The San Antonio Independent School District has begun engaging the community in a discussion about school closures for the 2024-25 school year, with the first of 14 meetings Thursday night. The district faces several challenges, including declining enrollment, a budget deficit and excess classroom space.
During the meeting at Highlands High School that lasted more than two hours, participants called for more outreach for future events, commitments that closed schools will not fall into disrepair and a more accessible website detailing the process. Many also commended the district for seeking input from both teachers and parents early on.
The meeting began with a presentation by Superintendent Jaime Aquino, his chief of staff Toni Thompson and Trustee Leticia Ozuna, who explained the downward trend in enrollment over the last decade and its impact on students’ education.
“We want to do better for each of our students by ensuring that each one of them has similar access to extracurricular activities, extraordinary educational experiences and resources regardless of their neighborhood,” Aquino said. “We, as a community, are dissatisfied with the current situation and the reality that we find ourselves in with smaller schools facing incredible challenges in providing all the necessary resources and support for their students, their family and their staff.”
Aquino called the status quo a “no-win” situation.
District officials stressed that while the move could result in financial savings, that is not the reason they are exploring the option of school closures. Instead, the equitable usage of resources is the goal.
Parents, teachers shared feedback
After the presentation, participants visited stations representing different aspects of the school closure framework, which includes primary and secondary criteria.
Xavier Rodriguez, who only heard about the school closure possibility earlier this week, came interested to know more about the enrollment declines — which were highlighted on an interactive screen at one of the stations. SAISD has lost over 18,000 students since 1998, according to numbers shared by the district.
Rodriguez lives outside the district but had his son transferred to Steele Montessori.
“I know a lot of districts are downsizing, but my son really loves his school,” he said. “I really hope that his school is not on the chopping block.”
The number of students who transfer into and out of schools will be considered alongside enrollment as one of the primary criteria for selecting schools for closure, along with the facility usage and cost per pupil.
Many parents had questions about the secondary, contextual criteria the district will use to decide the next steps. That includes a school’s “partners” and “regional factors and community considerations.”
District leaders didn’t provide clarity on how they will be used, but said they heard the feedback and would take it into consideration.
Yolanda Ward, an adviser for high school programs at St. Philip’s College, said she asked the district to consider the totality of the situation when making decisions.
“Looking at it not just as a study, but as families, because it is all together,” she said.
Ward and others also wanted to know more about how the district was working to get more students into the schools.
SAISD leads the region in the number of students who transferred into the district, according to Thompson’s presentation, and Aquino said after the event that efforts have been made to ramp up enrollment.
“The reality is, it doesn’t matter [even with] all your marketing efforts, the students are not there,” he said. “When I got here, my board asked ‘what are your marketing efforts to increase enrollment?’ And I was killing myself and it was not producing the [return on investment].”
He said the answer came from a demographer’s report, which showed a decline in birth rates.
“We can spend all the money, but the fact is the kids are not there,” he said.
Another common piece of feedback was the desire to see closed schools repurposed in a way that could serve the community and not fall into disrepair.
Emma Dromgoole, an operations coordinator at Highlands High School, said she wanted more information on what that could look like. She also said she welcomed the opportunity for teachers and parents to give feedback and the district’s clear timeline.
“We’re the first to really see behind the scenes what happens at all the different campuses,” she said.
Participants agreed with the values the district adopted to guide the process, highlighting equity as a need when choosing which schools will be closed.
Feedback was gathered on sticky notes, which were compiled at the back of the room, where Aquino and Ozuna worked with district staff to sort them into themes. They read some back at the end of the meeting and will transcribe and post them online.
After 14 meetings, the feedback will be used to finalize the preliminary framework before a final analysis and initial list of schools earmarked for closure will be generated.
More community meetings will be held after the first list is generated in September, with a final list based on that feedback going to the board in November.
A call to extend the process
Detractors of the school closure process were also present at the meeting Thursday and complimented the community engagement level.
But still, with only months to go until a final list of closures will be voted on, they are calling for the process to be extended.
Alejandra Lopez, the president of the San Antonio Alliance, lauded the transparency but also said more outreach is needed. She also repeated the union’s call earlier this summer for a more democratic approach to the school closure process.
“Our position continues to be that communities should get the chance to vote on whether or not their school closes,” she said. “And we have several months to continue to really advocate and organize around that position.”
District leaders have said they are not considering that as an option.
The event was still a reflection of the union’s work, Lopez said, to encourage more voices to be heard.
She also said the timeline should be extended to give parents more chances to participate.
“I do think that having a meeting on the third day of school makes it challenging for people to really engage in the process,” she said. “But I hope that with the number of meetings happening, that more people will really understand what is at stake here.”
Trustee Sarah Sorensen, one of two dissenting votes on the initial resolution calling for a study on reorganizing the district, said the event was a success, with voices of the community influencing the process.
She also called for a longer process and a direct vote by community members, however.
“This is such an important conversation,” she said. “I’d love for us to have a little bit more opportunity for that.”
Another community meeting is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. at Burbank High School.
The remaining 12 scheduled meetings may be found on the district’s website.
