The seven comprehensive high schools that collectively enroll nearly 10,000 students in the San Antonio Independent School District are excluded from the list of recommended school closures for the 2024-25 school year that officials will compile after a study currently underway is complete.
That was one of the messages Superintendent Jaime Aquino had for parents Monday evening as he kicked off the seventh community meeting at Brackenridge High School to discuss the criteria that will be used to generate a closure recommendation list.
“I know there’s a lot of anxiety out there and … I want to put to rest some of that anxiety,” he said. “None of the seven comprehensive high schools, including Brackenridge, are being considered for closing.”
Those seven schools are:
- Brackenridge High School
- Burbank High School
- Edison High School
- Highlands High School
- Sam Houston High School
- Jefferson High School
- Lanier High School
Aquino went on to say that the combined enrollment and average daily attendance at the schools generate the revenue for the district to “properly operate and offer a solid educational program,” at each of the campuses.
While most of those schools have maintained enrollment over the years, Sam Houston High School, on the East Side, is only at 52% of its capacity following years of declining enrollment starting in 2018. Even though the school can comfortably house 1,649 students, only 865 were enrolled last year, according to district data.
The district’s 10 other high schools, which include specialized schools focused on preparing students for careers in medicine and technology, are still being considered for closure or consolidation.
District spokeswoman Laura Short said that while the high schools have never been part of the study that began in June, parents have asked about it in recent meetings, which have gathered hundreds of community members providing feedback on a preliminary framework.
The district has not indicated which schools could end up on the actual list of closures and has denied rumors claiming that as many as 30 schools could be on the list.
Feedback from parents and teachers at each meeting will be analyzed by the district to find trends. That information will refine the framework ahead of the first list of schools that will be presented at the Sept. 18 meeting of the school board.
During the most recent meeting, Toni Thompson, Aquino’s chief of staff, told parents that the district must take action to balance historic inequities.
“We’re in a crossroads right now,” she said. “We can either engage in this important conversation and deal with our current reality or we will be in a position to have to continue to tolerate what we feel are currently inequities.”
“As stewards of your children, we have to ask … can we live with a system where there are more resources and support offered to some students, but not to all students?” she added.
Richard Hernandez, who has two children at Bonham Academy, said he wasn’t surprised to hear about the exclusion of the seven schools.
“I know a lot of smaller … elementary schools and middle schools,” he said. “When they go over the numbers as far as how much money they get for students, there is a lot of inequality.”
Hernandez said that while he appreciated the opportunity to provide feedback, he is anxious to hear the district’s actual plan and which schools will be impacted.
“That’s kind of my concern, is what’s the game plan?” he asked.
The next meeting will be Tuesday at Irving Dual Language Academy, 1300 Delgado St., starting at 6 p.m.
