AUSTIN, Texas — Austin ISD leaders are laying out a plan to improve Mendez Middle School.
Earlier this month, AISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said that the State of Texas could take over the district's board of trustees if Mendez's failing ratings don't improve.
To avoid consequences from the State and to try to improve the school, the board is considering ending a contract with the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Coalition, or the T-STEM Coalition, a nonprofit that has been managing the in-district charter school.
According to a report from Community Impact, on Wednesday, Elizalde said AISD aims to decide whether to run the school itself or partner with a new outside organization before spring break. The board will vote Thursday on whether to end its partnership with T-STEM Coalition. If the board chooses to do that, AISD will have to decide whether to run Mendez itself or install a new partner, maintaining Mendez as an in-district charter.
Community Impact reports that AISD is also considering turning Mendez into a junior high, meaning sixth graders will stay at their respective elementary schools and move to Mendez in seventh grade. Elizalde promised all Mendez teachers will have a job in AISD regardless of what the district decides, though they may not be placed at Mendez during the 2023-24 school year.
Community Impact reports that Mendez teachers and parents hope AISD will run the school and maintain the positions of three current assistant directors under the principal.
In 2018, AISD chose to turn Mendez into an in-district charter to prevent the State from shutting it down. But a lack of improvement could result in the State replacing all members of the district's board.
After a school goes three or more consecutive years receiving a lower-than-C rating from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Texas law requires that the commissioner of education choose to either close the school or appoint a board of managers to replace the elected board members for the school's district. By 2017, Mendez was in its fourth consecutive year of receiving a failing TEA rating.
As a last resort option to prevent State consequences, Texas districts can convert a poorly performing school into an in-district campus charter through a partnership with an approved entity. Schools that undergo this transition get a two-year grace period to improve, during which time the campus doesn't receive a rating from the TEA. The school then gets two more rated years to receive a passing score. If it doesn't, the TEA chooses between a forced closure or replacing the board.
AISD used this last resort option to save Mendez in 2018. The pandemic then bought the school more time because no Texas schools received ratings in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. However, Community Impact reported that Mendez received an F rating in its first rated year since becoming an in-district charter (2018-19), so if it receives lower than a C in its second assessed year (2022-23), the State could step in.
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