001Because there is only a limited time, but it is important to me that we express that we are a bilingual community and that Spanish is very important to me, to our community. They're repeating what I just said. A family if he is your cousin. to the personal ones, our superintendent who is here today. We're going to make some announcements. Our Juan has some refreshments for you. As you know, we have help for the children out there. If they have to leave, so be it . They don't have any. There's a bathroom back here quickly before we begin. First, why are we sitting like this? And something important about Montessori is that we have children of many ages together, but they respect the age we have for each one. Ah, this is the interpretation of the
002circle, so it's difficult to put a single circle. Our administrator helped me. What would that look like? Miss Alison, the librarian, also helped me, and Mr. also helped us with setting up the screens. This gives us a place where we can see each other, hear each other, and we are all on the same level. The second part is a celebration, a very diverse community. We have families from different countries and states who speak different languages, with different skills and abilities and different incomes. We have people who are new to Montessori, some who have been with Montessori for decades, some who chose this school, and people who live around here and crossed the street and may not be so concerned about Montessori. But that means that in other communities that can speak with one voice, it's
003going to be a little more difficult for us because we come with different pieces. But what has been true of this community is that the children and students come first, and their needs are paramount. It's not about one student over another. We have tried to help in this process. That's children first, the children of northeast Austin, in east Austin, and all of Austin. I know it's something we're going to continue today. The other piece is that I am an emotional person and as many of us talk to students about their feelings, we say that no feeling is wrong, all feelings are valid. So, if you come here today you are worried, frustrated, sad, or angry, all those feelings are okay, you are welcome here. What matters, and what we tell our children, both kids and
004adults, is how we present those feelings. When we were talking about our experience and our children, it can be difficult not to pit one child against another child or to tell them that it might be something that hurts someone else. What we've done really well so far are our conversations about how we're sharing that. Someone who is listening wants their children to feel safe in our community. It is an honor for us to be part of this conversation. I'm going to pass it on to Miss Ali right now, who's also going to talk about the rules. My name is Ale Graduchi. I am the executive director of the purpose of our meeting, which the director already stated before, and I will pass it on to our superintendent, Matías Segura. Our agenda. We're going to make
005it happen. We're going to welcome everyone. Who's coming, everyone? We had a place to sit, which is very nice. So, we're going to give you a summary, the proposal, the changes, also how to mark anything different from what you received on Friday, and we're going to answer the questions we received in the comments on the cards. We saw some topics and there may be some specific questions that we heard many times. So let's make sure we answer that. We can make an exchange between those of us who are here in person and those we have already received. So let's take turns. This is how we are recording this meeting, we are interpreting it and she is recording in Spanish the microphone so that we can share this. So we can call them if we give
006them their microphones so that we have the full experience for our recording, and now we're going to talk about the next steps. So let's talk about the rules we want to build a future together, and see the challenges. and a solution that will make our district stronger for years to come. We want to honor the fact that we've allocated 90 minutes for this meeting, so when we give the microphone to different people, please make an effort to keep your comments to one minute and ensure that we can maximize the number of people speaking and the process, and stay on agenda. We will probably not agree on some ideas, but one thing we can agree on is that we are creating this for the entire Austin district, its students, and honoring the space and the voice.
007If you give the microphone in a timely manner, we will follow up, but we will try not to always put the same person on until everyone has had a chance to speak if they raised their hand. We want to see solutions and understandings, and we want to embrace transparency in everything. and empathy, and I know these are difficult conversations, and we want to share compassion, clarity, and honesty. If you have a question that we did n't answer well, you can ask a follow-up question. We want all your questions answered, and the purpose of our meeting is to answer the questions that came up several times in the comments and who is proposing in the process, and we as management want to give you additional information. which can be included in the plan that we will
008send out around November 20. And with this, I will pass it on to our superintendent. Let's look at the context of why we're in this process before we begin with the comments, comment cards, and questions and answers. Okay. So, I love that this is Bridget's interpretation of a circle, which is fantastic. Thank you for being here for the conversation. I want to make sure that this is your time, right? I think it's important before we begin to teach them how we got here and why this is the plan we have right now. outline. Things are very difficult right now, they are very, very difficult for the Austin district and public education. And I would say that the board and I are trying to find a way to stabilize and ensure that every student can stay
009where they are. That's why we're talking about different schools and their importance, and in the district we have many families who don't believe that those in their areas... That's a problem. That's a big problem for our school district so we can continue moving forward. So we hope to begin this work. Many things have been a catalyst for us. The first is to recognize that we have no budget challenges in our system of records and no one can help us. The second thing is these budgets, the budget challenges, the one we've had with registration problems, but the problem we've had with government funds, I don't like to talk about it, it's not talked about much, but the title was frozen this year. things, millions and millions and millions of dollars that we had for our students.
010That's the reality. Many people on our education teams were impacted by this decision, and every time something like this happens to us, I have to figure out how to handle it, how to protect who we are as an organization. and make sure we can help with the students' needs. But above all that, what we want to do as a school system , who we are, and what we believe. Over the past two years, we've had many conversations about what we believe, and each of those has impacted where we are right now. Eighteen months ago we had a conversation about essential areas, conversations about protecting librarians and nurses. There is always something that we as a school and district want, which is what is needed to support our students. We have to see that there will
011always be resources as long as there are dollars, but we also know that for us we believe that this main idea is the change is our educators in the classroom. When we had the pandemic, we had a lot of vacancies in the schools; we did n't have many open principal positions, and what made this worse was that the change after change after change after with the district leadership, and we had to then move the system around, and it was n't looking good. And they ask me, Matías, challenge this, challenge that, what they say goes and no, if we don't respond, no matter how we sit, we are in a position where we have no control and we can't do anything if we don't respond. The other thing is that we see long-term solutions. We are
012making sure that we are identifying solutions because we put people together, we are the people and this plan has several elements so that they can understand why this is and not that and why and why we considered that first we wanted to have an alignment throughout the district, they were not perfect. Because we are a 24-year-old organization . Let me move to the middle of the circle and our borders were. Then we have built the districts and borders and plans that we made. segregation and many things that informed how those were formed. What we know is that certain experiences that each student has in Austin, many can point to lines and patterns, and that's what happens when we don't have seasons. So we have the averages that go to three or four high schools and
013another that goes to only one high school. Then yes, we will help with this. We need to make a comprehensive change. This is middle school. These have to align with those of the primary school. So this is our first objective . Second, we wanted to talk about our transfers. We have political policies that we've had for decades, and the reality is that some of them have brought about our system and behaviors that I don't think represent who we are now. So if we're going to think about that, we need to stay on top of things, make plans, and make changes. And the third is to include the monteori in these elements and plans. The draft in the district. I would say , I certainly think we want our students to have access to programs in
014the district that are unique to Austin, but we also want—it may sound good, but if we are not geographically located or accessible— when we think of the program that they call wall-to-wall , it has the original intention. All I'm going to say is that, yes, the hardest thing is to speak from a place of understanding because it seems that the topic of the classroom is very heated and it's like an environment that isn't filled with love, but everything we do requires care, compensation for the teachers. That's part of the budget, the curriculum it requires, which is millions and millions of dollars each year in our curriculum and I promise you there are less expensive alternatives, but I'm sure there are many communities near the Austin community that don't follow our curriculum to the letter. So,
015when we think about how we can produce our costs as a system, we start where we begin to have losses. For us, it represents the number of entities we have in our systems, in our schools. It's something we need to look at in our school system. I had already mentioned it before, in 1996 we had 96 schools and in 2025 we have 116 and we have almost the same number of students. So there has been an increase and a decrease. We have grown with the city and as families have been helped and have migrated to Austin, but the system has remained. There is a way to encompass all of this as a whole and to see the adjustments we need to make. And lastly, it's because we are here and talking about when Montessori is
016the reality that we have a responsibility as a school. I hear people say that our school has to stay, and an example of what people say is that this school has to stay, but no, this school is much more than just 11th grade, one year of school, grade number 11. What they mean is, but not everyone knows, especially when they're talking about the level of 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 people. The reality is that we, the school district, are not responsible for the risks as a function of time through the school years. We, as a school district, have to understand very well the risks we have in order to control them. So everything is intertwined together. It's not a perfect plan. No plan is perfect, but I want you to know that with the changes that
017have occurred and the elements of the plan, we are trying to cover all things at the same time. So, while we're listening, we're taking notes. I'm going to share with you that we started this process and I strongly feel that the Monera school has to be part of the academic system, that's why it's included, but also clarify other points and the responsibility, etc., everything else that it involves. I believe I want to create spaces with you to have conversations with me and the team. We have questions that we have received and we are happy to provide the answers , but this is not the time. Now I am very pleased to say that we are making an adjustment and we can, well, before we begin with this, I would just like to mention something. Thanks
018to those who attended the meeting we had with the committee on Wednesday and the conversations we've had, the star exam and some of those present here have created information resources that we can include data so you can better understand what we'll be talking about. From my point of view, the starting point for these conversations is the reality that the system of responsibility itself is very rigid. There are ways to approach the movement that can sometimes be a little too fast in order to achieve your goal as others do, like the Austin school system, the Austin district does it at a slightly slower pace and let them implement something, let the process run on its own . And when we listen to the criticisms that have been made and have been honest, it is that when
019we have students who are mixed in the classrooms, in the students of classes, we have to make sure that there are appropriate interventions and know what they need so that they can succeed in their assessments or exams. In fact, the students are getting what they need and what they require. But who is at Win School? For example, and processes are moving here. There is no doubt about that. But what remains, or does not remain, according to the Austin school system? The Montessori system is not easily adapted; this does not mean it shouldn't be implemented, but we need to be very aware and responsible, and have the necessary resources to make it successful. Having said that , it doesn't just depend on me, eh, the Montessori school is one of 116 in the Austin district. It's
020something that a program that is typically the focus of the bigger conversations we have, but sometimes we can review all that work from these schools. You also want to explain a little bit about what is being proposed, what is being changed, well, the draft plan and I think everyone already knows, we are relocating some schools and the Montessori schools to Go Valley. There are some questions that we came up with in the meetings and we've already put out a main draft that you've already read. This is this specific move of this school. Okay, sorry, but the microphone is malfunctioning a bit. It can be heard without a microphone. Okay, okay, I'll tell you again. So, what this means is that students who are assigned to Win School will be reassigned to Enders School and Hard
021Elementary School. Can someone turn down the microphone volume? [laughs] I thought it was the apple I was bringing here, but oh well , because when the change happens we have to resign the students if they go to that resignation plan and all the strategies that can be used. There are six in action, it's to reduce, to be implemented. We have two options. Once you get to the third stage, which is the system at the moment we are in, we have to be accepted by the school district and the district wrote the system that we have a process and these are the options we would have. So for us it would be reassignment, restarting, or starting over with the district verification. And those are the three options we had already explained to you . What we're
022doing is, I'm really sorry about the microphone, but it sounds really bad. I'm going to turn it off and on again to see if it works. No, it's the same. I think it's the horn that's making noise. While we're waiting, could you introduce yourselves to each other in the audience and to the person next to you, say your names, and have a little bit of fun chatting while we fix the sound problem? Thank you for your patience and thank you. We had some technical difficulties, but it's a very important conversation. If it happens again , we can talk to our neighbors again. But anyway , then we talked about the original draft plan, the plan we have and we want to talk here about when we started this work, as I told you before, it's
023a three-month story and to give the story, which is important, and to explain the chain of responsibility that brought us to this moment and we want to continue having access to the programs. And it has transparency and lets you see which plans have been reviewed. And we're also trying to put the program in place, in plans with the city, to prevent other schools from closing. And the reason I say this is when we see areas of the city that are experiencing a lot of growth. In other areas there are some areas that are not developing and we see this with the district, because the programs have areas that do not have enough seeds or that there need to be more, sorry, not seeds, available seats and we have to see where the programs would be
024implemented and see how the school works and why we have chosen that strategy to continue. I spent many nights reading all your emails and your information and comments, and so there are other options if there are things that can be considered. And the thing is, I want to think about it quite a bit. When you have to introduce a new option, you have to put a lot of energy and thought into it to be able to put it into the system, and when we pass it on to the board so that they can explore the opportunities and start engaging with the communities to see how the knowledge is shared and so that people understand what plan, what side we are coming from with this information. One thing I want to say is that we are
025still trying to find a solution. How is this going to work? I can't say that we've reached the end, the talks aren't over, and we're still in the process. There are some more new ideas that have been brought to us, and there are more questions about these ideas, and we want to discuss them here and give them the time we have. I just want to emphasize this point and we need to reinforce our commitment to ensuring that every student follows the program and will have a seat available wherever the program goes. Just to make sure that's clear. I have my questions when you're ready. It has to be a dialogue, and this is going to be a conversation. Okay , let's begin. Okay, thanks. The reason I want to start is that I want to
026mention something that hasn't been said and why we're here, but I think many of these communities want to mention these concepts, that concept we have, that there is much more community participation. One of the things we 've said is, there's a big difference, in how the complete education plans are carried out . The complete bilingual education program is for the certain type of population that has to be served, that has to be in fact included with the population that needs that program. And that led us to you talking for 45 minutes about the Montessori program, but there has never been any talk about the students who need this program, only the students who need the Montessori program. And I don't mean to be hurtful or rude, but all of us who have students at this
027school and who have been here for years feel this lack immensely because genuinely not once has any of these students spoken about this option, and the Wall to Wall program, which is the complete education, is like taking away the student population, because if you're going to introduce some new, functional students... Part of what makes the system work is that the students in that system begin working in the educational system and do not participate in that small Montessori instruction group. That is why the Montessori school started this system from the beginning. Therefore, moving this program away from the community population would affect it more than the comprehensive education program that defines the district. At Montessori school, the system is very good, and we are moving out of the educational system, and I've noticed it mostly in
028northeast Austin. Very good question, very good comment. This is something I need to reflect on before this meeting. I read the emails and was thinking about how those conversations came about. This is all my fault because it really is because my job here on the board is to make sure every issue goes according to plan. And I have had conversations based on my interpretation of what I am seeing with the board, and we are very pressed for time with these meetings, but we have had many meetings, an hour and a half, and I want to apologize to all the students and families so they don't think we are leaving them out of the plan; that is not our intention, and that is not why we are here. So, I'm sorry. But as for where the
029students are right now , one of the things I want to ask is, when you say that, do you mean defined by demographic region or is it I have the district map? I have the map, but where is your student currently located ? All I want to do is find out where the current students are right now. I currently read my emails and I am informed. I sit down and that's what I'm doing: reading. But when we think about the student population and where they are, it's inconceivable that the program could succeed in another part of the city. So I think I do agree with what you're saying, all the programs we have are part of the committee and we read and study it and we have to think a lot about how we're going
030to start a certain program, but it's not based on how you start it, not always on the student population, the size of the number of students in that area. We know where they live, we know where the students we need are, but we did it. We don't apply the same strategies for some reason, and we always talk about how the programs have to move and they have moved. That's the track record of the Austin school district. At some point that was happening and is happening throughout the entire Austin school district . Perhaps we are approaching it this way and not addressing the issue in any other way. It's different, but to stay in this area and I haven't read your emails, it's something that can be explored and we all have to take it into
031account. One of the challenges we face is the number of seats available per school. I believe this is something we have to explore, and there aren't many of us; we always have to see if these are the cases, the challenges that we have to see, because they won't see them in the same way, and that's the truth. But I appreciate the feedback, and that's why we did it this way. I'm going to take a question. I want to understand the question. Can you track it? The question is, will schools in area 787 offer three- and four-day full-day preschool programs? Which schools will accept students who meet the requirements to receive free tuition? Thank you so much. This is a great question. I'm going to share with you from preschool to third grade. We might have
032a list of campuses and I'm going to share that with you, Ali. On October 31st we had a list of all the preinder campuses. Third. The PR3 one is more challenging because we have classmates, and in one of our classmates after November 20th, with all our Pre-Kinder 3 classmates, we will be keeping an eye on how things are going and the needs, and to give them a little more Pre-Kindergarten. three programs with them too. So please see the list of those projected. We did that on October 31st and they're going to have the campuses right now. And where are those campuses right now? They will offer full-time pre-kinder 3, full-day or half-day classes. For pre-kindergarten 3 we have to consider whether the program that is in the school that was proposed will be closed or
033consolidated. We need to see who our colleagues will be, those who work the full day and those who work half a day. It's not that I don't want to answer the question, it's that there's a process to ensure that our programs are where they should be and that they start around noon, and to see if our colleagues can offer a full day, a full day before it's presented. Okay. I want to clarify your question, which basically, if I understand correctly, when we come to or we are going to have Montessori here in this place, we are not starting from scratch or moving it and starting from scratch. So, when we talk about starting from scratch, the students, who are the population that the students here are, when we built our plan with the idea of
034having the staff, the people, the resources, and one of the things is to limit disruptions in the best possible way to have a healthy transition for the students with the community as well. That's why we're in this configuration, dismantling or dividing. Are you understanding what we're going through? If we are moving from one place, we are not starting from a low point. I'm going to say starting from scratch if we didn't have a program in your school with the resources, with the work we did the first time. That was starting from scratch. That's how I see it. I see it differently, but I understand what he means. I just wanted to make sure. Next, several people, families will have access to transportation for their children, and what will be the scope of the transportation offered.
035So, the Montessori program has transportation. It's one of the things we're going to continue to stop. If you continue with this configuration, it will remain the same. We have families who live very far away who come to this school, and we hope that will continue, which is why we ensure access. And what if there's a change in how we do that in our access right now and preserve it, and how, depending on where? Give the student who needs access to transportation, then yes, there will be transportation. If you are on Mount Sori. I work here in the fourth and fifth grade and I remember you. My concern is not necessarily where the school is moving. I understand [laughs] it's different, but I don't have children. These are the resources of Mount Sori. I started in
036elementary school, it was going to close, and they asked us as teachers to give a plan, and we gave them a plan, and the district took us and we saw the Montessori schools, and this is what we want to do, and the way it was presented to us was that we have the autonomy to create a program and decide what direction it goes, and then they told us that there was no support from the district. So, that's why my understanding is what we're seeing right now as resources. I say all this to point out that we have a program, and it's a program that requires much more staff, and of course, if we're going to move to another building and continue to have, or rather, if we're going to have, not enough staff—for example, we
037have third, fourth, and fifth grade, but we only have three weeks, but we've had it for two months—and that affected all the teaching, how can you see the differences? And before that, we had a classroom that didn't have a teacher all year, so they didn't learn anything, they didn't grow. Then we had another situation last year where the SL classes were in the same situation. So I came to this school because Bridget asked me to come. I was going to stop teaching to do something different, but I am very interested in Montessori. But my concern is that we're moving to another building that's a little newer and renovated, and we're going to continue to see the challenges of giving students what they need, the resources we have to share materials, and so my concern is
038that the district isn't doing that. They have to do it. Montessori wouldn't be easy if we didn't have more schools doing it, would it? So I know that it's difficult to navigate equal equity, equality. We have to give it to all the schools, but the Montessori program requires more. And if that happens, how do they plan to navigate this so we don't end up moving to another building? But we don't have any female teachers. I think this is the first year that all our classrooms are full. There has been a lot of growth in the last two months in my opinion. Because we've had the staff, but we haven't had this stability in the last two years that I've been here. So it's difficult seeing that Bridger does everything we do, well, we can do,
039but always seeing them being told no, we can't do this, we can't do that. So, it seems to me that I'm saying this as a service, nothing more than people talking for the sake of talking when they tell us to give the options, the best ones to tell us the best solutions. I know you're also fighting with the ASD, so I wonder, what are the plans to provide us with what we need to be a successful Montessori school and not just in name? I can add a second part to what José said. We want more. Uh, she says her kids did very well on the state exam. My name is Andy. I am, if this is your question, it has to do with that of my colleagues, and it is that I have been here
040for a long time, halfway through the Montessori transition when Bridget came, it was a year that we had special education and the teachers had us and we had the teacher's assistant, the third, fourth and fifth everyone left. I've been through that and Bridget has been very good at building this team. I 'm looking at it from the point of view that they're saying it sounds good for the students and for the building that they're going to put half of our school in one building and offer the other half to other new students. And if they then are going to have all our staff moving, it will say that we only have half of the Montessori and our staff. If all the materials we have are moved, we will only have half of the materials. So,
041my question is, echo, given what my colleague said, is it very expensive to maintain a classroom? It's thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars, to the second half because they are doubling our program, moving us to several buildings or several campuses. So, my question is, I understand the time it might take to get the teachers and this could grow and I want to see what that process will look like, but I'm also worried that I'll be in a school where I can be in my own classroom and I can see what's going on in my world, but I don't have the materials or I have to share my materials with three or four classrooms. First of all, what a great question! The first thing I would say is that, based on my initial answer,
042what I reflected when Montessori 2223, when Bridget came to do all the work, it wasn't that long ago , it wasn't that long ago , Bridget. We were learning, [laughs] excuse me, this feels strange, but we were learning. The district is learning, and that's the truth. I would say I do n't want to speak for Bridge, but our school, our district was trying to see and understand and how to support this program and other programs as well, other programs in the district that haven't been supported in the way we should have been, and when I see it, well, we're ready to have the program, but I wasn't here at that time. I know there were many understandings and school trips and we are thinking about where we are on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, many
043superintendents, many school leaders, many people coming in and out of the system. So, it doesn't really surprise me that they have moved in a positive way even with the conditions, many of which were beyond our control, but we are moving forward. My goal is to do fewer things and do them better. Right now we're doing it. We have resources, we have support from the district, and our board tells us, "Matías, it's a lot. In some places, we're doing things because we've been doing them, but there are things we're going to promise to do, and we're going to provide the resources. In '22 and '23, when I started, we had special education, and that began the launch of the next two years and the culture. We had an imposed system. I desperately want to get somewhere;
044I can't lose focus on the important work after 23 years. So I would say that if we move forward, and the program we're supporting, you'll have my promises of success. I've spent time here. I'm not as specially educated as your director or as you, but my role is to ensure that if we're going to do something, we're going to do it well. I have to make sure I have the resources and the budget to do it, but I can say right now that there are things we can do in the district to make sure we have and provide answers for every program. We've always done it because Sometimes they come at us against things we've done before, but when we talk about resetting programs—and I know it feels that way sometimes— operationally, and how we
045support the program, yes, we have to reset the district's strategies if it hasn't been successful, how to support our principals and the certification process, and how we see our staff, how they move through the process. This is the change we made. This isn't about you; it's about us. So, I'm not going to support something we can't execute well . The other thing I can say is, the programs do cost more money. The emergency programs cost more because we have the language staff. You can go to a school that looks small but has a lot of people on the street; it's not because we're paying more in one place, but because you made a decision that that school needs these programs and this staff. And emergency language programs are like that; they're a very, very high
046cost. But we agree on that; we agreed that this is what we're going to do. If we do this, we're going to do it the right way; we're not going to do it haphazardly. This is where we conduct questionnaires for families, asking about the available funds and where those funds will go. Before making a final decision, we need to know what's important to them. Our goal is to have as many resources as possible before the February registration period opens. We need to review what we offer in schools because we ca n't promise compensation. We need to know which students will be in each school and how many will enroll. We're going to conduct a survey. Okay, I'll continue with the questions to gather more information about where students want to be and to answer what
047you were asking earlier: how many students are you expecting? We need to understand how much funding we'll have. We'll have a comment here first because more Montessori schools are being created in areas that aren't currently qualified. We need to review all the information in the system first. It's not like something is already implemented in the system and we know all the materials and everything we need in each school. We have to see what those materials are, what we need, and what the... Resources we have for each different school. I spoke with you last week, at the last meeting you had, and what we were discussing were the therapies that will be available at each school. What are they? Well, we'll reiterate the therapies we'll have at each school, because we still need to coordinate with
048the schools. Well, if you couldn't hear me because the microphone wasn't very close, the bus doesn't work for certain students who have certain disabilities or who are in certain therapies, because some parents are required to personally pick up their children for three or four years old who are in after-school programs or clubs, and they're sometimes literally waiting for their parents to come and pick them up. That's one of the points I have to mention when you're having sessions with the committee and having discussions, and I saw the different options for all the schools. Ortega is the closest, and Zavala is the farthest, in terms of the services available. district. That's why these schools are less accessible . Another point I want to mention is that there are people who want educators and students to create
049a symbiotic relationship, and that's what makes Montessori schools successful. Yes, we have three, and we're so close to achieving it , but I know that the district doesn't care about that; they only care about the ratings of the three schools and this relocation to another school. Even if they move all the staff to the same school in a different location, it's going to be the same problem, and they're just going to move all the people in this community to another school. They haven't considered that the people at the other school don't want us there, and we don't want to go there because we're used to the northeast area of Austin, and the problems of the northeast are unique to this area. Every part of the city has its own problems, and things aren't similar. At
050this school, there are many brown, black, and white people with special needs, and they wouldn't be well-received elsewhere. Moving to another location with a fraction of the number of students... I'm worried that if a new school takes in a fraction of our students, they'll be left behind because they won't have the same close relationship with the teachers they have here. And that academic knowledge won't be the same in both schools. Another point I want to mention is that Govali, if we go there to Govali School, has 39% of its students with special educational needs. My child, who is in special education, and other people here who have children with special needs, have seen how many resources the school needs for the students to succeed, right? In a million years. They're not going to convince me
051that if we have the resources here at this school, how are they going to be able to provide resources for 39% of the students with special educational needs at another new school? How can they prevent it from succeeding? And the last thing I'm going to say, I know I've gone on too long with this question, but we've already spoken with some of our neighboring schools to see if they would consider taking over. Montessori children, if they could retain more of our students there and if they could accommodate our staff. What do you think about that? And could they accommodate Montessori students here in nearby schools? Thank you for sharing that. I agree with you on some points. We are at the point now where we need to have conversations with other schools. I want to
052be honest with the committee, with the board, and what is coming up, and knowing that not many people may not know, but I will do whatever is required. We have the best plan considering the circumstances, and now the committee and the board asked me to address new things. That's why the Montessori schools have been included, and we've had direct conversations with those communities about this issue, specifically the Montessori program moving, not just as if it were a random group. We're going to do it by having conversations and listening to what information has been passed on to us so we can support the consensus. I'm very happy to have made progress with the conversations we've needed, and we're still bringing up the issues in The meetings are to get the latest information, and in other ways,
053how to implement the plan to secure the necessary seats we need in other schools, but that's a separate issue. That's why we're doing it this way. I want to find the best way to give you the answers, but we're going to continue having these conversations, and that's why one of the statements in the draft is that we have the process open, and we're still working on it. It's already been mentioned that some of the students, in a couple of ways, have said, "Yes, the students in general, but I'd like you to consider this for yourself." If in 5 days, 100 years in the future, the Montessori school is functioning because it has the student population to maintain it. And all the students are fine and they don't have Title One status so that they can
054be experienced Montessori students and succeed, and they should have avoided moving the students because I know that new schools have been built throughout the district and it's part of the draft, but we also have to be guided by the guidelines of the draft that they have. I want you to think about whether you can change this decision. If it was successful in 5 years, it's because those guidelines in the draft were changed to modify and increase the number of seats in each school. Or are those guidelines in the draft only for this school? Because I know students who don't come to this school, and I know that's part of the community. The idea you say the idea that you think says, well, you say that I said, I thought, I didn't think. Well, well, this
055community has been thinking about the last conversations, not sharing with other schools that these people in other schools are looking for brilliant things or brilliant students, which is what is beautiful and new. And actually in this community we have built something so that you can work for this community and with employees who have a lot of experience, who are very, very fluent in English. I just want to mention, well, I've been coordinating with other parents about something we've been talking about. That's all I want to say . If we look to the past and understand why the plan was successful in the future, it's because we can change the draft guidelines, the directives. I want to go back a little to this piece of participation thinking about what you just described in who, who is
056Montessori. This is a very beautiful group of people who have students. That's a Title One school, and most of the parents here are people who... there aren't many people who couldn't attend this meeting, and that's something that worries me a lot because for the parents who do have the opportunity to participate, especially for the Spanish-speaking parents, they have no idea that this is happening now. So I want to hear that he's doing the district for those parents, not only so they do n't know what's going on, but so they actually have a voice and can participate and help make a decision, because this is very important and we have the privilege of being here on a Monday and there are many parents who are there, possibly many families or parents who are working because they
057need to put food on the table. on the table in this situation and they are terrified of not being able to have enough money to provide food for their family, but the bad thing is that they don't know what is happening here today. And it's every family we 've spoken to that speaks Spanish who doesn't even know the school is closing, they don't know they have certain opportunities, and I'm very worried about how they're going to be informed. I've spoken with some specialists and they haven't been requesting resources from the district; they're only giving some people explanations in Spanish, but that's a huge gap. Why are there so many things happening, and if so many people do n't have information, why hasn't the district done anything? I would love to hear from you if any
058of you have any ideas or if you have heard anything about this. I am committed to participation. I will show up and present myself at all the meetings. This is a very big effort and someone has to be part of the district. We are here to see what is available, and when we come to these spaces, sometimes early at night, sometimes late at night, but we come. I ca n't talk because there's a person there, or at what time, whether it's 7 pm or 3 pm. We have many things to do, and it's very important that we have the presence of the parents. There always have to be people attending these meetings, and of course, there are people who need to put food on the table, as they say, but we've handed out comment cards,
059and we've told people like you—well, there are people who have no idea—but when it comes to making decisions, and to be honest, there are things that aren't going to be possible. It's the honest truth. It's not because Matías does n't want to do it, it's that the challenges we have in the system are gigantic and if we don't point them out to us, I'm not going to do it. I'm not doing what I should be doing for 7,000 students. I have to do it as a complete whole. I need to sit down with you and do my best to inform and be forward-looking with the information, and that's participating in these kinds of communities. Please, if you have other ideas, you can share them with us. Ali is here with me. I just think we're
060committed to participating and adjusting, and at any moment it feels like that's not happening, and you'd have to tell us. But if someone wants something specific where we haven't taken enough action, if you tell me, "What about this? What about this? What about this?" I need to spend more time looking at what our limits are , because if we fail it's because we didn't plan properly. The sequence of events that occur is because there was a beginning and an end. I've seen that every time we've made changes we've been successful, but we have to participate, participate because I know we won't be in the same place in 5 months, but also sometimes poor planning at the beginning will hurt the students, but if there's something that needs us to make changes, we have to make
061the necessary changes, but not only commit to changing things that are working. Something Mr. Garcia mentioned that we did was review all the comment cards we received from all the schools. Some schools had very few comments or none at all , so we tried to send more direct text messages to them so they could have the HR codes to view the presentations and promote the different events we have. We already told the school workers, counselors, and family peace specialists to look at the number of schools that have had little participation, and if there are schools that have had no participation, or almost always, the schools that have few comments are the schools where there will not be possible changes in the future. But we have a large number of responses in Spanish, and here the
062interpretation team translates the questions. and we can stay in touch. We will continue working and make sure we have all the possible answers. If you give me a second, there was a man here and here and then here and here. I'll remember one at a time. I have you follow. I can return to myself later. First of all, many disagree. Thank you. Let's be honest, there is n't a school in a district in Texas in the United States that doesn't have problems. Right now we've had these problems for a while, and then I talked last week about one of the things I said that weren't very nice. I read everything that comes from the four-school district where I work, and I 'm also interested in all the information. This has given me so much anxiety.
063I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night and had an idea and I didn't, I have a son who goes here in pre-kindergarten, but I have one who is 3 years old here and then I see Blenden all day. I hope I can go next year. Blenden. My idea is that we have portables here. Miss Bridget and Miss Williams, they have already worked together on different things, managing, coordinating, sharing resources. It can also work if Wen moves to the portables and Palm Springs moves to the school, and when Palm Springs is ready and they finish building, we all move to Palm Springs. And the reason I thought of this is because the parents say they have to stay in this community here. Pecs is not that far away, much closer to the other
064schools that have been proposed. They are also closing schools. So, that's just an idea I had so we could move to portable and they could move here, or they could move here with us and change the name. What we need to do to make this work, and with Pecant Springs and the students if they want to be part of the program, those are some ideas I have, and all of those are things we can do. I can tell you what would complicate that is Win has three free agents and also picks on springs. So what we're trying to do to move that is to reassign campuses and have them have a tap plan and try to break that. I'm not saying there aren't creative ways to change something, but it would be more of a
065strategy, assuming Pon was involved in this movement. One of the things I can say is that because of how big the plan is, what we're working on, different sizes, there are different elements of the plan that we have to go through step by step and that we've been thinking about to make sure they are successful and that we can demonstrate if we have the opportunity. But if Picon Springs doesn't have the ratings it does, that would be a much easier plan, not so difficult. And the interaction of there are different scenarios. I know I've seen many of them, but I've seen one who sees this challenge in the response to all these ideas that are coming, because there are many ideas that have come, but I want it to work, but there are trusts and
066this is what we can or cannot do because we are taking this path or that path. It helps you and the assignment is there. I'm going to come back here and then go forward. I am a father. This is my neighborhood school. Six years ago we began consolidating another consolidation. I have a first grade and I'm leaving it in a system where we can't plan for middle school. I've asked around and it doesn't seem like they have any strategic plans after the conciliation, so what are they going to do to prevent the next one? I would say that I would say you say that it is patterns. I was here in '19 and I saw a lot of that work and I supervised it. I am not saying this is the most painful place I
067have ever been, professionally and personally. This is horrible. I hate that I'm the one who has to tell them this information and be the leader. I don't want it for anyone. I desperately want to get to a place where we are getting to a sustainable place. Everything has always been urgent, urgent, urgent in 19 and then the pandemic happened, then everything changed. Many people left, the leadership changed, we didn't have any students, so for the last two and a half years we haven't just been working here. Well, we're moving forward, moving the numbers, the presentations we've been giving in the last few months that we've seen. Our system is responding and it's happening our way. So, this can't be a pattern, but I can't say it won't happen again because I don't know what might
068happen at the federal level, at the state level, and right now we're having a conversation about immigration that's affecting us right now. I have so many different families who said they decided not to come to the district since around 2000. That's millions and millions of dollars that these students represented. But what hurts the most is that those students are still here, but they are choosing not to come to school because of the situation, and that's what hurts the most. I want to get to a place where we can have more understanding and thoughts about what is happening academically, being efficient, with staff so that you as a parent, all the parents in the district who will come out of us when they are moving through the program with their students, but we agree on certain
069things, but those are not our community and our changes. I desperately believe that our reach is solid. The 23rd, 24th, and 25th come every 5 months and that affected us, and it's not a pattern. I hope it's not a forward one, but we only attacked half of this plan . We're going to keep going, we're going to be here again. So, my argument is that if we have the resources, if the students receive what they need, those students and those schools won't be in that problem because they will have the resources and they will bring in the families who come. There are, many families are making decisions, you know how Austin works, but there are some families who come and just look at the grades and don't want to go to those schools. So our
070scope, our, I do n't want it to be a trend, I 'm being honest with you. So I'm going to add a little bit of that, which is one of our challenges when we have so many schools. For example, when we were at Marshall, what does each middle school offer? That's a difficult question to answer. Right now there's a standard we want to have in middle school, in a small school, but being able to get there is difficult, but it's hard to fund such small classes. So, one of the things we have to do is move forward with learning where we can define what we want to offer and whether there are enough students in each school to offer it and the funds to achieve it. I know it will be much easier for us
071to say I promise you that no matter what. These are the things we're going to offer in elementary school, this in middle school, and this in high school, and there may be additional things we can do, and this process is going to help us, and with that ability to communicate more clearly, that's going to help us recapture the families who didn't want to stay in the district. Hi, I've been in the Austin district, I was a middle school teacher in elementary school and now I have a daughter in Montessori and I taught high school for about 10 or 11 years . This is my fourth year in Austin Special Education District. At a time when there are many changes, especially in special education, one in the district, I would say that I was never going
072to be a teacher because of how it made me feel, but here I am working with students so that they don't have that same feeling. My question is, if the district believes in Montessori, wherever they are, they need to have at the district level a person with Montessori experience and experience as a Montessori school leader, not a Texas public school, because that's not what we are. We are Montessori first and we need someone at the district level to fight for us. We also need a director who knows what she's doing. We have one, but she has... But if not, we can't have anything else, a principal from another public school who isn't going to work. Starting over. My question is, when will you be able to choose a new director for these new campuses? What
073can we do? to help influence you to consider a person who has Montessori experience and leadership at the campus and district levels. So, you graduated in the district. Can I ask you where you went to MC? Hand Park. [laughs] I'm going to give you something so you'll leave. Remember me. So, one of the things I'm going to talk about is what we can do to communicate with me. You 're doing it. I am certain that the leader of this school, of our future school, must have the knowledge of Montessori and that model, and have the experience and success. And this isn't coming from someone who's transitioning from another primary. I acknowledge this as Bridget has done a very good job here. We have no doubt, but if we move forward, identify these leaders as soon
074as possible. So we put this in place in December; it's an effort to ensure that our staff, who we want to stay in the district, stay in the Austin district. So, once we hire our directors and understand why this person is the right leader and we have new staff, parents can know before we're too far along in the registration process, because waiting until December or January or spring is not an option. This is a very challenging thing for us. So, this is what we're going to do. If you have any information you want to send me, a copy of our head of personnel, if there are other things, requirements or knowledge that you want us to consider, please, please send this to us. I don't do anything without sending a lot of instructions, without spending
075a lot of time figuring out what the best way is. And if we can't find that person, we have the ability to slow things down a bit . But I want you to know that the reason we want to avoid that is to make sure that people know who the school leader is going to be and make those early decisions, whether people need to be here or want another experience in the district, and all of that is completed before we offer any positions outside the district. Thank you for sharing this, and you may receive an email from me , but this is a very large part of our work. We're already up to the deadline. I saw three hands raised. Nobody listened so much that I don't even know if I have a question anymore.
076I'm going to do it as quickly as possible. Multros know me very well. You said, you told me a few weeks ago that 45 students from here were going to transfer, they can transfer wherever they want. So where are those 45 students from? It is that strange little island that comes from the edges we have on the map. I thought they were talking about another place. Here you can see that it's not moving back here . It's here too. It's the yellow part, that area or those families who live in that area that is painted yellow, something that I don't know if they are capturing, what is important, this community in them fought for this program and this was happening at the same time. We went to Dallas, we saw a Christian Was elementary school
077which was a Montessori elementary school and we had a Montessori program and I have a granddaughter here, one of my oldest. My question, I think, is, can children go to other schools, transfer to other schools after having been here for years in this Montessori program? How will the district help them adapt to a traditional program? And the other thing is more of a comment. No, seriously, how many surveys? You are still employed by the school. I had many surveys. There's a survey for everyone. He thinks they're all going to fill them up. There are people who won't do it because of some things they don't know how to do, but they know. So, these kinds of meetings are important. But my other question is that I haven't seen an academic plan, how are you going
078to support the students who have been in the program since third, fourth and fifth grade? And how are you going to ensure that they can adapt to a traditional program? I think I had three questions. I think he's already got about five. One more. Another board said that the board did not want him to talk about 50% of the funds. How are you right now? What number are they at the moment? I don't know where Catrina is. I think that at the end of the school year, more than 17% of us are cutting, cutting, cutting throughout the year. That had a But also Miss Bradley also, you also know, we have a line of credit to recover our cash funds in the school year. all together the income and everything and during the course of
079the year we have had large expenses during the year. Then they went down, down, down and during these times in November we started to get funds from the county from property taxes. what is happening. I don't want to alarm you, but we're going to be very tight on cash for credit, because of what we're voting on right now, that has caused all the property and courts in the state of Texas, which is how the funds are coming in. So now those funds are coming in more slowly. So, we get to 17%, but we're still going to have to borrow for 6 days from the money that's coming late. And that's where we are, and that's the reality of how efficient it is, with payroll and other expenses totaling about 53 million dollars. It's a large
080system, and that cash flow and balance sheet—that can't happen, and we never want it to happen. A question about We are creating resources, those are the ones we are gathering with the communities to be able to understand each student and what their school experience is. And some will be at the school level for programs that will go student to student. What are the best ways to get support during the process? It will be reflected in the school-to-school bridge team. We will have, and I will hold everyone responsible for maintaining, monitoring, and knowing what the guidelines and procedures are for each location. Theoretically, well, that doesn't work if the community does n't participate, and in theory it sounds great, but it needs to be put on paper. Well, I've spoken to you before, ma'am. I do
081the work and I deliver the results. I'm not going to say something if I know I haven't done it right before. I ca n't do anything without community participation. Yes, I believe in intentions, but we also have to understand that the district has had a tendency to come up with these theories that don't work, and they try to implement them, and only so that you know that during the first month it's very good, and in the end you realize that the participating people have already left, and when the people and the schools are trying to implement the program, there is no one to justify it, to do it. If this program remains open, it has to be a program with continuity, and that's what we have to keep checking: that there is continuity. Some of
082you can implement things, but we have to keep in mind that people have to keep it open afterwards. And that's what you're saying, it's something we have to follow up on at Goally School too, for example, Miss Montgomery had to leave because we have a meeting. Can I make a comment? If it's related to the topic. If it's about participation. translation translation no no no no means understanding. I think you don't realize that translating that stuff doesn't make people understand, and that's why Spanish-speaking families don't fill the companies. Yes, I am a highly educated person, I speak 4 million languages and it has taken me a lot of work to understand what is happening and I think it is unfair. I want to say it in Spanish because it's my language, but translation doesn't necessarily
083mean understanding. So the fact that they only translate the presentations and think that people are going to participate is also disrespectful to all the participants because it takes a lot of time for someone like me who is very educated to understand what is going on . I have to read the plans they have on the screens three times to know what's going on . It's confusing. They have a program that has involved a lot of effort from the parent community, from the entire school team, who are all incredible. You have a problem making excuses. We have a school, but it's growing, it's participating, it's a Montessori school, it's a dual program, it's part of the community. Why do they want to destroy this? How will that help your long-term goal? I had a school that
084has not failed, that seriously serves equity and the student population and the community. I don't understand everything you've said, but I agree with what you're saying, that you're under a lot of pressure. This administration is terrible. I understand, but it's because we're doing the wrong things that are destroying something that works. Just to answer briefly, we can always do better than that. Honesty is key; we should always do things right and there's always room for improvement. But we also need to be very clear about the many schools that are in a similar situation. There are eight other schools going through this, and there are others where all these seats have been removed in schools, including many almost half, and they have done incredible things. I know we're talking about Montessori schools. I just want you
085to know what other amazing things are happening in schools that have a similar history and trajectory. I just want to make sure of that because it's difficult and we have 116 schools going through this. Can you hear me? I think I was waiting for what we were going to come up with today and we're going to have these ideas that we 've given you, but that's not where we are right now. That only further explains what we're talking about. We already know that some schools are having difficulties, but we all have difficulties too. Perhaps some other school that doesn't have problems, maybe they want to team up with us, but sometimes things don't go that way and we can, well, at least see this idea in a constructive way. I'm going to go over the
086reasons why we received funding, but I only have something written here for the elementary schools in Jordan and Pick Springs and the school in Sims and the schools in Cas Garcias, all these schools. I just wanted to bring this up so it's on record, and the schools also have unacceptable ratings, and right now the chap school is marked for me to go to Andrews, and it could possibly change, but only the chap school also has a fixed timeline. My question is, Andrews, if we are going to or can we in order to have the fourth grade this year and everyone gets a grade of C and the move to FPR. There is a contingency plan in place so that all elementary school students who have the indicated closure plan can be avoided. It's something we
087've discussed with the board, and we don't know if it would be an association against the school according to the school district or something else. Typically, what would happen is that if we didn't have these years one after another after another, the first graded, the second unacceptable, we would have made a draft plan and we can implement the plan in the third year and be able to break the chain of the three bad grades. Everything that happened with the lawsuits, which we were part of, made it all the worse. So, one of the things we're proposing for Doby, while we're monitoring the school year, if we don't see growth or if we haven't seen anything concerning that indicates they're going to get a failing grade or worse, then we can make a decision and enter
088into a contract, an agreement with the school that wants to partner with us. This is one of the two possible solutions we have before the fourth year, the fourth grade. Someone could join us to prevent this, but we have to make a decision before they pass, before they take the STAR exam, because we have had closures in the past, and this has happened before. If students got a failing grade, they would immediately close the school. So, whatever happens, we have to make our own plan before they take the exams. Storm. These plans can be included, they can include all these proposals, yes, but I have said to myself, we have not expressed it in a larger open environment , but I also know that our community responds well to this participation. The way the agency
089accepts things is how transformation plans work . There are many partners out there offering very good things, but they are looking for very specific elements and skills. So yes, the tools are going to look different. They would be given time before taking the Star exam. I don't know how that will work, but it depends on the schools. So, that increases the importance of what happens with each school, the primary schools in the community, because two years ago, if we had some schools that were set to close, if they were successful in the exams, especially at this stage because there are more opportunities for collaboration that I can help to keep that school open. and the idea of continuing down that path instead of closing it. Yes, gladly. I know it seems like a long time
090ago because it was Wednesday, Thursday, and we had a very challenging weekend, and we came back to do this work and make progress this week. We have many meetings pending and we have some thoughts floating around to implement them in the last two school meetings we had, but yes, we have had this conversation. If there is a school nearby that would like to have a conversation with us, I would be happy to have it , but I don't want it to happen. What I don't want to happen is for them to think that they are going to replace us or that someone is going to replace us. I understand your concern, your comment. The last thing I'm going to say is that if we're going to go to Govali, we'll break the responsibility plan, if
091we could continue with the first main responsibility plan and not assume that the problem is with the new school. We need to see, we need to get into the details of how the plan is going to work, reassigning the schools that are going to be closed and starting school for the child in another school. That's something I could potentially do. I would gladly have those conversations with the board and see if there's a way to connect them and talk. I just want to see a little bit of talk about responsibility. What I told the comfort is that while the children are arriving, we can have some of these talks , but we are responsible if the response, if the communications happen. So we're going to have these people in this room to have a conversation
092and talk, and only have a group of people participating, people from the school who know the school and who would possibly be accepted and who wouldn't be accepted for changes, and that would be the order. But we can do it. I want to find out if that's the solution. I do want to find the solution. I will be working, but to make your point, ma'am, we need to have that conversation with the school team and the parents, and we can do that. I'm also doing this in other schools for different reasons, and because we're already hearing children outside screaming and we have teachers who already have to go home. Well, I have another comment and I also want to thank you for being here, for having these conversations, and I thank everyone who has come,
093and I agree, I really agree, that the district can't handle all the students and the changes that have been made to try to solve the problem, and ideas and comments are welcome. We are talking because we have a shortage or surplus of seats in the schools and what are the dollar amounts allocated by the district to the schools. But is there any reason why this school could possibly be moved to a different location, a temporary one? Because of all the changes they've been mentioning since last year, schools like Pican Springs could be another resource and another possibility for them to provide a home for Montessori schools. And apart from this, will there be any other factor? A quick answer. The reason swing spaces don't work is that they are not designed like schools. There are
094no schools there. So, we've spoken with the commissioners to be able to provide them with a name, a district number that gives them the responsibility. And I'll tell you, in my experience with ACC schools, they are not allowed to have continuity in Austin district schools. If we have an open dialogue with them and ensure they have seats for the students we can recruit, perhaps the schools, swing spaces, would be looking at it this way because school programs can always be changed. in order to accommodate the schools that come. Well, I appreciate the question, but I commit to looking into other schools and talking with them, and if they have more conversations like these, I 'm open to having more conversations and more discussions. We need to have community conversations to see what's new. We only
095have knowledge of our own community, and that is why many of the leaders in other districts are not from this area. But let's see what we can come up with . Well, I have to have these conversations sooner or later, but we are willing to have them. We just don't have time anymore, we have a quick reminder. We have this Thursday the board meeting for the revised plan and the final recommendations will be expressed to the board on Thursday before the break. We'll be in touch; everyone knows how to reach us. Thank you for your wonderful comments and ideas. Thank you all for attending and coming here. and for being present.