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Zilker boundary draft draws complaints over travel, segregation and capacity
Summary
Neighbors in the Zilker area and other communities pressed AISD leaders to explain data behind reassignments to Galindo and Zilker, raising safety, travel-time and equity concerns. Parents asked how the district evaluated feeder impacts, transfer behavior and the potential for resegregation.
Parents in Zilker and nearby neighborhoods pushed back on a draft boundary proposal that would move portions of several blocks into different attendance zones, saying the plan would increase travel time, force students to cross rail lines and highways, and risk segregating students by income.
Multiple parents said they had reviewed the district’s maps and could not find data that justified the proposed splits. One parent from the Zilker East area said the draft “violates every single guiding principle” and questioned assertions that the change would support turnaround plans rather than worsen imbalance between campuses.
District response: Rachel French, director of planning, and Superintendent Matias Segura told speakers the district runs multiple scenarios — including projections where every currently zoned student remains with their new zone school — and that some changes were made to ensure campuses that serve high numbers of students receiving special education services have physical space to provide services. French said campuses that support a disproportionate number of special education students “use space differently and need more space” and that planners account for those needs when they assign students.
Grandfathering and continuity: District leaders said continuation-transfer and sibling-priority policies will allow many currently enrolled students to remain at their campuses despite boundary shifts. Segura said the district will include explicit transfer procedures to reduce midgrade disruptions (for example, for students in fifth or eighth grade).
Travel and safety: Parents said some assigned routes would be much longer and require crossings the neighborhood now avoids; one parent said walking that route would be “not safe nor practical, especially for one-car households.” District staff said hazardous-route assessments and transportation policy can provide buses where walking routes are unsafe, and that finalized bus routes will be published after boundaries are approved.
What remains unresolved: Parents requested clearer data showing how the proposed lines were chosen, specific projections of how many students would choose to remain at receiving campuses, and the district’s rationale for picking some streets for reassignment and not others. The district said it will publish more scenario material and explain why particular choices were made in the Oct. 31 revision package and during the board workshop scheduled for Nov. 6.
Community note: Several speakers asked the district to consider alternative boundary permutations and to explain the “feathering” tradeoffs that cause one change to cascade into neighboring zones.
