AISD
'Panic mode': Austin ISD needs to evaluate 800 students for special ed. It doesn't have the staff to do it.
More than 800 students in the Austin Independent School District are being denied their legal right to a special education evaluation. An evaluation is the first step in the process to get special education services. Without one, there is no…
AISD • By Claire McInerny, KUT • Mar 11, 2021
Austin ISD votes to switch mental health provider
The Austin ISD Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to switch the school district’s campus mental health provider to Gramercy Specialty Clinic. The current partner, Vida Clinic, has begun to transition out. In order to ensure that services continue without disruption, Gramercy…
AISD • By Sumaiya Malik, Reporting Texas • Feb 16, 2021
Austin ISD Board of Trustees postpones vote on real estate consulting services
Four Austin ISD school closures in one year has left parents worried about the district’s renewed interest in seeking real estate consulting services for its properties. Fearing more closures, concerned parents called in to ask for postponement of the vote…
AISD • By Sumaiya Malik, Reporting Texas • Feb 8, 2021
Austin ISD plans to bring a small group of students back to schools in October
Lee esta historia en español. When the Austin Independent School District begins phasing students back into school buildings Oct. 5, it will prioritize special education and lower grade levels within each school as the first to return. At a school…
AISD • By Claire McInerny, KUT • Sep 16, 2020
Here's how to make sure your Austin ISD student has access to a laptop and high-speed internet
Parents, teachers and advocates worry online-only lesson plans could widen the digital divide and exacerbate educational equity issues in the Austin Independent School District. To try to prevent that, the district, which has roughly 81,000 students, is distributing Wi-Fi hotspots,…
AISD • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Aug 24, 2020
Austin ISD's school year delayed until Sept. 8, first eight weeks could be online-only
The Austin Independent School District’s Board of Trustees voted to delay the start of classes for the school year until Sept. 8. Virtual classes were supposed to begin Aug. 18, but the board wanted to give teachers more time to…
AISD • By Claire McInerny, KUT • Aug 7, 2020
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AISD officials discuss Covid-19 response
Austin Independent School District officials spoke at an Austin Justice Coalition panel Wednesday night, discussing how the district and its students are coping during the Covid-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home order that has shuttered schools. Speakers included AISD Board of…
AISD • By Nina Hernandez • Apr 16, 2020
As Superintendent Paul Cruz prepares to leave Austin ISD, his school closure plan remains unresolved
Even though Superintendent Paul Cruz said he’s leaving the Austin Independent School District, the process of school closures that started under his watch likely will not end. But where the plan goes from here is unknown. At a press conference Thursday, Cruz…
AISD • By Claire McInerny, KUT • Feb 21, 2020
Austin ISD considers opening a school for young adults with autism
A local nonprofit wants to start a school in Austin that serves young adults with neurological conditions like autism. Easterseals of Central Texas is seeking to start the school within the Austin Independent School District. The school would help students…
AISD • By Claire McInerny, KUT • Jan 23, 2020
Chief equity officer calls Austin ISD's school closure process inequitable and 'short-sighted'
School closures and consolidations are not “equity strategies,” the Austin Independent School District’s chief equity officer says in a report released Monday. “They are short-term and often short-sighted approaches to cost savings that are seldom reinvested in programming in the…
AISD • By Claire McInerny, KUT • Dec 10, 2019
Human Rights Commission seeks apology from AISD
Last week the Austin Independent School District’s chief equity officer, Stephanie Hawley, called the board of trustees’ vote to close four elementary schools racist and inequitable. In an effort to improve the district’s financial situation, the board was faced with…
AISD • By Jessi Devenyns • Nov 27, 2019
Austin ISD equity officer calls closure plan 'racist' before board votes to close four schools
The Austin Independent School District’s Board of Trustees voted 6-3 on Monday to close Brooke, Metz, Sims and Pease elementary schools at the end of this school year. Trustees Ann Teich, Arati Singh and LaTisha Anderson opposed the closures. Parents…
