Keller school board votes to close 3 schools and consolidate grade levels
The Keller Independent School District board trustees voted unanimously to close three intermediate schools and consolidate campuses at its May 14 board meeting.
Bear Creek Intermediate, Parkwood Hill Intermediate and Trinity Meadow Intermediate will close after the 2026-27 school year, and the district will transition to pre-K through fifth grade at the elementary schools and sixth to eighth grade at the middle schools for the 2027-28 school year.
Earlier this week, the district updated its original consolidation plan to close four schools and now says only three of those schools will be closed. District administration had recommended in April that the district close Shady Grove Elementary at 1400 Sarah Brooks Drive in Keller.
Sarah Andreani, president of Shady Grove Elementary Parent Teacher Association, thanked the trustees and the administration for working with the community.
“This has been a very trying time for our school, but it’s been wonderful to see Shady Grove family, staff and even students come together to advocate for the very special school that we all love,” Andreani said.
Andreani said she understood what a big undertaking this was for superintendent Cory Wilson and the administration.
“This process involved a lot of unknowns throughout the community meetings and other engagements we had with you all, there were several questions and new topics that came to the forefront,” Andreani said. “ We appreciate how responsive you all were when our families reached out and that you’re willing to engage in transparent conversations with us, whether it’s interactions with the school board, city council, state legislators or federal representatives.”
Rachael Jenkins, who was part of the committee, said she was disappointed with the revision, but said she had felt bad for the parents and kids at Shady Grove when they got the news of the potential closure in April.
“But at the end of the day It's very expensive to keep up the school that just is expensive to have the admin team, the counselors, to keep the building running,” Jenkins said
About 3,800 students would be affected, and the district expects to save $3 million a year and avoid at least $39 million in improvements at the schools.
The Long Range Committee met six times over three months and included 70 residents and 59 teachers and staff from the district’s feeder patterns. Both the Long Range and the Citizens Bond Advisory committees were tasked with coming up with the criteria that would be used by the district to make recommendations.
There has been backlash from some families in the district who want to know why the plan was revised.
DaLana Barsanti, a resident of the district for over 17 years, told the Star-Telegram prior to the meeting that she believes because of the numbers, Shady Grove is an underutilized campus and the district should reconsider keeping it open.
“I’m very frustrated because I’ve come to the meetings, we’ve given input, and then it didn't feel organic to me, it felt led,” Barsanti said. “They gave us a list of criteria, and magically those were the criteria items that made it to the thing.”
She said she felt as if her input was not being heard and is concerned about staff cuts and possible cuts to programs such as special education.
Barsanti said she was surprised to find out Shady Grove had been taken off the list and first heard about the change on social media before seeing the email from the district.
“There it was, right there from Dr. Wilson that they’re basically taking Shady Grove off of the list, and with no explanation as to why.”
The district said the reworked plan addresses the decline in enrollment, campus utilization and operational funding for students and staff.
“There are three things we need to for this district to really solidify our financial plan.,” Wilson said. “ One is consolidation, which we’re proposing tonight, the second is the sale of that land that we put up tonight — and the third is a bond. That's a huge ask and a huge lift for a community and I have to make sure that we’re not asking too much of this group because I don’t want anyone to lose sight of the fact that we’re closing three schools … and that is going to disrupt our community, and it’s going to disrupt our staff, and it’s going to take an emotional toll on all of us, it already has.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 11:16 PM.