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The Austin school district headquarters, Monday, Jun., 13, 2022.<\/p>\n
Stephen Spillman\/Special to American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Weeks before the school year begins, Austin Independent School District will close Paredes Middle School immediately because of continued academic struggles, the district said in a statement.\u00a0The decision will mark an unexpected 11th school closure in the past year.<\/a><\/p>\n In a meeting with campus staff on Wednesday morning, Austin ISD officials told employees that the school will close because of projections the campus will receive a fourth\u00a0consecutive F rating from the state this year, according to Education Austin<\/a>, the district’s largest employee union.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Superintendent Matias Segura proposed the closure \u201cafter reviewing academic growth data over the summer and readiness for the school year,\u201d he said in a statement released to families Wednesday<\/a>. The school board will meet next week to vote on the proposed closure.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Paredes Middle School scores a fifth F rating after the 2026-27 school year, the state could take over the entire district. But\u00a0a possible takeover already looms over the\u00a0district.\u00a0<\/p>\n Austin ISD is already facing drastic Texas Education Agency intervention <\/a>if any of three North Austin middle schools receives another failing rating in state-issued campus scores that will be released Aug. 14.<\/p>\n The state\u2019s A-F campus rating system grades schools largely based on student performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or\u00a0STAAR, tests. If a campus receives five F ratings in a row, the state must either close down the offending school or take over the entire district. In a takeover, the state sidelines the elected board of trustees in favor of an appointed board of managers and often replaces the superintendent.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Paredes Middle School will be the 11th campus that the district closes this year, after trustees in the fall voted to shutter another 10 campuses and International High School, a program for students new to the country. <\/a>If the board approves the change, Paredes students would attend Bailey or Mendez middle schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile this is a difficult decision, we must maintain high expectations and rigor for all our students,\u201d Segura said. \u201cThis student-centered approach to our work required us to make this proposal based on the trends we\u2019re seeing at Paredes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Change of plans<\/p>\n The closure of Paredes is an abrupt pivot from a June announcement that more school closures could be coming for the 2028 school year<\/a>. At that time,\u00a0Segura delayed a comprehensive redrawing of attendance boundaries, which has not been done in years. The June announcement also walked back statements Segura made in April<\/a> that more school closures this fall were unlikely.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The announcement comes just days after Austin ISD ended a partnership with the nonprofit Texas Council for International Studies<\/a>, to run Dobie, Burnet and Webb middle schools in North Austin. The district initially partnered with TCIS in the hopes of fending off a state takeover.\u00a0Each of the campuses has four consecutive F ratings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n