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The San Antonio Independent School District released a preliminary recommendation for school consolidation on Sept. 18that would impact half of the district’s 98 campuses.
Administrators identified 19 schools for possible closure over the next two years. That represents nearly 20% of the district’s schools.
In addition to the 19 schools recommended for closure, 30 schools would merge, receive more students, relocate, or change their grade configuration.
SAISD produced videos explaining the recommendations but for those who prefer a text explanation available in one location, here are the recommended changes, broken down by the neighborhoods surrounding the district’s seven comprehensive high schools.
The district will also gather feedback and provide more neighborhood-specific information at community meetings scheduled between now and November 13, when trustees will vote on a final closure recommendation package.
District 1 / Brackenridge High School neighborhood
1. Merge Bonham Academy with Green Elementary to create a single PK-8 school located on two campuses. PK-2 grade will be located on the Green campus, and 3-8 grade will be housed at Bonham. This will allow more students on the waiting list to attend Bonham.
2. Close Lamar Elementary, a PK-6 program, and move students to Hawthorne Academy.
3. Close Pershing Elementary and move students to Cameron Elementary or Washington Elementary. Washington Elementary will change from a PK-6 school to a PK-5 school to accommodate the additional students.
4. Hawthorne Academy will receive students from Lamar Elementary.
5. Merge Gonzales Early Childhood Center with Twain Dual Language Academy. Grades PK-3 will be housed on the Gonzales campus. Grades 4-8 will remain at Twain. The move will create room for students on Twain’s waiting list.
“As part of our effort to offer Head Start and early childhood education services closer to home, we are recommending to merge Gonzales Early Childhood Center with Twain Dual Language Academy. As a result, we will create more space for Twain, which has a waiting list. Families in the Gonzales neighborhood will be given priority at Twain Dual Language Academy.”
District 2 / Sam Houston High School neighborhood
1. Close Gates Elementary and move students to Martin Luther King Academy.
2. Close Miller Elementary and move students to Martin Luther King Academy or Smith Elementary.
3. Close Carroll Early Childhood Center after construction is complete at MLK Academy. Until then, MLK Academy students in PK-2 will be temporarily housed at Carroll.
4. Close Douglass Elementary and move students to Herff Elementary.
5. Close Tynan Early Childhood Center and move Head Start and Pre-K back to neighborhood elementary schools.
6. Change grade configuration at Washington Elementary from PK-6 to PK-5. This year’s 5th graders will start at Davis Middle School next year instead of waiting until after 6th grade. Washington will also receive students from Pershing Elementary.
7. Martin Luther King Academy will receive students from Gates and Miller Elementary. Bond 2020 money will be used to update the facility.
8. Davis Middle School will receive 6th graders from Washington Elementary.
9. Cameron Elementary will receive students from Pershing Elementary.
“Moving students to elementary school campuses leads to better retention of students and allows PK students the full continuum of services available at SAISD elementary schools. Tynan will be phased out over two years, with the school being fully deactivated by 2025-26.”
District 3 / Highlands High School neighborhood
1. Close Forbes Elementary and move students to Highland Hills or Ball Elementary.
2. Close Foster Elementary in Fall 2025 and move students to Schenck, Highland Hills, or Ball Elementary.
3. Close Highland Park Elementary in Fall 2025 and move students to Highland Hills Elementary or Japhet Academy, which will be redesigned to a PK-5 elementary.
4. Hot Wells Middle School will receive 6th-8th graders from Japhet Academy.
5. Ball Elementary will receive students from Forbes and Foster Elementary.
6. Highland Hills Elementary will receive students from Forbes, Foster, and Highland Park Elementary.
7. Schenck Elementary will receive students from Foster Elementary.
8. Move Steele Montessori to a larger facility, Riverside Park Elementary, to serve more students on the waiting list.
9. Exploring the possibility of co-locating another school on the campus of CAST MED High School “to make full use of that space.”
District 4 / Burbank High School neighborhood
1. Merge Lowell Middle School with Kelly Elementary to create a single PK-8 Academy, called Kelly Academy but located at Lowell because it is larger.
2. Merge Kelly Elementary with Lowell Middle School to create a single PK-8 Academy, called Kelly Academy but located at Lowell.
3. Merge Green Elementary with Bonham Academy to become a single PK-8 school located on two campuses. PK-2 grade will be located on the Green campus, and 3-8 grade will be housed at Bonham. This will allow more students on the waiting list to attend Bonham.
4. Close Knox Early Childhood Center and move Head Start and Pre-K back to neighborhood elementary schools.
5. Close Collins Garden Elementary and move students to the new Kelly Academy or Briscoe, Sarah King, Barkley/Ruiz, or J.T. Brackenridge Elementary.
6. Close Riverside Park Elementary and move students to Hillcrest Elementary or Japhet Academy, which will be redesigned to a PK-5 elementary. The Montessori school at Steele will move to the Riverside Park facility to make use of the larger space.
7. Redesign Japhet Academy from a PK-8 academy to a PK-5 elementary and move 6th-8th grade to Hot Wells Middle School. The redesigned Japhet Elementary will receive students from Riverside Park and Highlands Park Elementary, which are closing. Parents who want a PK-8 school can choose Bowden Academy.
8. Herff Elementary will receive students from Douglass Elementary.
9. Smith Elementary will receive students from Miller Elementary.
10. Hillcrest Elementary will receive students from Riverside Park Elementary and Knox Early Childhood Center.
11. Briscoe Elementary will receive students from Collins Garden Elementary.
“Lowell will need to be updated to accommodate all of Kelly's younger students, but until those changes have been made, younger students can be housed at the Kelly facility. The ‘neighborhood school’ aspect of both Kelly and Lowell and the geographical barriers surrounding the neighborhood makes the consolidation of Lowell into Kelly the appropriate recommendation.”
District 5 / Lanier High School neighborhood
1. Close Ogden Elementary and move students to Crockett Academy or Fenwick Academy.
2. Close Storm Elementary and move students to Sarah King or Barkley/Ruiz Elementary.
3. Barkley/Ruiz Elementary will receive students from Storm and Collins Garden Elementary.
4. JT Brackenridge Elementary will receive students from Collins Garden Elementary.
5. Sarah King Elementary will receive students from Storm and Collins Garden Elementary.
6. Crockett Academy will receive students from Ogden Elementary.
7. The dual language program at Rodriguez Montessori Elementary will be phased out to allow more students on the waiting list to enroll.
District 6 / Edison High School neighborhood
1. Merge Beacon Hill Academy with Cotton Academy to make a single PK-8 school located on two campuses. PK-2 will attend the Beacon Hill campus and 3-8 will attend the Cotton campus.
2. Merge Cotton Academy with Beacon Hill Academy to make a single PK-8 school located on two campuses. PK-2 will attend the Beacon Hill campus and 3-8 will attend the Cotton campus.
3. Mark Twain Dual Language Academy will receive students from Gonzales Early Childhood Center and move grades PK-3 to the Gonzales campus. Grades 4-8 will remain at Twain. The move will create room for students on Twain’s waiting list.
District 7 / Jefferson High School neighborhood
1. Close Baskin Elementary and move its students to Arnold Elementary or Maverick Elementary.
2. Close Huppertz Elementary and move its students to Woodlawn Hills Elementary or Fenwick Academy.
“This attendance arrangement will allow all students the option of continuing with the International Baccalaureate academic program, regardless of the school to which they are assigned.”
3. Close Nelson Early Childhood Center and move Head Start and Pre-K to neighborhood elementary schools.
4. Arnold Elementary will receive students from Baskin Elementary.
5. Fenwick Academy will receive students from Ogden and Huppertz Elementary.
6. Maverick Elementary will receive students from Baskin Elementary. Bond 2020 money will be used to enlarge the Maverick building.
7. Woodlawn Hills Elementary will receive students from Huppertz Elementary.
Information for this breakdown was gleaned from the district’sneighborhood-by-neighborhood videos outlining their preliminary consolidation recommendations, and from the“enrollment data” Quicklink on SAISD’s Rightsizing page. Scroll down to “Historic Data by School Building” and click on the PDF for the school you are interested in. SAISD also has aSpanish version of the videos.
