Breaking news (their term, not ours): Austin Independent School District is holding a public meeting about the facility master plan tonight at 6pm at the Carruth Administration Center, 1111 W. Sixth. This is the last major public comment period before the board votes on radical changes on Dec. 12.
Superintendent Meria Carstarphen has been on a massive offensive, trying to convince everyone that the single sex academies for Pearce and Garcia and the in-district charter for Eastside Memorial will solve everything from drop-out rates to teen pregnancy. However (and despite inflated claims from IDEA staff and a former assistant commissioner at the Texas Education Agency about community support) there is deep unease amongst community stakeholders about the plans.
The meeting starts at 6pm, but sign-up only begins at 5pm, so the two-minute slots may go fast. Of course: That is the ideal way to ensure that parents, caregivers and teachers in the East Austin communities most heavily affected by these two plans can get there, or the parents of kids in North-Central Austin affected by the plans to deal with overcrowding can beat the traffic. Public relations experts in Austin have already been highly critical of the district’s “trickle-down” approach to community outreach and engagement: It will be interesting to see whether this blunts or sharpens their criticism.
This article appears in November 25 • 2011.
