Latest news with #DobieMiddleSchool
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dobie, Webb middle school students walk out over AISD's proposed campus changes
Dobie and Webb middle school students walked out of class Wednesday morning to protest potential changes at their campuses stemming from multiple years of failing to meet state academic standards. District officials have proposed turnaround plans for the schools, which could result in new administrators and academic models next year. Holding colorful signs that read 'Save Dobie' and 'Dobie somos todos unidos' — or 'Dobie we're all united" —students gathered on the hill on which the 51-year-old campus sits upon in the Rundberg neighborhood. Dobie is one of three North Austin middle schools for which the Austin district is considering aggressive turnaround plans to meet state academic standards by the end of the 2025-26 school year. Burnet, Webb and Dobie middle schools all face significant changes next year because they received a second consecutive 'F' rating in the state's A-F letter grades for schools and districts for 2023, which were just released last month because of prolonged litigation. The state requires districts to submit turnaround plans to the Texas Education Agency for schools that receive two consecutive years of 'F' ratings. Austin's three middle schools that fall in this category are within less than 5 miles of one another. Eighth grader Erick Villafranca has attended Dobie Middle School three years, and he and his friends love the campus because of its teachers and programs, such as athletics, he said. He held a sign that read, 'Save Dobie Roadrunners,' the school's mascot. While the school might not be perfect, he said officials making future plans for the campus don't understand all the great things going on. 'If they really don't know how the school is, they really shouldn't be talking about it,' Villafranca said. Santiago Munoz, another eighth grader who participates in athletics at Dobie, said people should be taking a closer look at the school and not rush to judgment. 'You never judge a book by its cover,' Munoz said. Seventh grader Jose Mexquitic agreed that Dobie students like the school in part because the teachers make them feel comfortable and make them want to come to learn. Austin district officials predict all three middle schools are on track to receive four consecutive 'F' ratings by the end of the 2024-25 school year. The state has not yet released scores for 2024 due to ongoing litigation. The Austin district faces severe state sanctions if any one of the three middle schools reaches a fifth consecutive 'F' rating, including either closing the school or a state takeover of the entire district. In 2023, the TEA placed its own appointed superintendent and board of managers over the Houston district because of a chronically failing school, and this week it warned the Fort Worth district that it was at risk of a takeover for a failing school that has since been closed. In April, Austin district officials had originally proposed closing Dobie, at least temporarily, much to the shock and sadness of families and staff members. The newly proposed strategy for the school calls for an aggressive one-year turnaround plan, called an Accelerated Campus Excellence plan, that would require teachers to reapply for their jobs, replace campus administrators and overhaul the campus's academic program. Superintendent Matias Segura, however, has vowed to preserve the school's fine arts programming. Hearing so much about Dobie in the news can be stressful, Villafranca said. 'It's hard because it just puts pressure on us,' the eighth grader said. Students at Webb also participated in a class walkout at the same time as the Dobie students. The walkouts happened a day after Segura and other district officials visited Dobie to explain the newly proposed turnaround plan to families. Community meetings are also planned at Burnet and Webb next week. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Dobie, Webb students walk out over AISD's proposed campus changes
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
AISD says expert teachers could improve failing schools
AUSTIN (KXAN) – In an effort to turn around low performing schools in Austin Independent School District, it is launching a campaign to hire the best teachers they can get. The district is looking for teachers who have track records of improving students' grades, and they want them in schools that are not meeting standards. The move comes after Dobie, Webb and Burnet middle schools are all facing a critical school year ahead where they must show signs of improvement or face a state intervention from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). 'We are going to be launching a campaign to recruit transformative teachers,' said Brandi Hosack, chief of talent strategy for AISD. 'We are looking for folks that have more than three years experience in the classroom, are certified and have proven highly effective.' The district said some teachers and staff could be removed from these failing schools, but some parents at Dobie worry about stability in a school that has seen turnover. 'When you bring strangers here to this community, what kind of teachers are we going to have? That is very concerning to us,' said Yessyka Velasquez, a parent from Dobie Middle School. Hosack said she knows stability is important, but tough decisions have to be made. Austin ISD receives C rating in 2023 A-F ratings 'When you take away certain supports that students have become accustomed to, and feel very safe in their campus, and those are the adults and the trusted individuals — that is very, very hard,' she said. The teachers AISD chooses to remove from their positions could then be placed in other AISD schools around the district. 'It is not about you are not doing your job and we are removing you,' Hosack said. 'The folks that have been at Dobie, Webb and Burnet have worked incredibly hard to support these students. This is simply a function of needing to ensure that we are, within the turnaround plan, have seasoned experts.' KXAN asked the district if the teachers who are removed from Dobie, Webb and Burnet will be fit to teach in other schools in AISD. 'There is a difference between highly effective, and you not being highly effective does not mean that you are ineffective, it simply means that you have not yet met those qualifications,' said Hosack. Hosack said a lot of teachers have left the profession and now there are a lot of novice teachers that need training. Keeping Dobie Middle School open could cost teachers their jobs 'There are incredible amount of novice teachers on these campuses because across the state, across the nation, campuses that have been historically undeserved they to tend to have a harder time hiring which means that they have a tendency to hire novice teachers,' Hosack said. The district will host a job fair for transformative teachers May 14 and 15 at AISD headquarters. These positions are eligible for up to $20,000 in stipends to support one of the three District-led Restart campuses. The district is hoping to hire about 100 transformative teachers before the start of the school year. In addition, certified core teachers are eligible to be designated under the Teacher Incentive Allotment and certified special education and certified bilingual teachers are eligible for $7,000 in stipends for support in those classrooms. Check how your school is doing here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Keeping Dobie Middle School open could cost teachers their jobs
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Showing support for teachers and their principal, students at Dobie Middle School staged a walkout Wednesday airing their frustration over the future of the school. In August 2024, Dobie was identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement under the Federal Accountability System for the third consecutive year. A campus that fails to exit CSI for multiple years is required to prepare a campus Turnaround Plan. Dobie and the discussion about what the district will do moving forward has been a hot button topic, with AISD discussing closing the school, moving students to Lamar Middle School and the most recent announcement that they are looking at a district managed restart plan. Another option could mean a charter school and AISD work together to turn things around at Dobie. 'Current teachers and staff and the principal has been working so hard for the past two years,' said Yessyka Velasquez, a parent at Dobie. While the district is no longer exploring a temporary closure for Dobie, the district is now proposing a district-managed restart plan, which could mean that not all staff will be around next year. 'It is concerning because they want to get rid of the principal along with every staff member, teachers and all,' Velasquez said. TEA extends deadline for Dobie MS turnaround plan Velasquez said the school has seen a lot of turnover through the years and students have not had stability. She said she's hoping some of the same faces return next year if AISD decides on a restart plan. Jose Carrasco, with Austin Voices, shares the same concern with a restart. 'We need to stabilize things, we need a consistency of things, not restarts,' Carrasco said. He said the STAAR Test and the A to F accountability system are also part of the reason some schools are seeing failing grades. 'Especially for a school like Dobie who has 73% of students that don't have the strong English, then to give them an English test,' said Carrasco. 'That test is a broken system nobody likes it.' In a recent meeting with Texas Education Agency (TEA) commissioner Mike Morath, he said the A to F accountability system will help improve student outcomes. 'What the evidence shows is that schools that have a D or F rating, they get better very quickly because people realize that, hey, we need to change what we have been doing because what we have been doing hasn't worked,' Morath said. Webb and Burnet Middle School are also facing the same decisions. AISD will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss these plans. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Why Austin's Dobie, Burnet, Webb middle schools may get new administrators, academic model
Three North Austin middle schools could be revamped with new administrative staff and new academic models as the Austin district seeks to improve the campuses' scores after consecutive years of failing to meet state academic standards. The proposal unveiled Tuesday night at Dobie Middle School would also require teachers at those schools to reapply for their jobs. Superintendent Matias Segura told teachers, parents and students gathered at the Rundberg neighborhood school that he thinks this plan will give Dobie, Burnet and Webb middle schools another chance to improve their academic outcomes. The district predicts all three schools are on track to receive a fourth 'F' rating from the Texas Education Agency at the end of the 2024-25 school year for not elevating above 60% on the state's accountability rankings. A fifth such rating at any school would prompt the TEA to either shutter the campus or take over the district. Community members ask questions of Austin school district leadership, including Austin Superintendent Matias Segura, during a community meeting in April about the future of Dobie Middle School. Segura is now proposing a new academic model for Dobie and two other Austin middle schools. The new plan 'keeps students at Dobie,' Segura said. "It puts money into students and staff, and not buildings.' However, if student scores aren't heading in the right direction by December, the district would partner with a charter operator for those campuses in the next school year. The academic model the district is proposing for the three middle schools is called Accelerated Campus Excellence Turnaround, or ACE, and requires the principal to have 'a history of improving student academic growth.' At least 60% of the teachers at the school must have 'demonstrated instructional effectiveness' through a local assessment and classroom observations or a comparative ranking with other teachers in a district, if the teacher is new to the district. The ACE model also must include an additional 60 minutes of instruction compared with the former campus schedule as well as data monitoring to track student progress, according to a handbook about the model. ACE schools should provide students three meals a day so they can remain after school for extracurricular activities. In a 2023 annual report, the TEA noted that more than 40 campuses had implemented the ACE model at the time. Frustrated parents and teachers pressed Segura for more information about why the plan required their campus administration team to be replaced and why the district has changed its plans for Dobie so much. The district last month had proposed closing, at least temporarily, the 51-year-old campus as a way to stave off state sanctions. Segura told the families that he had been working with the information he had at the time and that he was 'desperately trying' to meet students' needs and prevent harsher state sanctions. 'Look up and see what's happening right now in Fort Worth and that school has closed years ago,' Segura said. 'This is real.' Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told Forth Worth district officials this week that the district is at risk of a state takeover after a campus received its fifth consecutive "F" rating in the recently released 2023 scores, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Heather Wong, a STEM instructional coach at Dobie, told Segura that she worries the aggressive approach to turning around the school isn't realistic. 'I am skeptical about the timeline,' Wong said. 'That is putting a lot of pressure on the students.' Marcela Garcia, who has two students who have graduated from Dobie and another set to enter the school next year, has been frustrated with the district's communication with the elementary schools that feed into Dobie. She wants her son to attend Dobie next year because she wants him involved in the same activities his siblings participated in, she said. Eighth grader Allisson Gavidia said she feels 'very confused, devastated and sad' about the discussion around her school. 'We need more time,' Gavidia said. 'Not everyone learns the same way. Not everyone is going to learn by simply getting a packet. Sometimes they just need to do group activities or little experiments to understand the topic more.' She said the district's plan for Dobie should give strong consideration to the school's fine arts programs. 'Now we're accomplishing great things with our little fine arts,' Gavidia said. 'Not everyone thinks that fine arts is something good to have in school even though it motivates kids to do better because if you don't have good grades you can't go to field trips or participate in certain things.' The Austin school board could decide on a turnaround plan for the three schools as soon as May 22, but it has until June 30 to submit a proposal to the TEA. The district is meeting with Webb families on Monday and Burnet families on Tuesday. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: AISD proposal for failing schools: new administrators, academic model
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TEA extends deadline for Dobie MS turnaround plan
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Education Agency on Wednesday issued an extended deadline for Dobie Middle School's federal accountability plan. The new deadline will be June 30 instead of the previous April 30 date, according to a letter from Austin Independent School District Superintendent Matias Segura. 'This new deadline gives us more time to consider the feedback we've received fromboth communities and to more deeply explore options for Dobie's future,' Segura said. Segura said the board will share an update regarding the extended deadline at their regular meeting Thursday night. In early April, AISD said it risked a potential 'takeover' by TEA, if Dobie Middle School 'does not significantly improve student success … by the end of next school year,' according to a memo sent to teachers. According to AISD's Dobie Turnaround Plan FAQs, for the 2018-2019 school year, Dobie Middle School received an 'F'. 'School ratings will not be calculated until the end of the 2024-25 school year. While there have been meaningful improvements at Dobie, the results of mid-year student assessments indicate that Dobie will not receive a rating of 'C' or better,' AISD said in the FAQ. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Parents, staff voice concern over potential for Lamar Middle to take on students facing Dobie closure In the Dobie Turnaround Plan FAQ, AISD outlined three options it must choose from regarding the future of the school: Restart the school for the 2025–26 school year in partnership with a charter school approved by the Texas Education Agency. This would be similar to what has happened at Mendez Middle School with Third Future Schools. The charter school would have the authority to hire all campus staff, including teachers and the principal, and we could not guarantee positions for current staff. Permanently close Dobie at the end of the 2024-25 school year and reassign Dobie students to another Austin ISD middle school for the 2025-26 school year. Temporarily close Dobie at the end of the 2024-25 school year and develop a plan to reimagine the school. Current Dobie students would be reassigned to another Austin ISD middle school for the 2025-26 school year and a new school would open at the Dobie campus at a future date. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
