SBISD hasn’t closed a school in nearly 40 years, yet this seems to be at the top of the Board and Administration’s list and Friday emails.
- Closure of Treasure Forest Elementary and Panda Path (or non renewal of the contract with Spring Branch Family Development Center)
- Closure of KIPP Courage at Landrum and YES Prep Northbrook Middle School and YES Prep Northbrook High School
There’s a lot to unpack here, so forgive our simplification of the situation.
1. Proposed Closure of Treasure Forest Elementary (TFE) and Panda Path (PP)
Fact 1: On Friday, October 20th at 4:00pm, the community received an email from Superintendent Blaine and Board President Earnest about a Monday, October 23rd board meeting to discuss the closure of Treasure Forest Elementary and Panda Path’s PreK program.
“Close Treasure Forest Elementary and relocate students to Housman and Ridgecrest elementaries to maximize facility usage, staffing and programs.”
“Discontinue the lease for the Panda Path School for Early Learning and adjust boundaries for students to attend Lion Lane and open 1-2 Pre-K Schools for Early Learning.”
Concern 1: Research doesn’t support a decision to close schools. Closing schools “rarely saves money” and “can have long-term negative effects on student outcomes”. “Under-enrollment and underutilization are relative.” (October 2019, UT News)
Concern 2: The finances don’t sync up. Closing schools saves on utilities and a principal. Most all other costs follow the students. For Panda Path, the Spring Branch Family Development Center built the space to partner with the school district. They can find another partner, and SBISD will lose the student count. Fewer students means less revenue and higher recapture.
Concern 3: Both schools educate children who live near the schools whose families often rely on public transportation. In Panda Path’s case, the PreK 3 students cannot ride the SBISD school bus, so families would need to walk an hour plus down Hammerly to Lion Lane (because Hollibrook is not set up for PreK 3) with a 3 year-old and any siblings.
Concern 4: There are elementary schools in Memorial neighborhoods with lower enrollment than TFE but they are not on a “closure” list.
Fact 2: On Friday, November 17th, Somos Spring Branch hosted a community meeting at Panda Path that two trustees attended to hear from the community. Somos paid for simultaneous interpretation at the meeting. Trustees openly addressed questions.
Question: Why hasn’t the district hosted community meetings?
2. Proposed Closure of KIPP Courage (at Landrum) and YES Prep (at Northbrook Middle and Northbrook High) and SPIRAL (at Bendwood Elementary)
Fact 1: On Friday, November 10th at 10:00 am, another community email from Superintendent Blaine and Board President Earnest about a Monday, November 13th board meeting to discuss “Discontinu(ing) the SKY Partnership” and “Restructure Elementary Gifted and Talented SPIRAL Programming to be delivered by SPIRAL teachers at home elementary campuses”
Concern 1: Friday email about closing schools with ~1,500 students (at KIPP and YES Prep) and ~350 (SPIRAL) for a Monday board meeting.
Concern 2: Shady language choice to befuddle the community (who might have read the email). An estimated 90% (not a scientific study) of KIPP and YES Prep families have never heard of “SKY Partnership” and 100% (scientific study) of board members have never relied on public school choices.
Concern 3: If costs are the primary concern, what effort has been made to cost manage or negotiate the costs of these schools?
Concern 4: Academic outcomes…as a first-class district surely SBISD isn’t willing to lower its standards for GT and low-income students. Surely.
Concern 5: The last superintendent who tried to close SPIRAL left the district after less than 2 years.
Fact 2: The November 13th board meeting was shut down in the middle of public comment because of capacity. 120+ community members had signed up by the 6pm deadline to speak on the closure of SPIRAL (Bendwood) and KIPP and YES Prep. Those in the room said it was heated.
Concern 6: Future under-enrollment if these programs close. KIPP and YES Prep families have nearby options and both schools provide transportation. SPIRAL families have choices, too, if they feel that their children are not receiving appropriate learning experiences.
Concern 7: A board whose own children are zoned to Memorial and Stratford high schools but was elected as at-large board members is closing school choices in lower-income communities with fewer voters.
I’m sure there’s a lot more to say…add it to the comments. But be kind, we aren’t hear to hate on people trying to do their paid and unpaid jobs.