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Steiner Ranch parents urge board to preserve high-functioning professional learning community
Summary
Several Steiner Ranch parents told the Leander ISD Board of Trustees that Steiner Ranch Elementary’s professional learning community is already delivering measurable growth and urged the board not to close or disrupt the campus as the district considers district-wide PLC implementation.
Several parents from the Steiner Ranch community urged the Leander ISD Board of Trustees to preserve Steiner Ranch Elementary’s existing professional learning community (PLC) during a public-comment period at the board’s July 17 special meeting. Speakers said the school’s PLCs have produced consistent student growth in reading and math and asked the board to include families in planning before making decisions that could disrupt the school’s culture.
A Steiner Ranch parent who identified herself as part of that community said, “Closing Steiner would dismantle one of the most effective PLCs in our district. It would disrupt student learning, fracture educator collaboration, and weaken the school culture that already models what you’re working to build across the district.” Other parents described SRE as having “systems for effective communication and learning” and cited “growth data over the last two years in both reading and math” as evidence of successful PLC practice.
Multiple commenters also asked for better two‑way communication and earlier community engagement after district recommendations were released in late May. One parent told trustees that town-hall style meetings had not been scheduled and said, “This silence makes it hard to believe our voices are being considered.” Speakers asked the board to provide structured opportunities for dialogue before the district advances decisions that affect campus assignments or closures.
The board did not engage in dialogue with speakers during public comment; the district’s public-comment procedures (policy BED Local) limited remarks to items on the posted special-meeting agenda, which were the PLC workshop and employment of the Cedar Park Middle School principal. The public-comment period was time-limited: each speaker was allotted 90 seconds.
Parents emphasized that Steiner Ranch’s PLC involves staff, students and families and urged the board to “protect and preserve the high‑functioning schools that are already living out that mission.” The public comments concluded before the board moved to the PLC workshop led by Janelle Keating.
