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 have [applause] I'll start with that, I think. [applause] We have a couple of announcements. If you need it, we have the library and it's an open space for you, and I just wanted to make sure you know it's available. If you need to leave, go somewhere, please leave through the back and if you can leave through the front we would really appreciate it. So thank you very much parents for pre-registering and I hope we have the whole family. I have a few ads. I'm going to make most of my announcements at the end. Then it
002will work with my Friday coffee. So just in case, I want you to be very aware that we have a parade of book characters that usually happens this Friday at 8 a.m. So come on over, it's going to take about 15 minutes and we'll do it in the cafeteria. So they're going to go into the cafeteria and we'll parade all our wonderful children and their books down this path. Once again, thank you so much for bringing yourselves along, thank you for being peacemakers, and thank you for being with your children. I'm going to pass it on to Ali from the district. Good morning everyone and thank you. I'm Aliarduchi, executive director of communications and engagement. I'm going to create the agency agenda and purpose and I'm going to pass it on to our partner so
003that he can give us a little bit of the vision. So, first I'm going to give a welcome, a little bit about the purpose. I'm going to have someone help us answer questions, and we had a quota of ideas that the community gave us of directions we wanted us to consider. So if there are people who want to be involved with everything, we have the options. We welcome the PTA, come and share with us. So, I'm going there . So we're going to share stories in the comments about the things we do. So we have things to do to prepare ourselves to make sure we have answers to those questions that came up in the atomic part. And so we're going to take the next steps so that we can all be here to have
004a future together and we appreciate everything for the current situation and so we're trying to come up with ideas to make our district stronger. We all want to honor time. So we encourage everyone to ask questions and we collect their comment cards. We ask that you limit your comments to short periods to give everyone access. We want to stay on schedule with the agenda. We want to honor the intention and the impact. So, we may disagree on ideas, but we all agree that we are here to focus on our shared goal of having strong schools to honor our children. Then, a voice. So we want to give others the opportunity to speak if you speak once before we come back to you. Then understand solutions and understanding. We want transparency and empathy. We know these
005are difficult conversations and we are here to be transparent, open and honest with you. Some of the restrictions. So, let's explore more ideas that are not our norms in Spanish. And the purpose of the meeting is to answer questions from the comment cards and provide opportunities for follow-up issues, discuss the ideas that have been developed and how management wants to be involved with internal parts of the information. Before passing it on to the superintendent, I want to introduce the staff we have and let them introduce themselves. Hello, everyone. Director of operations. Good morning, Rachel Fr, planning director with consolidation. Good morning, elementary executive director who supports Good morning, Sher, assistant superintendent of special education. Thank you Victoria, executive director of engagement and families and fields, director of assessments for special education, assistant superintendent of academics,
006director of academic improvement, and the pleasure of working with early learning. I also want to thank the people who are recording, the interpreters who are making this meeting accessible, and our Hispanic community. Let's leave it to the superintendent to talk a little bit about the vision. So, thank you all for being here. This is a difficult conversation, and the worst thing that can happen is for us not to get involved and to be able to talk in the moment we are in and specifically want to talk. So, I appreciate you all being here. I also want to acknowledge how painful and disruptive this is. Our entire city is going through a transition. Our schools are the foundation or base of our city. I've said it throughout, all along my path. I believe in my heart.
007Our city can only succeed if we have strong schools. That said, it is not true that we have strong schools throughout Austin. That's a fact. Now we have schools that have the ability to provide resources to all students and meet their needs, but in schools that don't, it's not a function of students, it's not a function of staff, it's a function of our criminal inability to provide resources, and this has built up over a period of 144 years. There are things we've been doing for many, many decades. So, as you continue to move forward, we simply have to evolve and find a solution if we want to save ourselves as an independent school district and educate as we should educate; we simply have to change. When we undertook this effort a few months ago following
008the long-term plan, one of the things we wanted was to have successful neighborhood schools , neighborhood schools so that you as a family do n't have to go across town to find a school that will help your students. We know that there are some families who live outside the city and travel a lot. So, if they're going to move us to have stronger schools, we have to rethink how we function, how we operate, and how we're simply under a lot of pressure. That's a fact. So, I think that the fact that we have a drop in the number of students, we live in a city where it is very, very expensive to live, and that has pushed many families away, and we know it, we see it. The growth of the city has played a
009role, but it cannot interrupt the way it can do. Second, the state of Texas, better yet, you know better, is not giving funds for public education in the 23 states. We wanted them to give it to us and they didn't in 2025. So, we have a net of 10 million and an operating budget of 1 billion dollars. Then, changes in the federal government are also coming. So, the changes in the federal government have had such an impact that it has been difficult to communicate in the last year. We simply have title two, title three, and title four that were frozen. So, sharing with them that night that they will no longer be employees . So, when the funds are title two, title three, title four. Besides that, on top of that, immigration changes and policy
010changes have kept immigrant families from coming here, and those who are here have left. We have lost about 2500 students. They know who they are, they know which school they go to, we know their families, and some of them are still here and are not comfortable in any of their schools. So, we're also trying to move through this ever-changing system of accountability . In 2022 we had 19 schools that were a B and then became an F the following year. So, as we think about what has n't happened, it has to be something that is of a certain size, big enough to be able to move forward and change as we do. So, this is very complex with complicated multi-levels and we're going to talk about that, but I want you to know that there
011are five fundamental things we want to align. So we know what the parts of Osea are, we have students in Mison and in Anderson. So, we don't have a place? We don't have that. We have Martin going to five schools, Mendez going to four schools. We can't maintain a community if we have those kinds of schools. So we want to adjust that. Number two, we have to recognize that we are going down, working with a budget deficit, and we have been doing so, and unless we work efficiently we are not going to be able to move forward, and a one-off capital injection is not going to help. The income of the debt forgiver is not sustainable, it is not . So, the last thing they want to do is create disruption, and that's precisely what
012happened with Title II, III, and CU. So we have to look at the efficiencies and balance them, which ended up being conations. The third thing, we wanted to stabilize our programming, to speak specifically about the language that is being spoken, not just Sori, but to support programs that are part of this program that is in motion. The population of emerging bilinguals who are being served are going in the wrong direction. And why is that? Because those families no longer live in a neighborhood and cannot access those school services. So what do they do to gain access? So, improve accessibility. We are moving the schools. We're going to make adjustments to welcome new people to our communities. We have schools where 14-21% of the population knows that it will not stabilize in the following years when
013the law has a full effect and it is necessary to put language educators in the classrooms where the students have those classes, those schools will not have the educators to be able to stabilize. We also need to talk about the transfer policies that we have that have been in place for decades. We have many options, and we in our school district don't handle it well. We 're not handling those, we do n't handle the new local stuff. Then we see schools that flip around 120% and continue to accept transfers. Then we can really have this. Lastly, that liability risk that we are navigating in 23, 24 and 25 came out one after another after another. If we don't change these changes, the three unacceptable ratings or two, we won't be able to move forward. I
014promise you it's a real risk. We have a district, brother, that's being taken over by the state, it's almost the same size and I know there would be a big difference two or three years. So, we're really trying to put ourselves in a position to prevent that from happening, and that's the risk we have to navigate; we simply have to avoid it. So when this plan comes along, this plan includes having Pwood go completely to Cambo. We will talk about the data that was used. We will talk about how the universities we have will then get to the questions. So the plan is for the entire school. Then we'll talk about the problems that might arise from going to the field. So one of the things we know is that we really need to make
015sure we know what that disruption looks like. We recognize that each community has a different culture, a different student composition, and one thing we cannot do is lack the ability to plan a well-thought-out, well-executed transition. It has to be, you want to remove it, you want to remove this. So, if you live in Maplewood, you're going to be reassigned to Camp Elementary School. So, starting in 2627, I think we want to clarify something. So, the population is something we want to address because that's really what we proposed with these transfers. So, with the draft that we're going to mention, one of the things, and thanks to Ali, uh, when we have scenarios of the transfer policy and when the procedures weren't clear, we want to clarify them here. We made several changes. One of the
016changes we made, we'll see them on Friday. If we have a student who is going to transfer to a Mwood school, they will 100% be approved to transfer to whatever school they choose. That's one of the things I want you to know: we're already doing quite a bit of destruction, it 's painful, but we never want to put forward something that creates unnecessary disruptions. We also want to, and will be, automatically approving sibling transfers, and this is something we will see on October 30th. At this time I am going to tell you that I, and as part of the committee, do not want children who go, for example, if they have a child, to go to the third grade and have to take another child to another school. I understand that the plan, the policies,
017and the way things are written will lead us to that point, but when we see those other sides, we approve them immediately. The only way we don't do that is if, for example, they have to apply to a school where it's applied as Richards approved, but typically we have to appeal. We usually look at the numbers and see that it does work, and that's one of the differences. This does work and this work is all based on the version from October 3rd and that version of the plan. Well, I admit that we shouldn't make changes here and there. So, I want to share the changes with you verbally and also to clarify before we make the decision before noon on Friday. The next slide. Hello everyone. You've probably already seen the attendance limits map, but
018let's go over it for those who haven't. Here is the Maplewood attendance limit , this area. This is the Maplewood area. And because this area is going to be closed, this entire limit is going to change and move towards Campel's assistance limit. We have a portion here called feathering, and we have this which will be reassigned to Blackshare to make it healthier and more whole. Excuse me, excuse me. Black and Campbell and here too. Black and Campbell too. Excuse me, the coffee hasn't kicked in yet, but yes, it's like it looks here. Well, we just want to make sure everyone understands what we originally proposed. We have two options, uh, for how we're going to spend the next part of the time we have. We prepared some of those questions that were frequently asked in
019the comment cards, or if you prefer, we can also review the three options that you have prepared. Come on, please, let's go over the questions. Okay, so they prefer to start with the questions. Okay, very good. Thank you all. To begin with, this is one of the questions that came up from several people who asked why close a neighborhood school near its maximum capacity, rated A to AA, like Maplewood. What data and criteria justify this decision? I want to say that over the last two years we have talked about how the accountability system has changed. Um, some schools that have an A, then next year they have an F, and we're talking about several schools that have D and F grades that were assigned to them by the state of Texas, and they have different
020people who are advocating for that school because they love their school. There are different things they love about their school. When we started this process, when I tell you we didn't start with responsibility in mind, because that wasn't the case. If we had done that, we would have done the opposite. Or just consider closing schools that historically hadn't done so well with that. When they have inefficiencies in schools, when in a district as large as ours, a district that has 160 schools and we have reached a level where we have high-performing schools, there are schools, there are places where they are closing high- performing schools because they are not so efficient. That's something we consider and discuss, and that's why we do n't use our responsibility to make that decision. There are other schools, as
021you know, in the plan, that have historically had better rankings, but that's not what started that conversation about efficiency. Our other alternatives would be Campel and Maplewood. Wait, give me a moment. One of the things we don't want to do is we know that it would historically damage the school, that school with its culture, the student population, but we know with the work we have done, with the equity movement and the transition movement, that is going to greatly affect that school, that community. But that's something we want to acknowledge in this larger area. There aren't that many options for us, and that's why you'll see some adjustments and transitions in high- performing schools in this plan. We're going to allow this person to ask a question. Thank you. Hello, I am Dr. Yulichu, I am
022a mom here in Maplewood and I also have my doctorate in psychology. I have some concerns. I know, we all know from years of educational research, we have low levels of intervention for interventionists, counselors, people who diagnose, and that's what affects children's success . My concern is , well, with our proposal to move to Campbell, what's going to happen to the Title One funds for Campbell? I understand that this is how they get the funds for their interventionists. PTA has also been talking about having a part-time intervention specialist, and yes, we can make that happen. We have 122 students from low-income backgrounds, and I'm concerned because this plan, how will it prioritize this low-income intervention specialists? Because that is based on evidence. Thank you. [applause] Well, yes. Yes, we agree with that, that intervention specialists,
023counselors, and their network of students— we know that best practice, optimal practice, would be one, one for every 100. What we need to do is raise funds for these intervention specialists, and that shouldn't be happening. And there are schools that can have those funds, like Maplewood, but there are other schools that can't do that. But what we do know about our system is that in 2022-2023 we had instructional specialists, teachers who came into the classrooms to help with student success, and we didn't have them throughout the entire school district. What we did was use the dollars from Title I and we're going to give these funds entirely to all the disruption specialists. We made that change and then came back and said, "Schools shouldn't have to raise funds to have a content intervention specialist." You
024said, "We agreed with that too." Yes , that's the reality. 2022, 2023. We didn't have it anywhere in the Austin district. We had schools asking, "Matías, can we replace the librarian with an education intervention specialist?" And that's not how it should be. They shouldn't change staff to receive suitable staff so that the children can succeed. Thank you for your question, but you mentioned the funds, title one, and how that works. The Austin district, the way Title One works and the way it is distributed to the district depends on the number of students identified as low- income. We're having a problem because they're approaching 50%. We are getting closer to creating a district where the majority of students are from low-income families. Many of the others, uh, what that means, those dollars in the title one
025are going down and that's happening every year. We have lost more and more dollars from the title one. When we combine that with Title I grants , that number is going to keep going down even further. So, we need to see how we can find those funds within the existing system to ensure that all schools receive what they need. Uh, the instruction specialists, the content intervention specialists. Well, that would mean two counselors at the school, four intervention specialists. We have plans for teachers and also for radio stations. I think that 11 or 9 what we talked about there is how it will look in our schools, specifically those that have a transformation plan and those that have the greatest need. Number two, where we have large programs, and number three, we don't have movements like
026these. We want to get to a place where we can offer those types of radios everywhere, but the reality is that it's not going to be possible everywhere. The reality is due to the student population. We can, uh, I want everyone to understand, you started talking about how the Title One funds work. Title One is, uh, we as a district can decide how to distribute that. Every year we establish what level schools must reach due to their population with limited resources. Last year the number was 50%. Normally we had a lower number, I think 7 or 8 years, we only needed 40% to be able to receive it. But they have to do that calculation every year . If the percentage level decreases , each campus receives fewer dollars. If the level rises, fewer schools
027receive the dollars. But we were talking with Christine, she's the one who handles all the federal grants, but specifically looking at the specific situations when they had a school that was probably a school that was completely, well, mostly below grade level, we decided how we allocated those Title One funds, specifically in those situations when the student population drops to that level, but we made sure to give them... Yes, it's a commitment that we're going to review. [laughter] Let me clarify all the schools, for example, as our superintendent just said , schools that have a transformation plan will be given additional resources. Some of them are going to receive that. Besides, if they are already receiving that, we are going to tell them, they are receiving this extra $80,000 to be able to lower that level
028and so that we can make special accommodations and modifications. I am not the person who can promise you that this decision will be accepted, but I can tell you that yes, you will be given special treatment if you can speak. The question is an important one, and the way we receive that teaching during our plan to hire people, there are different scenarios and each plan has different scenarios. Our directors are coming together, our staff are working together. If I go up to them and say, "I'm going to do this, this, and this," it's not going to meet the needs of that community. But we're in a place where we're committed to getting the job done, committed to making a different plan for every move, but the details won't be exact until your voices and the
029director's voices are changed. This is what we're going to tell you. We're going to do it here. This would be the plan. Let's take these three questions. I am a preschool teacher here. We met the superintendent. I'm going to ask about staff adjustments by having a meeting on Thursday at 8 a.m. No, that's not it. [applause] Communication is for the individual and the community. Most of the staff are with the students. That kind of validates it, right? I have n't heard a commitment that all staff can move. This is the situation. A school is more than a building. I agree. But a large part of this, of what is school, is the staff who take care of the children. [applause] as Campbell and Maplewood students consolidate. It would be good to keep the community together,
030whether it's someone in the district and I have a job, but we also have classified staff who have worked for like 25 or 30 years, right? [applause] If these people are told that they are two years away from retirement here, that they are going to be moved, that they cannot leave, and that they may not even have a job, it is devastating. I would like you to guarantee that all the people who work at this school, who are going to Campo, have this security. [applause] The last part you said is about the staff that you are concerned about not having a job, an employment. I've been very clear all along. The educators, professionals, all the custodians, all the staff, these individuals are the foundation of our district. Of course, I get frustrated when it's a
031group of people we do n't care about, and I've told them, 'You're going to have a job.' It makes me uncomfortable that people think that, I can't guarantee it. So that's not true, right? Actually, this doesn't seem very fair to me, does it? There will certainly be some adjustments, and our intention is for all the people who work together to continue working in the schools. We want us to succeed. I'm going to try not to hire anyone from outside. First, we will work on the plan with our community, with our workers, and give the students what they need . But I'm not going to tell you if I'm going to have six janitors, am I? when four are required, but I'm going to tell you that I'm going to listen to the comments and I
032guarantee that with that information we're going to make sure that it fits in the best possible way. It's a way I can't guarantee to every person, right? Why can't you guarantee it? Two directors, please. So, we need to understand this, right? Like the administrators, all the people assigned to the district, whether you have 150, 200, 400 children or it's different, right? But we're not just talking about the director, but about the staff, office administrators, and all of this; we know it costs money, there are no exceptions. What we want is to reduce costs. That's the reason we're doing this, right? The efficiencies achieved should not come at the expense of the people who work here. The building is something else entirely, isn't it? efficiencies without taking into account what constitutes success. Perhaps money will be
033saved, but as we said before, speaking of diversity and not causing historical harm to students and families, we know that some people will be harmed, right? We have two other people and I'm going to give them another question from the comment cards. "I have n't finished speaking," he says. But shout, we're coming back with you. My name is Carla. I have one from kindergarten and one from second grade. Kids, are you telling us that when we consolidate with changes our staff won't be retained, they won't be moved? So the district will appoint a new director in December. So this director will decide on the staff by looking at the schedule. We have until March, right? But they are also asking us as a Maplewood community to register in the district during the same period. Talking
034to my friends, I know 100% as a valid reason. Many people are already looking outside the district, [applause] in fact outside the state. In the Austin district, we are losing students. They are also having a problem that when people leave, they do n't hire anyone else. But we know that the Texas agency said that four schools [applause] schools from here in Texas are losing the community, losing this community and making us leave. When you tell us, it's very fair that you're not taking us into account. We say, right?, that we want to protect children who are black and are African American and are also [applause] brown. That, when moving to the field, that's not really part of the discourse. First of all, I am aware of the type of damage that can occur if we
035do not go through transition processes. But the reality is that Campbell is very small. There are many situations in this area that we can view as a whole in an integrated way. If you see Maplewood, how are we going to do it? Please, let's allow him to finish his thought. So, we're going to distribute. Some go north, some go south, some go east. Blacker is also going to receive something. And of course, I don't know, maybe we can't guarantee that they'll all stay together, but with enough planning time we can think maybe a little more about how things are expected, right? There are several options in the comments for questions about the staff. We were clear, we've had some meetings where we only discussed personnel, we do the best we can. I know that in
036situations that may not be perfect, I will be there where I am needed, right? I can also talk to the staff to facilitate a dialogue. I just want you to know that we are going through this process and looking at adjustments when hiring the director. When I talk to the board members, it's that in December we want to identify the directors; we want to do this so that we have this director who will work with the schools. Let's start with staffing. If I wait until January, I'm going to lose four or five weeks in terms of registration and enrollment. We cannot delay, we do n't want families to leave AISD, but at this moment I don't have a way to secure funding for the next 3 years, but that's why we established this timeline that
037will involve dialogue, the board of directors, improving and making the necessary adjustments. But that's what I want you to know. Uh, wait a minute, we also have some details. Uh, we want to inquire about the registration times. Can we talk about that? I simply think you didn't answer my question. You say they're going to select the director, but you can't select the staff until later in January. Thank you for your replies, but I don't think my question was answered. Our confidence that we want confidence to continue with the district. Let's look at the registration times. I am the director of family involvement in schools. I support the registration teams. We are working on the transition planning. There are several changes to the system. First, the first thing we want you to know is that you
038have approximately from mid- February to mid-April to choose where you will enroll your families. There will be time for this whole process. Well, things will be better understood and better understood. I ca n't control the timing of everything, can I? But we have certain factors at our disposal and we are trying to do things as efficiently and quickly as possible. So, a little later on we'll have the dates perfectly set. In January, the early registration period would be for special programs and all programs across the district, so do n't worry about having to do it in November to secure a spot. So it will continue in the second half of the year. This is how we can accommodate everyone in the system, and each family will have options and be able to choose from them.
039If they are here in Maplew, they are sonified to Maplew, then they will present themselves to Campbell as their unified field. If they were to move to May and put Call number one on their list of school rankings, then this would be honored, but it is not required of them. And just to clarify what he's saying about the timeline, despite understanding that the timelines of other private or charter schools are different, we then started to see our registration period open in November. So, of course, this whole process prevents us from starting earlier, but going forward we will start doing it sooner. So, here I am, and I'm going there. Hey, I already have two kids here. So, first of all, thank you for being here. I wanted to go back to the first question, which
040was academic, and why is iPod shutting down, and then we went off on a lot of different tangents. So I don't know if I could explain why in just one sentence , because I heard that's inefficient. We are efficient, we are only 29% less than the rest. [applause] I mention Campbell and the quiddity here and the special culture and not wanting to move data about underserved children here [applause] and we have the same number of underserved children here. So, in one sentence, because they're closing this super [applause] incredible, efficient school and [laughs] I'm going to answer. Yes, May is efficient. Camel is very small. So, two schools of 116 students. So, I don't want to, I 'm not arguing that they're not efficient and that they're not doing great things. I'm really trying to make
041sure that all the schools I have the ability to be with the students with what I could do with their students and can't do. I understand, and that's a challenge I have with 7000 students. We are in a budget deficit. I have the ability to give the funds to everyone we have so that all our students have what they need, and giving where our schools are and where our families are is fixed. So, limited opportunities to recruit students and find dollars to distribute the money where all students receive everything that is not specific makeo. I understand how big this community is. I understand that. So, this is going to be a very costly mistake. So, a detailed part, a detail that they are asking about is a slide because it more or less shows there
042are many things, as Matías began by saying, we are trying to resolve throughout the district, but there are many schools with these differences in our city. Once we created that rubric for what's in those misalignments, then we have to look at things in regions because we're looking at the opportunities that schools have in relation to each other. We've already decided that we're going to try to transfer to go to the other side of the city. So this map more or less shows certain areas where we have too many seats, areas where we have too few seats. So, what we decided is that I'm going to ask French to speak specifically about what we saw, what the challenges are in this area for all schools, what the restrictions are, and things we need to resolve. It's
043not like we only looked at this one option; we looked at all the configurations we could have and were able to see that this is the most feasible and addresses the greatest number of problems with the most interruptions. Other options are being considered, and they will introduce other problems. So, I mean the one that talks a little bit about that. So, I'm looking at my computer and follow-up questions. When moving schools is terrible, nobody wants to do it. We all agree on that, but knowing that's our path forward to get where we need to be is efficient in the district. That's our starting point. So, what is there to say? My child's school is going to close too. So, we need to see how we can make this as undisruptive as possible to make it
044so difficult. And one thing we can control in certain instances, if not everywhere, is whether we have the ability to keep a whole community together and the staff and we've talked about that, we're addressing it as best we can. So, keep the students together. If we can do that, we should do that. And there were some instances where we could do them, that's why we closed Oxprings, they're going to go to Blackshi. There was room for both communities to be there. That's why when we see Culp, both communities can stand together. In the Campbell building we saw others, we cannot group Springs Campbell and the other quays into one. And what about Blanton? Blanton School is a large school with a large population, and it's simply a much larger school, and that's one of the
045facts we have in our district and in our school inventors. Let's move further northeast because we have to see everything as a system. We have Sánchez, it's kind of a separate issue, I don't want to get into that because we also talk to the community, but again we have modernized buildings in the district and we have much smaller populations, so we spent many hours and iterations and it took a long time to find a solution that has the least possible impact and we have the ability to keep the communities together and that's what we prioritize here and that's why we arrived at the solution we're talking about here today. So, I don't know if we can, we have very little time left. If I want to make sure about the two people I was going
046to call, then we can go to the next one. This popped up for me. Okay. What happens in Mwood, what will happen with the MP program, will it remain unchanged, and how will admission continue to have preferential access to the program? Thank you very much for that question. So, as we said, Mr. Segura talks a little bit about where our emerging bilinguals live and where the dual language programs are. So, dual language is a model of bilingual education and its intention is to serve emerging bilinguals in this and we want others to participate. So we have locations where students can do that where we have a mix of emerging bilingual and non-emerging bilingual participation. I know this campus can do many things and I remember visiting this campus when the director was just starting out.
047So, we have a lot of conversations and I love what you guys do. So, I know this campus can do very difficult things, and thinking about that, we do want to acknowledge that it has a dual language program, and we also want to acknowledge that they have a very small number of emerging bilinguals, 14% participating in their program, but we also want to support Campbell and start to gradually expand it because there aren't enough emerging bilinguals in this area or at Camp, but we do respect what they did with their dual language program, and that's the direction we want to go. That means that their current groups would continue and we wouldn't have new students, and then it would simply become outdated. We also want to know that there are other dual-language programs here in
048the area. So also if they want to apply to Blanton, Blanton has a language program Andrews Sanchez Pickle. There are other campuses in the area that also have dual language programs. Thanks a lot. One comment, we posted it at 9:30, so we still have half an hour. So, a follow-up to the language question. I'm curious how the staff are handling all of this at this particular time, and I can't give any guarantees because I don't know what the strategy is. Camp doesn't have the dual language program, but you do, and you have the staff right now. So, with the program moving forward, we would need to have the teachers in that program. I do n't think I can ask the question. So yes, it's going to be a program that will become outdated because there
049aren't enough emerging bilinguals in Mog, and we're really trying, as Mr. Segura said, to simply, so you know, just a big picture. I wrote it every year, all the different colors have to submit their student numbers. and bilingual. What he means is teachers who are working in a certified capacity, but are not certified, either NSL or bilingual. So, Austin, this year you're going to put in 438 exceptions. There are 161 that are for bilingual positions. So, that means we have that number of classrooms that are being served by teachers who are working on their certification, but who don't have it at the moment. That just puts things into perspective when we look at it across the city: how many of our certified bilingual teachers are in the areas where they should be, and where we
050have emerging bilinguals. Okay. The following question comes from the feedback we have received from transfer students. If they are automatically accepted, the change wasn't part of it, but we'll be updating them. All transfers. Yes, yes, it counts for all transfers even outside the district. These haven't started yet. That would be the family's option. So, if there is a student who is already there, if the students are from the third grade school, we will automatically test the transfer, but the programming of that school. So, some have the program and others don't. So, we're not necessarily going to have that path because our policy requires us to have 18 emerging bilinguals in a school in order to be able to allocate staff. So, it's a complex problem we're encountering, but the transfer is going to be approved.
051I appreciate that you're here, that you come. I think we need to establish a baseline for what this conversation is about. So, seeing how you're talking about it, this is being labeled as a draft. I think it's very clear to us here that this is a draft in terms of the details, the transfer details, but it's very clear, isn't it? A draft in the section goes what has been your recommendation and that Maple will be joined with Campbell and I am correct. So it will be a recommendation unless something drastic happens. The staff's recommendation will not change; they will join with Yes, that will be my recommendation. There are some things we are looking at. I'm not going to say yes or yes. The fact that it's in this plan and has reached this point
052means there's a very strong probability. I am setting up feedback comments. I'm having the session with the directors. Ultimately, that's what we're trying to achieve. So, what's the ultimate goal we have in the system that isn't being met if we do this, or what alternative exists? We still have open seats, we still have a deficit, and we all have to talk about the budget deficit, but if that's the state's problem and the state's fault, and we understand that we have a lot of pensions, but at the same point, if you get yourselves into a bigger hole, then it's going to be difficult to get out of it, it's not going to help either. The basic point is their recommendation MPE would join with Camb then focus on talking to the directors. Then he's interested in
053the details and maybe he'll change his mind. I want to clarify that Matías mentioned at the beginning of the meeting that we have another meeting that will take place today and we will go over all the topics that we saw in the comment cards. We're going to look at the limits on school attendance, and we're also going to have other conversations about other parts of the plan, and that's going to be a public conversation this afternoon. Hi, Adam Spark, I'm a first-grade dad. Thank you. It looks very good, eh, sir. It looks great. Appreciation. Uh, well, I know this is very difficult to do. I would like to review the specific problems that are causing this school to close in November. Well, they're very good at articulating the problems, but we don't feel confident that
054this group has the solutions because it's been a month since the education agency took control, but the question is, if we close this school in a month, will that fix the problem? And the answer to Carlos's question, why is it because of the money? I was here 6 years ago. Uh, the last time they did the consolidation. Uh, the last time it was because these windows weren't good windows, the roof wasn't safe [applause] and the portable classrooms made us have a larger capacity and well, she felt it could be done that way. And the question is, why has there been no conversation in the last 6 years? They had 6 years to be able to have a conversation. We've had zero. There have been no answers on academic matters. What programs will be there? What
055culture will be there? They say they want to help students in camp, but they haven't spoken to any camp parents. [applause] That's true. And then to say that the students are going to help the students of Campbell, but they haven't talked to them, they haven't gathered their feedback, they haven't worked with the communities, they haven't talked to the leadership, the district, and the leadership is failing, and when something like this happens, uh, 72 students who are going to leave the district, it costs the district a million dollars. The number of students who will attend Charte School has cost millions of dollars. So, the answer is, what are we going to say? Why are we going to close Maplewood in a month? They have n't done the job. There's no reason why we should close it
056in a month. They just want the money. Why do we have to rush to save so much? We were told here in this room by the director of operations how much money they would receive if this school were to close. The commissioners put it in their notes and didn't even answer our questions about what they had promised us. We don't know how much money they will save. He is trying to help people in the future. When the school closes, it would be a million dollars, but if that's true, that's less than 1% of the district's operating costs. The question is, why are we rushing children's future ? We already saw the plan, it was just one paragraph. That's all they've thought about. Why would that happen for a million dollars? That's going to fix the
057Austin school district . What is the solution? Why close this school? 72 people. How many people have reviewed charter schools or private schools since this plan began? So, is this going to help or is it going to hurt him? [applause] Well, I'm just going to share something. We did conduct some research on how much money is saved when schools close. We know that in 2019 we closed schools and yes we saved money and what we did was plan with those communities what they needed and then the pandemic happened and many of those savings were spent and it does n't mean that because those savings were used at that time it doesn't mean that we don't have them now. The committee is reviewing where there is success, where there are failures, and it is in the
058transfer, supporting families, giving them programs, resources, and with the draft that we are going to release on Friday we have also developed a framework for that transition plan. If anyone is familiar with our CAP process, when we bring the community together and plan for new facilities, it's going to be a similar model where we'll have a group of community teams and they'll go through step by step what the considerations are, considerations for special education, considerations for community involvement, all the things we can start doing as soon as we know how. In a perfect world, if we had had more time, that work could have been done a long time ago before we started putting this together. But according to our timeline, the truth is that in 2022 when we created that model it was a
0592-year process and we were in all the schools talking about what is working, what is not working and yes we can do those bonus programs, but we are not on a timeline. You are the ones who set the schedule for November 20th. If they gave us another year and if we did that work you 're talking about in this next year, it would be a little bit of extra money. Well, this is one of the things we 're talking about right now with our committee. The reality is that the state is going to take control of our school next month. There are no real risks we are navigating. Yes, there are risks. You said to review the last 6 years, if we look at 2023, so we can allocate different funds. I wouldn't have believed
060them. I was here in 2019, but you have to consider the pandemic, the change in the federal government, all those things that added more pressure to our system. But to answer your specific question, does the vote for Maplewood and Campel have to take place at the same time? That's a separate issue. The movements of the program and the transformation and consolidation plan are very different. And one of the things I want to emphasize for our community is that we have to stop going through such big and devastating changes. I would like families to have time to plan. I wouldn't want to wait until the spring semester. And why not next year? Well, that's the question. Should the vote be next year, or should we vote now and not make the change until next year? They
061are two different things. Why not? Why don't we improve everything this year and vote next year? [applause] Can I play something? eh change their perspective. Well, let me give you a different perspective. We are representing, there are seven people on the committee who represent different areas of the district. We are committed to doing something that is, uh, at the district level. I want you to think about how it feels for the community that does have the timeline, that has the transformation plan, because they do have to go through that. We were going to remove it, and our committee has the authority to do that. They can take out those places that don't have much time. Which schools would those be? Breakerwood, Maplewood, Globali. [applause] And I think they have to understand that it seems like
062those school communities aren't affected, but others are. I still think they're going to shut us down next year. If you earn the trust of all of us, if we get our money back, why do we have to close for a million dollars? And why aren't they going to give us those funds? No, we're going to give them the funds and show the cost of this campus. There are two things here. There's a comment here from a gentleman saying that all the staff should leave. Obviously, that's not going to show the reduction. The answer is that the school is going to close for a million dollars. There is no figure. As a system, we need to see where we are not being so efficient. It's not just Maple Woodo Campbell, we have 140 students in one
063school. I think the point is that we are artificially together with Campel. If you separate us and say that we have to be more efficient, you are putting us together as if we were one thing, and we are two different things. We have 20,000 seats open for students in the Austin district. Now we're going to call three more people, one comment card. You're going to pass later, you later, and also lately you back there. The next question, yes, from the schedule. I think we already covered that, and I think we'll go back this way . Thank you so much. As a mom who had the option of my daughter being a transfer student, I can choose any school in the Austin district. That's going to be the option. to be able to go to Campol
064to Maplewood. I chose Maplewood because it had higher academic standards, a high-quality educational record, and I wanted my daughter to go there. My question is for the future: if this plan comes to fruition, what would your plan be to return Campel to having higher academic standards? Because what it seems is that I have lived my whole life, but it seems that Campel allows him to have lower scores systemically and there are all these words that they are using here with systemic damage. But what's the plan to ensure that if we get together, the CEL students who are there have access? to the same high academic standards that we already have here and that other students continue to use. [applause] The first thing I can say is that we're not going to start from scratch. Just
065to be honest, in the last year and a half, in 2023 we did have 23 schools that were failing, and again here in 2025, 23. There are many systems that were not being used; we did n't have an aligned teaching plan, and that's the truth of the matter. We had different levels of rigor, we had different expectations for African American students and Hispanic students. We know where our students are, if they are at level A, at their level in the last 18-24 hours. Our staff, our directors recognize what their students need and how. If we have 40% of the student population that needed intervention specialists , we didn't have those people who could offer them this private education. After the re-election they were able to give us those resources. We are monitoring for the first
066time in recent years. We have a school district. what is happening. I'm not going to talk about this school specifically, but what we had was a lack of academic focus. Our leaders were not academic leaders, and what was happening was that they were asking teachers to have professional training and then they would come back and ask them how it went, what had happened, and if any students needed to move up a level. We didn't have staff and we also didn't have a teaching plan. Well, I think you had also been monitoring our responsibility. Arithmetic and reading. Everything was getting better. I hope that all schools have what they need to be successful. We said, those schools that need special needs have to be given priority. We need to give it priority. In the way we
067respond, in the way we participate, everything has to be... we have to give it priority and we have to move it. My expectation is that the rigor will be there; it's already happening. We have an aligned curriculum, let's do things together, let's stabilize things across the district. The gap between Title I and Title II schools has improved, and I feel confident that when we plan together, our students in any school in the district will be able to succeed. We're not going to start from scratch. We've given several presentations, and that's why I feel confident that we're going to do what we're doing: find resources. I didn't think we'd be here in 2023 or 2025. Can you answer your question a little better? How will Campbell and Maplewood schools be integrated? That's the thing, we have
068to do it together. The plan. I can tell you the framework, the things we're doing from school to school, but you're asking what will happen when these schools are going to come together specifically, and that requires the principal, the staff, everyone to come together to plan, and that's why we ca n't. And what experience do you have in doing this in recent years? To the people who are here, please raise your hand. If you have seen a school, a school of this magnitude. He raised his hand. Nobody in this school, nobody in this school, in this room, is raising their hand. That's a lot of faith. You want to have a lot of faith. I don't want to start that debate. He's obviously saying that we have to do it. We want to hear it
069anyway. Okay, we have some representatives from Campbell, so we want to give them some space too. [applause] Then I want to join Lis. Uh, so she and I are friends too. I am the president of the PT in Campbell. So I have a lot of people who have seen my face because we haven't had a meeting at my school. [applause] So I want to touch on one thing specifically because I always argue that the last question was how are we going to get our students to the standard we have here. So our students do have higher grades than many in the district. So our students do come out, many of the students, the older students. So, the students from the highest income brackets are gifted, so it doesn't paint a complete picture of our schools.
070Then I will continue when you spoke, you spoke of a transition with much thought. So, as we know, this bill will affect equity. So, speaking of equity, then people of color who do attend Camb schools should also be included. [applause] So, our family reconciliation after the plan was made, was started, we know that historically black and Latino families are the most considered in taking into account. So, not only in Austin D, Austin D knows it too, they always talk about diversity and equity. That said, our families were unaware that this bonus was proposed, and we are in a time of transformation. We have a meeting with Director Hunter and I had to wait to have the space, but they haven't listened to us. We had to find out through Director Hunter that this was going
071to happen. Then we talked about pushing our families. 40% of our students are transfer students and we talk to them. They transferred because, more than anything, it 's a historically Black school. So they have fewer numbers than white students. We don't know if we 're going to transfer or not. So we're thinking about student loss. So we've talked about transfers. We have asked our director to guarantee that families will receive the transfers because that goes beyond that. We have alumni who have come to all of our meetings. So, we talk about immigration in our federal government and how they've made students afraid to come to our schools, but students actually speak Parrot too, so it's not the same language. and the Spanish-English language problem . So, having said that, this language program that we students
072are going to enter and maintain is going to appear in Campbell and it's not going to be excessive. So, I want that access to the program to be guaranteed. You said that dual language is going to be phased out in CEL. It's right. So this is going to be implemented in our school and our access, the students are not going to have access. So, once again our students are going to... So , we talk about interventionists and many things that are... and there are some people who can go to char schools and private schools and so we want to raise funds for their intervention and they were able to do it . Others provided through title one. So, once again, and I know we have to keep a promise, but I don't know how the
073directors are going to be able to reach all of those if they're not committed, because many times they won't have the funds. So where will the funds go? Because our school is based on all these things, your decisions and especially our culture. We are not under our low- income status. So I definitely want to acknowledge that I can't speak for all of CEL, but as far as P is concerned, we have the same parents who come around all the time and we need to know that they are our community. So I know I won't see them again before Friday at my school. [applause] So, we've been having a lot of conversations throughout this whole process because we're very aware that our communities are being impacted by this consolidation, and we're having conversations about how to
074implement this transition plan. We haven't had conversations about the negative impact it's going to have on our communities, and we just want to make sure that as we recognize if the consolidation happens, the student body and the student culture are going to be reduced, and the conversation we've had is that Campbell and the frustration is that Campos is going to become Maplewood. The campus will be entirely for MPO as well. So, we simply want to make sure that there are specific health measures in place and that the district will be implementing to ensure that the needs of highly disadvantaged students are being prioritized, including their cultural programs and their degree and Title One status. Furthermore, how will MB's academic achievement be maintained, including the staff, who have been a big part of that? So, we
075have two very different goals. We simply don't understand how this is going to work. I know that the funds must have. So why can't the limits go in the other direction? with the directions that go on the other side. So the question is, why wouldn't we combine Black Campbell or Springs? Black is the current plan. He's saying another way and therefore. So there are schools around, but not all of them fit. Appreciation of the work. We 've looked at the options, but we don't know why, according to you, they don't work. Therefore, we cannot trust the process. It makes us feel that there is much to consider as a community all together, and that's why a year would be something more sensible, more sensible, a better plan. I went to Win and it's completely overcrowded.
076That looks like an overcrowded school. There are also many families in Miller at Restop. School is going to disappear. So what is that influx of all things doing for everyone? I want to respect that we haven't answered the previous question. So, I think this plan already has some of those questions and options that have been requested. So I'm going to let Rachel talk a little bit about the restrictions of what is possible, what is not possible in terms of getting to Campbell. I am disappointed by what she is having to do, and I appreciate that you are here, and of course we will try to make that happen. They go to many schools that we haven't reached yet. It's not a chronology I would have chosen if I had to do it perfectly and compensate.
077We have n't reached many of the campuses that have programs that will have to be discontinued, but we're working to reach them and we're prioritizing Camp as well. So, I did n't understand. So, the comment specifically mentioned Campbell's representatives, and that didn't happen. So, if I apologize, saying that he's involved with the conversations about bringing in all the students, then it hasn't happened. I understand, but we will have it . Yes, we're going to have that conversation. So, I am the director of strategic planning and organizational effectiveness. So, our focus has been on seeing the hands at the center of this impact, and we are seeing, planning, and being through this process. I want to talk specifically about what you are saying. While there hasn't been a transition in place yet, I've been in discussions
078with Director More and some people from Camp as well. So, there's background work that's happening. I've been having conversations with my peers and other people saying that I'm fully thinking with my team about all the ways we need to be prepared if my vote happens. So, those things have ruined us. We are all working together with a team to think about how it will appear and how it will impact us. So, I just wanted to name that. The second thing I wanted to talk about is one of the things we are getting involved with in the communities. It's smaller pockets, smaller holes. Then, then there's the massive demonstration. So I didn't talk to the parents in Campbell, that's the point. So I've been with the adults who are part of what's happening in Campbell because
079what I didn't want to do was bring everyone into a space and have nothing happen. Then I started on how we put into a framework that we are building those considerations that may be our part. So, I just wanted to say it, how would you do it? Something very important is Campbell's culture, it's the policy, the uniform policy, and thinking about all that, what does it mean? There are pieces we would have to discuss, like how we make sure Campbell doesn't get lost in this union, in this merger. We want to talk about how students feel, how it affects them. This is part of the conversation. The other thing, I want to talk to the president of the PTA. I really appreciate you talking about this because with someone talking, we also want to see
080how to participate, right? We recognize that. I do n't want them to think that people have been left out , do I? I want you to take a moment and think about it. I'm grateful they didn't pee on me too hard, right? But this is how I know we have this passion in this room, right? Because we love our children and I understand that. But I know that my son is also experiencing this in the district. I would like them to see my son for the potential he has, not for the statistics that exist, right? We don't want them to get lost. There are very passionate people who want to make sure they have the best access to educators, that they see them, encourage them, and push them to improve. We're running out of time.
081The superintendent has another, uh, another commitment. There are other questions that have been asked . It says, what is the time included for selling, for reselling them, or for... and will there be playgrounds in these transitions? Look, I know you had another question here just to keep the topic going, you know, with the concern. about preserving Campbell's culture, as well as Maplewood's. What are the options for having a pre-kindergarten at Campbell as a creative action by Campbell? The problem we have here seems to be the inefficient use of very large buildings. We have to close [applause] the fourth fastest growing school in the city. That doesn't make sense to me. As you said, it's like a clean consolidation. I know you're saying there are several other schools involved in this, but if you were to
082take this consolidation off the list, you would maintain your lines, your timelines, and the way time is used at Camp, where we could [applause] benefit your school. [applause] Speaking of schools and the Austin district, there are partners that don't exist right now. Yes, we will find them. Trust. That's what we've been doing. I've been filling schools. They can go to the schools and see the partners we have. At the end of the day, it's not just the operation of one school, but the administration of two schools that will be working together. It's not just water, energy is part of it, but we have plenty of space in Austin. So I hear what you're saying, I understand. You are a very unique situation. From my knowledge, it is a situation where we have a very large
083community where the responsibility they have has been successful in this place. We can walk around, we present data, the developments that are happening around us, our uh our partnership of partners, uh they have the houses that are affordable. There are also many things happening in Camb; they have to reopen some issues. There is a way we could find more temporary solutions and preserve capacity here, and there is a very unique community, right?, compared to other parts [applause] of There is another person here. This is what makes it work. That's what makes it difficult, isn't it? Change is not easy. The plan isn't perfect, is it? No plan is perfect. I'll admit that, but it's one of those schools where you go, you don't complete the whole school. I understand the staffing perspectives as well. I
084know it's very important, but we have different ways of resolving it as a whole school district. Tomorrow I'm going to talk to the board members about what we're going to do and the timeline we have, but we can't just assume that nothing will happen, no changes, right? But as a system, there are many empty spaces in Austin. So, how can we be more efficient? We're talking about just one place, and if you look at the current attitude and the question that was asked, this would be one of the recommended schools. It confuses me because the criteria said it was too early. It was n't yet announced that they were going to close, but as soon as the draft was made and it said [applause] that it was unfair to take any school off this list
085or that returning would create a lot of work. This is a draft that is the most fundamental part of this list. It may compromise if you review the list of closures, whether from Maplew or other schools. Based on these comments, you can commit to and provide us with a list of your representatives. I'm going to work with the board members to consider all of this and what I want to do, maybe add talking, I do n't want to be too specific, right? We want to see how we can address this problem, right? For me, it would be unfair to communicate in this school that it has not been discussed, it has never been part of the solution. Now it's going to go in a completely different direction with the few days we have. I want
086to be honest about the number of things we 're attacking at the same time. There are different movements we can make because we move all the parts together, so we can't isolate anything, right? Because we're talking about program consolidation, about different things. We have several schools in the east where we are tackling all of this together. Okay, let's talk about this. Let's see what the board says. It's a list, not a draft; it's a plan that isn't finalized yet. So, we have to follow this process. Uh, I can't guarantee this, can I ? In tonight's session, we will discuss the possibility of removing some schools, when we would be out of school, and when we would have this opportunity to leave or be out. That applies to all schools. The time period is right now,
087when it is in the process. This is a draft list. So please review the contents of this list. He does commit to that. [applause] The comment he made about the criteria for the list. I've heard the opposite as well, haven't I ? So, another school says the same thing, right? Of course, because others don't, but mine does. Then we can understand the reason why the solutions have been seen. This is the last comment. I want to respect everyone's time because it's already late. I just want to echo what has been said here in our school community, that for it to be successful. Uh, we're talking about how to keep neighborhoods together, right? My question would be, because you already heard, you heard what they already said, the current plan is based on. You're thinking that
088if you see the building, you're saying you're going to take the Maplew students. And now they're going to be accepted there. Our student body is moving to Campo. The threat would be a massive loss of students in the district. I intentionally moved to this neighborhood because of Maplew Elementary School. I support public schools and the Austin school district. For me, the real question is whether my son is going to go through three transitions and go to Campbell in sixth grade at Killing. And these students will once again be separated into different high schools, and not just any high school. Now, my question would be about your timeline, because you mentioned charter schools and private schools. It's a very difficult decision to have all these interruptions, all these drastic changes, when education is the priority. Speaking
089of students from minority backgrounds, they are impacting my children. I am not alone. You're talking about fourth-grade students. There will continue to be changes that will also happen at the high school level. I don't have a background in education, but all these students aren't being given the perspective they need to succeed, are they? With all these changes. This has been discussed. I know that staff who resign are not replaced, but a very massive number would be lost by closing [applause] this Maplew school. There are two things. These conversations have really seemed like a lot, and I want everyone to be aware of the student movements and the transitions they have to go through, uh, everything related to academics. What we want is to withdraw, as a system, and avoid it. is to have. Our families
090have gone through many transitions during this time. We want to alleviate things a little and save money in the future. If you're talking about Macalum High School, I want you to know that it's a very warm, very warm school. school to receive. There are many schools that have excellent programs, many high schools that can talk about early college, they can talk about art, we don't have the resources talking about all these classes, the trajectories of the students and how the students would walk, where to. What I also want to talk about is if students leave, the families, what I'm going to say is that there are several families who are choosing to leave the Austin district because they don't have those schools in their communities. That's the truth. I have a question, I want to
091clarify. I agree with you that there is a potential change in the future, but for us, part of Adam, I think, well, you tell me if I'm saying something wrong, but it's immediate. You have a number of students who will be carrying these challenges for the next few years when you start. And it's going to start because they no longer have that advantage, and I 'm not just talking about the building, but something that you can't guarantee today, but you can't guarantee that you'll be able to take the staff and teachers who are part of Maporwood, that they can't take all the staff, right? That's a guarantee he can't give us , but we know that one of his members also spoke about when we have a new director. We had some problems at that
092time. Our fourth and fifth grade students are not going to have that time. We are asking him to do it more slowly. A bit. A little slower. We understand where we are. We understand that we have, we need, a change. What we are saying is that we are against not having enough time and not being transparent. [applause] Uh, we support your plan if we have more time, a year, I don't know what the magic number will be, but I know that a month is very little, but we can take this plan that we already have and do it in phases or maybe we can have a little more time [applause] to be able to make the right decision for the students. And now I'm just going to go over the schedule and make sure we're
093all on the same page. We're going to have a meeting today from 6 to 8, 6 to 8:30, and then the draft will be released on Friday, and that will be the draft. We're going to discuss that draft next Thursday, and then we have the vote that will take place on November 20th. So, obviously right now we are recommending these changes. so that they can start the next school year. I want to thank everyone for their time. We know that Matías has to leave here. If you want to stay and we can answer questions that we couldn't answer. We will stay in touch with you, but we can assure you that although we may not be able to respond before Friday, we will be able to respond before the vote. Thank you all. Thank you,
094Mr. Matías. [applause] We love you. Thank you for being here, for your children. Thank you to our guests. Thank you for prioritizing children and thank you for sharing part of your morning with us, part of your life. Thank you for your commitment to ensuring that these conversations are adult conversations and that we protect children, that we let them have that happiness and continue learning. All the directors and I are committed to giving you the best quality of learning and happiness. We agree with whatever ends up happening and being approved, but we do want to be a part of it and be part of this new school, if this happens so that we can succeed, if we feel that we can put together our best part, their best part and be able to face this situation
095if that is what we have to do. We also believe that if our mindset is what we have at this moment, we are focused and our goal is what is happening in all of our buildings. So, they take into account whether it happens or not; if it does happen, we have directors who 100% love what they do. Uh, I know that Director M is committed, uh, his passion and his service, uh, to primary education. I am also 100% committed. I am committed to seeing them grow up and move on to high school. It 's difficult. because it means something very big to me, but thank you for your comments, for being here, and we will continue to commit to loving our children and teaching them here. We 'll see you soon, Maple Wood. Hopefully we'll
096see them at the parade on Friday. Do you know where to contact us? please. Uh, I'm going to make that announcement right now, but thank you again. I don't know if you attended the previous meeting, but thank you for your commitment to giving our teachers space and kindness , whatever they need to process as an employee and as a teacher. Uh, I also know that you are processing this as families. Thank you for that commitment to our teachers, allowing them to be emotionally present and process what is happening. Thank you for your words of encouragement. Uh, it never takes more than a week for the teachers to receive an appreciation note . Thank you so much, Mer. Wood. Thank you again. And now we're going to come by here for an announcement. Thanks to the
097head office. Thank you. We appreciate them. We know that their work continues there and they have tried to invest in our school. Thank you. We know that you may feel that they are not doing enough, but they do a lot so that I can do what I need to do and so that the teachers can do what they need to do, and we wouldn't be where we are without the support we receive from the head office. Thanks to the head office. and an advertisement. Thanks again to the Austin district staff. We would like to invite you. We're having a concert and event at Cherrywood Coffee House from 5 to 8. If anyone can make it, please come to celebrate this community. They would also like to mention that our, uh, our district one trustee is
098here. [applause] and she has offered to stay, to talk to the families. She will be our advocate . We will continue to work with the district, and she will also be a resource they can use. Thank you for offering to stay. Yes. [applause]