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A student holds a sign reading \u201cdon\u2019t fire teachers\u201d as students protest Austin ISD\u2019s plan to turnaround the Burnet Middle School by walking out of class Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Burnet and Webb parents are now weighing whether to sign a petition calling for their own schools’ closures to save all of Austin ISD from a state takeover.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n
In May 2025, Austin Independent School District leadership\u00a0stood before parents in the wood-paneled Burnet Middle School cafeteria<\/a> and outlined their plan to improve the campus’ long-struggling academic performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n Superintendent Matias Segura laid out how the district would update curriculum, enhance\u00a0the school\u2019s focus on math and reading\u00a0and provide teacher stipends\u00a0with a $1.7 million investment.\u00a0The efforts would be replicated at two other nearby middle schools\u00a0\u2014 Dobie and Webb\u00a0\u2014 because all three had scored multiple years of failing academic ratings\u00a0on the state\u2019s report card.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Burnet Middle School, May 13, 2025. Burnet and Webb parents are weighing whether to sign a petition calling for their own schools’ closures to save all of Austin ISD from a state takeover.<\/p>\n Sara Diggins\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n But months later, as the 2025-26 school year began, the plan didn\u2019t go smoothly<\/a>, said Ingrid Saucedo, the mother of current Burnet seventh- and eighth-graders.\u00a0<\/p>\n The school year started with teaching vacancies<\/a>, which meant Saucedo\u2019s children were taught by substitutes. Sometimes her children were marked absent even when they were in class because campus administration changed students\u2019 schedules as administrators worked through logistical issues.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why a lot of parents are mad with Matias (Segura) and the district,\u201d Saucedo said. \u201cHe said he\u2019d promise us stuff but didn\u2019t give it.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Austin Independent School District Superintendent Matias Segura answers questions and address the concerns of Burnet Middle School parents, teachers and community members regarding a turnaround plan for the school during a community meeting on May 13, 2025. Burnet and Webb parents are now weighing whether to sign a petition calling for their own schools’ closures to save all of Austin ISD from a state takeover.<\/p>\n Sara Diggins\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n Since then, Burnet and Webb have received their fifth failing state grade in a row<\/a>, and Texas law requires Education Commissioner Mike Morath to either close the campuses or take over the district, replacing the elected school board\u00a0with appointed managers. Even though Morath has yet to decide how the state will intervene,\u00a0parents\u2019 anger flared last month when Mayor Kirk Watson proposed they could petition to close their own middle schools to spare <\/a>all of Austin ISD a takeover.<\/p>\n Watson posed the process as a way for the community to act<\/a> \u201cinstead of simply waiting for something to happen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives the families most impacted a say in what comes next,\u201d he wrote in a newsletter pitching the plan.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The petitions, which require a majority of parents at each school to sign, could be Austin ISD\u2019s last, desperate chance to hold off a takeover. But for Burnet and Webb families\u00a0\u2014 including parents like Saucedo who ultimately signed the petition\u00a0\u2014 the campaign represents years of broken trust with a district that has failed to\u00a0support their children.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, they don\u2019t deserve our signature because they never help,\u201d Saucedo said. \u201cThey never pay attention to us. They don\u2019t deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if parents sign on to the petition by the Thursday deadline, the little-utilized petition section of state law may not be a reliable long-term solution for Burnet and Webb communities. The only other district that successfully used the petition to avoid a takeover has struggled to improve academics at its middle school that triggered Texas Education Agency intervention.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like there\u2019s no \u2018win\u2019 situation,\u201d said Valerie Gonzales, who has a student at Webb and remains on the fence about signing. \u201cThere\u2019s no guarantee that our voice is going to be heard. Where\u2019s Mr. Morath at? I want to speak to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Parent frustration<\/p>\n Vanessa Gamez, a PTA parent at Burnet Middle School, speaks at a protest at the Austin Independent School District headquarters on Thursday, June 12, 2025. Burnet and Webb parents are now weighing whether to sign a petition calling for their own schools’ closures to save all of Austin ISD from a state takeover.<\/p>\n Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Gonzales is angry at Austin ISD, which didn\u2019t provide Webb the resources it needed to succeed, she said. And she\u2019s angry at the state for putting the school in this situation, she said.\u00a0It all feels political to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Webb and Burnet parents don\u2019t choose to close their schools, she fears that the entire district will blame the families. She already sees comments on social media pointing fingers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n During a meeting at Webb in late September, Segura apologized to families for not meeting their expectations with the academic turnaround.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a very, very long time since, I would think, this community felt like you all got what was needed to be successful,\u201d Segura said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The district has poured resources into the school, including more staff members than the district\u2019s standard ratio, Segura said. He can\u2019t account for decisions made before he became superintendent in 2023, but said he is \u201cresponsible for all of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n If a majority of parents sign the petition, they must submit it to Austin ISD by Thursday for staff to verify parent names match campus\u00a0students<\/a>. Austin ISD would then submit it to TEA by Dec. 1. The weight of the decision has locked parents, like Gonzales, in a pressure cooker.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Federal immigration enforcement already has sparked fear in the North Austin community, which is home to many immigrants and people who don\u2019t speak English. Submitting personal information to a government agency could exacerbate existing fears, even as\u00a0the schools offer a safe\u00a0haven for families.<\/p>\n Gonzales,\u00a0who attended Webb as a child, feels the state just wants to see her neighbors forced out of Austin.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re wanting to push us out,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re not wanting to see us successful.\u201d<\/p>\n Parent voice<\/p>\n Austin ISD won\u2019t participate in gathering signatures to \u201callow impacted families to use their voice without our guidance,\u201d Segura wrote in a letter to families. But at the September Webb meeting,<\/a> he argued the parent petition may be the only chance for families to have a say in the process.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at the mercy of the laws when it comes to what we can do next,\u201d Segura said. \u201cThe input of what this community wants to have happen next, it can only be done by way of petition.\u201d<\/p>\n As of Friday, just 2% of parents at Webb and 6% of Burnet families had signed on to the closure proposal. Over the weekend, families and teachers from across the district walked through North Austin, knocking on parents\u2019 doors to tell them about the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trustee Kathryn Whitley Chu, who represents Northwest Austin on the school board, spoke with a handful of families over several hours. They all signed or took a paper copy of the petition to think over.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to believe people don\u2019t want a voice until I\u2019ve asked every single person,\u201d Whitley Chu said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Ana Salas-Porras, the grandmother of Austin ISD students, holds a sign during a news conference Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, outside Burnet Middle School in Austin. Families are encouraging parents to sign a petition asking Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to close Burnet Middle School instead of placing Austin ISD under a state-appointed board of managers.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n Volunteers have set up phone banks and visited the school to inform families.\u00a0The Austin Council of PTAs, a districtwide organization aimed at supporting campus-level parent-teacher groups, joined the effort last week<\/a>. The petition would give families a say in how their schools closed and allow \u201ctheir students and their teachers and the entire school district to have a glimmer of hope to not have state intervention,\u201d said Crystal Brothwell-Hernandez, the Austin Council of PTAs president.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the state-provided petition forms are in English, the Austin Council of PTAs translated the information into Spanish.\u00a0Unless the petition process is communicated in Spanish, it won\u2019t reach a majority of families affected, Saucedo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The law<\/p>\n If Morath closes a campus because of accountability reasons, state law allows the district to reopen the school under two circumstances. The district can create a new academic model that serves mostly different grade levels or hand the campus over to a charter or other nonprofit.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Segura told parents in September that one option would conslidate the two\u00a0school communities at a newly reopened Burnet campus. However, he stressed that no plans have been made and floated the potential for schools that serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade or via STEM-focused curriculum.<\/p>\n Saucedo said she was angry at the district for advertising the petition without any plan for how the schools would transform in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need my signature first, and then you are going to make something for our kids,\u201d Saucedo said.<\/p>\n But even if a majority of Webb and Burnet parents sign the closure petitions, Segura\u2019s pitch for the campuses to reopen under new models may not be guaranteed, Texas education experts said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In other states that have closed schools for academic reasons, school systems often won\u2019t reopen\u00a0the campus or will only reopen it as a\u00a0charter, said Joshua Childs, an associate professor of education policy at the University of Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it\u2019s time for policy and administrative implementation, whose voices and whose perspective is going to be the ultimate decision or the lynchpin?\u201d Childs said. \u201cThat, I think, remains to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria Rios, a parent, questions Matias Segura, Austin school district superintendent, at a Webb Middle School community meeting on May 12. Burnet and Webb parents are weighing whether to sign a petition calling for their own schools’ closures to save all of Austin ISD from a state takeover.<\/p>\n Aaron E. Martinez\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n David DeMatthews, a UT professor of educational leadership and policy, also cast doubt on Morath approving any campus reopenings so soon after accountability issues. The education commissioner has strict expectations for schools that have long struggled on state report cards, he said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cTo then turn around and reopen (a campus) immediately, that would undermine the entire accountability system,\u201d DeMatthews said. \u201cI\u2019m not a legal expert, but I don\u2019t see that holding up.\u201d<\/p>\n The Texas Education Agency didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment on the petition process.<\/p>\n Snyder ISD<\/p>\n The only district that has successfully used the parent petition, closing and reopening a school\u00a0while avoiding a districtwide takeover\u00a0under current<\/a>\u00a0Texas law<\/a> is the 2,200-student Snyder ISD, located between Lubbock and Abilene. In 2019, Snyder Junior High School scored its fifth failing rating, triggering state intervention<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Then-Superintendent Eddie Bland\u00a0discovered the parent petition\u00a0option buried in statute and brought the idea to families, he said.<\/p>\n For a month, the district hosted public meetings at the middle school\u00a0campus, where 68% of students were low-income, and 12% were learning English.\u00a0<\/p>\n Snyder ISD officials presented families\u00a0with an option to completely reshape the district: close Snyder Junior High and reopen two new schools for second- through eighth-graders, one of which would focus on inquiry-based learning.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think you have a very good shot at it\u00a0(the parent petition)\u00a0if you\u2019re asking the parents to do something that\u2019s going to disrupt their lives just so we don\u2019t have a board of managers,\u201d Bland said. \u201cAny time you\u2019re disrupting their normalcy, you have to have a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Families signed the petition, but Morath rejected the district\u2019s two-school plan, so Snyder ISD went back to the drawing board. The district ultimately partnered with a charter, Responsive Education Solutions, to operate the campus.<\/p>\n In a four-campus district, Snyder Junior High had to reopen\u00a0\u2014 otherwise, students had nowhere else to go, said Bland, who retired in 2022. But the charter partnership\u00a0was short-lived.<\/p>\n In March 2020, as Snyder ISD staff traveled to the Dallas area for training with Responsive, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools nationwide. The first academic year for the newly reopened campus began with virtual learning, and the district ended the partnership in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Since then, the new Snyder Junior High\u00a0\u2014 run by the district\u00a0\u2014 has struggled to gain its footing academically. In August, the campus posted its third F rating in a row, triggering a state-mandated turnaround plan, which requires new academic strategies and investments.<\/p>\n The campus hasn\u2019t met state academic standards since 2014, a fate both Austin ISD and TEA officials would be eager to avoid at Burnet and Webb.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A student holds a sign reading \u201cdon\u2019t fire teachers\u201d as students protest Austin ISD\u2019s plan to turnaround the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-465144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465144","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=465144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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