uncertain future<\/a>, and district leaders are being candid with parents about what could come next.<\/p>\n\u201cBlanton holds a lot of heart,\u201d said Beatrice Villareal, a parent of two students at the school.<\/p>\n
Villareal said she is heartbroken as the future of her children\u2019s school remains unclear.<\/p>\n
Blanton Elementary is now in its third straight year of failing to meet Texas Education Agency standards and is currently one of six Arlington ISD campuses with an F rating. District leaders confirmed they are working directly with TEA officials as they determine next steps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just dropped the bomb on us, and you’re going to have to maybe tear down and not rebuild it and transfer us to other schools,\u201d Villareal said.<\/p>\n
Arlington ISD Superintendent Matt Smith said the situation at Blanton is difficult, especially as the state increases oversight at struggling campuses. But for Smith and his educators, the students come first and foremost. He has seen the TEA takeovers at other North Texas school districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I see some of these takeovers, and I know the careers, the passion, the effort that has been put in by so many people to create those experiences for kids, it makes me sad right now,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Smith was hired as Arlington ISD superintendent in January 2024 following a unanimous vote by the district\u2019s Board of Trustees after a nationwide search. Arlington ISD is one of the largest school districts in Texas, serving more than 50,000 students across nearly 80 campuses. He brought two decades of school leadership experience to Arlington, previously serving as superintendent of Belton ISD.<\/p>\n
In addition to Blanton Elementary, the district\u2019s 2025 F-rated schools include Carter Junior High, Thornton Elementary, Ellis Elementary, Speer Elementary and Starrett Elementary. Schools receiving D ratings include Crouch Elementary, Peach Elementary and Pope Elementary.<\/p>\n
Smith described Blanton as a close-knit campus with strong relationships between families and staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cK-through-6, great school where families call the staff family,\u201d Matt Smith said.<\/p>\n
However, Smith said several factors are forcing the district to consider the school\u2019s future, including declining enrollment and the condition of the building.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reasons are specifically that we have declining enrollment in that school and have for several years now, and we have a facility that is in significant need of repair,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
The superintendent said those issues have prompted discussions about possibly closing the school as early as the next school year. Smith said he plans to hear directly from parents during an upcoming community meeting before making a recommendation to the school board.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose three things made us pause and a recommendation to our board of trustees that we’re considering closing Blanton Elementary for the beginning of this next year,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Smith emphasized that Blanton\u2019s struggles do not reflect the entire district and pointed to academic gains at other campuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cFoster Elementary had amazing growth this last year. We had a couple of junior highs do outstanding work,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Despite those assurances, parents like Villareal said the potential closure is taking an emotional toll on their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 6-year-old, he is pretty sad about it,\u201d Villareal said.<\/p>\n
Parents said they now face the difficult task of explaining to their children that the end of the school year could also mean the end of their school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey just dropped the bomb on us, and you’re going to have to maybe tear it down and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-123174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}