Stories by Courtney Griffin
AISD moves ahead with new equity assessment model
It’s been more than a year since the Texas Civil Rights Project sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education to call attention to disparities in the ways the Austin Independent School District educates its students. And despite AISD…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Feb 9, 2016
AISD teacher appraisals impetus for possible new salary structure
In a unanimous vote Monday, the Austin Independent School District board of trustees gave the green light to its new teacher appraisal system, which ties teacher appraisals to student performance on standardized tests. Kimiko Krekel, AISD’s executive director of educator quality,…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Feb 2, 2016
Shrinking AISD enrollment could be new normal
Trustees for the Austin Independent School District are asking district staff to let them know what variables they have control over after hearing grim student enrollment projections. At Monday’s workshop meeting, board members heard the results of an annual demographics report…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Jan 13, 2016
AISD hires marketing firm to tackle enrollment woes
Land purchases and resignation announcements aside, the Austin Independent School District board of trustees took additional steps to address the district’s enrollment issues Monday. In a 7-0 vote with trustees Kendall Pace and Edmund Gordon abstaining, the board decided to spend…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Dec 16, 2015
Study: AISD passive participant in discrimination
The Austin Independent School District board of trustees heard troubling news Monday: AISD’s contracting process does nothing to combat entrenched discriminatory practices among businesses and governmental entities in the Austin area, according to a recent disparity study. The study, which began…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Dec 9, 2015
AISD changes school naming policy, barely
On Monday, the Austin Independent School District board of trustees unanimously tweaked its facilities naming policy. Although the change clarified the district’s ability to abolish controversial school names, it provided little guidance on if and how such a process might…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Nov 25, 2015
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AISD delays, but keeps "new" LASA on table
The Austin Independent School District board of trustees heard a barrage of new academic program proposals for South Austin on Monday. But at the end of the meeting, the long-discussed idea of creating South Austin’s version of the district’s prestigious…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Nov 11, 2015
AISD punts Confederate name changes to committee
With tension hanging thick in the air, Austin Independent School District trustees’ tempers rose as they discussed ways to tackle the politically and racially charged topic of potentially changing Confederate-related names associated with five AISD schools: Robert E. Lee Elementary…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Nov 4, 2015
AISD tightens military access to students
Military recruiters seeking to sign up future servicemen and -women will have less access to Austin Independent School District students than they did one year ago. On Monday, board members unanimously adopted new language in the district’s visitors policy that…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Nov 2, 2015
AISD reviews staffing; changes could cost millions
With enrollment dropping, a tight budget and no sign of relief from the Supreme Court of Texas, the Austin Independent School District board of trustees trudged forward with its budget discussion Monday, assuming another year of limited resources and growing…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Oct 22, 2015
AISD considers new East Austin school
The Austin Independent School District has a chance to build a school on free land, but unfortunately that land is situated in a somewhat contentious area where current schools are struggling to fill seats and others have historically been insufficient…
AISD • By Courtney Griffin • Oct 15, 2015
AISD talks prison pipeline; reviews current system
At Monday’s dialogue meeting, AISD trustees took their first look at the state of the district’s “school-to-prison pipeline” system, examining the district’s policies and practices that push students out of the classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.…
