Public comment was full at the Austin ISD Board of Trustees meeting two days after the district announced that they’re not closing Palm, Maplewood, and Bryker Woods elementaries next school year, and will delay the school boundary changes to the following school year.
“We feel relief for our students and staff,” Adam Sparks, a parent of a Maplewood student, said. “We feel guilt, too, that we are getting what we’ve been advocating for, which is time to get it right, whereas so many other schools aren’t.”
Since the initial closure list was released Oct. 3, Maplewood and Bryker Woods families have been some of the most vocal against their schools’ closure during public comment and protests. Families still on the closure list accused the district of bending to that pressure. Segura denies that claim. “I want to be really clear that this had nothing to do with any community, any advocacy, any voice, any magnitude of emails,” Segura said during the Nov. 6 board meeting.
Segura informed families last Tuesday that the district is investigating officials who had roles in making the boundary change and consolidation decisions, a reason for the shift. AISD’s director of communications, Cristina Nguyen, confirmed to the Chronicle that Raechel French, director of planning, and Ali Ghilarducci, executive director of communications, were placed on leave last Tuesday coinciding with the superintendent’s announcement, and that no additional district officials have been placed on leave as of Monday, Nov. 10.
Despite the pivot, changes were made to the Oct. 31 updated consolidation plan that could still potentially affect new school communities. One is a proposal to move Garza Independence HS into the current Martin MS building, still slated for closure, and expand it as a 6-12 school. Garza, in East Austin, offers students in grades 10-12 a self-paced path towards graduation, one of the only AISD schools with an individualized education model and its own farm, complete with two pigs and chickens.
Teachers at Garza have opened a petition against the proposal. “Our daughter loves those damn pigs and chickens,” community member Frank Netscher wrote in support. During public comment, one Garza parent doubted that the school model could be expanded for 6-12 so quickly. “And what worries me the most is that the idea was rolled out without asking any of the Garza community: No students, family, or staff were asked for input,” she continued.
Moreover, Zavala and Ortega elementaries are newly proposed to become the district’s non-zoned Montessori school instead of Govalle ES, whose community protested the program’s move from Winn ES to their campus. Evidently, some Zavala parents don’t want it either. “Our families have been given no time to respond,” one parent said during public comment, with the vote on these decisions one week away.
Trustee Candace Hunter spoke directly to AISD families from the dais, asking that more privileged communities consider the remaining closures through an equity lens. “We are on the Titanic, and we are trying to change it. Some of us have been down in steerage bailing water for a real long time, and some people have been in the dining room, listening to the orchestra. But guess what? We are on the same boat. We have got to do this together.”
Trustees were also presented updated drafts of the 24 turnaround plans (TAPs) due to the Texas Education Agency Nov. 21. Board President Lynn Boswell questioned the decision to move some students from F-rated schools to D- and C-rated schools, also on the brink of accountability, as well as whether the TEA-jargon-filled TAPs holistically account for the myriad challenges students are facing right now.
“Right now, our country is denying food to our students … [many] don’t have health care,” Boswell said. “Those students are bringing those things, and that really gives me profound concern that we’re setting ourselves up to fix much bigger issues with ‘high-quality instructional materials’ and ‘fidelity to programs.’”
This article appears in November 14 • 2025.
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