Before we get into it, I want to acknowledge everyone who showed up at the Board Information Session last week and spoke with passion about your schools. I’ve said it before, but I’m deeply sorry that we’re having to take this on and I know it’s disruptive. But I'm grateful to see the deep love our families have for our public schools and the insights you’re sharing will help us get to a stronger proposal. We are Austin ISD. I know it’s hard, but together we can do hard things.
So on that note, let’s take a look back at the last week:
On Tuesday, I started my day with visits to Akins Early College High School and O. Henry Middle School to check in on their principals during Principal Appreciation Week. Then, I headed to KXAN to do an in-studio interview on the draft school consolidation and boundary change plan. Our local reporters are critical to helping inform our community and I’m dedicating time to sitting down one-on-one with reporters across the city to ensure we’re staying accountable and responsive to the questions and ideas coming from our community.
We met with the Austin ISD Public Facility Corporation Board of Directors who unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the development of Anita Coy Apartments East. This is huge because not only is this repurposing an Austin ISD property, it’s creating accessible housing for our workforce. Our teachers’ salaries are above the typical affordable housing requirements, however, this project is created with Austin ISD workforce in mind with income requirements inclusive of our average teacher salary, making housing more accessible for our staff and families.
Thursday evening, we presented the draft school consolidation and boundary change plan to the Board of Trustees. We heard feedback from families and our trustees regarding what we need to explore in our next draft and we’ve already started that work with our demographer. Join us for our Q&A sessions starting tomorrow where we’ll dedicate time listening to new ideas and answering any questions our community may have about the plan.
I also encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas via our comment card to ensure your comments are systematically reviewed and fully considered by the appropriate subject matter experts. This system allows us to efficiently gather, categorize and track all feedback, making sure nothing is missed as we develop potential refinements to the plan.
Here’s what’s coming up this week:
Tuesday, the Austin Ed Fund is hosting our annual Inspire the Future luncheon. This is an incredible opportunity to gather our business, non-profit and community leaders and share the work happening in Austin ISD. We’ve already raised $580,000 that will go directly into our classrooms through grants, early literacy efforts and support for educators. Thank you to our generous sponsors who support Austin ISD!
Wednesday, I’ll spend my day with our principals and district leaders at our monthly ATX Bridge session. This month we’ll dig in on the draft school consolidation and boundary change plan, finance updates and continue our push for increasing attendance as part of our Attendance Incentive Initiative.
Friday, I’ll attend the Texas Teacher of the Year Luncheon with Kiker Elementary School Teacher Pooja Mulgaonker who is a finalist for the top award! I can’t wait to cheer on Ms. Pooja and to celebrate this together in our Austin ISD family.
Check out our Austin ISD calendar for more details on what’s happening in the district. And if there’s anything that needs to be on my radar, let me know!
Recognize our amazing staff each month by submitting a RAVE!
Follow me on Instagram @matias_aisd. #StrongSchoolsStrongerAustin
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