On hand at the second of two public meetings at the Houston Elementary School campus were numerous people in opposition of closing the campus. Newspaper Tree arrived after the public comment portion of the meeting and interviewed parents and staff members who would be directly affected by the closure.
Illustrated by the slide show at the bottom of this article, most of the parents said it would be a burden to move their child to either Paul Moreno on San Diego Avenue or Coldwell on Altura Avenue. Crockett will not accept transfer students and parents will be told by EPISD if their child goes to Moreno or Coldwell, based on where they live.
Staff will be given the ability to interview for positions on a first choice basis at a campus of their choosing, but only if those positions are open.
Asked when she first learned about the potential closing, Houston Elementary clerk Sylvia Trujillo said, "I heard a rumor about a year ago, but we had a staff meeting last week (May 6, 2009) and Dr. Garcia came and told us the school would be closing and what our options were to find another job."
Second grade teacher Yesenia Jacquez was also told she would be placed in a school of her choice, "but only if there was a teaching position open and there might not be a second grade slot open in the school I want, so we don't know."
Presented at last night's meeting was a petition against closing the school, signed by 50 Houston Elementary staff members and teachers. There isn't a PTA at Houston, so parents spoke up individually.
Also present at the meeting were several members of the neighborhood associations from the area. NPT spoke to Lynn Coyle, the president of the Newman Park Neighborhood Association: "I see this story in the context of the larger struggle between investing in and reenergizing our older Central neighborhoods and tearing up the desert in response to growth. I also see it at the heart of the nascent movement in El Paso to get back to livable, walkable, environmentally friendly neighborhoods.
"EPISD needs to be a proactive agent in this effort. The district also deserves to be rewarded with the support of the City and other entities if it makes the commitment to Houston. My response to Houston is, 'Build it and folks will come.' Bring the programs, energy and investment into Houston, shout from every corner how great it is and that school will be at capacity in a few years."
Better serving the students
In a phone interview with Dr. Lorenzo Garcia, he stated that EPISD's goal of better serving students will be met with this closure and that EPISD has been dealing with community directly.
"We called for a meeting with the teachers and community last week. We have been engaging the community and some people are now interested and we have a meeting with them. We will save roughly $6 million by closing all three schools," said Garcia. (The three schools that are being considered for closure, which will have to be board-approved, are Houston Elementary, Schuster and Zavala.)
District 2 Representative Susie Byrd, in a letter addressed to the EPISD published in Newspaper Tree, wrote: "I want to thank our trustee Carlos Flores and Dr. Garcia for their commitment to slow this process down and include the parents, the neighborhood and the board in a more thoughtful deliberative process that is not solely focused on your bottom line and more carefully considers the hidden costs of this closure on the children, the neighborhood, your budget and the budget of families who attend Houston."
One of the arguments EPISD is using to close down Houston is the school is only at 45 percent capacity. Which raises the question, why was Paul Moreno School built (in 1999) only a mile away from an existing school? Berenice Zubia, Executive Director of Public Relations for EPISD, said, "Paul Moreno was built in anticipation of the Fort Bliss growth but that instead, the population has declined."
Attached below is the presentation that the EPISD used to illustrate how the population has declined and the numerous benefits of transferring students to a new school.
There are plans to put this vote to the EPISD board the first week of June, and if the school is closed, EPISD will utilize the building in other ways. When asked if the property would be sold to private developers or be unused and turn into blight, a fear many people brought up at last night's meeting, Garcia said: "We'll have community meetings to get input and we can have instructional programs for students or we can use it as office buildings. We rent a lot of property at EPISD, but if we use it as office space, the building will be maintained and utilized."
Posted on the Newman Park Blog this morning is sentiment that represents the mood at last night's meeting: "Dr. Lorenzo Garcia had already decided to close Houston Elementary long before he met with nearly 250 parents, teachers and students last evening. The decision is made by the "experts."
"A public meeting is scheduled just about the time that it is too late to reverse the decision. The decision is announced and the district gets to say that it consulted with the public. It's a sham and a deception."
The next public meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 27 at the Houston auditorium.
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