AUSTIN — The Austin ISD Board of Trustees approved a motion to spend $25 million on modernizing Sanchez Elementary School Monday night. This would mean adding state-of-the-art technology, community spaces and more.
But the meeting was met with protesters with the East Austin School Manifestos Coalition. It's a group of parents and community leaders who fear that this project may result in the consolidation of Metz and Zavala Elementary on the East Side -- possibly leading to the schools shutting down.
The group released a manifesto earlier this month demanding the district take immediate action in three areas: focusing on academic achievement in minority students, teacher pay and restructuring school attendance boundaries.
Those who were able to speak at Monday's meeting said the possibility of consolidating the schools would be a bad idea.
"Finally, to the board leadership, if you aspire to assume a leadership role, and have the audacity in making decisions that have negative consequences on East Austin schools, then you should have the courage at minimum to show up in East Austin and meet with your constituents," said coalition member Paul Saldana to the board on Monday night.
Jocelyn Connell, Supervisor for community engagement at AISD, told KVUE that combining the campuses would be one way to help the district realize it's vision -- reinventing urban education.
"It's an exciting time. I don't think we've ever invested so much money in the East Side community as we are doing now, so it's an exciting time … an exciting time for us," said Connell.