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Staff outlines multi-school reconfiguration to reduce transitions and address aging city facilities
Summary
District staff presented a multi-school reconfiguration proposal that would redistribute grade spans across city campuses to reduce student transitions and place city students in better-maintained buildings without undertaking major capital projects.
District staff presented a broad reconfiguration plan for city schools that would consolidate four existing campuses into three usable sites to address longstanding building-condition issues, reduce the number of times city students change campuses, and provide more equitable facilities across city schools.
Staff said the plan would vacate—rather than abandon—one aging campus (referred to in the presentation as the East campus), move fifth graders to M.R. Weaver and expand Weaver from a 3–4 campus to a 3–5 campus (increasing reported enrollment at Weaver from about 322 to about 498 under current projections). Staff said sixth graders who now attend the East campus would be moved into a middle-school configuration at the junior-high campus, bringing the junior-high campus from about 312 students in grades 7–8 to an estimated 486 students after the reconfiguration. Staff emphasized the plan would not change programming but would change geographic assignments and grade-span configurations.
Presenters cited building-condition assessments and cost estimates. Staff described three cost tiers: an initial near-term cost (presented as about $200,000 for work that could be done without major construction), a more extensive rehabilitation in the $15–$18 million range, and a full new-build estimate in the $40–$50 million range. Staff said the district does not have the funds for major rehabilitation or new construction and that reconfiguration is intended to provide higher-quality, sustainable facilities without the larger capital outlays.
Public commenters raised transportation and safety concerns—crossing-guard needs, bus routing and sidewalks for walkers—and worried whether students from neighborhoods such as Baylor Heights would be able to arrive safely. Staff acknowledged those concerns and said transportation planning, crossing-guard placement and other logistics would be part of implementation planning. Community members also urged the board to consider preserving schools’ roles as neighborhood anchors and recommended local community organizations be engaged to keep buildings active and secure where possible.
Staff stressed the plan is a response to deteriorated building conditions and limited capital funds, and that several buildings in the city already require substantial maintenance. They asked the board to weigh equity and long-term sustainability as the district moves toward a recommended configuration. No formal vote on the entire reconfiguration plan was recorded at the meeting; board members invited community feedback and asked staff to continue refining cost estimates and implementation logistics.
