AUSTIN, Texas – After an hours-long meeting Monday night, Austin ISD announced the closure of four elementary schools in the district.
- Closures will happen in 2020-2021 school year
- District could still close more schools
- Pease parents and students walked out on Monday
Now, the impacted families are grappling with the reality that their kids will have to leave their neighborhood schools next year.
“I mean it kind of breaks my heart," said Stephanie Meyer, the parent of a student at Pease elementary.
Families with kids at Pease, Brooke, Metz, and Sims elementary schools spent Tuesday processing the heartbreaking news.
“I was like, ‘What? Why is Pease gonna close?’” said Meyer's daughter Rosalie Rankin. She is a first-grader at Pease Elementary.
“We're in a state of mourning right now. We're not really happy about it, everybody on campus is pretty upset and it hasn't really settled in yet so we're just mostly in grief and shock right now," said Meyer.
Meyer has two kids at Pease Elementary, one in kindergarten and one in first grade. She knew she wanted to send her kids to Pease when she was a student at ACC.
"I would look at the kids playing at the Pease elementary school right next door and I thought, 'I hope my kids get to go there one day,'” she said.
Founded in 1876, Pease is the oldest continuously operating elementary school in the entire state.
Pease's historical legacy was one reason Meyer wanted to send her kids there.
“I just liked that it was diverse and that it was a transfer-only school so it wasn't limited to neighborhood or district. Anybody in the city could come together and I just wanted to be a part of that," said Meyer.
Her family lives within walking distance of Pease and is not looking forward to potentially having to drive across town to get her kids to a new school.
"So, community, friends, and walking to our neighborhood school, we're going to miss the hell out of that,” she said.
RELATED | AISD School Board Votes to Close 4 Elementary Schools
Despite public protest, AISD says the closures are necessary due to challenges like declining enrollment and high facilities costs.
“I can't say that it was the right decision but you know they had to make a hard decision,” said Meyer.
AISD trustees still have the option of closing eight additional schools. If that does happen, many people are wondering what will happen to the vacant properties.
“If they're not going to have them as education facilities for students then maybe they could open it up and have more community services for the public. I hope that if they're going to continue this trend that maybe they could transform it into something that's beneficial for the community instead of something that's just being taken away from us," said Meyer.