SAN ANTONIO — After a Monday, Nov. 13 Board of Trustees meeting, San Antonio parents and school employees have learned the fate of their children’s schools in the San Antonio Independent School District.

The school district had been in the process of deciding to close 19 schools, but last week notified parents that four schools were no longer being considered for a shutdown. These are Collings, Ogden, Pershing and Riverside elementary schools, which will remain open indefinitely.

The decision was in the hands of board members to decide whether to reconsider the historic proposal to close the remaining 15 schools. It was a move the district referred to as a “rightsizing process.”  In the end, the board approved the proposal in a 5-2 vote.

Of those schools, some will close by the end of the 2023-24 school year and others will merge with other schools.

As reported by Texas Public Radio, most of the schools that were at risk of closing were on San Antonio’s East Side, a historically Black region.

At the meeting, parents and supporters pleaded to keep schools open, but each person only had about one minute and 30 seconds to state their case.

The district released an audit of the “rightsizing process” written by UT professor Terrence L. Green. Many were outraged that the audit was released only days before the board meeting and was only in English.

The audit found that student outcomes didn't get better after a school closure, and in some cases they became worse.

"Overall, our analysis suggests that students whose schools that were closed previously in SAISD in the 2014-2015 school year did not yield better educational outcomes in attendance, grades, and STAAR test scores, and sometimes yielded poorer outcomes, when compared to their peers in schools with similar demographic composition," the audit states. 

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, tweeted his support for San Antonio schools and said closures should be a “last resort.”

SAISD’s official decisions for all schools:

Closing:

1. Baskin Elementary (delayed closure until expansion at Maverick Elementary)
2. Carroll Early Childhood Center (delayed closure until expansion at ML King)
3. Gates Elementary
4. Miller Elementary
5. Foster Elementary
6. Highland Park Elementary
7. Tynan Early Childhood Center 
8. Knox Early Childhood Center
9. Nelson Early Childhood Center
10. Douglass Elementary School
11. Forbes Elementary School
12. Huppertz Elementary School
13. Lamar Elementary School
14. Storm Elementary School
15. Lowell Middle School

Co-locating:

• Ogden Elementary (pending outcome of community discussion)

• Rodriguez Montessori (pending outcome of community discussion)

• CAST Med (with another undecided CAST school)

Relocating:

• Steele Montessori Academy

Pending redesign:

• Japhet Academy - Redesigned

• Washington Elementary School - Redesigned

Merging:

• Gonzales Early Childhood Center
• Beacon Hill Academy
• Cotton Academy
• Green Elementary

Expanding to take students from closed schools:

1. M.L. King Academy
2. Smith Elementary
3. Riverside Park Elementary
4. Bonham Academy
5. Maverick Elementary
6. Schenck Elementary
7. Ball Elementary
8. Highland Hills Elementary
9. Cotton Academy
10. Twain Dual Language Academy
11. Herff Elementary
12. Woodlawn Hills Elementary
13. Fenwick Academy
14. Hot Wells Middle School
15. Kelly Elementary
16. Hawthorne Academy
17. Sarah King Elementary
18. Barkley-Ruiz Elementary
19. Davis Middle School