{"id":4053,"date":"2025-10-15T02:29:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T02:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4053\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T02:29:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T02:29:06","slug":"austin-isds-virtual-only-meetings-over-consolidation-plan-spark-concerns-among-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/4053\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin ISD’s virtual-only meetings over consolidation plan spark concerns among parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin Independent School District’s decision to hold the first of four open houses virtually to discuss a proposed school consolidation plan<\/a> has raised concerns among parents, particularly in South Austin. The district is holding the first of its four meetings <\/a>on Tuesday and is visiting with parents in South Austin.<\/p>\n

The district’s plan affects 13 schools, including Widen Elementary, which is located off of Nuckols Crossing Road. Parent Rochelle Olivares says she will be attending Tuesday’s virtual meeting and plans to ask several questions. “AISD only names 15 community schools in its entire district. And this is the only one in South Austin. And to be closing, the only one in South Austin, I think, says something,” she said.<\/p>\n

Olivares also wants to know about the district’s turnaround plan. Rodriguez Elementary is one of the schools that kids from Widen could be moved to, but it is also receiving a turnaround plan<\/a>, according to the district.. Olivares says, “And so what does that mean? Are we staying one hour longer in school? Is this going to become a charter-led school?<\/p>\n

Patrick Perez, another parent from Widen Elementary, questioned the district’s accountability, asking, “How did we get here? Why was there no accountability years ago when these grades were? I don’t know if they were just held up in the lawsuit with the STAR test.”<\/p>\n

RELATED| Parents and students protest proposed Austin ISD school closures and boundary changes<\/a><\/p>\n

But more than anything, with so many questions, both Olivares and Perez want to know why this meeting between the district and parents is being held virtually.<\/p>\n

“I do think it is short-sighted of them, right?” said Olivares, who also added, “We live in an area that does not have a lot of, we don’t know the circumstances of the other families and what their connection is to broadband or their ability to maneuver and understand technology.”<\/p>\n

Perez added, “A lot of the demographics in our area work multiple jobs. They are not able to come onto an online platform like this.”<\/p>\n

Senovio Santander, another concerned parent, said, “We don’t feel welcome in these virtual meetings, because we feel just like we’re just another number.” Olivares suggested a compromise, saying, “I do think they could have come to a compromise and held a virtual meeting, but at an in-person site.”<\/p>\n

Austin ISD has scheduled one in-person meeting for Nov. 8. CBS Austin reached out to the district to inquire about the possibility of more in-person meetings and alternative ways for families to access the discussions. The district has not responded to our request.<\/p>\n

Another virtual meeting is planned for North Austin parents on Thursday at 6 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin Independent School District’s decision to hold the first of four open houses virtually to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,1685,133,4526,4524,435,4522,4525,4521,4523],"class_list":{"0":"post-4053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-isd","11":"tag-austin-news","12":"tag-in-person-meetings","13":"tag-parent-concerns","14":"tag-school-consolidation","15":"tag-south-austin","16":"tag-turnaround-plan","17":"tag-virtual-meetings","18":"tag-widen-elementary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053","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=4053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}