Austin ISD draft plan would close Barrington Elementary, reassign majority to Guerrero Thompson; community raises staffing and program concerns

Austin Independent School District leaders on Friday presented a draft consolidation and turnaround plan that would close Barrington Elementary, reassign the majority of its students to Guerrero Thompson Elementary and a smaller number to Wooldridge Elementary, and move Barrington’s state-required turnaround plan with the students to the receiving campus.

“I'm Matias Segura, the superintendent for Austin ISD, and I wanna thank you for being here this morning,” Superintendent Matias Segura said as he explained the district’s reasoning. “We have over 20,000 empty seats in Austin ISD” and the district must identify “efficiencies in the system by removing empty seats,” he said.

The draft, released in early October and described at the meeting by Ally, senior executive director of communications and community engagement for Austin ISD, and Christine Steenport, operations officer, would take effect for the 2026–27 school year if approved. The district plans to publish a revised draft on Oct. 31, discuss it in a public board workshop Nov. 6, and hold a final board vote Nov. 20.

Why it matters: The district says the plan aims to align feeder patterns, reduce unused capacity and sustain programs such as dual-language instruction by moving them to neighborhoods where emergent bilingual families live. Superintendent Segura said the move is also intended to address state accountability timelines: Barrington has three consecutive unacceptable accountability ratings, which requires a state-mandated turnaround plan. “If our plan isn't accepted the state can take interventions up to installing a board of managers,” Segura said.

What the draft proposes and how it would affect…