Universal City resident urges school board to reconsider repurposing and placement of Judson ISD alternative program

Elizabeth Parker, a Universal City resident, used the Jan. 21 public-comment period to urge additional scrutiny of Judson ISDs recently approved closure and repurposing plans and to ask the school board to reconsider siting an alternative program near the Coronado Beach subdivision.

Parker said she reviewed the districts filing with the Texas Education Agency and attended a Judson ISD meeting where the board approved the closure in December. She said the JCAR program (described in the transcript as an alternative program formerly known as a districts linear education program) is being proposed for reuse of Granada Village Elementary and that district presentations "became much bigger than just a Judson ISD issue." She asked whether the programs placement had considered impacts on nonmilitary children and neighborhood safety.

"If the police department here at DC is gonna be responding because they're putting troubled children over there ... are we going to have enough support from the police department as a city, as a community," Parker said, expressing concern about policing and community resources. She also described a requirement she understood that students taken to the Bexar County juvenile facility return to the district and must go through the JPR program.

Parker told the council that Coronado Beach (listed in her remarks as Coronado Beach subdivision) is surrounded by residents on all four sides and said residents worried about locating the alternative program there. She encouraged the council and residents to follow the school-board agenda; she said the district planned further reports at an upcoming school-board meeting.

No council action on the matter was taken at the Jan. 21 Universal City meeting; the transcript records the item as public comment and the mayor closed the comment period after acknowledging Parkers concerns.