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The board of trustees for the Judson Independent School District have voted to close Judson Middle School at the end of the current school year.
Judson Middle School is the campus Interim Superintendent Mary Duhart-Toppen recommended closing when trustees asked her to choose between the two options officially recommended by district administrators.
“Looking at what we would have to do to continue to keep both schools going, (our recommendation) is that we close Judson Middle,” Duhart-Toppen said during a discussion to the board about the school closures on Saturday.
The other option on the table was Kitty Hawk Middle School. According to the facility needs assessment the district had done, both campuses are considered to be in poor condition. However, Duhart-Toppen said the condition of Kitty Hawk is better than Judson Middle.
Consultants estimated that Kitty Hawk needs $33.6 million in immediate repairs, while Judson Middle School needs $54 million.
“There has not been, since the ‘80s, any demolitions or renovations at Judson Middle School, other than us putting in the air conditioning that was part of our bond from 2022,” Duhart-Toppen said.
Most of the 11 people who spoke during public comments on Saturday asked trustees to save Judson Middle School or delay a decision.
During her time to speak, Cherie Fleming asked why academic performance wasn’t part of the criteria for school closure.
“The two middle schools recommended are the top performing middle schools in the entire district. They outperform every other campus, yet these are the schools that are targeted for closure. Meanwhile, several campuses’ risk for TEA intervention or takeover remain untouched,” Fleming said.
“We are here to educate but are considering closing the very schools making the grade. Shutting down your successful schools does not solve problems, it creates new ones for families,” she added.
Kitty Hawk and Judson Middle School both received Cs on the state's academic ratings last year.
Metzger Middle School and Kirby Middle School on the south side of the district have both been rated F for three years in a row, putting them at risk of state intervention.
However, Kitty Hawk and Judson Middle School are located closer to the center of Judson, making it easier for the district to adjust attendance zones.
Fleming was one of several speakers who raised concerns that closing Judson Middle School would displace students who walk to school and, in so doing, raise the district’s transportation costs.
On Saturday, trustees asked district administrators to find out how many walkers attended both middle schools. On Monday, district officials said 500 students walk to Kitty Hawk and 480 students walk to Judson Middle School.
“(These are) very difficult decisions that we're making, and I am not happy about any of it, but it is my job to sit up here and make decisions that are in the best interest of the district,” Trustee Suzanne Kenoyer said Monday before the vote.
“I think I speak for all of us when I say nobody ever wants to shut down a school. Nobody ever wants to disrupt a child and move them around to different schools,” Board Vice President Amanda Poteet said. “None of us want to do this, but I really do believe this is within the best interest of Judson ISD.”
Trustees voted 6-0 to close Judson Middle School. José Macias Jr. was absent and did not vote. On Saturday he said work commitments on Monday but would have voted no if he had been in attendance.
Earlier this month, trustees voted to close one middle school and three elementary schools. A discussion about which three elementary schools should close is scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. The board is slated to vote on the elementary school closures next Tuesday at 5 p.m.
Last week, district administrators recommended closing one elementary school in each of the three high school feeder patterns to ensure equal redistribution of boundaries.
Board agenda items posted last week listed Franz, Olympia, Park Village, Spring Meadows, and Woodlake as the five elementary schools on the table. However, Ryan said on Monday that the names of the schools would change. Board agenda items posted as of Monday evening remove Woodlake and Olympia from contention. Rolling Meadows and Millers Point have been added to the list instead.
Woodlake Elementary was the only school on the list in the Wagner High School feeder pattern. Now that Woodlake has been removed from contention, it’s no longer an option to remove one school from each feeder pattern as previously recommended.
Franz and Rolling Meadows are in the Veterans Memorial High School feeder pattern. Park Village, Spring Meadows, and Millers Point are all in the Judson High School feeder pattern.
At a growth and planning committee meeting last week, Assistant Superintendent Daniel Brooks acknowledged that the committee had originally voted to include Candlewood Elementary as another option in the Wagner feeder pattern. However, Brooks said demographers recently recommended they not consider Candlewood because the demographer had difficulty evenly distributing students to other schools nearby because some of those schools had high enrollment. Additionally, all of the students at Candlewood currently walk to school.
The growth and planning committee, a group of community members that have been meeting for months to discuss school closures, previously voted to consider closing Candlewood Elementary in the Wagner feeder pattern, but district officials said closing Candlewood would require them to bring on additional buses because all of Candlewood’s students currently walk to school.
