EPISD considers closing 10 schools as part of district redesign

EL PASO, Texas ( KTSM ) — El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) officials are proposing the closure of 10 schools as part of their Destination District Redesign project.

EPISD’s Board of Trustees heard the recommendations at a special board meeting on Thursday, Oct. 17.

You can find the list of schools below:

1. Hillside Elementary
2. Lamar Elementary
3. Newman Elementary
4. Park Elementary
5. Putnam Elementary
6. Rivera Elementary
7. Rusk Elementary
8. Stanton Elementary
9. Travis Elementary
10. Zavala Elementary

During the public comment portion of the board meeting, parents, former students and teachers overwhelmingly expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency during community meetings held by the district regarding the first two phases of the project.

“In every public meeting, you have promised us transparency, accountability and community input. You’re about to discuss the list of schools that you want to close. But there was no backup, no documentation. Zero information for us parents to review,” said a parent at the podium during public comment.

Ultimately, the sentiment was that EPISD should halt its DDR project until the district holds its equity hearing, pending audits, or even after the community votes on its bond planning initiative.

DDR aims to transform the district’s landscape by upgrading facilities, expanding academic programs and rightsizing the district to “elevate student educational experience,” according to the district.

The project would include the potential closure of multiple schools.

According to EPISD, Thursday’s recommendation was the result of a two-year “collaborative process” that involved “extensive input” from the El Paso community.

However, parents and teachers disagree and are frustrated with the process so far, expressing that EPISD is rushing through the process. Their primary anxiety is knowing what schools will be closed down, and where students and teachers from the closed schools will end up.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty. There’s a lot of unknowns about what the final decision will be, as to who those schools are,” El Paso Teachers Association President Norma De la Rosa said.

To this date, EPISD has held community meetings regarding the first two phases of their district redesign process, but De La Rosa and parents said the meetings have been heavily mediated by district officials, and that there is very little opportunity for dialogue.

“When you went off into those different meeting rooms you were going to be fed information, but (EPISD came off as if) ‘we really don’t want to hear comments, or we really don’t want to hear questions. If you have any questions or you have any comments you can scan the QR code and send that to us and we’ll look at it.’ What does that tell a parent or community member? You don’t really want to hear what (they) have to say,” De la Rosa said.

“None of the information (they provide us) is sophisticated. It doesn’t contain statistical analysis. It is all just numbers,” Sam Schulte said.

Schulte is a parent with two kids in EPISD schools and a member of Amanecer People’s Project, a community organization that has been advocating for EPISD to install refrigerated air across all its campuses.

“Without that information, it’s very hard as parents to actually engage and have a conversation with the district about what priorities we have. Instead, we’re kind of reduced to just picking flavors of ice cream from Baskin-Robbins. Whereas I think being involved in the process (requires) establishing what flavors are available? and how can we help do that? That’s what we want to accomplish,” Schulte said.

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