By Edmond Ortiz
Some parents with children attending Dellview, Montgomery and Oak Grove elementary schools are urging the North East Independent School District to seek out alternatives to consolidating their campuses.
What you should know
North East ISD administrators told the school board Oct. 19 they are considering relocating students at Dellview to Colonial Hills Elementary School, moving Oak Grove students to Regency Place Elementary School, and shifting Montgomery students to Windcrest Elementary School.
Trustees expect to act in November on formal recommendations based on a district efficiency committee report, which upon release in September, outlined 16 campuses that could be reviewed for potential closure or consolidation to help further reduce a budget deficit and shore up district finances.
They focused on campuses that have fewer than 450 students, where less than 60% of physical space is used, and where the cost of serving students is more than 5% the overall districtwide average. NEISD last closed and consolidated campuses in 2024.
Susie Lackorn, NEISD’s budget and financial analysis director, said the district could save more than $4 million by consolidating the aforementioned campuses. She added that some savings would be achieved by a reduction of the number of positions, but that no current employees would be cut.
“We’re not talking about cutting people, we’re talking about reducing positions,” Lackorn said. “But we have enough turnover everywhere in the district that everyone that’s at the campuses right now that are being closed will be able to transition. Most of them will follow the students.”
District officials are facilitating meetings with affected faculty and parents this week at Oak Grove, Montgomery and Dellview.
Faculty at Colonial Hills, Windcrest and Regency Place will be briefed at the end of October on how their respective schools will accommodate the relocated students and employees.
What they are saying
While the school board has not signed off on any campus consolidation recommendation. But a handful of parents, teachers and students from schools eyed for shuttering addressed the trustees, asking them to find other ways to cut costs short of closure or consolidation.
Some audience members such as Dellview parent Jacob Villarreal shed tears at the podium, praising their child’s current school and expressing concern that relocating his daughter Olive, her classmates and other affected children could adversely affect them in various ways.
Villarreal, himself a Dellview alum, said students such as his daughter have formed bonds with their teachers and friends.
“I want you all to take a second and, for once, not think of these kids just as statistics and numbers on a spreadsheet. Think of them as the future leaders that our planet needs, and how much Dellview means to them,” Villarreal said.
A mother of two children attending Montgomery said she understands declining enrollment at schools such as hers is a problem plaguing campuses nationwide, but that closing facilities will not benefit affected neighborhood families. She added that a public charter school located close to Montgomery could easily scoop up Montgomery students who would otherwise end up at Windcrest Elementary.
Other parents, educators and residents said, if NEISD proceeds with a new round of school consolidations, district leaders must be proactive and transparent about rezoning school boundaries, transportation, efforts to maintain adequate class sizes, and how exactly the district would save money by shuttering Dellview, Oak Grove and Montgomery.
Some board meeting attendees, such as members of the grassroots group NEISD Community Advocates and longtime NEISD employee and parent Rose Stevens, also voiced worries that those same campuses are Title 1 schools, which serve low-income families in their respective communities.
“I have heard it said over and over that kids are resilient and will adjust. Kids of these three Title 1 schools have to be resilient in their everyday life. Why are we asking them to be resilient in the one place they know they are safe – their neighborhood school?” Stevens said.
Lackorn said district officials will work with community stakeholders to see how best to repurpose the campuses eyed for closure, adding that previously shuttered facilities such as Jackson-Keller and Serna elementary schools reopened when those attendance zones saw growth in the number of young families with school-aged children.
The district’s efficiency committee has concentrated campus repurposing discussions around such potential uses as reduced-rate early childhood/day care for district staff and first responders, an event center with culinary and hospitality training, or a discovery learning center, which would serve as an educational day care provider focused on exploratory learning.
Superintendent Anthony Jarrett said district administrators will work with principals of the affected campuses to communicate with parents and students. He added that current challenges in public education are forcing school districts such as North East ISD to make tough, unpopular decisions in order to stay financially afloat, and remain a viable schooling option for young families.
Jarrett also said the district has cut spending as much as possible, but that it still must look at closures and consolidations to help offset drops in student enrollment, state funding and stagnating local revenue sources.
“None of us want to be in this position and the truth of the matter is that the educational landscape is changing all over this country,” Jarrett said, adding that the growth of charter schools has impacted districts such as NEISD.
“Fundamentally, I believe public education still offers the best education. At the same time, as we know, parents have choices and I support choice. But while we’re making choices, we unfortunately can’t float as much money around like we used to when we had more students in our schools,” he added.
