The San Antonio Independent School District is nearing the end of a four-months long process to reduce the number of schools it operates, with the board of trustees voting Monday on whether to close 15 schools.
On Friday, parents were informed when they went to pick up their children at their schools that four campuses had been removed from the original draft that recommended 19 schools be closed. A phone call and email alert also went out to ensure all families saw the news.
With four schools spared, some parents were happy and many others disappointed in the process. Some told the San Antonio Report they were holding out hope that the list, which will be voted on as a whole Monday, would be voted down.
Some parents and advocacy groups have decried the revised list of school closures for being too fast, and not adhering close enough to community engagement.
But Superintendent Jaime Aquino points to the changes to the list when describing one of the most comprehensive school closure engagement processes in recent history.
Five schools also saw modifications made to how students would be shuffled around, with factors ranging from community engagement, safety concerns and historic disinvestment cited.
The district has compiled a trove of information they will continue to add to as the process moves forward, including finances for each campus that is being closed or receiving students, enrollment data and copies of the thousands of individual pieces of feedback they received across almost 40 meetings.
Here is the explanation the district is providing to parents and community members for each of the decisions it made after a lengthy process:
