Parents, teachers and community members urge McAllen ISD to prioritize high‑school fine‑arts facilities in bond plan
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Summary
Multiple public commenters asked trustees to amend the district’s proposed bond to include rehabilitation and upgrades to high‑school fine‑arts facilities — citing leaking roofs, poor HVAC, pests, and enrollment declines — and warned an off‑site performing arts center would not address daily classroom needs.
Several parents, teachers and community members used the Nov. 11 public‑comment period to press the McAllen ISD Board of Trustees to amend a draft bond proposal so that high‑school fine‑arts spaces and the MacKay vertical campus receive repair and modernization funding.
Dr. Jack Ruelas, a parent spokesperson, said the bond presented Nov. 7 identifies inadequate middle‑school music and performing arts spaces but omits similar needs at the high‑school level and urged rehabilitation, construction, expansion and modernization of art, music and performing arts spaces across all high schools. He cited enrollment declines in choir and band from 2014 to 2025 as evidence students are leaving programs.
Zaida Ruelas described daily conditions at high schools — leaking roofs, band halls and auditoriums with poor ventilation, practice rooms converted to offices, rodent droppings and portables used for mariachi classes — and asked that funds proposed for a district‑level performing arts center be redirected to on‑campus improvements that affect students’ everyday learning and safety.
Frank Chavero asked trustees to include MacKay program facility upgrades in the district's $335 million projected bond, describing mold, leaking roofs, nonworking air conditioning, ants and vermin at the MacKay vertical campus and saying those deficiencies meet the bond’s health and safety and modernization categories.
Board members did not take action to amend the bond at the Nov. 11 meeting. Trustees discussed facility needs in upcoming workshops, including a facilities meeting scheduled the next day and further bond workshop sessions where project prioritization will be considered.