Heather Trevino and her son Jacob Cervantes speak to AISD Superintendent Matias Segura during an information and listening session held at Parades Middle School in Austin as a school closure vote approached, July 29, 2026.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
When Austin Independent School District trustees decided July 30 to close Paredes Middle School, the abrupt move shocked many of the school’s staff and families.
Behind the scenes, Austin ISD administrators spent the final weeks of summer moving at a breakneck pace to execute the last-minute decision to shutter the South Austin campus, according to emails obtained by the American-Statesman. The emails show that in the week between when trustees discussed the closure behind closed doors on July 20 and their public vote over a week later, school board members questioned Austin ISD officials on how the proposal would affect educators and families.
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Paredes Middle School, July 22, 2026. AISD shuttered the campus just weeks before class began.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
The change came in the face of a growing state takeover threat because of failing state scores at two North Austin middle schools — Burnet and Webb.
Superintendent Matias Segura said the decision to close Paredes was because of unexpected declining academic performance and staff vacancies. Austin ISD wasn’t “in a position to ensure that our students at Paredes Middle School grow academically in 2026-2027 school year,” Segura said during a July 28 meeting.
District officials first publicly proposed closing the campus on July 22 — less than three weeks before classes began. Trustees first met publicly to discuss the closure July 28 and took an official vote on July 30, with seven of nine trustees approving the measure.
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Most of the 848 students at Paredes moved to Bailey Middle School in South Austin, which also inherited a state-mandated academic turnaround plan in place at Paredes. The remaining 45% of Paredes students moved to Mendez Middle in Dove Springs. Most of the teachers also went to these two schools.
Austin ISD did not respond to a request for comment.
Trustee questions
Austin ISD trustees met Monday, July 20 entirely in closed session, which allows governing bodies to meet in private, typically to discuss sensitive information related to real estate transactions, confidential legal matters, employee information or security issues. The agenda for that meeting did not mention Paredes Middle School by name.
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At 10 p.m. the next day, Segura wrote to trustees that since that meeting, he and other administrators were working on next steps to modify Paredes’ turnaround plan, including creating a transition and communication plan. Segura had briefed TEA on the district’s plans to close the campus and move its academic improvement plan to Bailey and met with two of three principals at the middle schools that would have students shuffle, he wrote. He planned to meet with the third principal and send emails to staff and families on Wednesday, July 22, he wrote.
Trustee Arati Singh, who holds one of two at-large seats on the nine-member board of trustees, replied to Segura, asking basic questions such as “why are we modifying the (turnaround plan)” and “which campuses are impacted.”
The decision came about because of academic reasons, not budgetary concerns, responded Joshua Jeon, AISD executive director of governance, accountability and board services.
“Looking at Paredes’ STAAR performance this year, we are convinced that using our resources and energy to transition Paredes students into new campuses will support them in making progress in academic achievement — both for short and long term — more so than in expending required resources and energy to ensure students make academic progress,” Jeon wrote.
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Students largely took the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests in the spring, and results were publicly posted in mid- June.
Student scores at Paredes improved for almost every grade in math and reading during the fall 2025 semester, according to data AISD presented at a July 30 meeting. However, scores plummeted during the spring 2026 semester. In August, when the state released letter grades for every public school district and campus across the state, the middle school scored a 51 out of 100, or an F rating, compared to 59 last year. State letter grades are largely based on STAAR results.
Jeon pointed out that the campus “went backwards academically” while operating under an improvement plan meant to do the opposite. Paredes was one of multiple campuses that underwent a turnaround plan last year. The plan provided more staffing while requiring regular assessment of students and increased professional development for educators.
Austin ISD officials considered moving Paredes students to Bedichek Middle School, which was closed along with nine other campuses this summer, Jeon said. However, Bedichek received an F in 2025, which was its third consecutive failing score. This made moving students to that campus “not practicable,” Jeon said.
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Districts can’t move students from one failing campus to another. Two weeks after Jeon’s email, Bedichek earned a C rating in the 2026 ratings.
Singh wrote back, thanking him and noting that she would “appreciate some written context in advance of future exec sessions so that I can be better prepared with questions going forward.”
The trustee said she was asking routine questions to get clarity ahead of the board vote. She wanted to be certain the closure was recommended for academic reasons and that administrators had explored alternatives before “closing a beloved school at the last minute, which was devastating to many families and staff,” she told the Statesman last week.
“During the (July 30) voting meeting, I requested that the administration create a public dashboard and provide very clear early alerts on staffing and other issues that impact student outcomes at our most challenged campuses, in order to prevent last-minute disruptions,” she said in a statement.
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Involving elected officials
Board President Lynn Boswell wrote on July 22 to administrators, asking that the district include Austin elected officials in upcoming discussions about Paredes.
Edna Butts, director of intergovernmental relations and policy oversight, assured Boswell that she had contacted city council members, Travis County commissioners, Texas state lawmakers and U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, about the matter.
“A lot of our elected officials have a lot of interest in the district,” Boswell told the Statesman last week. “It is helpful to communicate what’s coming and what is out there so they are aware.”
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City Councilman Ryan Alter had reached out directly on July 22, Boswell wrote. Alter, who represents South Austin, including Paredes, learned about the proposal when it became public, he told the Statesman last week.
The school Alter’s own children attended last year — Sunset Valley Elementary — was closed this summer, along with nine other campuses, so Alter knows firsthand the challenges of navigating a closure, he said.
“It was really disappointing that it happened so late, but at the same time, I’m glad the district …they saw a problem and they took action,” Alter said.
Austin ISD explained to Alter that the necessary resources weren’t available at Paredes to set students up for academic success, especially given the district’s limited financial resources, he said.
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Families are settling into their new schools, but many are still adjusting to transportation changes, especially related to after-school activities, Alter said.
The closure of Paredes and Bedichek meant South Austin lost two middle schools. The only middle school now within Alter’s District 5 is the application-based Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders.
“We do need to have a long-term plan of how we’re goint to get middle school education in an accesible way to this part of the city,” Alter said.
Swift movement
In the days before the board voted to close Paredes on July 30, administrators moved quickly.
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On July 21, top Austin ISD leaders held a working lunch to discuss the school. Segura met virtually with Paredes staff at 10 a.m. on July 22, according to email calendar invites. AISD leaders again met July 27 to “review stipends for Mendez teachers and Paredes transfer policy,” according to a calendar invite. Paredes teachers would have received pay bumps because of the extra work called for in the school’s state-required turnaround plan. Those stipends transfered to Bailey teachers when the school inherited the plan. Segura said July 28 that Mendez teachers would also receive a stipend to aid in the transition.
On July 29, administrators did site walks at the three campuses, according to a public presentation. By Aug. 4, vendors were starting to move furniture from Paredes to Bailey and Mendez.
In a letter sent Aug. 13 approving the closure, a TEA official scolded Austin ISD for the last-minute decision.
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The “late-July announcement of the campus closure imposed an avoidable hardship on students and families,” TEA Deputy Commissioner Steve Lecholop wrote.
The announcement’s timing raised questions about whether the closure was driven largely by the likelihood that the campus would receive a fourth F in 2026, Lecholop wrote, “rather than a comprehensive transition strategy focused on minimizing disruption for students and families.”