001So, good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much for being here. I'm Miss Bridget. Um, even though I'm going to be presenting in English because of time, I always want to start in Spanish to reiterate um how much we value the Spanish language that we are a bilingual community and it's something important to me and to our community. Um, so families, whether this is your first time at a meeting like this or you've been to several, we're very grateful to have you here. Thank you so much to our district staff or superintendent who is here with us to to spend this time together. Um, a few announcements. So, we do have refreshments in the back with Mr. Juan. Thank you, Mr. Juan, who's always available. Um, as you most know, we have child care outside. If
002at any point you need to leave, you're welcome to exit around the sides or through the back. We also have a restroom over to this area. uh three brief uh notes before we get started today. So one is people might be wondering why we are sitting like this. Um an important part of a monastery education is we have children of multiple ages together but the respect that we have for each other is equal right and so this is my interpretation of a circle because it's a lot of people to put in one circle. Um and thankfully Miss Sandra our wonderful admin assistant helped me figure out what this would look like. Miss Allison, our librarian, helped figure out logistics. So, thank you so much. Mr. Devon and it helped us figure out how to get
003the screen. So, we're grateful that this gives a a place where we can see each other. Um, we can hear each other. Um, and we are all coming at a level playing field, which is something important to us. The second piece is a celebration. So, we know that this is an incredibly diverse community, right? We have families and staff and students from different countries, from different states, who speak different languages, who have different abilities and disabilities. We have people from different income backgrounds. And we have people who are new to Monasuri, people who have done Monasuri for decades, people who chose the school for Monasuri and people who lived in the neighborhood and walked across the street and are less maybe concerned about what Monastery can do for them and their family. That means that
004unlike some of the communities who were able to speak with one voice, that's going to be harder for us, right? Because we are coming to this with different pieces. But what has always been true about our community is this is a community that cares deeply about children, who believes in their child and their child's needs, but doesn't speak for their child over someone else's. And we've been really mindful in this process to think about an individual child, our children, the children in northeast Austin, the children in East Austin, and the children in Austin together. And I know that's something that will continue today. The other piece, as you know, I am an emotional person um as many of us are when we talk about to students about feelings. Um we always talk about that no
005feeling is a bad feeling, right? And any feeling you have is a valid feeling. So if you came today and you were feeling concerned or frustrated or sad or angry, all of those feelings are okay, right? Those are welcome here. What matters when we talk to kids about and adults sometimes too, right? Is how we present those feelings. And again, when you're talking about your own children or your own experience, it can be uh hard sometimes to not pit your child against someone else's child or to accidentally say something that feels really hurtful to someone else. So something we've done really well again so far in these difficult conversations to be thoughtful about how we share those feelings so that someone else who's hearing this in the idea of their child feels safe and welcome
006in our community. So I'm very grateful and honored to be a part of this conversation. Um at this point I'm going to turn it over to Miss Ally. Oh, we also go by first names who's going to talk about norms for this afternoon. >> Good afternoon everyone. Oo that's loud. My name is Ally Gillard Duchi. I'm the senior executive director of communications community engagement. I'm just going to review our agenda and the purpose of this meeting as well as some meeting norms that um principal Far obviously teed off very nicely um before I pass it over to our superintendent for some remarks. Um so for our agenda, um like I said, I'm going to go over the meeting norms and purpose. Um we will introduce some of the folks and thank you so much. Someone
007had emailed me asking who was coming and we all had um name tags which is delightful. Um then we're going to provide y'all with an overview of the proposed um changes that are campus specific as well as we've marked them up with anything that was different about the latest release that you would have received on Friday. Um then we're going to respond to questions um received in the comment card. So our team has poured through all of those. We've looked for themes. In some instances it might be a question with a specific person's name. In other instances it might be a question that we heard multiple times. So, we want to make sure we get to we can kind of alternate between the presubmitted questions and in-person questions. The only thing that I'm going to
008ask is that we speak in turn and um because we are recording this meeting, it's in English as well as their Spanish interpretation and they I don't know where they are, but they are recording in Thank you. She's recording into a microphone in Spanish so that we can then share this meeting in English and Spanish. So, if we call on you, please wait to get the mic so that we can capture the full experience for the recording. Um, and then we'll talk about next steps. So, I'm just going to briefly go over the norms. Um, what we're here for is building the future together. We want to acknowledge the challenges of our current situation while focusing on ideas and solution that will make our district stronger, more equitable, and sustainable for years to come. We
009want to honor we have allocated about 90 minutes for this meeting. Um, so when we do get around to giving the mic out to folks, if you can make an effort to keep your comment to around a minute, that just makes sure that we can maximize the number of folks who get to speak. Um, we want to honor the process, so staying on the agenda. Um, honoring intent and impact. So, we're probably going to disagree on some ideas, but I hope the one thing that we can agree on is the reason we are all here is to focus on creating strong, equitable schools for all Austin ISD students. Um, we want to honor space and voice. So that means if you do get the mic one time and you have a follow-up, we're happy to
010allow you to have a follow-up, but we are going to try to not get back to the same person until everyone else who's had their hands raised um gets an opportunity to speak. Um we want to try to stay solutionsoriented, so focusing on ideas, solutions, and understanding. Um and we want to embrace, we here are committing to embracing transparency and empathy. Um, we know these are difficult conversations, but um, we're here to provide compassion, um, clarity, and honesty. And so that means if you ask a question and you feel like we didn't answer it very well or it felt like it was sidestep, please feel free to ask a follow-up. We want to make sure you leave with your questions truly answered. And then just the purpose of the meeting, kind of reiterating, um, we
011want to make sure that we're responding to some of those questions that came up multiple times through the comment cards. We want to make sure we all have a shared understanding of what's actually being proposed at this stage in the process. And we as administration want to gain insights that are going to inform additional refinements that could be folded into the draft um plan that we ultimately ask our board to vote on on November 20th. And with that, I'm going to hand it over to our superintendent. He's going to share a little bit about the context of the environment we're in, the why behind this process before we get into the comment cards and Q&A. >> I've I've got one. I think you're supposed to use this one. I don't know why. >> Okay. So,
012I I love that this is Bridget's interpretation of a circle. Uh um no, this is fantastic. Thank you all for being here. Uh I know these are difficult conversations, difficult time. Uh I want to make sure we're responsive and create space. This is your time. Uh I do think it's important uh before we get going just to share with you how we got here and why you know this plan is the current draft plan. Again draft it will refine there will be adjustments to it. Like things are really hard right now. um just they're just really really hard in Austin ISD in public education and I would say the board and I are desperately trying to find a way to stabilize this school system that we love and ensure that every student gets what they
013need where they are. Um, which is why we are talking about neighborhood schools and and the importance of them. In Austin ISD, we have lots of families that don't believe that the school that they're zoned to serves their family needs or their student needs. And that's a problem. Like that is a huge problem for our school district if we are going to be sustainable and support our students in our way moving forward. And so when we started this work, um there were a lot of things that were the catalyst for us just starting. Um the first was recognizing that no one's going to come save us when it comes to our budget challenges. Uh the inefficiencies we have in our system, the declining enrollment, like no one's going to help us. The second thing was
014these budget challenges that we have, you know, they're exacerbated by the declining enrollment. But I also want to be really clear. The changes in the federal government have put immense pressure on our system. Uh I don't often talk about it because it's not talked about a whole bunch. Uh but title two, title three, and title four dollars which were previously frozen this year then released, they will be going away, right? These are millions and millions and millions of dollars that we use to serve our students who have been historically underserved. Like that's the reality of it all. um many folks within a vets team uh our multilingual education team were impacted by these decisions. And so each and every time something happens to us, I have to try to figure out a way to, you
015know, take the body blow because that's what it is. Figure out how to protect like who we are as an organization and ensure that we're viable to meet our students needs. Like that's that's really a lot of what we've been tackling. And then you add on top of that what we want to do um as a school system uh and who we are and what we believe in. Right? The last two years we had lots of conversations around what we believe in and each of those things had an impact on where we are now. About 18 months ago we had a real conversation around you know planning time. We've had conversations around essential areas. We've had conversations around protecting [clears throat] librarians. We've had conversations around protecting nurses. Like there are all these things that
016we as a school district have said we believe this is what's necessary to support our whole child and if we hold those things true we have to acknowledge there's going to be resources deployed in order to support it right dollars we also know that for us and I believe this to the core of my being that we begin and end in the unit of change are our educators in the classrooms are like when we were coming out of the pandemic you know we had tons of vacancies throughout the school system. We had tons of vacancies within our principal ships. And we have been like pulling ourselves out of that moment in time. And what made things even worse is that you had change after change after change within the leadership of Austin ISD. And so
017as we move forward, what we had to take on had to be significant enough for us to be able to move the system and evolve. The state accountability system is not going away. It's not. I get asked all the time, Matias challenged this. Matias has challenged this. What we know is that our commissioner has immense authority. What is said goes and if we're not responsive to it, no matter how much we feel otherwise, we will be put in a position where local control could move away from us. And it and it can happen and it can happen quickly if you're not very responsive to it. The other thing is when we look at solutions or we look at plans long term, we want to make sure that we are identifying solutions that might not otherwise
018exist because we brought people together and we tackled many things at one time. And so this plan includes several elements. I'm going to just quickly lay them out um so that you're if you're understanding like Matias like why did you consider this and not this? you'll see how these overarching objectives uh were considered. First, we wanted to have aligned feeder patterns everywhere in ISTD. Um, you know, they're not perfect because we are an organization that's been around for 144 years. Maybe I should move to this part of the circle. And our boundaries were built out of our >> Switch microphones. Switch microphones. >> Switch microphones. So, we've been built out of a series of decisions and boundaries for over 144 years, right? And there were plans that were made. There were there's desegregation that occurred.
019There were lots of things that informed how our boundaries came to be. And right now, what we know is that there are certain experiences that students have in parts of Austin where they have very clean quote unquote cleaner patterns. And there are parts of Austin, and you guess where these are, where we don't have clean theater patterns. So, what does that mean? It means that you have middle schools that are going to three, four, and five high schools in some parts of Austin. And then you have schools in other parts of Austin, and guess where they are, where one middle school goes wholly into a high school. And so, if we're ever going to address that, it has to be a comprehensive change because every high school boundary has to align with every middle school
020boundary. and those middle school boundaries have to align with those elementary school boundaries. So that was one big like objective that we had in this um effort. Two, we wanted to address our transfer policies and our operating procedures around them. We've got policies in place that have been around for decades. And the reality is that some of these policies have brought into our school system behaviors that I don't think represent who we are now. And so if we're going to be thoughtful about it, we need to look at them and make adjustments. And this plan attempts to do that. The third thing, programmatic alignment. And I'm going to include monastery in this kind of bucket of elements of kind of the overall um plan, draft plan. And it's that, you know, we in Austin ISD
021and I I would say I certainly believe that we want our students to have access to programming in Austin ISD that's unique to Austin, but I also want to be really clear about what does access mean. Uh, you know, access may sound great, but if we're not providing transportation or it's not located geographically um to where anybody can reasonably get to it, it's not accessible. uh when I think about the wall-to-wall to language programs which is kind of a big part of this aspect of the work you know the intent uh originally um as it was formed was to ensure that our emerging bilingual students were the center of the program and what we've seen over time as a city has changed that we're within the number of students who are emerging bilingual has be
022begun to decline and continues to decline. So in order to provide access, we need to move where those students are, right? And then really think about how we ensure that they stay in that community and access these schools. The other thing I'll say is reduction in overall um I would say improvement in efficiencies, reduction in overall cost. This is the hardest one to talk about because it it's hard to talk about funding or dollars and cents because it can seem so removed from the classroom. It just seems so like like just sterile and and not loving. But at the end of the day, you know, everything we do requires funding. Our compensation for teachers, which represent and staff is 87% of our budget. The curriculum that we acquire. Like we spend millions and millions of
023dollars every single year on our curriculum. And I can promise you there are less expensive alternatives. But I am certain that this community and many communities around Austin would not support that curriculum if I pursued it. Though I could save $8 million. And when we think about how we reduce our overall kind of cost as a system, we start with where are we misaligned? And for us that represents number of empty seats that we have in our school system. It's one way to look at it. It's not the only way to look at it, but it's one way to look at it. And so as a school system, you know, and y'all have heard me say this before, perhaps, maybe you haven't. You know, in 1996, we had about 96 schools. It's kind of funny
024that it matches up that way. Um, in 2025, you have 116 and you had roughly the same student population at that time as you do now. Now, there's a big increase in between and then a decrease. But just for context, like we've grown with the city and as gentrification has occurred, as families have been priced out because of how costly it is to live in Austin, families have moved, but our buildings have stayed. So, in order for us to tackle that, we have to think about the whole and make adjustments as part of that plan. And then lastly, and I think this also considers why we're here today um and talking about when Monastery is just the reality of the accountability system that we're in. Like I have tell I tell people tell I'm blue
025in the face like our schools are doing incredible things and I actually use win as an example often because people will say well this school is not performing this school's not performing you know I'm like no but like our schools are so much be more than a letter grade they are and this is a great example of of what that means when but it's not known to everybody especially when you're talking at a 5,000 10,000 even 20,000 foot level like that connection doesn't always come across but the reality is if I'm not responsive. If AISTD is not responsive to the turnaround plans and the risks within them as a function of time because you have one UA, 2A, 2 UA, 3U, UA, four and five, then we as a school district could inadvertently without really
026understanding introduce risk that would take local control away, right? And it's happening right now in Fort Worth and it happens relatively quickly. So all of that is woven into this plan. It's not a perfect plan. No plan is. Um, but I want you to know that when we look at different changes or um elements of the plan, we're trying to address as many of these things at the same time. Uh, so I'm committed to listening. I'm committing to refining. Um I will share with you that when we started this process like you know I I'm 100 I I felt strongly that monastery needed to be part of our academic program which is why it's included but I also had to address other things which I just mentioned including accountability seats etc with everything else around.
027So I'm going to um I know we have lots I want to create space for you all to have the conversation with me and with the team. Uh we have questions that we've received from you all that we're happy to respond to, but I don't want it to feel as though this is not your time, right? So, uh I'm happy to to make an adjustment however you'd like, but I wanted to share with you at least that um you can make adjustments. >> Before we get started, I just wanted to um see if you could touch on one other thing because it kind of came to our attention. And I know some folks were watching the board meeting on Wednesday and there was conversation around the compatibility of Monasuri um with the STAR test and
028I just I know I shared y'all I think someone created these resources and we shared them with our superintendent earlier today and I just wanted you to touch on that a little so folks kind of understand where you're at with that. >> Yeah. So I I would say from my perspective where those um conversations stem from it's this reality that the state accountability system is is fairly rigid. Um there are ways to approach movement um that sometimes can be very quick to achieve your goal. But there are things that perhaps others do like Austin ISD which are sustained long-term like growth to where if I'm here or the trustes are here, anybody's here, ASC will continue to thrive. When it comes to monastery, one of the critiques that has been out that we need to
029be honest about is the fact that, you know, when you have um students kind of blended in classrooms, it becomes harder to ensure that the interventions are coming into the space to to make sure that our students are are getting getting what they need to be successful on the assessment. No one disagrees that students are getting what they need at WI. I want to be really really clear like we believe and we see not only through the data but also just who win is the winning you know campus is that outcomes are moving there's no doubt it's just when you think about what what fits and what doesn't fit easily into the state's accountability system monastery is one that doesn't fit easily doesn't mean that we can't do it it doesn't mean that it shouldn't
030be done it just means that we have to be hyperthoughtful be very responsive and ensure that the research resources are deployed to ensure success. That's that's what I mean when we say that also it's not lost on me that you know wind monastery is one of 116 right in Austin ISD in the state of Texas I can't imagine it might be you know a hundred out of like thousand I mean it's going to be you know it's not something a program that typically um is the focus of those types of larger conversations which put puts us at risk at times whenever we're going through that work with that lens. >> Okay. Okay. And did you want to quickly go through um just kind of what's proposed and what has changed since Friday? >> Yes. In
031the draft plan um know that all of you all are aware uh it contemplates relocating um when uh monastery uh to go valley again there was questions that came out of the board and there was a statement that was made in the cover letter which I'm sure you all read which means we're still continuing to explore this specific um move. Why is this >> I'm sorry y'all. I don't want y'all to get You want me to talk louder? [clears throat] Talk loud. >> Oh, the recording. >> All right. So, we'll try that again. So, what it means is that the students who were zoned to win uh will now be reszoned to Andrews Elementary School and Hart Elementary School. >> Could we maybe try turning down the mic a little? That would be that would
032be the coolest thing ever if that was I mean >> I have solutions >> that sounds [laughter] I thought it was my Apple pin. I have an Apple pin which I somehow lost it seems like. Um so we'll try to see how this works. So um because win has a tap uh we have to reassign the students um if we're going to use that turnaround strategy. Right? There are other strategies that can be used. Uh there are six of them in fact, but taps typically are produced and implemented at year two. So two UA once you get to your third UA, which is where we are, you have fewer and fewer options that are truly viable. And when I say viable, I mean to be accepted by the agency. Doesn't mean that we couldn't do
033it. It just means that the agency has built a system that says the further you get along in a process, the fewer options you have. Um, which is why for us there are reassignment, restart, district restart, right? Those are kind of the available options given the number of ways that we have the microphone. >> It's turn back on. that speaker. It seems like it's almost that speaker. It's coming through both speakers. While we're waiting, if you can turn and introduce yourself to your neighbor and tell them your favorite thing about win, >> thank you so much for your patience and thank you so much, but I know it's hard to have technical issues in the middle and such an important conversation. If it happens again, I'll come up with a new topic for you to
034talk about. Take it away, Mr. President. >> Uh, yeah. Um, so >> amazing. Um, so, uh, we talked about kind of the original draft of the plan, right? And I want to be really clear when we started this work, again, like I said, supporting Monasuri and providing the programming was important. We had to break the accountability chain, which meant we had to reassign the students. We still wanted to make sure that all students had access to the program that were currently in the program, which is why you saw us address transfers in the way that we did in the revised plan. And we were also trying to place the program in a part of the city that would keep another school from closing. Um, and the reason I say that is because when we look
035at areas of the city, we know that in some areas we have lot of lots of growth. In other areas you have lots of decline in enrollment. And whenever you can place a district-wide camp program in an area that doesn't have enough seats, it actually helps you keep a has too many seats. I'm sorry. It actually helps you not have to close an additional school. So, those are the two things when we were evaluating how this could work. Uh why we we chose that strategy at that time. Uh I will say, you know, I've spent read lots of Nadia's emails. I've read lots of other emails. Um and [applause] and and so are there other options? There there are things that can be considered. The the one thing I want to be really thoughtful around
036is anytime you introduce a new option, you introduce more like energy and anxiousness and fear into the process and the system. And so even at the work session when we're being responsive to trustees about exploring Ortega or Zavala, even those conversations which I'm committed to exploring requires me and engaging with those communities to make sure that we do it well, that we're thoughtful and everybody understands why it came about, right? Um and so uh that's one of the things that I want you to know is still underway right now. We're still trying to find the solution for this how this is going to work. I can't I can't say that we're there. um the conversations haven't completed um but that is where we are in the process. Now there were other um ideas that were
037brought forward and so you'll have questions around them uh and we can talk about those as well and what that could or couldn't look like given the time that line that we're on. Um so just wanted to make that point and then I talked about transfers. I think it's just really important to reinforce, you know, our commitment to ensuring that if you're a student who currently has access to the program, you will be you will have a seat available for you wherever the program goes. Um, so I just wanted to make sure that was clear. >> I would like to go first whenever you're ready. >> You go. Go ahead. Go ahead. Let's go. I mean, yeah, we don't need to I want to make sure we It should be a dialogue. It should be
038It should not It should be a conversation like it shouldn't be us. >> We'll go with you first. I love your sweatshirt. Thank you so much. Um the reason I want to go first is because I I want to address something that you just brought up that is kind of how we are here. But you know I think a lot of um this community wants to just address maybe misconceptions or things that we hear when we listen. Like we're so much more engaged than anyone ever thought you would need to be. Um and one of those is a just a big difference in the handling of wallto walls. Um so the wall towald language programs were moved to the population that needs to be served whereas when is being moved away from the population that
039needs to be served in order to solve a a district problem and that led to you guys spending 45 minutes talking about monastery as an instructional model and not never once discussing these students with the exception of the fact that they shouldn't go into a new school and that was I know not intended to be hurtful or dismissive, but everyone who has a student at this school, um, my [clears throat] student is in his eighth year at the school felt it immensely because genuinely, not once were any of these students discussed in that discussion. And again, the wall to walls are moving to their population. this program is moving away from its population which matters because if you are going to introduce a bunch of new students to to monastery part of what makes it
040work is the students around them who start working because they were told to start working and don't need that um small group instruction on everything from the start which is why we grew Monasuri one grade at a time when we started Um so moving this program away from its population that makes it work right dol works when you have 50% EBS and we're moving towards those EBS monasteries really similar and we are moving away from the students in the plan as discussed publicly thus far which is why we're so focused on staying in northeast Austin. >> Yeah. So, um, no, great, great question and this was a this was a point of reflection for me after the board meeting like because I I uh read the emails um and I was reflecting about, you know,
041how that conversation came about and it's it's all it's it's it's all my fault. I mean, it it it really is. It's you know, my job is position the trustees to have a thoughtful conversation around any topic within the the plan. and we kind of had the conversation based on, you know, my interpretation of what I received from trustees. And so, we couldn't tackle everything. I mean, we're we're pretty pressed for time, y'all. Like, in these meetings, it's pretty unfortunate, but I I have like 20 minutes per topic, and we went over like an hour and a half. So, I want to apologize. I I never want any family or any student to feel as though they don't have a voice in Austin ISD. That's not our intention. I'm sorry that it came off that
042way. That's that's not how I ever want to be. Um, so I'm sorry. Um, regarding uh where the students are, one of the things I would ask is when you say that, is it defined by a geographic region primarily or is it defined by I have the map. I have the map. I have the map, but it's >> I have the map. >> No, but it's where your current It's where it's where your current students live, >> right? And so and so I just want to like make a I want to be It's where the current students live. I I've seen this map. Yeah. I'm I y'all I read my emails, y'all. Like I I spend time when I'm like at 3 in the morning like sitting there like that's what I'm doing. Um so
043when when we think about um student populations and where they are, you know, is it is it inconceivable that a a monastery program could be successful elsewhere in the city? I I just I just I so so I think >> need to be grown year by year. >> I I don't disagree. I think that you any program that we have just the way when we started up general Marshall you start six the next year is six and seven the year after that sixth seventh and eth how you have to be very thoughtful about how you start a program but it's but it it's not um it's based on how you start it not always in this the student population that resides in that area now with emergent bilingual students like we know where they live
044and we know where the density of students are so I I would say we we didn't apply the same strategy for that reason. Um, and we always talk about programs have moved and can move. That's just the history of Austin ISD. There are things that have grown like at one point there wasn't a monastery here and at some point there there was and you know and that happens all throughout Austin ISD. >> So maybe because it we weren't we approached it in that way we we took that approach that led us to that down that direction. Um, keeping it in this area uh is not I mean I've read again Nadia's emails. I think that there are things that can be explored and we'd have to be we'd also have to acknowledge that there's we
045would run into the other challenge that we have which is this the seats. [snorts] So so so I think that's that's something that you know we're continuing to explore. there's not a lot of like um I always have to acknowledge that if that's the case then this other challenge that we have as a district remember a district that I am trying to address wouldn't get addressed in the same way >> right and and that's just the honest truth but I I appreciate that comment and that's why we built it out the way question I just want to make sure I understand the question but I want to make sure it doesn't follow up So the question is, will schools in the 78723 area have a full day prek3 and four? Which schools will accept students
046who aren't eligible for tuition free? Um, Miss Carden, can you address this one? Thank you so much. Um, so this is a great question and we're working on this and I'll share with you why. So the prek3 is is interesting. Um, I can tell you that we have a current list of preK3 uh campuses just for reference and Ally, I'll make sure to share that with you to see if we can add it to the October 31st. On the October 31st, we did provide a list of all of the projected preK4 campuses so that you could start to see where those are offered. The reason the preK3 is a little more challenging to to answer is because we have partners with our preK3 also. So today I met with one of our partners and we're
047agreeing that after November 20th, if the vote is yes, then we will with all of our prek3 partners get together, right, to see which campuses. We want to be very mindful about where our families are, where the needs are, and our partners as well. And just to give you some background, our preK3 is half-day program, but with our partners, it allows for that full day program as well. So that's coming. Please take a look at the list of projected preK4 campuses which are on the October 31st draft and we'll add the current campuses to October 31st also so that you can see where they currently are. So clarifying question is the plan to provide full day prek3 handbook half day with teachers half day with >> for the prek3 we we do need to look
048at because of consolidation also right there could be some programs at a school that is proposed to to close or consolidate. So we need to go back and look at where our partners are going to be where we have our prek3 half day and then our prek3 with partners. So it's not to to avoid answering the question. It's there's a process for making sure that we've got our prek3 programs where they need to be and they start off as half day and then with partners we're able to offer the full day. >> Thank you. And I'm come here to the this person here for this next question. Um, before I pose my question, sorry, the corporate communications professional, me, >> can you talk as close to the microphone? >> Yes, I can. I'm so sorry.
049Um, I just wanted to clarify with her question that basically I want to make sure that I'm getting this right. The gist of what it comes down to is either we keep Monasuri in this location and you're not starting from scratch or you're moving the location and you're starting from scratch. Like that's the difference. So what I when we talk about starting from scratch, >> you're not having model students. The population is the students who have been here, the model students. >> So when we talk we built our plan out, um the idea was to have staff go, to have, you know, the program go, the resources go. um you know and and one of the things that we I talked to our trustees about is to limit disruption and and do the best we
050could to ensure a healthy transition was to invite and have as many [snorts] students go and community go as well. So that's why it ended up in this configuration opposed to just a dismantling or like a split or a north south like so so I I >> do you understand what we're saying? >> No, I understand what you're saying. If you're moving the location, you're starting from scratch because you're going to lose a lot of the model students like that. >> So, I would say starting from scratch is different would be if you did start if you didn't have a monosur program in your school district with the resources with the work that we've done together the last many years like which y'all did the first time that was starting from scratch. That that's the
051way I I just want that's how I because we >> okay I see it differently but I understand what you're saying. >> Yeah. I just wanted to clarify that. Yeah. >> Um I can >> All right. I'm going to go with the next comic card question. This came from several people, but will families have access, this kind of ties in, to transportation for their students and how far reaching will any transportation be offered? >> So, the the current mon so the monastery program has transportation um you know it's it's one of the things that we are going to continue to have in the plan um if it continues down this this path. So as far as far reaching as it is, I mean it's its current configuration is is as wide as it needs to
052be. We have families that access transportation monator who live very far away. Um we would expect that to continue. That's how we ensure access. Um so we're not anticipating a change um in how we do that. Um so the current access education wise would be um preserved. And as far as how wide, well depends on where the p student is that wants to access the program. And that's already I mean that's >> so short answer there will be districtwide transportation for anyone who wants to do much sorting. Correct. Correct. >> Okay. We have a question here. >> Hi my name is Jose Mustavante. I'm one of the guides here. Uh dual language fourth fifth grade. Uh you came into our last year. >> Yeah it was. >> My biggest concern is not necessarily where the
053school is moving. Uh and I can understand I don't have children. Um my biggest concern is resources for what Monasuri is. So I started teaching at Sims Elementary and that school was on the verge of closing and we were asked as teachers to come up with a plan and we came up with a plan and the district took us to Dallas and we saw Monasuri schools and we said this is what we want to do and the way that it was presented to us was that you know we had the uh autonomy to create a program and to decide what direction we wanted to head into but then it turned out that there was going to be no support from the district. So that's what I have my understanding as what we're receiving as resources.
054I say all of that to to point out that we now have a monatory program and it's a very expensive program. It requires a lot of more personnel and my concern is that we're just going to move to another building and we are going to continue to have the um the lack of resources of people. Just to give you some context, and I'm sure you know, last year I started out with third, fourth, and fifth graders that we were supposed to only keep for three weeks and we kept for two months. And that derailed my whole teaching, how I could differentiate what I could do. Um, the year before that, I inherited a classroom because it was my first year here that did not have a teacher all year. So, these students had no growth,
055no learning whatsoever. And then we were in another situation last year where the other uh ESL classes were in the same boat. And so I came to this school um because Bridget asked me to. I was ready to quit education. [laughter] I was ready to quit education and move on to something else. But I was really interested in Monasuri. But my concern is that we're just going to move into another building that's just slightly more updated [laughter] and that we're going to continue to face the um the challenges of giving our students what they need when we don't have the personnel, we don't have the resources, we're sharing materials. So my concern is that the district is not doing this with fidelity. It needs to be done with fidelity. Monastery is not easy. If it
056was, we'd have more schools doing this, right? So I understand that you're having a hard time navigating equity and equality because you know we want to give schools everything that they need but monastery programs need more they and they do. Um and so how are you planning on navigating so that we are not just moving into another nicer building but we don't have teachers. This is the first year that I think all of our classrooms are full and there's been huge growth just in these last two months in my opinion because we have been more stable [applause] but we didn't have that stability the last two years that I've been here and it's really disheartening to see Bridget doing everything that she can to get us where we need to be but to be continue
057running into no it's not possible we can't do that we can't do this we can't do that. So it just seems to me like again I use the word lip service because that's how it felt when I was dealing with this at SIMS where we are told to come up with our best options, come up with our best solutions and I understand that you are being met with tea and all that stuff. So I'm just wondering what what are what are your uh plans to provide us with what we need so that we can be a successful monastery school and so that we're not just a monastery school by name. Sure. >> I also just want to acknowledge you're one of our TIA certified teachers, right? >> That means his scores were really good for
058his kids last year. [cheering] [applause] >> Okay. My name is Sandy. I'm a lower elementary guide here. This is year seven for me. And my question matches up with um the one of my colleague and that is I've been here long enough to see about half of the transition to the monastery. So when Bridget came it was a year where you had a special education teacher who stayed a librarian who stayed and a handful of primary staff who stayed some teaching assistants that stayed and then it was me in elementary. So first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. Everybody left. And so I've I've been through that and Bridget has been amazing with building up this team. So I'm just looking at it from the point of view of you're saying it sounds great for students
059and for the building that you're going to put our one half school into a building and then offer one half of the spots to new students. And if you were going to have all of our if all of our staff was going to move, that would mean we would only have half of the monastery staff that we would need. If every single material that we have in our building would move, we're only going to have half of the materials that we need. So my question is echoing my colleagues in terms of it is expensive to outfit a classroom. So we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars to outfit part two the second half because you're doubling our program essentially by moving us to a larger building and a larger campus. So my question is I
060can understand the the time that it might take to find the monastery teachers and so that can grow and I'm curious how that process would happen but I'm also concerned that I might find myself in a school um where I can be in my own class and I can take care of what's happening in my world but not if I have don't have the materials or if I'm having to share my one classroom materials with three or four classrooms. >> Yeah. These are great questions. The first thing I would say is um [cough] from my initial response and and what I've reflected on is you know when did when monastery right 22 23 you think about coming on board you think about all the work y'all that wasn't that long ago like I I know
061I mean it really wasn't I mean y'all you know Bridget you know we were learning how to support them. Sorry, this feels weird. Um, like you know, we we were learning. The school district was learning. I mean, that's the honest truth. I mean, I would say I'm not going to speak for Bridget. Um, but our school district was trying to figure it out and understand how to support this program and other programs as well. I would say there are other programs in Austin ISD that have not been supported in the way that we should have supported them. And what I go back to is okay well were we prepared to launch the program or not. I don't know I wasn't here at that point in this role. Um I know that there was you know
062lots of field trips. There's lots of learning and understanding but implementation execution is what it's all about. And I think about where we were in 22 23 23 24 25. You had lots of superintendent lots of school leaders. You had lots of people moving in and out of the system. So I'm not surprised. In fact, I think that y'all have moved the needle in spite of lots of other kind of external conditions that some of them were in our control, some of them were outside of our control. Um, now if we move forward, you know, my objective is to do fewer things better. Like right now, we're an inch deep and a mile wide. We got resources everywhere. All sorts of different things happening in Austin ISD. And our trustees will ask me like, "Is
063it too much in some cases?" Right? Are we doing things that maybe we they're doing them because we've been doing them, but if there are things that we're going to commit to, you better bet we're going to fund them. You better bet we're going to allocate resources to them. But we weren't set up like that. I mean, in 20 22 23 when I came on board and it was like a whirlwind. We're dealing with the TA read special the special education TA read order and that kind of launched us in the next two years. So what I would say is we've done a lot of work around early literacy, early numeracy, you know, building up our climate and culture, making sure that we have is in place to understand where our students are. I want
064to desperately get to a place where we can focus on the important work not the urgent work because the last three four years has all been urgent urgent urgent urgent and so um I would say that if we move forward and this is a program that we're supporting like you will have my commitment to ensure that it's done with fidelity and success. I've spent time, you know, I'm not as well versed as I'm sure many of y'all are, certainly not as well as your principal, but my my role is to ensure if we're going to do something, we're going to do it well. In order to do it well, we need to make sure I have the resources to do it. It's in our line item. It's in our budget, and that our system is
065responsive. I'll tell you right now that there are things that we can do in Austin ISD to ensure that we are responsive to unique programs. uh we haven't always done them um because sometimes they go against what we've always done, but we can do them. >> So that's why I was I know that the term reset I read an email that was offensive and I understand why that feels that way. But from operationally how we support the program, we do have to reset in Austin ISD. I need to figure out a talent strategy or the the group that hires isn't successful in supporting our principal and in getting the hires or whether it's certifications and how we look at you know supporting our our staff as they move through the process then that's a change
066that we need to make internally. It's not y'all it's us. Um but I I'm not going to support something that I know we can't execute well and deliver well. The other thing I would say is programs are more expensive. You know immersion programs are very expensive because we staff to language right. So you can very quickly get into a school that seems pretty small and has a a cost per pupil, you know, through the roof. And it's not because you're spending more on a principal or more on the facility. It's because you made a decision that in this school you're going to have these programs and you're going to staff this way. Emer programs are a good example of that. When you look at the cost per student, it's very very high. But it's because
067we agreed that is what we're going to do. Um, so, so that's what I would say to that is if we do this, I mean I [clears throat] told we're going to do it well. I'm not gonna I'm not going to participate in anything that's kind of half I don't want to use that word. >> Matias, I can also add something because I was just talking today to um Dr. J. Brown who helps us with research and evaluation. We're discussing releasing a survey um once we have a vote um to collect input from families about what where they intend to go um what information they need before they can make a decision if there are certain things that are important to them um so that we can our goal is to have as much clarity
068as possible when we open general registration which is we're targeting around midFebruary that general registration would open is to have as much information as possible for families to know what will be offered at different schools because it becomes a bit of a chicken and thing where we can't promise to offer a specific thing if we don't know which students will be there, right? But at the same time, families can't make a decision if they don't know what's being offered. So, we're going to do this survey. Um, and I have a woman right here and then I'll get to you next. Um, that'll help us get some more information about where families want to be. And I think that might add to or kind of respond to what you were asking, which is if we can
069see how many students we expect, then that helps us understand how to staff and resource it. Um, I'm going to go to this comment card question because I think it's a quick one, but because I want to clarify something, but they asked, "Why are you creating a new monastery school that is unzoned and application based, and I just want to clarify when we say application based, um, families will have to go into the system and indicate they'd like to go, but it's not a it's not like a merit-based application where they have to have materials or things like that. So, I just want to make sure we use the word application because you have to go and indicate your interest, but it's not like an application like a match or anything like that. Thank you.
070Um [clears throat] I actually spoke with you last Tuesday at the Baptist church. Um thank you for coming back to work here. Um the comment that I made was specifically about busing and kids in special ed who often have private therapies after school. Um I'm not going to repeat that question because I don't want to waste anyone's time. Um but the point that I made was that you have private therapies or anything. after school, busing is not an equalizer for you because you still have to drive to go get your kid. And then >> sorry, >> and I'm going to come back here because it feels weird with my back to people. Um, busing does not work for children who have afterare programs or for kids who have private um therapies or other things directly
071after school that parents are required to pick their kids up um to take them to. So, for three and four year olds who do not qualify for um going to city rec centers or uh Boys and Girls Club or any of these other programs, they will be they will stay at the school that they're currently attending until their parents are able to pick them up. It doesn't cut down on commuting for us. Um that's one point that I want to make. Um when when you were having your work session with the board, there was discussion about instead of going to Gabbali, going to one of the other two schools, Ortega or Zabala. Um the Ortega is about equidistant and Zala is even farther away um from this community that the school is serving, which makes
072that commute even harder, makes it less accessible. Um, another point that I want to make that I feel like several people have been trying to bring up um, before me is that the educators and the students create a symbiotic relationship and that is what makes Monastery successful. So yes, we are faced with three Fs. We're slated for a C this year. We are so close to making that and yes, I understand that TEA does not care about that. that they care about the threefs that we currently have. If this program is moving to another location, even with 100% of the staff, there's a very good chance that you're getting just a very small portion of the kids from this school, from this neighborhood going all the way to another school. Mind you, a receiving school
073that doesn't want us there. They don't want us there. We don't want to go there. I really think that we need to be concentrating on northeast and then the problems in East Austin, concentrate on those problems there. There is a geographic difference there. The cultural difference is not dissimilar is is not dissimilar. There are poor black, brown, and special ed kids here too that have not been served well. I digress. moving us to another location with just a fraction of the students. I'm concerned that that school that's receiving a fraction of our kids is still going to get another F because we're not going to see the success that we would with the symbiotic relationship where we have the institutional institutional knowledge, academic knowledge between both parties. Um, the other point that I want to
074make is that Gov Valley, if we are still considering Go Valley, has 39% of their student body in special education. My child who is in special education and other people here with kids in special ed, we understand how deeply resourceful a school has to be in order to accommodate those kids. I cannot in a million years fathom where we are already struggling with resources how we're going to provide resources for 39% of a student body to learn a complete new pedagogy. I don't see how that's even possible to be successful. Um the last thing I'm going to say I don't I I'm sorry I'm monopolizing time here. have we talked to in either of our neighboring schools to see if they would consider what what the temperature is on receiving monastery. That way we'd be
075able to retain more of our student body as well as more of our staff. Have we talked to either of our neighbors about whether or not they would consider receiving monastery? Thank you. Um, no, thank you for sharing all a lot of that and I agree with you on on several fronts. Uh, regarding the the speaking to um, you know, we're in this moment now where if we need to have conversations to to explore I I want to be really honest with our trustees and our community what that means and what that looks like. Those who know me, um, Nadia probably knows like I will I will pivot. I will adjust. I will do what's required to ensure that we have the best plan considering the circumstances. Um now my board the board of trustees
076asked me to look at different things. Um that's why Monasur is clearly called out as one of these we're continuing to look at. Um have I had direct conversations um with those communities about this um specific program group? Not in a like a um formal fashion is the way that I would say. Uh but we are now going through and having conversations trying to figure out if there's anything that we missed before we got to this point. And if there's, you know, support and consensus, then we are happy I I am very happy to progress the conversation um as needed to to continue to address the challenges we have, but also find a solution that is a better fit. on the other side, I have to just think through if that's the place we end
077up the fact that I'll still have a surplus of seats. We'll set surplus of seats in that community and that's a separate thing, right? I mean, but I just want that that is why we're doing it this way. Um, again, I want to find the best solution given circumstances. Uh, none of them are going to be perfect. Um, but I will convince and continue those conversations and like that's why as a statement on the draft delivery said, we're continuing to look at this specific plan. I want to just add that you mentioned you've mentioned maybe not these students in a couple different ways when we keep saying yes these students um I do want to I want you to consider um if like five years in the future this monastery unzoneed school is working because
078it had a balanced population of monastery students but those monu monatory students are all affluent We don't have title one status any longer. There are kids who were in private monastery before. So they are experienced monatory students and the balance is working. Um but it's only because we lost the the guard rails the only way because I know growth is part of why that why this is desired right the new campus is larger growth from all over the district. It's a it's it's in the portfolio. It's part of the draw. And also you want to hold on to the enrollment guardrails. Um and so I I want you to think about as you're you know helping shape these decisions. If in five years the reason it was successful was because we had to remove those
079guardrails in order to have enrollment be it do the enrollment tool you needed it to be and to do the seats role you needed it to be. and it just no longer has any of the guard rails that this school has and that this community is interested in. By the way, this community would not be interested in that school. Um, and I think that that's a misunderstanding of this community because some of us do have in affluence and influence. The idea that you think not >> you said I think I >> I know that's why I stopped. I stopped. I think I think it has been thought about this community particularly in the conversation of not giving them a new school, right? that that folks are seeking um shiny things and and want what is
080nice and new. And in reality of this community, we have built a thing so that it can work for this community which is largely black and brown, highly experiencing poverty, highly learning English. Um and so I I did want to voice that. Um, I understand Ally, I've been coordinating with all these folks, so this is something I've been asked to share. Um, so I do want to I do want to say that. So if you if you look back and it turns out why it worked was because you had to remove all of those guardrails, removing them is part of why you would lose this community as well. >> I'm going to go to the person behind you and then I think you were next. >> Hi Lopez. Um, so I want to touch I
081want to go back to this community engagement piece and keeping in mind and centering the population that Nikki just described in regards to who when Monastery is. While this is a beautiful crowd of people, this is not everybody that sends their kids here. that this is a title one school and the majority of the folks here are unfortunately people that are not able to be in this room and that's what I'm very deeply concerned about with the fact that they are not [applause] and from the parents that we do have the opportunity to engage with particularly Spanish speaking parents they have no clue about what's happening and that is alarming and so I wanted to hear about specifically what the district is doing to let those parents not only know about what's happening but to
082have an actual voice and meaningful engagement and decision-m because this is their children too. And I think that's very heartbreaking why all of us we know we have that privilege of being able to be here at 4:00 on a Monday and there's a lot of parents that are terrified not only because of the fact that they can't they're working they're you know to be able to put food on their tables in this terrible environment but they're terrified of ice they're terrified of not being able to be able to provide for their families and being separated. But not only that, but they don't even know what's happening here. And it's not once in a while. It's every family that we've spoken to that is in Spanish that doesn't even know that the school is closing, doesn't
083know that they have an opportunity. So, I'm just really concerned about how they haven't been reached out to. I've been working with our parents uh support specialist and he's been asking the district for resources and they just tell him, "Play back some of the videos and just explain what's happening in Spanish." And that's not the same as engaging with that community. And I think that's a big huge gaping hole and why there's some of that distrust about is the district going to be able to support us because we haven't seen that even with just informing some of these parents. And so I I would love to be able to hear maybe there's something I'm missing that you guys are doing. But I'm just really concerned about who's not in this room. >> Yeah. So I'll
084have Ally kind of chime in after I I start. So um I'm committed to engagement. Like I I I have I will show up. I will be present. Um, you know, this is a large effort. There's a there's a lot of things occurring simultaneously in Austin ISD. That's just the honest truth. We kind of lean into, you know, what's available before we come into a space. So, you know, sometimes it's early in the morning, sometimes it's late at night. We will show up. So, I this I can't speak to why 4 p.m. and not 7 p.m. or why not Saturday. I will tell you that we are balancing many things and it's really important that we get here and we're present. In every instance, there's always going to be someone who's not at the table.
085And so, for us, we have to figure out how do we get their voice into the process, right? So, we have obviously gone through the community uh comment cards. Yes, we've had large committee meetings. Yes, we voice even like like you're sharing with me that there's still missing voice at in this area. Now, when it comes to decision- making, I want to be like honest about there are some things that are not going to be possible. I mean, that's the honest truth. I mean, it and it's not because Matis doesn't want them to happen. It's because the pressures that we have in the system are gargantuan. They're just huge. And if we don't address them, then I'm not going to be doing you know what I should be doing for the 70,000 students. Like I
086have to think of the whole, right? So I try to come down understand live experience do the best I can inform support and then go back and forth. So I'm if there are other things that we need to do to engage with this specific community, please let us know. We work with principal far. We so Alli Alli right here is is Ally right here. But I I just want you to know like we are committed to engagement. We learn, we adjust, we refine at any point, you know, it it doesn't feel like that's occurring. We need to know. But I also don't want anything to be a reason why we just don't take action. Like I I've heard lots of times, well, what about this? What about this? What about this? And and I'm saying
087like we need to spend time on planning implementation. Where we fail is whenever we don't plan the sequence of things that have to occur to our students are successful starting in 26 27 school year. Like I've seen it and I I'm not going to belabor this, but I've seen it whenever we make changes in the spring semester. Like we can engage engage engage and then you know all of a sudden be at the exact same place in five months but we lost you know a lot of time planning and it's going to hurt our students. And so, um, I would prefer that if there's something that really requires us changing, like we talk about what that means timelinewise, agree to it, but not agree to just forget the challenge that we as a district have
088to to support and manage. But I'm Alli's the person that you speak to. >> Yeah. And I'm happy to connect with you also, Mr. Garcia. So, we did something that we did do is we looked at all of the comment card responses and any campuses that either didn't have responses or had a low response rate, my team met and came up with a plan for how to do more outreach to those campuses. So, we did more direct messaging through text. We printed out flyers and delivered them to the campuses so that people could have QR codes. I know many campuses their PTAs ca had different events and so they actually had um like iPads and laptops and helped people. We told our PS's they could fill it out for families. So, a lot of different
089campuses done have done creative things and we were able to reduce the number of campuses. It I can say with confidence the only campuses that had didn't don't have responses as of this date are campuses that have almost no changes proposed. Every other campus we've gotten that response rate up. But I'm happy to work with Mr. Garcia, with you and um we did have a fair number of um Spanish speaking responses. My team had to um translate it so that the the subject matter experts could understand the content. But we're happy to continue working with y'all to make sure that we get more responses there. Um, okay. So, I know I called on Give me one second. I called on you. There was a gentle I'm sorry, you then you there's a gentleman here and
090that's as much as I can remember at once. >> I have some of these other folks. So, would you are you you are next? Would you like to concede to me? >> Okay. Well, I'm gonna these these folks also have. So, I'm going to go here to this gentleman and then back there. All right. First and foremost, um I know many of you may not agree with this, but I am very thankful for Matias and I'm thankful for our board. I'm thankful for these hard things that they are doing. Let's be honest, there there's not one school district in Texas, probably in the United States, is not going through funding issues. Um, we've had these issues for a while, but now we're we're dealing with them. Um, and so I spoke last week and some
091of the things that I said probably were not very kind as I do read everything that comes across from AI to C. I get it from four schools. I get it from where I work. Um, and then I also just um read um to make sure I'm a breast to all the information. Um, I was like asleep the other night, woke up out of my sleep as I've been doing because this is very giving me a lot of anxiety. Um, and so I woke up, I had an idea and um, I don't um, I have a child that goes here. He's pre-K3, but my plan was not to have him continue here because I have a daughter at Blandon. So he's three and he's here all day. So he can go to Bllandon next year
092all day. So he's going to go there hopefully, cross your fingers, that he can go there next year. My idea is is that we have portables here where Pon Springs is in. Um Miss Bridget and um Miss Williams, they've already worked together and they're, you know, on different things, just you know, managing the playground, coordinating um um sharing things and stuff like that. Maybe it could work where maybe wind moves into the portables and pan spring moves into the school and then when p when pan springs school is ready when their school is finished building we move all of us over to pan springs. The reason why I thought of it is because parents are saying we need to stay in this community. We want to be here. Um Pan Springs is not that far
093down the street. Um it would be a lot closer than any of the schools that you've proposed. Um, I know that you're looking at, you know, closing facilities. Um, I don't know. That's just an idea that I had, um, to maybe move in the portables and have them move in here or have them move in here with us and change the name or whatever you need to do to maybe make that work. Um, and then we would absorb PCON spring students if they wanted to be a part of the monastery program. That that's just the idea I have. >> Yeah. Now, and those are um, we can do lots of things. Um, I will say that we would complicate that is the fact that win has three unacceptable accountability ratings and so does pan springs.
094And so really what helps us break the accountability chain is reassigning students to campuses and then having that campus receive the tap plan and then working with that campus to break it. I'm not saying that there aren't creative ways to to maybe pitch something, but it would be more of a a strategy pitch assuming the Pan Springs community was engaged, involved, supported, like all of this movement. Um because one of the things I'll say is because of how big the overall plan is and what we're working through just given our size, there are um different like elements of the plan that we really have to walk the agency through and show them, hey, we're being very thoughtful and intentional in ensuring that our students get what they need to be successful. If we can demonstrate
095that, then you get, you know, the opportunity to perhaps implement. But it would say if if Pan Springs did not have the accountability ratings that it did, that would make that plan a lot easier to implement. Um, but I'm happy to to explore it. I know through the kind of iteration after iteration iteration, there are lots of different scenarios. I know many of them. I don't know all of them, but one of the things that I'm doing as I dive deeper into this specific um kind of challenge is to become familiar and then be able to respond each of these other ideas that have come out because there are some ideas that are coming out that you know if it's something we can do I want to explore it. I just be really clear to
096our trustees this is what we're not going to be able to do because we're taking this path versus this path. >> So is that helpful? >> Yeah. The the kind of the assignment of the students is what's required for agency. >> I'm gonna come back here and then over there. Hi, my name is LaGo. Um, I'm a parent. We are zoned for when this is our neighborhood school. Uh, six years ago, ASC went through consolidation. We're going through it again, as everybody knows, and I classify this as a trend. Um, our kid was in first grade. I'm struggling to justify keeping keeping him in a system where we can't even plan for middle school at this rate. Um I've asked and doesn't really seem that the uh ISD has a strategic strategic plan beyond consolidation.
097What is the ISD doing now to prevent the next consolidation in five to six years? >> Yeah. So um I would say um you said trend uh so I was here in 2019. Uh I I saw that work. I oversaw much of the work. Um, I would say I do not want to be here. Like, this is the most painful place I've ever been in professionally and probably even personally. Uh, this is horrible. Um, I hate that our community is going through it. I'm hate that I have to be the person to to lead us through it. This is I don't want this for anybody. Um, I I desperately want to get to a place where we are thriving, growing, like it's sustainable. Like I said before, we've been tackling urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent. Um,
098when 2019 occurred, Shortly thereafter, the pandemic happened and then all bets were off. We had mass exodus of staff. We began to rebuild. We had leadership changes. We didn't have systems in place. And so the last two and a half years, we've been working. I mean, you're not only working here at WIN, like we are moving early literacy outcomes. We're moving early numeracy outcomes. I mean, we're there are presentations that we've been giving over the last many months that show like our system, our system is responding and it's happening our way. So I it can't be a trend, but I also don't want to say it'll never happen again because I don't know what could or couldn't happen at the federal level, what could or couldn't happen at the state level. I will tell you
099right now, there was a conversation that comment over here about ICE like immigration is hammering us right now. I have so many immigrant families that chose to to not come to Austin ISD or chosen to leave. So that's an over 2,000. That's millions and millions of dollars that that that those students represent. But what's most disheartening is that those students in some cases are still here. They're just choosing not to come to school because of the fear that's in the system. And that is like what's most disheartening about all of this. So um I want to get to a place where there is more understanding and a thoughtful approach to what we're doing academically, what we're doing when it comes to our strategy around um being inefficient when it comes to staffing. so that you
100as a parent, anybody as a parent in Austin ICD understands what they're going to get out of us as their student moves through our system. And I tell you at the end of the day, what we keep coming back to is our values. Like we we've agreed on certain things. If if that's not who you our community is, then we will change. But I have not understood that. I I desperately believe I mean I say I believe that you know our approach is sound. Um I wish we had more time. the 23, 24, and 25 accountability coming out within five months of one another that really put us in a difficult spot. So, no, it's it's not a trend. I hope it's not a trend moving forward, but I can tell you if we only
101do a piece of this plan or if we only tackle a quarter of it or half of it, we will be here. There's no doubt. Um, we'll be here again because my argument and is that if we have the resources to ensure every student gets what they need, then those students um those schools that have historically maybe not accountability will they'll have the resources, you know, and that will draw families in. Lots of families are making decisions based on very limited information. They they y'all know how awesome one is, but there are families that may move in and just see the the ratings and they're going to make a different decision and that happens all throughout Austin. So, um, so that's our approach. We're moving forward. I don't want it to be a reoccurrence. In
102fact, I don't know. I mean, that's just the honest truth. Matias, I'm going to just add to that because I think one of the challenges when you have so many underenrolled schools is that for example, I'm in the communications department and families have asked us when we were at Marshall like what what does every single Austin IC middle school offer, right? And it is hard to answer that question right now because you might we might have standards that we say we want every middle school to offer, but if they have a small student body, it's hard for that class to make, right? And it's hard to fund a staff for a very small class when you have the budget constraints that we have, right? And so I think one thing that we as we move
103forward with our academic planning is that we can actually get to a place where we can define what needs to be offered that there's actually a robust enough student body at each of our schools to be able to offer it and then the funds to actually make it happen. And so that I'm I know I'm personally looking forward to that because it would be much easier on us if we could say I can promise you that no matter what these are the things that are offered at an elementary level, these are the things that are offered at middle and these are the things that are offered at high and then there might be extras, right? But this is that baseline and that's something that we have struggled to do and this process will help us
104do and I think with that ability to communicate it more clearly that's going to I think help recapture families that maybe have decided they're not going to want to stick with Austin ID temporarily hopefully. Hi, my name is Camille Sailor. I've attended Austin Independent School District Elementary, Middle School, and High School. I now have a daughter at Win Monasuri. I taught high school AIDS for about 10 or 11 years. Um, this [snorts] is my fourth year at WIN. Um, I myself been a product of Austin Independent School District special education. At a time when there was a lot of change in special education, some of it at AIC my mother fought for. I said I would never be a teacher because of the way it made me feel. Here I am now working with kids
105so they don't have the same experience. Hi, [applause] my question is if AISD believes in having a monastery wherever it is, you need to have someone at the district level with monastery experience in a monastery background in being a leader in a monastery school, not a Texas public education school because that's not what we are. We are monorans first and foremost. We need someone at the district level to fight for us. We also need a principal who knows what they're doing. We have one and it's her choice if she wants to go. But if she doesn't, we can't just have some principal from another public school. It's not going to work. It's going to fail again. [applause] And it's starting all over wherever we are. So my question is when it comes to you all
106selecting principles for new campuses, what can we do in maybe helping influence you all to consider someone whose monastery experience in leadership at the campus level and also at the district level. >> So um so you're an AIC graduate. Did I hear that? Do you mind if I ask where you went to high school at? >> Macllum. Where'd you go to middle school at? >> Lamar. Awesome. Elementary. Sorry. >> Hi, Lamar. >> All right. I'm going to give you something before you leave. You don't have to remind me. >> Um, so, uh, one of the So, the I'm going to speak specifically the principle. Um, so what to do to to communicate to me? Um, you're doing that. I I I tr trust me I am not lost that the leader of this school a
107leader of a future school has to have all the knowledge the understanding of a true monastery model have experience being successful in it um and that doesn't come out of someone who just is transitioning from another elementary school I I recognize that uh I think you know Bridget's done a tremendous job in very difficult spot uh there's no doubt but as we move forward forward. It's really important that I identify these leaders sooner than later. And here's the reason. Uh we put a milestone out there in early December and that's really an effort to ensure that staff who we love and care for and we want to stay in Austin ISD stay in Austin ISD. Right. And so once you hire the principal and there's agreement and understanding of why this person is the right
108leader, they then can move to hire staff. And that way our families have a have a clear understanding of what to expect before you too far along into the registration process. Which is why time matters. If I wait till December or January, then we're into the spring semester. Hiring becomes a completely challenging place for us to be. Um so that's the approach that we're going to take. Um if there are more things that you'd like to send me, um please send them to me. A copy Lisha drinks um our chief of staff. uh if you think there are different uh skill sets or requirements that you want to have us consider um please please please send those along. I do not do anything without spending a tremendous amount of time trying to understand what the
109best fit is. And the rare instance that we don't find that person and we we have the ability to slow things down just a tad. But I want to make sure that everybody understands the reason we set this timeline is I want to protect staff. I want to make sure our staff know who is going to be leading these schools and then we make those decisions early and if a staff doesn't want to be at that school or wants a different experience in Austin ISTD, we offer that and all of that completes before we offer a single position outside the district. Um so so thank you for sharing that. Um I can certainly reach out um if you shoot me an email and talk to Lisha, we can also take it that way. But that's
110a big part of this work. Okay, we are actually already at time, but I know that we had some technical difficulties and got started a tiny bit late. So, I saw three hands that I'm going to call on. Miss Bradley, Nadia, and then you'll be our last question. >> Actually, I've heard so much and I'm not even sure if I really have anything much to say, but I do have maybe two or three questions and I'll do it as quickly as I possibly can. >> [laughter] >> It could have been five or six. >> Some of you know me well. [laughter] >> Actually, you had stated 45 students at least you had told me uh maybe a couple of weeks ago or so that 45 students here would transfer to heart >> that were in
111the attendance boundary assigned. So >> not transfer they they would get to transfer wherever they would like. Well, they'll be zoned to correct park. And so where is that 40? Where are those 45 students located? >> It's that weird little island that for whatever reason. >> We have the boundary on the map. We can probably >> Okay. So, I thought you were speaking of another another location. >> Okay. >> So, you can see it. I guess that one's not moving. But behind you, Miss Bradley, you can see it. >> Oh, no. I'm good. We [laughter] can move on. We can move on. >> It's that yellow. >> I'm good. Brilliant. >> Uh the other thing is I'm not sure is being captured of what is really important here. This community actually lobbyed for the Monasuri
112Bury. So did Sims. It was going on at the same time. So Bamanti was correct. We went to Dallas. We looked at uh Christine Moss Elementary which was a Monasuri school. Somehow went ended up getting the Montasauri program. I have a granddaughter here. She's in the third grade. One of my biggest I I guess uh I guess my question is kids may may go to other schools. and may transfer to other schools after being here for years in the monastery program. How are they how is the district going to help them adapt to a traditional program? The other thing is more of a comment. I don't want to see another survey. [laughter] I mean, no, I'm serious. How many surveys can you give? >> Well, that's to go to staff. Not we're not Miss Bradley,
113you hopefully. Are you employed by us this morning? I was employed by you [laughter] and what mean and wouldn't be survey there's a survey for everything and you think everyone is going to fill those out. There are some people that are just not because in some case they may not have the skill set too but they know what to say. So these type of engagements are important. >> I agree. >> But then my other question is I haven't seen an academic plan. So how would you support those students that have been in this program um since third, fourth and fifth? And how are you going to uh ensure that they have that they are they can adapt to a traditional program? the uh Oh, I said I had three questions, right? >> I think you're
114on five. [laughter] >> One more. Uh the other thing at a board meeting, you said the board did not want you to go under 15% with the fund reserve. >> What are you all sitting at [clears throat] right now? >> Um what are we at? Where's the where is Katrina at? I think we we ended up um at the end of the school year um at closer to 17%. Um and so because we were cutting cutting cutting at the end of the year and that contributed to the fund balance. Um but also Miss Bradley and you all probably were tuning in um we're actually having to extend a line of credit in order to cover cash because fund balance is in from beginning of the fiscal year to end of fiscal year if you sum
115all the you know all of it together the revenue and the expenses then you end up that total amount. But over the course of a year, you know, we have hu huge expenditures at the beginning of the school year and our fund balance draws down down down down and then right around this time in November, we begin getting funds from the uh the county um uh property tax. Yeah. And so it comes in in November. Now, what's happening this year, so I don't want to alarm anybody, but we are going to be extremely tight on cash and we're looking to go like negative to where I need to line of credit. the state um uh law, the one that's being voted on, right, around homestead exemptions, that has caused all the property uh the pre
116the appraisal districts throughout the state of Texas to delay how they go through the process of sometimes releasing their bills or how they're going to get funds coming in. So, those are our dollars. So, now they're coming in slower. So, the exposure in the month of November is longer. So, we got to 17%, but even with 17% at the end, we're still going to actually have to borrow for about six days um in the second week of November because of that nuance around money coming in late. Um so, so that's where we are. Um and it's just the reality of how cash plays into all of this. Our payroll per month is about $53 million. Um and then the total outlay, meaning like other expenses, is closer to 57. So, it's a big system and
117and that cash that balance allows us to make sure that every single person gets paid. The one thing that can never happen, disruption of pay ever. Now, I will not let that happen. Um, you had a question. >> The question about students that are going from monitor to >> Yeah. So, that's a really great question. We haven't talked [snorts] about this and gla standing next to you or sitting next to you. Um, we are creating um bridge teams. Uh, these are teams that are coming together that include both school communities to understand each student and each student's experience through this process. uh some of it will be at the school level like PTA, CAC program, but it's going to go student by student and say okay this student has these needs you know what is
118how are we going to support him or her um through this process um so it'll be reflected in the the bridge teams um that'll be campus to campus based on transition so you're going to have you know see that uh and then I am going to hold everybody accountable accountable by tracking key performance indicators and milestones to deliver on that plan uh So, so that's how it's going to work for each student in this experience. >> Theoretical. Well, so I can't create a plan. Let's have community involved. So, I can't tell you the the I mean, this plan is changing. >> I I I do the work, Miss Bradley. You know, I mean, I I I I will I I work I deliver as best I can. I'm not going to put anything out there
119that I don't think we can execute and do well. Um, but to your point, I can't do something without community voice input. I mean if if this plan changes >> I believe in the engagement. I guess what I'm saying is that this district has uh this district has a a tendency of coming up with these theories that they feel would work and then they will try to put it. they will try to implement it and then the next thing you know they're standing there maybe for the first month and then the next thing you need they know you know they have left and so the school is trying to implement something that the district put in place. Uh the other thing is there are several schools around here >> that are open. This program could
120go into one of those. It's a community program and that's what we should be looking at and uh for some odd reason we can put things into Artega to keep it open. We can put things into go valley to keep it open but we need to think of these schools the same way we think of Artega and Go Valley. >> And I just want you >> Miss Montgomery our CFO was here and I had to go because there's an ad hoc meeting but the budget ended at 18.6% 6%. Yeah. >> Yes. Yes. Is it related to this? >> Okay. Please do. Yes. Translation does not mean understanding. I think that See, >> I I I wanted to do it in Spanish because it's it's my home language, but translation does not mean understanding, right? So
121the fact that you think that just translating that will mean people will engage is disingenuous and it is also disrespectful, right? Um it takes a lot of time even for somebody as me which is highly educated to understand what is going on, right? Like I have to read three times Nikki or Nadia signals to be able to understand what is going on, right? So, and by that I mean it's is disruptive, right? And that leads me to the fact that look, you had a program who has taken a lot of effort from parents, from the community, from the staff. This staff is amazing, right? They have great stuff, right? [applause] You had a problem of failing schools. You don't have that here. You had enough, but you had a school who is growing. You had
122a school that is engaged. you had a school that's Montes or is a dual program that is serving a diverse community. Why would you want to disrupt that, right? I mean, how is that going to serve your actual long-term goal of having a schools that do not fail, having a schools that T is not going to come on your neck and just like really um serving equity and and and and the and the students population and the community, right? Like I don't I don't like from everything you have said like I agree with her like I agree I understand that you guys are under a lot of pressure right this administration sucks. I get it but it is like why are we doing things right that is actually disrupting something that is good. >> So
123um thank you for that. I want to respond um briefly because I there were I really appreciate these comments. Um, we could always do better engaging. I mean, that's just the honest truth. We we we try there's always an opportunity for improvement. Um, you know, and what we learn helps inform where we ultimately get. Uh, I also want to be really clear that there are lots of other schools um that are in similar situations. Um, there are eight other schools that have 59s. There are three others that have 58s, two that have 57s, and they have se seen significant growth. I mean there is 45 55 59 and those schools are incredible too and they're doing incredible things and so I just I know that um we're talking about wind monastery but I I just
124want you all to know that there are lots of other really awesome things happening with schools that have very similar kind of histories and somewhat similar trajectories. Um because I I just wanted I wanted to share that because I it it is hard. It is really really hard. we have 116 schools um to to get it right and I I don't know that we are but we're trying >> can hear me. Um so I think that I was hoping that we were going to come here today and then you guys were going to have vetted all these ideas that we gave you but since that isn't where we're at right now I'm just going to lift those ideas and I think it spins off of what you were saying. I think that we know there's
125a lot of schools around us that are struggling and I think when we look through stuff we say hey everyone's struggling here's and for a very different reason for each school maybe this school wants to team up with us for this reason and so none of these are we saying like we need to take over those schools I think nobody feels that way and I think but yet we put forward this idea in a constructive way of maybe there could be a collaboration um and I'm not going to go through the reasons why we picked these for each one but it happens to all the schools that are around us. Um, and that is because we're also looking for something that was local. Um, it included elementary schools Andrews, Pan Springs, and Jordan, as well
126as Pickle and the Sims Elementary campus, which is currently empty, and the Bertha Saler means and Gus Garcia campuses, which have empty space. So, I wanted to just put those out in the record. Um and then I did want to ask a question about um our surrounding schools also have are experiencing unacceptable ratings one, two, and three. And um right now our our TAP is currently slated to go to Andrews. And so maybe that'll stay the same, maybe that'll change, but whichever school gets our TAP, um they also inherit our timeline if I understood. So my question is if Andrews if if Win were to get a fourth F this year, which of course everyone hopes that we all get C's. Um and if Andrews was to get a fourth F, Pan Springs was to
127get a fourth F next year. Is there a contingency plan that goes along with all of our elementary school taps that includes closure or 1882 partnership like is planned for the middle schools? >> Yeah. So, this is something that's come up with our with in conversations with our trustees. So, for those of you that um don't don't know, um what an 1882 partnership affords a school district is a two-year pause. So typically what would happen is um if we didn't have all these years back to back to back you would get your first unacceptable rating your second unacceptable rating you would draft your plan right and then you would implement your plan in year three and then four and five to break accountability chain and get a seed that's how it's supposed to work because
128of everything and the lawsuits which we were not a part of but because of all that everything's been compressed and so um one of the things that we are proposing for Doby burn it in web is that as we monitor this school year if we don't see growth or if we don't we have a concern that they're not going to get a D or better because D pauses right D is good D is a movement in the right direction of pauses um then we can actually make a decision and execute an agreement with an 1882 partner and that would allow for this year the year that we're currently in to be considered one of the two-year pauses right so it would mean that the fourth year would not count against us the only caveat This
129is where it gets really really tough is you have to make the decision before they actually take the star tests, right? The they have they call it the Dallas rule. Years ago, there was a closure that occurred after they said if what they did is before the school year started, they said if the school makes an F, we'll close it. It makes a C, we'll leave it open. And so that was kind of like a loophole that's since been closed up. And so the way that they we have to address it is whatever we decide to do, it has to be done before the students take the start test. Um so in the late spring, right? Um so Could these plans include that contingency? Yes. In fact, our trustees have expressed to me, not in
130the large room, but one-on-one, that they would like to see that type of contingency plan included in these. Um, but I also know how most of our community responds to 182 partnerships. Um, because in the the way the agency accepts them is has the partner demonstrated the ability to turn around school. Um, and there aren't lots of partners out there that have. You have lots of partners that do all kinds of great things. um but they're looking for very specific elements uh or skill sets. So yes um closure um it would be it would look different closure because closure wouldn't necessarily give you a pause. You'd have to close before they actually took the test. Um I'm not sure how that would work. You'd have to it would look a little bit different but 1882
131would be one. So this just increases the importance I think of talking to our neighborhood schools about what our vision is of our elementary schools in the neighborhood because I think in one to two years if we have any of our schools looking at closure and then this program that we had that was quite successful and has been released from its tab like like I feel like there are many opportunities for collaboration that could help keep a neighborhood school open and someone else may also like the idea of going on that pathway with us as opposed to >> and I'm happy to um you know I I know it seems like a long time the board meeting was last Thursday um Wednesday Thursday and then we moved into pretty and challenging weekend um just honestly
132and so we're we're coming back together we're doing the work we're progressing the work um this week where there's lots of meetings occurring so I can speak to some of the because I read your list and there are some thoughts I have around why some may could be considered and why some couldn't. Um specifically the last two that you um solution schools that you listed the last two groups of schools. Um but yeah, I mean we're happy to have this conversation. If there's a school that's nearby um that wants to engage in that conversation, um I'd be happy to have it and explore it together as a school community. What I don't want to have happen is is the counterposition which is well now you're just displacing us right which is gonna that's gonna I
133understand why that would be the case. Um the last thing I would say is if you were to go to go valley breaking the accountability chain means that um win would be able to continue without the the weight of the previous accountability ratings. You go to a school that has a two or three they're then going to assume theirs potentially. Right. So like so Yeah, it it that's where we have to kind of get into the the details of how the sequence would work. Um, you know, closure, reassign, uh, certainly can work. Um, but depending on where the school started elsewhere, that receiving school would have to be a closure, reassign, and then a new. So, so that's what you're saying? >> Yeah. I mean, potentially, I mean, I'm happy to have those conversations. Like
134I said, if you find a solution that works and our trustees can get behind it, um, and there's an alignment, then then I want to progress it. I I I you have that commitment for me. I know we're kind of getting >> Yeah. Well, well, so here here's the thing is um so >> what what what what I've told the communities is if the ideas come my way I will vet and test them to see if if we can actually accomplish them like some of them we can some of them we can't if they if they are viable then the conversation occurs >> correct and then and then if they are then the conversation becomes okay let's get a couple people in the room some stakeholders some members we're not talking about getting like 300
13500 people together and just hashing it out. We're talking about getting some key members of the community who know the school and have a good understanding of what may be accepted and what may not be accepted. Uh and it has to be done in short order, but we can do it. And and here's the thing, like I want to find the best solution. I I I really do. Um and I I will do the work, but to your point, ma'am, um I think getting a conversation together, I'm not sure that I can be there, but Lisha, our chief of staff, our others to help facilitate and bring people together to drive it. like we can do that. Um, and I'm also doing this at other schools, right? For for for different reasons, right, that came
136out of the board meeting and also based on conversations. >> Okay. So, as you can hear, the child care is getting a little bit restless and we have teachers that are graciously get them home. >> Yes. And so, this will be our last question and she's gonna >> Okay. No, I'll be very very quick. I'm probably going to piggy back on what has been said. I want to also personally thank you for being here, for having this kind of a conversation. has been very very helpful and I appreciate all the comments that we've been able to hear so far. I want to say that I agree and I believe we agree that the district can't afford to lose students or have a district takeover and we really want to work together to kind of help
137solve the problem. You've heard a lot of ideas, a lot of thoughts. Uh we've also talked about why we believe the guys see these long story here that we're actually as a program in dollars to the district by our enrollment by our Uh question to piggyback off this is is there any reason that the Montasuri program couldn't be located temporarily at a swing space such as Sims while we are working through the town and considering that there might be more changes as they mentioned next year if other schools such as Andrews or county springs possibly gets another restart. Maybe there's a more permanent multi-story home or another set of choices that could come about because of other factors. >> Yeah. Um so quick response. Um the reason a swing space probably won't work is because
138there's not a current there's not currently a school there. And so if there's not a school there, I have to go to the commissioner Texas agency and ask for them to allocate a CDN number. Uh the CDN number is what gets attached to your accountability rating. And I will tell you that in my experience in working with the agency, they're not going to allow you to start a school unless you have a thoughtful plan, you understand how you're going to staff it. You know, everything has built up and they also know what we're working through with right now. Uh so we we do have open dialogue with them to make sure that we're not kind of getting over our skis on any one of these things. But that's why a swing space probably wouldn't work
139in that way. the better strategy to to move is to go to a school that already has a CDN because you can always change programs in a school but you can't just create new schools. Is that helpful? >> Um but yeah, no that uh no I appreciate that question. It's it's a very good one to ask and clarity. But I am committed to looking into working with other schools to see what and if y'all are having conversations and you know that there's a school that's open to having a conversation, you let us know, too. >> Yeah. Northeast has started to have community conversations and we're trying to a lot more collaboration because it feels like um we are just more knowledgeable about our community. That's always going to be true for a variety of reasons
140including a lot of our leadership is not from this area of town. Um and so as those happen because they keep happening um we'll share out what we what we >> Well, I mean yeah I need I mean I need to have these conversations later. >> Yeah. No, like >> as soon as Thursday. [laughter] >> Okay. And while we're talking about timelines, just wanted to do a quick reminder of everyone. Um, so we have a board meeting this Thursday where the board will discuss this revised plan. Um, the final recommendation will be going to the board at their November 20th uh board meeting. Um, and that's the the no the Thursday before fall break. So, we'll be in touch. Y'all know how to get a hold of us. Thank you so much for all of
141your wonderful comments, ideas. We really appreciate y'all. >> Thank you all for being here. Thank you so much for joining us today.