During a meeting on Thursday with families from Webb Middle School, Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura explained that parents have a slim window of time to get the state to hear their voices regarding the future of their school. But some parents still have questions on why closing their school is on the table once more. <\/p>\n
“We have to bring the parents together because a lot of them don’t have the information,” Georgina Chavez, a mother of two Webb students, told KUT News in Spanish after the meeting. “They think that the schools won’t be closed. They think that schools will continue as they are, and they have no idea that we are in our last year.”<\/p>\n
Parents asked Segura multiple times why the district wants to close the school, but that decision does not fall on AISD officials. Once Burnet and Webb Middle Schools got five consecutive F ratings from the Texas Education Agency accountability system, a state intervention is required. <\/p>\n
Education Commissioner Mike Morath can now decide between two options. The first is to appoint a new superintendent and board of managers. They would have total control of the district, including making decisions on closing schools, amending the budget and changing academics for certain campuses. <\/p>\n
The second option is closing the failing campuses if a majority of parents request the state do so by submitting a petition to the superintendent in the next three weeks. Segura must then validate the petition and send it to the state.<\/p>\n
Webb will be different no matter what<\/p>\n
During the contentious meeting, many parents said their school has lacked resources for many years. Others said Webb has continuously been discriminated for being majority Hispanic. Eighty-six percent of Webb’s students are Hispanic, and 7% are African American.<\/p>\n
“We can’t believe that we have to close two schools to avoid a state takeover, and that’s illogical. We won’t believe it, and you won’t change our mind on why you want to close it,” Bertha Varela, a Webb parent, said in Spanish. “You’ve given us those two options. I give one more option: Fight to keep Webb open.”<\/p>\n
But Segura explained that even if the families fight to keep Webb open, once the state appoints a board of managers and a new superintendent, Webb could still face closure. <\/p>\n
“A board of managers would also have to address Webb, so they are not independent. I don’t want people to assume that a board of managers means there won’t be action at Webb. Webb will go through a change, it will be different,” Segura said. “You, as the community, don’t have a lot of voice in that process. One of the only voices you have is the petition.”<\/p>\n
At other districts where the state has taken over, such as Houston ISD, some schools with low accountability ratings have had to implement new academic practices that some community organizers have described as “militaristic.” At those campuses, teachers had to reapply for their jobs and many were not rehired; teachers have to follow strict guidelines when teaching and students are constantly being tested. <\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson urged parents to ask the state to close their campuses<\/a>. He said it would give them a say in the process and suggested students from both schools could be moved to a new building that is under construction. Parents from Webb initially rejected the idea, asking why they had to sacrifice their school. <\/p>\n Segura then said the district would not help parents<\/a> gather signatures and would focus on supporting students to improve academic outcomes. He said the district is already working on a plan to support Burnet and Webb students in case parents decide to ask the state to close their schools. <\/p>\n Segura assured parents Thursday that the two schools would finish the 2026-27 school year and that the district continues to make adjustments to better serve the students. <\/p>\n “This year, all of our students, all of our staff, all the work is gonna continue on, and we are gonna continue to be focused on student outcomes,” he said. “Our kids and Webb right now are a priority. We cannot lose focus; we cannot be distracted and do things that would take us one path or another. I am focused on student outcomes.”<\/p>\n Another path: appealing the ratings<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, district officials appealed the failing ratings<\/a> for both middle schools in an attempt to avoid state intervention. Preliminary ratings for the 2025-26 school year show Burnet scored a 59, four points more than the previous year, but still one point away from a passing grade. Webb scored a 58, two points away from a D. If either school had scored 60 or above, the state accountability clock would have paused and held off any state intervention.<\/p>\n During a panel at the Texas Tribune Festival earlier Thursday, Segura said by filing an appeal, the district had a chance to get clarity. He said the district has been making gains but that some middle schools still need extra support.<\/p>\n “It’s not good enough, I am aware of that,” Segura said about the ratings of Burnet and Webb. “I’m hyper-focused on student outcomes; that’s what I’m going to continue to do. But I want to make sure that the data is accurate, and until that’s done, I’m not ready to take the next step.”<\/p>\n In 2025, families fought<\/a> to keep three middle schools, including Webb, open and have the district invest additional resources into the campuses. Since then, the district approved a turnaround plan for the campuses and tried avoiding state intervention by partnering with a charter to run the campuses. But after TEA officials rejected the partnership<\/a>, AISD ended the agreement. <\/p>\n Parents have until Oct. 15 to gather signatures and submit a petition to the superintendent. Segura would have to validate the petition and send it to the TEA by Dec. 1. Segura told parents that the state should let the community know what the level of intervention will be by spring break. <\/p>\n Segura is expected to meet with Burnet parents on Monday and online with parents from both middle schools on Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During a meeting on Thursday with families from Webb Middle School, Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura explained that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,17882,133,163,16506,13181,41154],"class_list":["post-447678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-independent-school-district","tag-austin-news","tag-education","tag-k-12","tag-takeover","tag-webb-middle-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447678","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=447678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}