Significant changes are coming to the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), impacting staff at seven schools. Employees at these campuses will be required to reapply for their jobs for the upcoming school year.

School Closures and Partnerships

Rhodes Middle School will be closing, with its students reassigned to Tafolla Middle School. This decision followed a school board meeting on Monday, March 17, where families voiced concerns about the closure and a potential partnership with Third Future Schools. Ultimately, the board voted to close Rhodes and collaborate with the charter network.

Turnaround Models

SAISD school board leaders cited declining enrollment and consistent academic failures as the primary drivers behind these decisions. Three schools – Edgar Allan Poe STEM Dual Language Middle School, David Crockett Academy Elementary School, and Hot Wells Middle School – will be operated under the Accelerating Campus Excellence (ACE) Restart Model.

An additional three schools – Herman Hirsch Elementary School, Ira C. Ogden Elementary School, and Fidel L. Tafolla Middle School – are slated to be operated by Third Future Schools.

Reapplication Requirement for Staff

Ed Garza, an SAISD Trustee, explained that staff at all seven schools – Rhodes Middle, Tafolla Middle, Hirsch, Ogden Elementary, Poe Middle, Crockett Elementary, and Hot Wells Middle – will need to reapply for positions within the district. This includes both teachers and administration.

“Those schools will also have to go through that reapplication process for their staff and for their administration,” Garza stated. Existing staff are not guaranteed continued employment at these campuses under the new operating models.

Community Concerns

Parents and community members have expressed concerns about the changes. Albert Campbell described the situation as “very poor and…sad.” Parents, like Priscilla, are seeking more information about the plans of the new operators and how the district intends to increase student and parent engagement.

“How are we going to get more students engaged and more parents involved,” Priscilla asked.

Avoiding State Intervention

The school board has emphasized that these actions are intended to prevent broader state intervention. Garza explained that consistently low campus ratings could lead to school closures or a state takeover of the entire district.

“These schools have been academically unacceptable now for three years in a row, and so the philosophy is bring in new leadership, bring in new staff,” Garza said. The district has stated it has been transparent with campuses about the possibility of being placed on this list due to under-enrollment.

Reporting by Zaria Oates

Zaria Oates is a news reporter for KSAT 12, joining the station in June 2024. She previously worked at ABC24 in Memphis and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma.