Nov 13, 2024
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) has been holding its last round of community meetings this week for Phase lll of its Destination District Redesign (DDR) project, which will entail the potential closure of 10 elementary schools. EPISD considers closing 10 schools as part of district redesign The meetings have been hosted at campuses across the district that will either close down or receive students as a result. On Wednesday, Nov. 13, there were meetings held at Murphree PK-8 and Cooley Elementary, which are both campuses that are set to potentially receive students from schools that are shut down.  Our KTSM crews attended the meeting at Murphree Elementary where there were only about a dozen parents present.  There were two projection screens set up and about three dozen seats that were mostly empty. School officials seemingly had a quiet discussion with the group of parents present for about 20 minutes before the meeting concluded.  There were no presentations made.  Communities across the district have expressed their dissatisfaction with the first three phases of DDR. People have complained about EPISD’s lack of transparency and have said that the district does not do enough to spread the word about the poorly attended community meetings.  EPISD moving ahead with district redesign, while some parents are dissatisfied Parents and advocates from communities where schools will potentially close have been vocal in expressing their opposition to the closures, but parents from the communities who are set to take in students displaced from other campuses, are seemingly just as opposed to the idea. "What I am hearing from numerous people that are in these neighborhoods, those sister schools who would get these new kids for next year. (They) are having meetings to figure out ways (to not have) those kids there. That's not being equitable," Norma De La Rosa, the president of the El Paso Teachers Association said. "I think that the school is large as it is and adding more students is just going to add to the chaos of the number of students here. The principal does a really good job here, she's new here this year. Before that, we had Mr. G., and he was amazing. So, I always felt safe with my kids here. But it's a large school. There are a lot of students here. And the student-to-teacher ratio is high as it is," Audria Rausch who has a child attending's child attends Murphree Elementary said.  "I think that's just a very bad decision at the time because classes are already at full capacity. Right now, there are 30-40 kids per class, which makes no sense. No teaching going on. Chaos is already bad enough as it is. And then to add more kids to that, I think it's just going to add more problems to the teachers, to the staff, and especially the safety of the kids," a parent with children at Murphree Elementary who did not want to be identified said.  The way EPISD currently has plans laid out, Murphree Elementary is the recommended destination for students who currently attend Putnam Elementary to relocate if it were closed. Murphree Elementary has also been presented as an alternative for students who would have to be relocated if Rivera Elementary were shut down. EPISD is an open enrollment district and as such, parents would still have the option of enrolling their children at any campus of their choosing. Parents, students and community advocates from the schools that are on the chopping block have expressed that they want EPISD to hold off on making any decision if the district's equity audit report is not taken into account.  Group calls on EPISD to reconsider school closure proposal Community advocates have reported that EPISD is set to have a board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 19, where they believe a vote may be had on whether or not to close the 10 schools down. 
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