San Antonio ISD votes to close Rhodes Middle School
The closure of Rhodes Middle School blindsided 12-year-old Riley Niera.
"It happened so suddenly, and we found out in the middle of the year," Niera said last Friday during a Save Rhodes Middle School protest. "I'm only in seventh grade, so it's hard to find another school, especially since I don't live nearby."
After more than 50 community members - including parents, teachers, students, alumni and even the choir for Lanier High School - called for the district to keep the historic West Side middle school open, San Antonio Independent School District trustees voted on Monday night to close Rhodes.
The board was split in its closure decision with trustees Jacob Ramos and Stephanie Torres casting the two no votes and all other trustees voting in favor of the closure. The decision comes roughly two months before summer break and marks the 17th district campus closure in the past three years.
Trustees voted earlier this year to close nearby Carvajal Elementary. Rhodes families learned last week of closure news, and some have criticized the district for not notifying them sooner or seeking community feedback.
"What we are seeing is not new. It's a pattern, a pattern of decisions made without families, and families are paying the price," said Maribel Gardea, a West Side education activist and mother of two students in the district. "Schools do not fail on their own. The leadership does."
Students at Rhodes will be zoned to Tafolla Middle School next year, though San Antonio ISD allows students to attend any campus in the district. The school board also voted Monday on letting a charter operator run Tafolla and two other campuses in the hopes of improving academic performance.
Rhodes has about 450 students, and 96% of its families are economically disadvantaged. The campus has earned an F rating from the Texas Education Agency for three consecutive school years. Standardized tests factor in heavily to state letter grades.
"The way that we have been playing these accountability games, we have to take ownership over that, and we have to do something different," Trustee Christina Martinez said.
In Texas, schools that receive five consecutive failing grades from the state trigger harsh consequences: a mandated campus closure or an appointed state board of managers who replace the elected board of trustees. District officials expect Rhodes to score a fourth F rating this year, Deputy Superintendent Shawn Bird said Monday. Students have yet to take all their State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exams.
Bird said that the decision to shutter Rhodes was made late because district administration wanted to see if test scores would improve enough to avoid a fourth straight academically unacceptable year.
Despite district leadership's reasons, some still vehemently opposed the closure. Trustee Torres, who represents the West Side, said she would pull her kids out of the district.
"For far too long, communities like this one have been pushed aside," said Rachell Tucker, a former San Antonio ISD teacher and current aide to District 5 City Councilwoman Teri Castillo. "I've come to understand that real, meaningful improvements are made when you stop thinking you know better and start listening to those who know best: the students, the parents, the teachers and all the community standing in unity tonight."
The board room broke into chants of "vote no," as board members took a brief recess before voting on Rhodes closure.
San Antonio ISD, the city's third-largest district has lost enrollment steadily over the past two decades. The decrease has been driven by declining birth rates, the opening of charter schools and families with school-age children leaving the urban core.
District leadership has said the ideal number of schools for San Antonio ISD to operate is about 50; the district currently operates 84 campuses. But most schools the district operates are not large enough to handle the students that would come if all the expected closures took place.
"I heard from many of our community members a feeling that the West Side is being picked on," Trustee Mike Villarreal said. He noted that the western part of San Antonio ISD had on average almost double the amount of vacant seats that regions did.
Selina Espinosa, a seventh grader at Rhodes, worried about how the closure would affect her peers.
"Some kids live in those apartments right across from the school and very close by, and some of them just walk here because their parents might go to work in the morning, and they may not have access to buses," Espinosa said at the Friday protest.
Niera, the 12-year-old Rhodes student, is already zoned to attend Tafolla. But Niera's mother, Samantha Ramirez, chose to send her to Rhodes because of the deep history the middle school has with their family.
"I don't have anything personally against Tafolla, but I attended Rhodes. My brother came to Rhodes, my dad came to Rhodes, my mom came to Rhodes," Ramirez said. "It's generations, and ... I love Rhodes. So we decided to send her here."
While she said she understands the situation San Antonio ISD is in, and the harsh consequences that could follow if Rhodes got a fourth F, Ramirez would have liked to see district leadership develop a better "game plan" and for board members to be more involved.
"I mean, that's why these people are board members," Ramirez said. "Essentially, to help us improve these schools for our kids."
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