AUSTIN (KXAN) — A meeting at Lamar Middle School on Monday evening was packed with parents, students and staff voicing concern over a potential shake-up looming in the near future.
Dobie Middle School is at risk of closure as the Austin Independent School District superintendent and Board of Trustees consider options on how to deal with poor student performance at the school, and Lamar Middle School could be directly impacted.
AISD leaders said the entire district is at risk of being taken over by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) because of low performance levels at Dobie.
AISD Assistant Superintendent Angel Wilson sent a memo to teachers earlier this month notifying them of the possible TEA “takeover” and options AISD has to avoid a takeover.
The Dobie Middle School page on AISD’s website outlines the district’s options in a list of “Dobie Turnaround Plan FAQs.” The district must choose one of the following:
- Restart the school for the 2025–26 school year in partnership with a charter school approved by the Texas Education Agency. This would be similar to what has happened at Mendez Middle School with Third Future Schools. The charter school would have the authority to hire all campus staff, including teachers and the principal, and we could not guarantee positions for current staff.
- Permanently close Dobie at the end of the 2024-25 school year and reassign Dobie students to another Austin ISD middle school for the 2025-26 school year.
- Temporarily close Dobie at the end of the 2024-25 school year and develop a plan to reimagine the school. Current Dobie students would be reassigned to another Austin ISD middle school for the 2025-26 school year and a new school would open at the Dobie campus at a future date.
The Lamar Middle School Parent Teacher Association said two of those three options could result in hundreds of Dobie students being transferred to Lamar, which parents and staff worry could strain Lamar.
Several guardians whose children attend Lamar Middle School emailed KXAN stating they were not informed of the potential change until last week. They said AISD sent an email about the possible transfer on Thursday evening.
The district scheduled a meeting at Lamar for Monday evening ahead of the school board’s regular meeting this coming Thursday, where Superintendent Matias Segura explained the options and answered questions.
“This is moving too fast. Families were informed with less than a week’s notice—over a holiday weekend—about decisions that could fundamentally reshape Lamar and Dobie Middle Schools,” Lamar Middle School PTA President Edward Bradfield said in an email. “We’re not just talking about schedules or budgets. We’re talking about trust. About the future of our children.”
The AISD board was set to discuss and potentially take action on the Dobie MS Turnaround Plan at its meeting this Thursday, but the meeting agenda online states the public hearing and approval of the plan was rescheduled to Monday, April 28, at 6 p.m.
The item is still on this week’s meeting agenda, but it is for discussion only.
The Turnaround Plan must receive board approval before submission to TEA, which is required by April 30, 2025.
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