SAN ANTONIO — Fifth grade teacher Rhonda Aguirre isn’t much of a public speaker, but she felt compelled to stand up for Collins Garden Elementary, a place she’s called home for 36 years. 

She was one of hundreds of attendees at a meeting San Antonio ISD held about the elementary school.

“Now you are putting me in a position to say I need to choose another school, I don’t want another school, this is my home, this is my family,” Aguirre said. “This has been an emotional roller coaster.” 

Collins Garden elementary is one of 19 schools San Antonio ISD is recommending to close due to low enrollment. The campus has 426 students. 

“It was completely a shock. I felt blindsided. I felt like no one ever gave us any kind of indication,” Aguirre said. 

Collins Garden is in a south San Antonio neighborhood. Generations of families have attended the school. 

“The grandparents, great grandparents, tias, tios, and you heard, they come from all over,” Aguirre said. “Even though they move away, this is where they want their children to be.” 

Pedro Perales came to Collins Garden when he was just a kid. His daughter is in Ms. Aguirre’s class. 

“My children, who attend, now are fifth-generation. There has been a Perales attending Collins Garden now since the 1940s,” Perales said. 

These roots run deep. That’s why the school’s cafeteria was stuffed with concerned parents during a recent meeting. 

It’s a history families expected to be preserved when they received $36 million in bond money to rehab the campus. That was a part of a $1.2 billion bond voters passed in 2020. 

“We spent many, many hours on what we wanted the school to look like, the changes,” Aguirre said. 

Now, it’s very possible parents will never know what the new Collins would have been like. They’re now wondering where all that bond money they said “yes” to will go.

SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino says if Collins Garden were to close, the bond money would follow the students to their new schools. 

“If the receiving school does not need bond dollars because it was recently renovated, then all of that additional funding will use to renovate other buildings that might need it,” Aquino said. 

Aquino says he’s seen the passion from communities like Collins.

“We have heard some things that are pushing our thinking that might force us to reconsider our final recommendation,” Aquino said. 

Aguirre is hoping the SAISD school board will vote to keep her “home” open. 

“'Cause now, what are we left to do except wait?” Aguirre said.