Last week mayoral candidate Gus Garcia blasted AISD in “Naked City,” saying district schools are badly serving poor children. Specifically, he said five district high schools — which he named as Lanier, Reagan, LBJ, Johnston, and Travis — are “low-performing” schools by state standards. AISD spokesman Andy Welch responded quickly (see this week’s “Postmarks”) that Garcia has his facts wrong, and that only Johnston and Reagan (among high schools) are officially low-performing.
Asked about the discrepancy, Garcia (through a spokesman) reiterated that he stands by his original statement, and that whatever the district’s statistical explanation, he remains convinced that the five high schools he cited are giving their students an inadequate education. “At every opportunity, Gus has made it clear he intends to use the mayor’s bully pulpit to demand better performance from AISD,” said Paul Saldaña, “and he believes the citizens of Austin will support him in that effort.”
This article appears in gas mask.
