborhood so that you as a family did not have to go across town to find a school that met your students needs. Right now, we know that there are lots of families in parts of town that travel very, very far. We know that because of our transfer rates. We know where they live and we know that we know where they go to school. And so if we're going to move towards having strong neighborhood schools, we needed to rethink how we function, how we operate, and also acknowledge that there are lots of pressures hammering
012down on us. That is a fact. So I think about the moment we're in, I think about the fact that we've had declining enrollment. We live in a city where it's very, very expensive to live, right? that has pushed out so many families and we know this. We see it. It's the city has grown that's occurred. It's something that certainly we have a role in playing, but we cannot disrupt in a way that would allow families to come back. We just not here. Two, state of Texas, you all know this better than anybody, not funding public education. In 2023, we were praying, we were hoping that they would fund us. Didn't happen. Two years later, we get some amount ultimately nets out to about $10 million in our $1 billion operating budget. Doesn't move the
013needle. Then we think about the changes in the federal government. So the changes in the federal government have impacted us to a degree that is hard to communicate. In the last year alone, we had title two, title three, and title four funding get frozen like effect essentially overnight. had over hundred people I shared this last night in a room telling them that they're not going to be employed by Austin IC because the way that you're funded is sourced by title two, title three and title four dollars and those dollars are going away next year. You had on top of that immigration changes and policy changes that have kept immigrant families from coming to Austin and then those that are here have left. We're down about 2,500 students this year alone and they're all in one
014part of town. We know who they are. We know where they went to school. We know their families. And many of them are still here. They're just not comfortable coming to school. And so we're trying to also move through a ever changing accountability system. Right? In 2022, we had 19 schools that 17 schools that were a B that ultimately were an F the following year. same students, same educators, right? And so as we think about what had to happen, it had to be something that was sizable, significant enough for us to move forward and really change how we operate. So this plan is complex. It's multi-layered. There are lots of things in it. We'll talk about them, but I want you to know that there are five really fundamental things that we were trying to
015address. First is we wanted to align feeder patterns. Right? In parts of Austin, you have clean feeder patterns. You know where they are, right? You can have students at Mkersonen that wear Anderson Trojan hats. 100% of that school goes into Anderson, right? Geritzky, Buoie, Oh, Henry, Austin High. Where do you not have that? East Austin. You have Doby going into three high schools. You have Martin going into five. Mendes going into four. You cannot keep community together if you have that type of fragmented feeder pattern. So we wanted to address that. Two, we had to acknowledge that we are running a budget deficit. We have been and unless we become more efficient, we're not going to be able to get out of it. And one-time capital injection selling land or you know revenue from some
016donor that is not sustainable revenue. It isn't. Last thing we want to do is to create a disruption where students are left in a system and that's precisely what happened when the title two, title three and title four dollars were frozen. So we really need to look at our inefficiencies which included kind of balancing enrollment which ultimately led to consolidations. Big part of why we're here today. Third thing we wanted to stabilize our programming. I'm going to talk specifically about wallto-all language because it's embedded in this in this specific plan as well as monastery. But I want to talk about wallto-wall. So the four programs that are part part of this plan that are moving, you know, when you look at the emerging bilingual student population that the program was intended to serve, those numbers
017are moving in the wrong direction. Why is that? Because those families do not live in that neighborhood and they can't access that program. So what do you do? Provide access. So to make to improve accessibility, we are moving the programs to where they live. And we're going to make adjustments. and we'll talk about what that looks like to ensure that they're invited, they're comfortable, they're welcomed into those school communities. But when you have schools that have 14, 21, 22, and 44% emerging bilingual student populations are moving in the wrong direction, you know that if you don't stabilize in the next couple years, when the law takes full effect and I have to place dual language educators that are certified in classrooms that have the students, those classes and those schools will not have the educators
018to be sufficient to be stabilized. Want to tackle that. We also want to tackle our crazy transfer policies that we have. They've been in place for decades. We have majority minority. We have diversity choice. We have lots of other ones. And we as a school district do not manage it well. They're not managed the at the district level are managed many times at the local level. And so you see schools tip over where they'll go to 120 130% because the they continue to accept transfers. We really needed to take hold of that. The last thing I'll say is we had to acknowledge that this accountability risk that we're navigating, the fact that 23, 24, and 25 accountability came out back to back to back within five months of each other. If we do not break
019these accountability chains, right, the three unacceptable ratings, the two, we will not be able to move forward. I promise you it is a real risk. We have a part we have a sister school district right now that's navigating being taken over by the state our same size almost exactly and there are decisions I know they wish they would have made two or three years ago. We are desperately trying to put ourselves in a position I we're desperately trying to put ourselves in a position where that doesn't happen and that is a risk that we have to navigate. We just have to break them. We have to break those accountability chains. So, when it comes to this plan, as you all know, um this plan uh includes having uh Maplewood [snorts] wholly go into Campbell Elementary
020School. Uh we'll talk about the data that was used. We'll talk about how we look at different areas. We talk about the number of seats that we have to pull out of the system. Uh we'll talk about what it's going to look like. I'm sorry. >> So, when we'll get into comments and questions, So, okay. So, the the plan is for the school as a whole. We'll talk about what issues or what adjustments need to be made going into Campbell. Um, one of the things that we know, and this is where we really have to think through what uh disruption looks like, we recognize that each community has a different culture, different uh diversity of students. And so the one thing that we cannot do is take away the ability to to plan a thoughtful
021transition. That has to be part of this work. That has to be. So you want So what does this mean? I mean y'all y'all under understand that this means that if you live in the current Maplewood elementary school attendance boundary, you will move and be reassigned to Campbell Elementary School, right? Starting this at the 26 27th school year. So next year. Matias, I think we want to clarify something. So, the um the full population does fit, but I think the second bullet point is something we wanted to touch on because this is what was initially proposed was that transfers um could return to their zone school or apply for a transfer and with the draft that we're going to release if you want to share kind of the changes we're doing to that. So one
022of the things uh thank you Ally that we wanted to provide extreme clarity around was uh where we have scenarios where the transfer policy or the transfer operating procedures weren't clear um we wanted to create clarity. So we made several changes. One of the ones that you're going to see on October 30th this Friday is that if you have a student who has transferred into a school like Maplewood, they will 100% be approved to transfer into whatever school that that school is moving into. the cohort. So, um this is one of those things where I want y'all to know like we this is already disruptive enough. It's painful, but we never wanted to introduce something um that created unnecessary disruption. And so, this is something we can do. We're committing to it. The numbers work.
023Um, we also are going to be uh approving sibling transfers automatically. So, this is something you'll see in October 30th. Right now, um, I will tell you that myself, our board of trustees, none of us ever want a family to go to drop their third grader off and then go drop a kindergarten off at a different school. That's not who we are. We've never wanted that. Now, I understand why the plan and our policies and the way the words are written ultimately um got us to that point. But whenever we see those transfers, we approve them immediately. The only time we don't do it if it's a applicationbased program like an an Richards or a Lassa, right? You you really need to be applying to get into those schools. So that's that's that's why we
024don't do it for those. But that will also be a change. So we approve them, but it's typically through um an appeal process. So, what we're going to do is say, you know what, guaranteed move forward. We've run the numbers. This it it works. Um, so that's one of the differences. This slide deck, this work um was all based off the October 3rd um version of the plan. And I'm very mindful of version control that I don't make a change here and they don't communicate to some other communities. So, I really wanted to make sure we kind of held the line, shared with you changes verbally, and then October 30th when it changes, everybody sees it at one time. Also, just to clarify, it's the 31st. It's going to be out um in the Friday
025before we're going for before noon on Friday. >> Yeah. Sorry. I keep thinking it's 31 days. You want to go to the next slide, Ally. Please, >> you want Christine, you >> Hi everyone. You probably seen the boundary map as a part of our first deliverable, but I just wanted to kind of go over that for anybody else um that hasn't seen it. So here is the current Maplewood boundary. So live in this area. This is zoned to Maplewood. And so because this zone is closing, proposed to close. If you can go to the next slide, this whole boundary would just move and shift um straight to the Campbell boundary. So just kind of wanted to showcase that we have a little portion here we call feathering to make sure that we can make a
026little bit fit. And we've got this that is going to be um uh uh zoned to Blackshere to make them a little bit uh more whole and healthy in that as well. Oh, excuse me. Excuse me. Black Shar to Campbell and also here Blackshar to Campbell as well. So that was just Thank you. That coffee has not kicked in. So yes, and so that's what that looks like right here and right here and the bit the bit of the feathering. Okay. So, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was kind of oriented to what was initially proposed. Um, and so I want to kind of put it to y'all because we have two options in terms of how we spend the rest of our time. We did, like I said, prepare some of those
027frequently asked questions that came up in the comment cards. So, we can jump into that and start kind of going over that or if you prefer, we can just go right into the three options that y'all um kind of prepared. Um, do we have I'm going to go show of hands if you want to get to the questions. Okay. >> Okay. So, you'd rather start with the questions and maybe that the options can be part of the discussion as we get into that. That sounds good. Um, appreciate that everyone. Um, so getting started. Um, this was one that came from multiple commenters, but why close an A-rated near capacity neighborhood school like Maplewood? What data and criteria justify this decision? >> So, One of the things I want to say is um we've spent the
028last couple years talking about how the accountability system has shifted and changed and the fact that there are B schools one year and F schools the next year. We talk a lot about the fact that there are lots of schools that have D's and Fs assigned to them, not by us but by the state of Texas and they have just as many people advocating for their school because they love their school. There are incredible things happening in their school. And so when we started this process, when I tell you we did not start with accountability in mind, that is a fact. That was never the case because if we did that, we would do the opposite and only consolidate or only close schools that historically not performed. So that's why we didn't start there. That
029being said, whenever you have inefficiencies in a school district as large as ours, serving 70,000 students with 116 schools, and if we got to a place where we had high performing schools everywhere, you would still have that inefficiency. There are school districts right now that are closing high performing schools everywhere because they're still very inefficient. So there I I want you to know that it's not it's something that we consider. It's something we talk about, but it's not something that we led with. It's not something that we led with. Um, but that is why we didn't use accountability to drive the decision. There are other schools, as you all know, in the plan, uh, that have performed higher historically. Um, but it wasn't what drove the efficiency conversation. Now, the other alternative is move Campbell
030into Maplewood, right? Then you think about, okay, well, historic hang, let me let me I know. So one of the things we don't want to do we know is that would introduce historical harm right that school um being the culture the student population what we know based on the work we've done around uh equity movement and transition work is going to be extremely harmful that to that community and so given that this is the the thing we're trying to address in this larger area there aren't lots of options for us there just isn't so uh that is why that you will see in this plan some adjustments and transitions around schools that have historically performed better. >> I'm gonna allow this person to ask a followup. >> Hey, thank you. Hi, I'm Dr. Julie Shu.
031I'm a Maplewood parent here. I'm also a licensed psychologist and I have my PhD in school psychology. Um I'm really concerned about a few things um related to this. So um yeah what I know what you all know and decades of educational research show is that um we need you know low ratios for math and reading interventionists for school counselors for special education support teachers for LSSPs for diagnosticians and that's what leads to academic success for kids as you all know um so my concern is with us moving proposed moving to Campbell um what's going to happen to the title one funding for Campbell. My understanding is that that's how they fund their interventionist right now. We actually had to the PTA had to fund raise to have a part-time math interventionist for our school
032with the with the um intention to bring up more equity in our student body. Um which we did achieve. Um we have 122 students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds here at Meeplewood. Um, so I'm just really concerned how is this plan going to prioritize this um low student to interventionist ratio across the board for social emotional for academics um given that's what's evidence-based and needed to improve outcomes for cample kids for me kids. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> No. So, uh, yes. So, we're in agreement that, um, content interventionist, interventionist, counselor to student ratio, right now we're running at 140, 400, 1 to 450 in Austin ISD. You really best practice, one to one, one to 300. Uh, what you all had to do here in raising funds for interventionists is not something that should
033happen, right? That's the honest truth. And schools that can raise do exactly what Maplewood did. That happens all across the city. But there are lots of schools that can't do that. And so as a system, what we know is that in 2022 and 2023, we had instructional coaches which really help us focus on first teach, right? Educators coming to the classroom getting what they need to be academically to be successful. We um didn't have them everywhere in Austin ISTD. So what we said is let's use title one dollars because we had some remaining at the end of the 22 and 23 school year and let's fully fund uh instructional coaches in Austin ISC focusing on title one schools that had not happened before in Austin IC. So we made that change. Then we came back
034around and said schools should not have to fund raise to get a content interventionist because that helps us with interventions right to get students back on grade level. you you said that that's what we we agree as well but right but it's but we didn't have that in 2022 23 we didn't have that anywhere in Austin ISD do you know that we did not have that anywhere I had schools like asking Matias can we trade a librarian for instructional coach or a content interventionist can I trade uh you know assistant principal for these for these other allocations it should not be that way you should not have to trade staff to get what you need for your students to be successful so So, >> so >> yeah. So, yeah. No, no, so I I appreciate
035that question. So, that comes down to you mentioned funding, title one funding, and the way that works. So, in Austin ISD, uh title one funding, the way that it's currently uh um distributed to the district is based on the number of students who are identified as economically disadvantaged. Uh in Austin ISD, seven, eight years ago, we were at 62 63%. We are struggling right now to stay above 50%. Right? We are quickly going to become a school district that has the minority population be identified as economically disadvantaged. That is very very unique to urban school districts. Most urban school districts, as I'm sure you know, are 80, 85, 90% economically disadvantaged. So what that means is that your title one dollars are going down, right? That is happening. Every single year, we have lost more
036and more title one dollars. When you tie that to the fact that the federal government is going to move away from title one grants and go to block funding, that number is going to go even further down. And so we as a school district have to figure out how do we find the funds within our existing system based on stable revenue to ensure that every school gets what they need, right? Instructional coaches, content interventionist, the counselor to student ratio, whatever is required for their for that school, for those students. So >> I mean So, we have staffing plans uh and ratios in our um uh in attachment I think 11 of or nine of the uh two October 3rd. And what we talk about in there is what it's going to look like at our
037schools. Um specifically those that have turnaround plans because those are the ones that have the highest need. just you know that that's his honest truth. Uh two um where we have large program moves and then three where we have moves like this. So we want to get to a place where we can offer those types of ratios everywhere. But the reality is they're they're not going to be everywhere now because the student population they're not now but that's the whole thing is I don't have the resources to do it. I just don't. >> Matias can I can I interject real quick? So I want to just make sure everyone understands kind of the you started talking about how the title funding works. Yeah. >> So the title funding comes to the district based on the
038percent of students that we have that are economic. It's we as a district get to decide then how to allocate those. So each year we establish what's going to be that um threshold that a campus needs to meet in terms of their economically disadvantaged population to be granted some of a a portion of those funds. Last year we the number was at 50%. We used to actually be able to keep that number lower because we had more title funds. So I think when I started maybe seven, eight years ago, it was at 40, you only needed 40% to be getting it. And so every year we have to make that calculation. If you lower the the percent threshold and each campus gets fewer dollars, right? If you raise the threshold, fewer campuses get more of
039those title dollars. But one thing I've talked to um Christy Fox, she's um manages our state and federal grants um is that we'll have to go through that process this year just like we do every year. But then looking at specifically special situations where you have a campus that was almost completely economically disadvantaged population, but now if the combined population isn't, how do we make sure that they that those supports don't just get erased? And so again, we get to decide how we allocate those title funds and we we already have an eye on specifically those situations where the population might bring them below the threshold, but that we still are going to say, you know what, we're going to make sure that they get those allocations. >> Yes. Yes. >> Um it is absolutely
040a commitment that we will look at it. So the um so the Can I clarify? So every school like like our superintendent said that has a tap is already going to be allocated extra resources. So some of them are going to get that on top of it, right? And so if they're already getting that, that's going to say, okay, they're getting this extra 800,000. that means that we can maybe lower the amount of title that kind of lowering that threshold so that we can make special um accommodations for these types of scenarios. So I can promise you that it will be a conversation. I'm not going to be I'm not the person that can promise you that what decision will be made, but I can be I can assure you that extra allocations would be
041given to make sure that the need is met. And I think you could speak more to that. Well, I I think your your question is a is a is one that I I think is an important one and that is the way that we get at that staffing allocations um plan is to understand what is going to happen. Um you know that's why in our staffing plan there are five different scenarios and each one of them has their own plan and we will not arrive at that plan until our principles are together until our staff are working through it till we have other people in the room. If I just came and said it's going to be this, this, or this, that is not necessarily going to meet the needs of that community. We know
042that. And so, we're kind of in this weird spot where I've committed to going through the work. We're committed to having unique plans for each move, but the details of those plans are not going to be set until y'all's voice, principal voice is included in that process. That's just how we that's how we operate. I I I just want you to know that's how if we came here and said this is the plan, it wouldn't work either. So, that's that's why we go through that process. >> Okay. I see three hands up. So, I'm going to take these three questions and then we're going to go to the next um comment card question. >> Hi, Tracy Dunlap. I'm a teacher here, pre-K teacher and a leader with Education Austin. We've met Superintendent Sigura. And I
043want to ask a follow-up question about staffing allocations. First of all, I want to start off by saying having a meeting at 8 a.m. on a Wednesday disenfranchises staff from being able to participate in this process. Okay, this was the the communication was that this was for staff and community, but at 8:00 in the morning, most staff are in their classrooms serving our students. So, well, it disenfranchises some parents that have to work as well, but um focusing on staff here, I have not yet heard a commitment that all staff will be able to move. >> So, so here's the thing. Um, I keep hearing that a school is more than a building. Okay, I agree with that. But a big part of what a school is is the staff that take care of the
044kids. [applause] And there won't be room at the consolidated campus for everybody from Campbell and everybody from Maplewood to all stay together with our community. And I'm mostly concerned, you know, I have a contract as a teacher and whether it's at Campbell or somewhere else, if I want to stay in AISD, I feel pretty confident that I'll have a job. But we have classified employees here that have been working here for 25 or 30 years. and what happens to our custodians, our cafeteria workers. To be told 2 years from retirement after 25 years of service at a campus that you can't move with your school community and you maybe don't even have a job is devastating. So, I'm looking for a guarantee that anybody from this campus who works here who wants to go to
045Campbell has that place. So, the last half of that question where you said that um classified staff um are are worried about um not having a job. I've been very clear the entire time. Educators, professionals, classified staff, custodial staff, food service staff, these these individuals are in many ways like the foundation of our system. They really are. I you know that about me. I I get frustrated when I hear that that's not some a group of people that we care about or supporting. We are very much thinking about them. And I have said that they will have a job in Austin ISC as I've said. So I cannot guarantee I cannot guarantee that's what you're asking for. I will I can't guarantee. >> That's I and I appreciate that. But that's not you know I
046can't guarantee that because at the end of the day look at the student teacher ratio. When you have a combined student group you're not there's going to be some adjustment. There just is. And I don't want to sit here and guarantee something. Now, our intent is have everybody that we can work and get into the new school together. We want familiar faces. That is how this plan can be successful. I'm not going to go and we're not going to hire anybody outside of these communities. That's not going to happen. This communities first. We work through a plan. we figure out how to get everybody over a given the student population the allocations, but I can't guarantee that we'll have six custodial staff when in every other school at that size we'll have three or four.
047Like that just that's just not a guarantee I can give you. But I can guarantee that they'll have a job. I can guarantee you that they'll give us input and what they want next in their future at Austin ISD. And I can guarantee you that with that information, we will ensure that it matches as best as we can. And we've said that every single time. That is that is how it has to work. There's no way I could guarantee that every single person in both schools would remain. I mean that's >> so two principles. >> I mean four I mean that that I mean >> that's not so the principal. So that's that's one of the that's one of the efficiencies that's one of the that's the honest truth. So when you think about um
048how a principal's administrative staff are allocated within Austin ISD, you have a principal for 150 kids, 200 kids, 240 kids, 500 kids, 600 kids, one principal like that's the same, >> right? And so >> no, but that you just But I'm just telling them going like administrative staff that's front office staff as well, right? That gets asked about all the time. How >> one of the things that we're trying to do is become more efficient to reduce cost. So how >> we're trying to reduce cost and earlier. Okay. So, I'm going to go ahead and bring us because we had said that we had to let two other people go and then I'm going to take a question from the comment card and then I see you have your hand up. Um, and I'll take
049the gentleman in the back next and that's about all I can keep in my brain. Hi, my name is Carla. I have a kindergartener and a second grader here. Um, and to piggyback on to Miss Dunlap's question, you're telling us that our staff will not be whole and move over if we consolidate with Campbell. You have also said that the district will appoint the new principal in December. the new principal has a say in the staff it takes over. Looking at a timeline that likely won't happen until Q1, January, February, March. You're also asking us as Maplewood community to enroll in AISD at that same period. Talking to all of my friends, I know a 100% for a fact many people are already looking outside of this district, looking at charters, looking at private. I
050also know that AISD is having a problem with attrition. We are losing students left and right. losing students from an A campus with a dedicated staff and TEA just said we're number four elementary school in Texas. Losing this community, sorry, by academic growth standards. um losing this community and having us sign up elsewhere out of it because we won't know what we're signing up for when you're expecting us to sign up is a huge disservice. And also, Matias, I was at your meeting for East Austin Schools last night. You consistently said, "We want to protect brown and black students." Combining Maplewood with Campbell, a historically black campus, is not supporting that argument. So uh the first thing is I am very aware that the type of harm that can be introduced if we don't go
051through a process that transitions Campbell period the reality is Campbell is very very small very small there are lots of empty seats in this And so to address this solution as a whole, something has to move the and as I said before and I and and there were if if we went a different way and took Campbell, moved them into Maplewood, how much of their culture would be preserved if you distribute if can I can I can I >> can I >> folks can we let can we let him complete a thought and then if there's follow-up questions I'm happy to come back around. So or you distribute right you break you break the school up some students go north some students go east some like black shear is already receiving students there there's not
052a lot of opportunity to ensure that that community stays together if we go through with this solution with enough planning time then we have a better chance of doing it than a more than what potentially could be a more disruptive way which I just described there aren't lots of options here so the other thing I'll say is um the question I I understand that that the um the comment uh or the question around um ultimately uh that was earlier around staff participating you being a staff person uh we were very clear and and you will see meetings I'm not sure if one has occurred already with just staff so when we have these meetings we really try to follow the lead of the community kind of what works best no time is ever going to
053be perfect. I so I apologize that it's at 8 a.m. That's not, you know, I'm I'm trying to make this work. It could I I will show up wherever you want me to show up. That's the honest truth. Uh we are going to have additional meetings with staff so we can hear staff voice and can and make sure that it is clear we have that dialogue and support them through this process. Um so I just want you to know that if it hasn't happened, it will happen. We're going through just like we're having these meetings. Um and you know, I'm happy to look at alternatives, refinements. The one thing that you said that I want to talk about is hiring of the principal, right? So, in the milestone schedule I I shared with trustees um
054several weeks ago was that in December, we want to make sure that we identify who the principal is. And we wanted to do that so that we had enough of a runway to have that principal work with the schools, begin to go through the staffing process, so earlier in the process, our families would know. if I wait till even January, right, I lose about four to five weeks in a 12-week registration process. And so it does even, you know, even delaying it weeks really harms our ability to support any family transition. We don't want families to leave Austin ISD. We absolutely don't. But right now, I don't have the ability to fund us and stay whole and and solvent for years to come. I just don't. And so that puts us in a very difficult
055spot. But that's why we have these timelines set. Um, you know, there's going to be dialogue with our trustees this evening in a work session. We'll refine, we'll improve. This feedback is also very helpful. I'm excited to see what plans that y'all may be brought forward. But that's why we wanted those timelines to be done that way. >> Real quick, um, and I'm going to let you follow up, but um, we also do have a little bit more detail. We're trying to figure out the timeline of the enrollment cycles. We're kind of changing the rounds that we've historically done. So, if you'd like, we can kind of talk a little bit about that. Did you want to ask your follow-up first or Okay. >> I just feel like that didn't address my question. So like
056you're saying here you're going to select a principal then you can't select the staff until after that. So it's going to be January. So I appreciate your answers but I feel like it didn't address our confidence in enroll reenrolling and AISD moving forward. >> Yeah. Let's talk real quick about the timeline for enrollment. >> Hi. Good morning everyone. Uh previously I introduced myself as the executive director of campus engagement and campus and family engagement. Uh but that means I have the pleasure of serving uh the enrollment, parent support and um engagement teams uh along with student attendance. Uh and so we are um working through the transition planning um and there are several changes to the system. And so the first thing to know is that you will have from approximately not set in stone
057midFebruary um until midappril to make decisions as a family about where you're going to choose to enroll. So there will be time um throughout uh the process so that things will be more firm, things will be more known, things will be more understood uh before you are um asked to make kind of that final decision. Yeah. Um so we uh can't control their timeline, right? And um our timeline is constrained by uh you know different factors. So we are getting things moving um as early as we can. We know that this year there's going to be a little a transition and then moving forward there will be permanent timelines that'll be put into place. Um in general uh what we will have moving forward is that um the early registration period the round one will
058be for um special programs uh things that are districtwide um type programs. And so no longer will anyone feel like they have to jump on it in November in order to uh secure a spot. And so round two general registration will start in the second semester and that will um uh so that is how we will be able to um accommodate everyone and within the system every family will still have choices. So um you will be able to rank uh the choices. If you are here at Maplewood and um you are zoned to Maplewood, you will be presented with Campbell if everything goes forward. um as your zoned campus. If you are transferred to Maplewood and you rank Campbell first in your um rank of uh campuses, then um that will be automatically granted. However,
059you you're not required to do that as well. And just to clarify on what you were asking about the timelines. So in light of understanding charter schools timelines, if you recall when we started the enroll Austin system, that's when we started introducing the enrollment opening in November. Um obviously the timeline that we're on with this process prevents us from opening that early this year. But moving forward, we would resume that practice of starting in November. Um, okay. I have you back here and I was gonna come up to you and the gentleman in the kind of puffer jacket. Hi, I'm Libby. I have two kids here. Um, nice to meet you. Thank you for being here. Um, I just wanted to go back because the first question was about academics and why are you closing
060Maplewood and we got in a lot of different tangents and I just am hoping you could say in like one sentence why because I I heard you say like that's inefficiency. We're efficient. We're we're we cost 21% less than the average. you you mentioned Campbell and the equity there and the special culture and not wanting to move um you know data you mentioned data about not wanting to move underserved kids. We have just as many underserved kids here as at Campbell. Um and so can you just say in like a sentence why are you closing this amazing efficient A-rated school? So the >> that's why I'm that's why I'm taking my time. >> I I don't want to. >> Matias, it might be helpful to look at >> No, I'm gonna respond. I I think
061it's important to respond. Um yes, Maplewood is efficient. There's no doubt. Uh CA Campbell also is very small. This is two of 116 schools that we have. So I I I I don't want to not to argue that you're not efficient or that you're not doing great things. That's not that's not what we're we're doing. I am trying desperately to ensure that every school has the ability to be to get to their students what Maplewood is able to give to their students. And I cannot do that without hang I I understand this is this is the challenge I have with 70,000 students. We are running a budget deficit. I do not have the ability to fund everything that we need to to ensure that our students get what they need. And given where our schools
062are, they're fixed. Given where our families live, that's fixed. There are limited opportunities we have within the 116 to to improve efficiencies, to find dollars, to allocate elsewhere in the district to become the district where every student gets what they need. That's the honest truth. It it's not Maplewood specific. We understand how great this community is. We we I understand that. >> So, Matias, I think it would >> cost you more. I would like I would like to give a little bit more like technical detail to the question they were asking because I think that you're kind of going like philosophically. Um if I pulled up this slide because it kind of shows there are many things as Matias started out saying that we're trying to solve for across the district, right? But there's a
063lot of vast differences in our city in terms of what when we did that rubric what the misalignments were, right? And so we have to look at things in regions because we're looking at opportunities of schools that are adjacent to one another, right? we've already we've decided we're not going to be trying to transfer students to school to pass several schools to get to another school, right? Um and so this map kind of showed like certain areas we have too many seats, certain areas we have not enough seats. And so you have to really when we think about what h what we decided for Maplewood and I'm going to ask um Miss French to come up and kind of talk specifically about what we looked at like what are the challenges in this area of
064all the schools what are the constraints and things that we needed to solve around and how we it's not like we like we only looked at this option right we looked at all of the different configurations that we could do and landed on this as being the most feasible um that addresses the most issues with the least disruption which might seem like you know difficult to believe But if you look at some of the other options, it introduces other problems. So I want to ask Miss French to talk a little bit. >> All right. Hi. And I have just going to stay seated because I'm looking at my computer and if there's follow-up questions. So when closing schools, no one wants to do that. It's terrible. I think we all agree we don't want to
065be doing this. But knowing that that is our path forward to get to where we need to be efficiently as a district, that is kind of our starting point, right? And the task at hand. I'm here with you. I get it. Um I will say so we had to then look at okay how can we make it least disruptive as possible to do this hard thing and the one thing we could control in some instances and this is not the case everywhere but if we had the ability to keep a whole community together and I hear y'all about staff and I think we've addressed that but the students we've at least addressed it the best we can today. So the keeping students together if we can do that we want to do that and this
066was an instance where we could. So that is why when we're closing Oak Springs they are going into Black Share there was space for both communities to stay together. That is why when we look at Campbell and Maplewood both communities can stay together in Campbell's building. We did look at other solutions. We can't fit all of Oak Springs, all of Campbell, all of Blackshere into one building. we can't fit like we looked at well what what what about Blandon that's nearby what can we do there but that is a large school with a large resident population and it's um it's a bigger school and that is just one of the facts that we have in our district and in our building inventory and then when we look at you know further northeast because we again
067we look at everything as a system um we have you know Sanchez is a you know we have these we that's kind of a separate I don't want to go into that we'll talk through that with that community and we'll talk through the board meeting board tonight but there's and we have modernized buildings throughout the district and we have a lowered reside population. So, I'm just we've spent countless hours looking and iterating and trying to find a solution that provided the least amount of impact and when we had the ability to keep communities together, that is what we prioritized here and that is what got us to the solution that we're talking through today. So, >> I'm happy to do that. Um, and then, um, I do want to make sure that I get to
068the two people that I said I would call on. So, I'll let me go through the next comment card and then we'll get to people. And I appreciate that. We are breezing through the time. >> Um, okay. What happens to Mabel in this? I think this be for Miss Cardinus. What happens to Maplewood's dual language program? Will it move intact to Campbell and how will admission access work? Will siblings continue to have preferred access to the program? Okay, thank you so much for that question. So, we heard Mr. Sagura talk a little bit about um just where emergent bilingual students live, right? And where our dual language programs are. So, dual language, as you know, is a bilingual education model. The intent is to serve emergent bilingual students. In Austin ISD, we want others to
069participate. So, we have um locations where students can do that, where we have a mixture of non-emergent bilingual participation and emergent bilingual participation. I know this campus can do hard things. I remember visiting this campus when principal no was just starting off and we had lots of conversations and look at where you are now, right? So, I know this campus can do hard things. Thinking about that, thinking about that, um, we do want to acknowledge that you have a dual language program here. We also want to acknowledge that you have a tiny number of emergent bilingual participating. You have uh 14% emergent bilingual participants in your dual language program. But we also want to the proposal is to move the strand that you have now into Campbell and then start to phase it out, right?
070Just because there are not enough emergent bilingual students either here at Maplewood or in the Campbell area. But we do respect, right, what you've done with your dual language program. And so that is uh the direction that we'd like to move in. That means that your current strand would move. we would not be bringing new students into the dual language program. Um, and again, it would just roll up and then roll out. We also want you to know that there are other dual language programs here in the area, right? So, you also can, if you want to apply to Bllandon has a dual language program, Harris has a dual language program, Andrews, Sanchez, Pickle. There are other campuses in the area that also have dual language programming. Thank you so much. I'm gonna do one
071more comment card. Um, and just so you know, we did schedule this till 9:30, so we actually have about a half hour. Um, yeah, a followup to the dual language question. >> I'm I'm curious to know about the staff. How are they going to be incentivized to stay if we're winding down their employment? >> In in this particular um instance, and again, I can't make guarantees. some not talent strategy. But in this particular instance, Campbell does not have a dual language program and you do and you have the staff right now. Um, so with the program moving, we will need bilingual certified teachers in that in that program. It will be it will be >> Can you repeat the question because I don't think that picked up on the mic for the interpretation. >> The
072follow-up question. Mhm. Yes, it will be a phase out program just simply because there are not enough emergent bilingual students between Maplewood and Campbell and we really are trying to again as Mr. Matias said I mean Mr. Mr. Siguda said we we also need to see so just so you'll know um just kind of big big picture I wrote this down every year every school district has to submit their number of ESL waiverss and bilingual exceptions. What that is is those are teachers who are working on their certification but are not yet certified with their ESL or their bilingual. So Austin ISD uh this year is submitting 438 waiverss and exceptions. Um there 161 of those are for bilingual positions. So that means we have that number of classrooms that are are being served by
073teachers that are working towards their certification but do not have their certification right now. So that just kind of puts things in perspective when we look citywide about how much uh our bilingual certified teachers right need to be in the areas where we have um strong where we have emergent bilingual students for strong programming. Okay. The next question in the um comment card was a one with multiple comments, but we've covered already is that will current Maple Maplewood transfer students and their siblings be automatically accepted? That was not part of the original release draft, but it is something that we are updating to clarify. >> Yes, >> it counts for all transfers even out of district. >> Say that question again. The clarification that that would be your option. That would be the family's option.
074So, we would we would have the trans the students in the the question it was around dual language and if a if there was a student who is already I guess in pre-k or kindergarten that was in the program would that apply? If the student is in the school, a siblings in the school, third grade, and a student's coming as a kindergartener, we would automatically approve that transfer. Now, the programming at that school is really a decision for the family. We have families right now that choose to split their students up because one school has a program, the school doesn't. We would not be able to offer necessarily that that um that pathway because by board policy, we have to have 18 emerging bilingual students in the school >> um to actually to be per
075grade. Yeah. To be able to actually >> allocate the staff. So, there's this kind of conflict that we run into. Um, but we would trans we would automatically approve the transfer if you choose to to go to the new school. >> Okay, next question back here. >> Hello. >> Appreciate you guys coming out. Um, I think we need to set a baseline on what this conversation is. So, from looking at how you guys are talking about it and this this is labeled as a draft. I think it's become very clear to us here that this is a draft in terms of the details like the transfer details. This is very clearly not a draft at the base part of what your staff's recommendation is going to be that Maplewood will be merged with Campbell. Am
076I correct in that? That that's going to be a recommendation barring something drastic. Staff's recommendation is not going to change that Maplewood is going to be merged into Campbell. Am I correct? >> So, it'll be my recommendation. So, staffs, uh, there are still things that we're going through. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say yes or no. I will say that the fact that it's in this plan, the fact that it got to this point that there is a strong probability, but we're going through it all. I'm I'm getting comments, we're getting feedback, we're getting comment where we're going to have a discussion with our trustees. At the end of the day, it comes down to what do you exchange? You know, what do you what what objective or what goal do
077we have as a system that doesn't get met if we don't do this or what alternative exists, right? Because we still have empty seats. We still have a budget deficit. We still have lots of things we have to consider. So no, we do have a budget deficit in Austin ISD and this is in Austin ISD. So yes, there is a budget deficit >> and yeah, and we don't need to talk about the budget deficit and where that came from and that yes, that's the state's fault. It's not just the state's fault, but we understand that you are under a lot of pressure and we understand that. But at the same point, if you get yourself in the in a bigger hole later because the decisions you make now, that's not going to help either. And
078we but the basic point is okay, your recommendation is Maplewood's merging. we can co we can concentrate on talking to the trustees. You're interested in hearing details and maybe you'll change your mind. >> And I'll just clarify. So Matias mentioned at the beginning of the meeting that we have a board meeting tonight. We actually will be going through all of the the themes that we heard in the comment cards in the areas. We're looking at different boundaries, these transfer things, and there will be some other discussion um some bigger pieces to the plan that will be under discussion. Um so that'll be a public discussion this evening. Hi, Adam Sparks, first grade parent. I'd just like to say Oh, thank you'all. You look very sharp this morning as well. You look very good and I
079appreciate how hard this is to do this. Um, I'd like to get to the specifics of the issue, which is you're proposing to close this school in a one-month time period in November. I was last here. Well, I I guess you're very good at articulating what the problem is for ASD, but we don't feel confident that this group has the solution because we're a month away. We're a semester away from TA takeover, the finances of the district are taking us to a place where we might not have any money soon. And so, the question is not what the problem is. The question is, is closing this school in a one-mon time frame going to fix that problem? And the answer to Carla's question was the one sentence was why money. So, now let me just
080back up for a second. I was in this room six years ago when the last time that AISD came and proposed this consolidation and back then it was because these windows weren't good and they said that the ceiling was dripping even though that it wasn't that we had to be in a modernized building otherwise our students couldn't learn well but now we're the fourth highest in the state by growth. We're full. We filled the you know we didn't we didn't want the uh portables that made our capacity got high and put us on the top of the rubric. But that's something that y'all asked us to fill and then our principal did that. She filled it. She got the grades up. She did everything that was asked of her. And so the question is, why
081has there been no conversation the last six years? We've had six years to talk about what a Maplewood Campbell conversation was look like. We've had zero. There are no answers on what academics will be there, what programs will be there, which culture will be there. You talk about wanting to help the students at Campbell. Y'all have not spoken to a single parent at Campbell. Is that true? That is true. And so to say that this is for the students at Campbell, but you haven't engaged them once. They can fill out a comment card. You haven't talked to them, you haven't been there, you haven't worked with our school communities, you haven't done any of the leadership. And so when the trustees are saying that the school district's communication on this plan is a failure, when
082people around the district, when you have a room like this, and here's the thing that trustee Boswell said, 72 students leaving the district cost the district a million dollars. the number the thousands of students that have gone to charter and private schools since you last proposed closing this school, millions of dollars. And so the question is, what do we save by closing Maple? Why why do it in a month? There's no reason. I mean, there's no other way to say that. They haven't done the work. There's no reason to close it in a month. Tea demands something on the 20th. They just want to get the money out for the month. So why do we have to rush this into one month to save how much? We were told here in this room with your
083director of operations that we would receive a breakdown of how much money closing this campus would receive. We've been told by yourself. The trustees put it in their notes and not only was that information not given to them, they weren't even uh responded to. Trusty Hunter was not responded to in her request asking for what was promised to us. So, we don't know how much money is going to be saved. It's going to help people in the future. That that will all come in the plan eventually once the school is closed. The estimates are around a million dollars. And if that is true, that is one less than onetenth of 1% of AISD's operating budget. And so the question is, why must we rush all of our children's future into a one-month plan that does
084not have a plan? We saw the plan. It was that one paragraph there. That's all that they thought about uh at least told us about or told either school community about. Why must that happen? For a million dollars, that's going to fix AISD. What is the solution? Why is closing this 72 people I mean let me just ask how many people have looked at a charter school or a uh private school since this plan began. >> Okay. So is this going to help or is this actually going to hurt? Um, I'm just gonna go ahead and start because I wanted to share something. We actually did do kind of a some research into do school closures save money and there are plenty of instances where it doesn't, right? Um, we know that in 2019 when
085we closed schools, we did save money and then what we did was we we planned with those school communities and we said, "What extra investments do they need?" And then the pandemic hit, right? and a lot of those savings were eaten up. Um, but it doesn't mean that just because the funds that were freed up were spent doesn't mean that it didn't free up funds to put in other places, right? But what a lot of what you can see across the board, the kind of consensus is that where the success or failure lies is in the transition, right? Is in supporting families in getting information to families as quickly as possible about what the programs are. And so with the draft that we're releasing on on Friday, we also have started developing a framework for
086those transition plans. So if anyone's familiar with our CAT process, the campus architectural teams where we bring community together to talk about planning for the a new facility or improvements to a facility, it's going to be a similar model to that where we'll bring teams of folks together from both communities to start going step by step through what are all those considerations? What are the considerations for special education? What are the considerations for outreach? Doing block walks, phone banking, meet and greets, all these things that we can begin doing as soon as we know, right? Um but until we and and in a perfect world, if we had more time, a lot of that work could have started if we kind of but we need to know a direction before we start bringing before we
087start bringing folks together because of the timeline that we're on. The truth is in 2022 when we built that bond, it was a two-year process and we were at every single school talking about what's working, what's not, and it built one of the most successful bond projects or programs, right? Um I'm sorry, say that again. >> Can we need to work in the next year? That's one year of excess. >> So, >> yeah. So, so, so this is a so this is a an this is one of the things that we're talking about now, right? Um, with our trustees, I intend to bring it up tomorrow. So, the the reality is will the state take over our school district next month? No. Means please, please, that's you know, no. Um, are there real risks that
088we're navigating? Yes. like that. Those are very significant risks. You said about why weren't you here the last six years if you would have told me in 23 that the state would not allocate any funds. I I wouldn't have believed you in 20 and 25. Well, I was here in 19. I remember that in 19. But think about what happened since then. Think about the pandemic. Think about the change in the federal government. All these things have compacted and I mean added more pressure to our system. So, so to your so to your specific question like does does the vote for for Maplewood and Campbell have to occur on the same timeline? It is it is a separate you have the programmatic moves, you have the tap moves and you have the consolidations which is
089what this is. They are very different. The one thing that I want to kind of reinforce to our community is that we have to stop going through huge devastating changes. I also want time for families to plan. I really, really do. And so I don't want to wait till the spring semester to take a vote. That's not the case. Right. >> So I would that's the question is is the vote next November or is it you take a vote now and then you don't do the change until the following year. Right? So those are two different things because >> why not get it all right? I that's >> so can I just I just want to put something in pers can I put something in perspective for you if let me just put something in
090perspective >> we are represented by people who rep there's seven trustees that represent seven parts of the district and then we have two at large right um if we have committed to doing something that is districtwide I just want you to think about what that what that feels like to the communities that are that have to do that are on a timeline right the turnaround plans because those do have to be voted on, right? And so if we were to remove and our trustees have the authority to do they can they could do that, right? They could pull out the ones that are not as pressed for time. But which schools would that be? That would be what? Breerwoods, Maplewood. Trying to think >> Valley is tied to a tap >> because of wind, right?
091They're not. >> So I think you have to understand that that that what that appears like is that certain school communities are not affected while other ones are affected. >> I still us >> and I think that's a conversation our trustees can have. Right. >> The issue that's the answer the dollars why does the school have to $1 million and why won't we get those financials? >> So it's not. No. So we're providing the financials. Um I well we've we're going to upload another version on the 30th because >> yeah because because one of the things that so there's two competing things here because there's a comment over here from this gentleman that said all staff go right well that that's not going to show obviously any reduction in cost and that's not how it
092would work. >> Soion there's no target amount. What it is is as a system we have to find where we're inefficient. There are two schools. It's Campbell and Maplewood. It's not just maple would be inefficient. It's the fact that we have 140 students at one school and >> we have over 20,000 extra seats in Austin ISD. That's I mean I I don't know. I mean we that is that is much larger than Moody. >> Okay. It's not seven. This the student the basic student a lotment is 6 thou over $6,000. It's not 70 students. >> All right. I'm going to call in three more people. I'm going to do a comment card, but I'm going to call in You'll be after the comment card, then you'll be next, and then I've seen you have your
093hand right back there. Um, so the next comment card, we might have already gone over it. It's about the timeline. That's what we've just been talking about. So, I'm going to go ahead and bring it over here. >> Thank you so much. which I'm I'm not going to say just because you know um so as a parent who had the option at my daughter is a transfer into Maplewood. I had the option of choosing any school in AIS to transfer her to. So that means I had the option to choose to go to Campbell or the option to come to Maplewood. I chose Maplewood because of its higher academic standards and I knew that it had a a track record of highquality education and that's where I wanted my child to go. So my question
094future forward thinking about should this plan go through. What is your plan to bring Campbell up to the highest academic standard that Maplewood has already proven that it can meet? Because what it looks like, and I'm a lifelong Austinite my entire life, and it seems as though Campbell has been allowed to languish in lower scores in underperforming systemically and and there's all these code words running around here about systemic harm and that sort of thing, but what's the plan to make sure that if a merger were to take place that the Campbell students who are there have access to the same high academic standard that has already been set here and that we don't let any students languish. >> Yeah, that's a let me answer that first. So the the first thing I would say
095is um we're not starting from scratch. Just to be honest, the last two and a half years, yes, in 2023 you had 30 schools that fail were failing. 24 you had 29, 25, you have 23, right? There are so many systems in Austin ISD that were not in place two and a half years ago. Uh we didn't have aligned curriculum. And that's the honest truth, M. I mean, I'm that is the honest truth. We had different levels of rigor. We had different expectations for black and brown students. We It's in the data. we can see this and so for us as a system the first thing we needed to do is to figure out do we have an understanding of where our students are on the are they on on grade level or are they
096not that's MTSS multi-ter systems of support which spent we spent the last 18 to 24 months putting into the system the countless hours of professional development so now our educators and our principles understand and and clearly like recognize what students need and when but we didn't have the resources to deploy if we have 40% of the student population at a campus needing tier two or tier three interventions we didn't have the curriculum and we didn't have the content interventionist to actually deploy the curriculum or and provide the instruction. So now in 2024, we went we passed a tax rate election. We got those resources in place now. And so we're tracking for the first time and as far as I can tell looking back years and years and years, we actually have a school district
097and not a district of schools because what has happened is we I'm not going to speak about any specific school, but we did not have the academic focus. Our principles and leaders were not academic leaders. And what was happening was we were asking PR teachers to go and get professional development right over here at central office. And then at some point in the semester, we'd come back and say, "Hey, how's this going to go through observations?" And what was it happening in real time? Was that coaching, that support? And if a student needed to get on grade level, we didn't have the staff in place or the curriculum in place. So that is all in place now. So as you've seen, and I know that many of you all probably have been tracking our accountability,
098it is moving. Early literacy numbers are through the roof. early numery numbers are through the roof. We're going in the right direction. I fully expect all of our campuses to have what they need to be academically successful. And here's the other thing. Two years ago, we implemented a sort um support and resource index and we said, "Okay, those schools that have additional needs need to be prioritized in how we hire. they be prioritized in um the way that we engage the way that we respond to bu um operating I mean uh oper uh building operations uh tickets like everything needs to be prioritized in a way to get them where they need to be and it's moving so I have my expectation is that the rigor will be there it's already moving that we have
099an aligned curriculum that we're doing things together we've st we've stabilized so many things across the district we're 97 half% staff now attrition rate between title one title one schools is below 2% it 22% two years ago. So I feel confident that when we plan together, you our students at any school in Austin ISD will have what they need to be successful. And so we're not starting from zero. We've been starting that work and we talk about it all the time. There's been lots of presentations about it, which is why I feel confident that if we just can keep doing what we are doing, find resources. I I did not think we would be here in 23 or in 25. Honestly, nothing shifted and the pressure only increased. Well, so >> so but that that's
100that that's the whole thing is like we have to do it together like the planning I can tell you the framework I we we just I just shared with you all the things we're doing school by school the curriculum all the inter like all of those things what you're asking for is what do you what is going to happen when these schools come together specifically right that requires the principles the staff have everybody coming together and planning. That's what's required, which is why we're not going to make a decision in the spring semester. I've overseen magnet. I mean, I've overseen mergers for sure. >> Norman Norman Sim, I mean, I I don't want to get into that debate. I I've overseen mergers for sure in Austin ISD. Norman Um, so I just learned that we
101actually have some representatives from Campbell. So if the folks I've already called on can hold tight, I want to make sure we create space for them. >> So I actually want to speak together with Liz. Um, Liz is the PTA president here and her and I are also friends as well. Um, I'm the PTA president of Campbell. Uh, I think a lot of people in this room know my face. I don't know you guys' face because we have not had a meeting with you at our school. >> Yeah. So, I want to give Liz space after myself, but I do want to touch on one thing just because I'm going to always defend Campbell. Uh, the last question was about how we will are we going to hold our students to the standard that they
102hold Maplewood parents. I can answer that question and this is the only positive that will come probably from this is actually our students our lowest income students do score higher than most in the district. So that is actually um something we're very proud of and something that actually our lowest income students do sky score higher than the the students here and our highest students uh I mean our students with the highest income also have gifted intelligent programs as well. So that's just doesn't paint the full picture of our school which sort of reiterates the point that we don't have enough school. But uh I'm going to continue. So when I listened to you speak, you talked about a thoughtful transition and yet we have not had a meeting at our school with you guys. Um
103and as we know this will affect equity. And so listening to you guys talk about equity uh without hosting a meeting with the people of color that do attend Campbell Schools, it it should be borderline embarrassing to use that word. It's almost inappropriate. Our families didn't even know about the consolidation until after the the draft plan was uh was started. Um we know historically black and brown families tend to be the least considered in these conversations. They take the longest time to mobilize as low socioeconomic families often do everywhere, not just in AISD. And we all do know that. AISD knows that. They talk a lot about diversity and equity. With that being said, our families didn't know until this plan was already proposed. And then we had a short turnaround time. We did have
104a meeting with Trusty Hunter. We had a lot of questions. We did get more of a turnout than we would typically get for these things. But I had to hope that I would have the space and I wanted to give the Maplewood parents the space to speak. But we have not been heard and it's nice that you guys get to hear me here, but uh we had to find out through Trusty Hunter that this meeting was even happening. Um so you talk about pushing out families. Uh 40% of our students transfer in. We've spoken to those families. They transfer in because it is primarily a historically black school. those students when they are outnumbered by white students we cannot say that they will transfer in which once again brings back the point of attrition. So
105planning for attrition of black and brown families is a wild way to start this. Uh we also talk about transfers. Uh we have asked our trustee to get a guarantee from you that legacy families will also be guaranteed transfers. Um because that goes beyond siblings. Um we have family we have alumni that have showed up uh to all of our meetings. uh the ones that Yeah, we didn't we didn't see you at um we talk about immigration uh and our federal government and us not having as many uh students um coming into our schools. Um but our students actually a lot of them speak Pasha. Um so it's not actually uh it's not the same English as a second language issues that the other schools face. But with that being said, this dual language program
106that students are going to be grandfathered into is going to show up at Campbell and our students won't have the act have access to that. So, I'd like that guaranteed as well that our students will have access to that program. Uh, you said that dual language will phase out at Campbell. Is that correct? Uh, why? So, that will show up at our school and our our students won't have access to that. So, once again, our students are going to lose. Uh and then we uh yeah, we we were talking about interventionists. If a lot of these families that did raise their hands that can afford charter schools and afford private schools don't attend our school and we are to lose the funds allocated for interventionists, they were able to raise the funds for their own
107interventionists. We were provided that through title one are once again now we're running into the issue of how will we afford that? And I know we're supposed to hold on to a promise, but I don't know how trustees can make these decisions without them actually being locked in because if those families don't attend and we don't have the funding for it, where are they going to come from? Because our school scoring the way that it does is based on these things and specifically around our culture. We are not an F school. All statistics point to the fact that we should be an F school given our low income status. Um, and then yeah, uh, I definitely want to, uh, iterate the fact that, you know, I can't speak for all of Campbell, though, uh, you
108know, we have not, as far as PTA, we have the same parents that show up all the time, and we need time to mobilize our communities. Um, and we again haven't had a meeting, and I don't think I'm going to see you guys before Friday at our school. So, Hi, I'm Liz and I'm the PTA co-president here at Mipplewood. And Ken and I have actually been having a lot of conversations um in throughout this whole process because we are very aware of our communities being impacted by this consolidation. And we are having conversations of what that transition plan will look like. We've been having conversations of the negative impact it will have on our communities and we just want to make sure that we as we're recognizing that if this consolidation happens Campbell student body
109and culture will shrink and our the conversation we've been having is that Campbell's belief and frustration is that Campbell will become Maplewood. the campus is going to be brand new for Maplewood as well. So, we just want to make sure that there's specific concrete measures in place um and that the district has will be implementing to ensure that the needs of Campbell's current largely economically disadvantaged families are being prioritized and protected throughout this process, including their cultural programs and their title one status. And additionally, how will the district ensure that MAP's academic achievement is maintained, honored, and protected, especially with the staff who have been a very huge part of that. So, we have very two different goals. We just don't understand how this is going to work. Understand that the funding needs to be
110there. You guys need to save those dollars. Why couldn't the boundaries go the other way? Can you explain what you mean by the other way real quick? >> Oh, I see. So, like I got it. Got it. Yeah. >> Did we you kind of already spoke to that a little bit or do we want to >> Can you speak a little bit to why? So, it sounds like the question is why wouldn't you combine Lakshir and Campbell? Is that or Oak Springs? Oh, Oak Springs and um uh No, not you. I think it was you Black Oak Springs to Black Share is in the current plan, which you're I guess that when you say the other way, you're saying Oak Springs and Campbell. Is that what you're >> Oh, Blackshire and Campbell. >> Yeah. So,
111>> there there aren't as many as you I mean, there are lots of there's schools that are around each other, but they don't all fit. And Got it. >> Understood. Yeah. >> Got it. So folks, I want to make sure that we kind of >> Yeah. So, I want to make sure that we respect because I think that they had some questions that we still haven't answered and I want to make sure we address that. Um, I think that possibly Rachel's because y'all submitted I'm assuming that that plan was part of some of those questions that y'all had about the options that were proposed. So, I'll let Rachel maybe talk a little bit about some of the constraints, what might what is possible, maybe isn't possible. Um, as far as getting to Campbell, like I
112I just will say I do feel disappointed in our in myself and in the organization that we haven't been able to get there yet, and I appreciate you being here today, and we we absolutely are going to make that happen. There are there are lots of schools that we haven't made it to yet, right? Um it is is not a timeline that I would have picked if if I were to say how to get through this in a really perfect thoughtful way, right? Um that's just the reality. Um we haven't gotten to a lot of the campuses that have their programs um that are going to be made wall to wall, but we are working through to get there and we are happy to prioritize making it to Campbell and we recognize that that is
113something that needs to happen and we wish could have happened sooner. >> I don't know who's saying my name. >> So >> Oh, okay. Yes. >> Yes. >> So, thank you for that. If you've reached out, I apologize if I've missed that. I have been in communication with Miss Barbara who coordinated that and we have had conversations about bringing these communities together. just hasn't gotten on the calendar yet, but we are going to have those conversation. >> Sorry, I just I just want to jump in. Hi, I'm Staca Pascal. I'm the director of strategic planning and organizational effectiveness. I work with Dr. Lewis and we are a part of what's called the bridge team. And so our focus has been looking at the humans at the center of this impact. And so we're thinking through
114and planning and already being responsive in providing support as we are going through this consolidation process. I wanted to speak to what you named. Yes, there has not been a fullfront district presence, but I have engaged in conversations with principal Moore. I've also engaged in conversations with alumni members from Campbell. So there is background work that is happening. Um, I've been in conversations with Miss Barbara Corver Spears to ensure that I am fully thinking through with my team all of the ways in which we need to be prepared if this vote goes through. So, I I do want to name that those things are not lost on me. Um, we are working together as a team to think through how fear is going to show up and impact the identity of our children. And so
115um I just wanted to name that. The second thing that I wanted to speak to is one of the ways that we are engaging with communities is in smaller pockets. So there is the the massive uh show that's happening. So I didn't speak to parents at Campbell. That's the point. Uh, so I went into the adults that are a part of what's happening at Campbell because what I didn't want to do was to bring everyone into a space and it didn't happen. So I began in how do we put in the framework that we're building those considerations that might not be a part. And so I I just wanted to name that. So how did I what? So one thing that was really important was holding on to the culture that came built through their
116uniform policy through the fine arts and so thinking through what does that mean? So that was one of the pieces that we talked about and looked at how do we ensure that Campbell's identity doesn't become lost in the merger. So those are things that we have. We've looked at processing circles. We've looked at morning meeting prompts that could be a part of talking through how do students feel and how are they impacted in the possibilities of this change. So those are some examples of how it came into the framework. The other thing I wanted to speak to um with the PTA presidents we are so grateful that you guys are coming together and having these conversations and as Ally named we will improve in how we engage. We have had missteps, right? So, we're acknowledging
117that. I don't want you to think that anyone is being dismissive of the possibilities of harm that could come. So, I just wanted to take a moment and say that. I'm going to pass it back. I appreciate that you didn't growl at me and you gave me some smiles. And I'm just going to invite us all into like a collective breath because the passion we have here in the room is because we love our children and we want what's best for our children. And I get that. My why is deeply rooted in my son's experience here in Austin ISD. I wanted him to be able to go to any school and a teacher, a principal of whomever see him for the potential of what he could be, not a statistic that they thought he was.
118So I I I want you to know these things are not lost at all. There are people extremely passionate about ensuring that kids have access to educators who see them and encourage them and push them even when they are falters in the resources that are available. >> Thank you. So, we are running out of time and our superintendent does have another engagement um in 30 minutes and it's about 20 minutes away. Um I want to just touch on the what another I skipped a few questions that have already been discussed but this one hasn't come up yet. Um what is the plan and timeline for closed campuses including potential sale or repurposing? And will playgrounds stay open to neighborhoods? >> Okay, move on to that one. Got it. Let's see. All right, that was the
119last one we had prepared. So, and I had called on you, I know. So I'm going to let you have the last question. >> Yeah, there are just a few threads to follow up on. One is if there is such a concern about preserving the culture of Campbell as well as Maplewood, what about options for citing prek at Campbell? What about options for citing the headquarters of creative action at Campbell? It seems like the problem that we have here is an inefficient use of a large building. And because there is an inefficient use of a large building, you have to shut down the fourth highest growing academic school in the state and it just it doesn't follow for me. And this is a very, as you said, this is kind of a clean consolidation. I
120understand some of the other consolidations you're talking about involve multiple schools and a lot of complicated pieces. This is one where you could just take this consolidation off the list, leave everything else the same, keep your same timeline, and just reconsider whether there is a way to utilize the space at Campbell for something that would benefit their community and generate the dollars that we need. So, so we do take that approach and throughout AISD and other schools as well. I will tell you that there aren't enough partners. There aren't enough. We we we tried to do that. >> Trust I I I appreci I >> I I this is what we've do been doing. I've been filling up schools. You can go to many schools and see all the partners that we have. It is
121not that simple. Well, at at the end of the day, it's not just the operational cost of the building. It's the administrative cost of running two two schools that could collectively run together that so it's both. It's not just the water and energy. That's not just that because that would solve part of it, but we still have a tons of space in Austin ISD. It's the other half as well. And so, I do I do hear you. I understand. Um, and I I do appreciate the comment. >> Exactly. This is a unique situation. This is a unique situ. This is in my knowledge the only situation where you're moving a very large community that has been, you know, accountability ratings are what they are. They're flawed, but has been an extremely successful community in this
122place. It's walkable. We've presented y'all with a lot of new uh data about new developments that are going in that are intended. Our neighborhood associations here work very hard to not be nimbies to have affordable housing go in. And um there's there's tons of development to be happening. Um if you close this school now and close Campbell now and those developments go in, you may have to reopen one anyway. So what we're talking about is is there a way to sort of find a more temporary solution for the use of the building space and preserve the capacity here for the population that continues to grow in this area uniquely compared to the rest of Austin. And I apologize. I did actually call on one other person, so I'm gonna let you have the last word.
123>> I'm sorry. Go. Did you >> I apologize. >> Yeah. I mean, I I think this is this is what makes this so hard. I mean, it no plan is perfect. We're going to have the conversation with trust. I'm sorry there. Sorry. No plan is perfect. I I And this is a this is unique. I mean, I I I will I going to acknowledge that there it it is also one of the only ones. We have three that are wholly into one school. Um when we talked about the uh intent of any disruption, trying to keep communities together was really really important. I understand the staffing perspective, but we really focus on the student. That's where we start and then we go from there. But staff is equally important. We just have different ways to
124solve for that as this entire school district. Uh we're going to have that conversation uh with our trustees tomorrow about you know what what we do and what timeline we use. Ultimately, what I what I'm wanting to not do is just assume that no change or no nothing will occur at some point in the future because we as a system like there aren't enough partners to fill up all the spaces. I've been doing this. It doesn't exist. We have too many empty seats in Austin ISD and I have to solve for it and they're not all in one location. They're spread kind of evenly throughout. And so, how do you become more efficient? You have to look at difficult things. And my view question that was asked earlier the the attitude that these will be
125the recommended schools is confusing to me because when the rubric came out we were told it's too soon to talk about closures. You're not on a closure list. We don't need to talk about that yet. But then as soon as the draft came out, we were told it would be unfair to take any school off of this list of 13. And we heard that tonight or this morning again. Um it would be unfair or it would create too much additional work to go back. This is a draft plan and the most fundamental part of the plan is this list. So, can you commit that you will revise the closure list where whether it's Maplewood or other schools? Can you commit that based on feedback you've received and new facts you've gathered, you will revise the
126list of 13? >> So, I I am going to work with our trustees to get to to consider all of it because that that that is it is all of it. What I didn't want to do is um add a school like what I've gotten into conversations is where with the community like what about this other school? What about that other school? Like I I I do not want to go down that road. So if there is a modification, it's going to be about okay, well, how do we address this issue? But what in what time does it absolutely have to be done? >> Because the I it would be unfair, I think, for me to communicate and say this school that has not been talked about, has never been part of this this solution
127now is going to have a completely different direction with the the few days that we have left. Right? So that that to me would be a different strategy. So, so I I want to be really clear. I want to be really really So, here's the thing. I want you to be I I want to be really honest about the number of things that we're tackling at the same time, right? You heard us talk about them. There are there are different moves that we can make because we're doing all of it together that don't exist if we're doing anyone in isolation. Like, if we were just doing turnaround plans, it would look very different. If we're just doing consolidations, it would look different. If we were just doing program moves, it would look different. In fact,
128you'd have more Esau and schools closed perhaps if we weren't tackling all of this together. So, I do not want to necessarily make a huge shift. The board will provide that direction and that conversation to me. It is a draft list. It it very well could change. It's a draft plan, but I can't commit to saying that something will come off or on until we get through that process. I just I I just can't give you that guarantee. >> Okay. And this is going to be the last Yes. Yes. And that we and the other thing I want to point out there was a there's a comment you made around u the list the rubric uh because I've I've heard the inverse position as well where this school was above me on the list. Why
129aren't they closing above me? And and I I want to be really clear like that was intended to identify where we have misalignments in our system. That was a starting point. it was never going to be the case, you know, and and I I said that at the time and I think based on the fact how many of those ultimately were identified for consolidations, you know, kind of just prove like we there are going to you're huge changes all throughout it, but not all of them are consolidations. So, I just wanted to make that point. Thank you. >> Okay, this is our last comment. >> Thank you. Um I want to be respectful of everybody's time. I know we're running late, so I'm not going to echo everybody what everybody has said, which is we
130love our school. We're a proven school being successful. Uh we're a very intentional neighborhood and somebody that works in low-income housing and homelessness that is very important to have neighborhoods open up to such housing. Um my ask for you when you go forward because you've heard all everybody else is the current plan is based on a one for one, right? So you are assuming we're losing the building. We're not I I I contend that you were telling us we're going to take Maplewood, right? Students and we're going to move them over. Transfers are going to be honored and unlike 2019, they're going to get accepted this time. And so our student body communities moving to Campbell. What I don't see in this plan is the real threat of a mass loss of students to AISD.
131So, for example, I'm a fourth grade parent. I intentionally moved into this neighborhood for Maplewood. Um, and so for us, and I'm a huge supporter of school of school districts of public schools. Um, for me, the real question is my child is going to go through three transitions. fifth grade in Campbell. Let's say the plan passes. Fifth grade in Campbell and then sixth grade in Keeling and then those group of students are going to get split again into different high schools, right? No longer McCullum in the proposed plan. So for me the question now and then this goes a little bit back to your timeline and why we were mentioning charters and private schools. It's a really tough decision to stay with AISD given that my child's going to get such disruptions right at a
132time where core education needs to be the priority. He is a minority student. So a lot of the things that you're talking about here are directly impacting my kids and I know I'm not alone, right? Especially not with other fourth grade parents that are going to have the same transition. our community as a whole is going to have another big shift in um when they get to high school. And so I think and my educ my background is not in education, but I do believe that this whole cohort of students are not going to be set up for success when they reach high school, which then will have a tremendous impact of what happens after that. So my question to you is, has this been discussed? Um, and I know there's attrition, people move, there's
133the regular percentage that school districts lose, but this is one real great number where in mass you could potentially be losing a lot of the savings that you are assuming you're going to have by closing Maple Whitney. >> Yeah. So, so, um, two things and then I know we're it's already we'll wrap it up. I'm happy. Again, I I I very much appreciate this conversation. I I I am trying to get everywhere. I really am. Um, I will get to Campbell. The uh the one thing I will say is um regarding student movement, right, and the number of transitions your students going to to have to, you know, endure uh through their academic journey in Austin ISD over 13 or 14 years. Um, that's what we're trying to get away from as a whole system
134because right now we have families that have five and six. I mean, there there are families that have multiple transitions in Austin ISTD now. We're trying to alleviate that and have it be stable for years to come. So, yes, right now there's going to be disruption. I'm assuming you're talking about Northeast Early College High School versus Macallum. And so, the question I have is I want families to feel as though Northeast Early College High School like is a welcoming, loving school that has the academic rigor so that you are comfortable sending your student there. That's what we need to do as a school system. There shouldn't be a Macallum in the Northeast. Hey, I I understand that there are schools that have different programs in Austin ISD. You have IB at Anderson. You have AP
135at some schools. You have early East Side early college. You have early college high school experiences. We academically can make those adjustments, but we don't have the resources to be able to do so. And we are being intentional. We're being forward facing. So, we're looking at those um those uh classes and those um in the student pathways and ensuring that they're going to be there when your student um is there. We're doing that analysis. Now, the other thing that I wanted to talk about was um students leaving, right? I will always tell a family to do what's best for their student. Period. I I believe in that. I do think Austin IST I do believe in public education. Product of it. My kids come here. Like, I just I'm all in. The one thing I'll
136say is there are lots of families who've chosen to leave Austin ISD because in those parts of the city, they don't have strong neighborhood schools. That's just the honest truth. And we don't have the ability to fund them. Like I can I >> There's se there's seven >> no right in the future. So for us part of what and Adam correct me if I'm speaking incorrectly here uh is the immediate right. So you are having a a subset of students that are going to carry this setback several years right and we know history has shown once you have begun at a disadvantage and this is a huge disadvantage not just the transition and I'm not talking about the building right I'm talking about something that you can't assure us today and I understand why you
137can't you can't assure that you're going to take the staff and the teachers that are in Maplewood that have led us here >> all staff Right. You can't take all staff. >> I want to be very clear because people have been saying that back and forth that you said all staff. That was the guarantee I couldn't make. >> Right. That's the guarantee you can't make. But as we all know, all staff and I think one of your members spoke about this when we had a new principal. There were some growing pains, right? We overcame that, but it took time. And so that's the time that our fourth graders, our fifth graders, they don't have that. And so with us asking for, hey, let's slow down a little bit. We are not um we understand budgetary
138constraints. We understand where we are and we need change. I don't think anybody's arguing against change. I think we're arguing against the um lack of time and transparency. And so that that um we would fully support your plan should we have a slower time frame. And people have been throwing around a year or other things. I don't know what the magic number is, but I do know a month is not. And so if we could take this plan that you currently have and do it in phases or perhaps spend a little bit more time ironing out these things so that we have more time to make the better choice for our students. Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and go over the timeline. We've talked a lot about these dates and sometimes said the
139wrong dates, so I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. But that board workshop is this evening. Um you're welcome to tune in. I think it's from 6 to 8 9 somewhere in there. Um then the release of the the revised draft will be this Friday. Um and that that revised draft will then again be discussed at the November 6th board meeting. So that's the next Thursday. Um and then we have our November 20th board um voting meeting is when the the final plan is anticipated to be voted on. Um, and so, and then of course, as of right now, we're recommending these changes go into effect for the 2627 school year. Um, I want to thank everyone for your time. Um, I know that Matias has to get out of
140here, but a lot of us will probably be able to stay if there's still questions we didn't get to. Um, and we will definitely be in touch with you and making sure that we find um, time in our schedules. It may not be before this Friday, but we can assure that it will be before the vote that we can get with your community. Um, so thank you everyone and I'm going to give it to Principal No because I think she has some announcements. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you, central office. Thank you, Matias. Appreciate you guys. Um, we love you guys. Thank you for showing up for your kids. Uh, thank you to our guests, um, wherever you're from. Uh, thank you for making kids a priority, um, and choosing to spend part of
141your day and definitely part of your lives. Uh thank you for your commitment to uh ensure that these conversations are adult conversations and that we uh protect our kids and let them be joyful uh learners in our schools. Uh both Principal Moore and I are fully committed to joyful teaching and learning every single day. Um I have visited with him. we're both on board with whatever uh is passed and approved and however that we can be a part of setting up this new uh school if it passes uh in order for success. And we do both feel that it can be the best of us and the best of them coming together to be the best new situation if that's what we're asked to do. Uh we also believe that a rising tide raises all
142boats and uh that's the mindset that we're in right now. Uh but we do have our eye on the ball and our eye on the ball is very much what's happening in each of our buildings. Uh so just take heart um if it passes, if it doesn't, that you have principles that 100% love what they do. I know Principal Moore is 100% committed um to seeing out his passion in service for public ed and for Campbell Elementary and I'm 100% fully committed uh to seeing my Mustangs thrive and accelerate to middle school. Um it's hard because it means something. So, thank you for being real and thank you for being present. Uh we are going to fully uh continue to commit to keep loving and teaching here. Um we will see you uh someday very
143very soon. Uh Maplewood hopefully at the book uh character parade on Friday. Uh you know where to reach us. Um please love on your teachers and thank you Maplewood. >> I'll one I'll let that announcement in just a second but thank you so much again. I don't know if you were a part of my last meeting, but thank you for a commitment to giving our teachers grace and space uh to be able to process what they need to process um as an employee and as a teacher uh without having to help you process uh what your family needs to process. So, thank you for that commitment for my teachers to be able just to emotionally uh be present with uh what they're going through as well. And please send notes of encouragement. Uh there's never
144a teacher uh that needs to go longer than a week without a great note of encouragement uh the way that they're pouring into your kids. Uh I love you Maplewood. Thank you again and um I'll turn it over for one quick announcement and thank you central office. I really appreciate you. I know that your work is still there and that you've chosen to invest in us. Um thank you so much. I know that you sometimes feel that that they're not doing enough, but they do so much so that I can do what I need to do so that your teacher can do what they need to do. So, it is very much uh a bucket filler system and um we we would not be where we're at without the support uh that I do get
145on a daily basis from central. So, thank you central office. And uh a quick announcement. >> Uh thank you again AISD staff. We wanted to invite you this evening. I know you are all busy now, but we are having a concert and rally. We thought that was the perfect way to exemplify the Maplewood spirit at Cherrywood Coffee House from 5:00 to 8. So, if anyone can make it, we'd love to have you there. Obviously, everyone else, we'd love to have you there. Celebrate this amazing community. I'd also just like to mention that our trustee, our district one trustee, uh, Miss Hunter is here and she's been listening to the meeting. Hi. And she has offered to stick around as well and speak with families. And so, uh, she will be our advocate, uh, with the
146board and we'll be working with them, uh, with the the district this evening. So, uh, she is definitely a resource as well. And then thank you for offering to stay around here as well. >> And this is from us. >> All right. Thank you, Maplewood.