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Posted
On 4/18/2025 at 9:37 PM, chainsaw said:

Is there a clip of the Board vote on this? The discussions?

The board has not yet voted on this.  Each month, the board has an "info session" where they talk about issues, and a "voting session" two weeks later where they actually vote on the items they discussed at the info session.

Here is the discussion from the "info session":
 

 

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Posted
17 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

They put in a roundabout in our neighborhood at a T intersection that was never a problem.  Two legs had the right of way, the third had a stop sign.  Simple.  Now it's a roundabout with 3 yield signs that is not only too tight for larger trucks but people blow through 2 out of the 3 yields all the time.  Accidents are bound to happen.  Well done, Austin.

Roundabouts are almost always better than the alternative. I find that people who complain about them are usually bad drivers. 

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Posted
14 hours ago, royiv said:

Is AISD ever going to renovate or rebuild McCallum? My niece graduated from there four years ago and that campus was in rough shape.

McCallum was allocated $66,549,000 in the 2022 bond, for a "phase 1" of a phased modernization.   Starting in 2017, Austin ISD has been passing large bond packages, spaced about five years apart.  A phased modernization means that the school is rebuilt over multiple bond projects.  They are projecting 3-4 phases for McCallum, which means passing bonds in 2022, 2027, 2032 and 2037 for a four-phase project.  So McCallum may be modernized between now and 2041 under a four-phase plan.

You can see the complete phased vision for rebuilding the campus here, starting around slide 28:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PkLORj8OH5nCMvL5QNFjl-MhxLAYAhNn/view?usp=sharing

The $66 million in phase one is for repairs, adding a turf football field, demoing part of the exiting building, and adding a new science and CTE wing.

You can read about what they are doing in phase 1 here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16D5893oyI7-7riM6Tu6iHEz7Gz_jLxgn/view?usp=sharing

All of the 2022 bond projects have all of their presentations here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/12dh6O3TYstztC7Wn9tOn_aE4VkNvIgBN

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Posted
On 4/18/2025 at 5:17 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Are there anywhere near 550 kids in the Fine Arts program who aren't already zoned to Lamar?  Both my kids did Fine Arts at Lamar and McCallum and they knew a crap ton of similar students from Highland Park.

Not sure how many are in the fine arts program, but here's the list of who attended Lamar from where in the most recent demographics report:

Kids who lived in the Lamar district that attended Lamar:  807

Others transferred from:

Bedichek: 2
Burnet: 28
Covington: 2
Dobie: 26
Kealing: 54
Martin: 35
Murchison: 48
O. Henry: 35
Out of district: 33
Webb: 26

Total others:  289
 

Posted

In general I'm loathe to prioritize athletic facility upgrades, but McCallum's current football/soccer field is horrible.  Patchy grass, uneven playing surface, holes everywhere.  My son lost half a soccer season and most of a track season after stepping in one of those holes which led to a hard fall and a deep hip bruise.  His coach basically said "yep, happens pretty often".

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Posted (edited)
15 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

In general I'm loathe to prioritize athletic facility upgrades, but McCallum's current football/soccer field is horrible.  Patchy grass, uneven playing surface, holes everywhere.  My son lost half a soccer season and most of a track season after stepping in one of those holes which led to a hard fall and a deep hip bruise.  His coach basically said "yep, happens pretty often".

McCallum and all of the AISD high schools are getting a new turf field with lights.  Baseball and softball are also getting lights but not turf.  Everyone is getting their track brought up to reasonable standards, although not everyone has room for an 8-lane track.  Some are six lanes.  The trustees are voting this month to approve the vendor.  Construction has already started at LBJ and Northeast, and the other schools will follow.  It's probably not going to be ready for the next school year but it should be done by the following school year.

The fields will have power and water so that the schools can set up fans or hydration stations to help keep the kids cool.

I'm not sure if it made the final design, but I know at one point they were considering a sand based product for fill rather than the black rubber tires because it reduces the temps on the field significantly.

There is a space at each field for a small press box.  And I do mean a small one.  They are either going to put that in, or if the budget does now allow, leave space for a small press box in a future bond.

McCallum has some serious issues with drainage that constrained what was possible with their field design, but they did shoehorn it in.

You can see the designs for the fields in the Turf and Fields CAT folder that I linked.

Edited by Texas Jeff
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Posted
8 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:


I think Marshall only has grades 6 and 7 this year. They are opening the school over three years, adding a grade each year. So next year they may be at 600 just because of kids moving up and more 6th graders arriving.

And they don’t have a rating yet, so it provides a loop hole.

Posted

My crazy idea:

Close Northeast HS and move all of the kids to LBJ HS.  LBJ would be almost full and demographics show that it would slightly shrink over the next ten years, but it would be lot more full that it is planned to be.  LBJ's projected enrollment in 2033 is 537, for a school with a capacity of 1947.

Keep the International HS at the Northeast campus and open a new middle school at Northeast.  Move the bond money that was to be spent on Dobie to the new MS at Northeast.  The combo of the International HS and the new MS would benefit from both the $36 million that was to go to Dobie and the $117 million that is being spent at the Northeast campus.  This gives the district room to expand if other middle schools in the area fail, and there are others on the list that could fail in the next few years just like Dobie.

Dobie is 3 miles from the Northeast campus versus 6 miles from the Lamar campus.

It also gives the east side a strong vertical, since Marshall and the new Northeast MS would feed to LBJ.

Put a lot of resources into the new MS to try to get it up to at least a C rating, so that the district is not in the same situation five years from now.

Posted
2 hours ago, Bolero88 said:

Roundabouts are almost always better than the alternative. I find that people who complain about them are usually bad drivers. 

So most Austin drivers?

Posted
2 hours ago, Bolero88 said:

Roundabouts are almost always better than the alternative. I find that people who complain about them are usually bad drivers. 

First roundabout I ever went around was on Tokyo’s Ginza Strip in 1957. 
It was six lanes and packed with little taxicabs, including ours, all trying to outrace each other to their desired exits or lanes. 
There was one traffic cop/observer (wearing a smog mask) standing atop a wooden platform in the center watching the wild & crazy mess - for what purpose I don’t know. Maybe to call for an ambulance if needed.

But at least we learned where all the leftover Kamakazi pilots were employed.

Posted (edited)

I went to the AISD meeting at Lamar last night about moving Dobie MS to Lamar.

They gave 3 options:  let a charter school run Dobie, close Dobie for good and redraw attendance boundaries, or move them all to Lamar.  Really, only #3 is on the table.

A few things:

1.  Lamar is over enrolled by 200 kids.  AISD can't give a number but they think 400-450 kids will opt to enroll at Lamar. That will put the campus 50% over capacity.  Not only will the Dobie kids will be sent to Lamar but they have to offer Lamar to the charter school kids that are zoned to Dobie.  That could balloon the total number of kids by another 100-200. 

2.  The Title 1 funding Dobie gets will not follow them to Lamar.  Segura said they will provide money.  From where? The deficit is 10s of millions.  

3.  The plan is to put 2 9-classroom modular buildings next to the tennis courts and track.  Segura says they can do a site plan, find a contractor with immediate availability, get permitting, do site work, install the buildings, do sewer, water, electric, get inspections, and get a certificate of occupancy within the 3 month timeframe.  That's comical to say the least.  There are kids sitting on the floor in class at Lamar today because they don't have enough desks.  Do you think an ISD that can't deliver 100 desks to school in the first 8 months of school can delivery a huge construction project in 3 months? Get the fuck out of here.

4.  Murchison is under enrolled by over 200 kids and has plenty of room for modular buildings.  The unspoken elephant in the room on why Murchison wasn't on the table are two fold: 1. Murchison parents would never accommodate Dobie kids and move their kids to private schools. 2.  Burnet MS and Webb MS are in the same situation next year and will have to close.  They are saving the A/B schools with capacity for the larger middle school closures coming next year.

5.  There is zero plan to improve the outcome of the Dobie kids.  Their teacher-student ratio is 14:1.  At Lamar it's 36:1.  It is expected to be over 40:1 even with additional teachers.  There are no ESL services at Lamar.  50%+ of the Dobie kids are ESL.  Basically, the goal is to take the failing kids and have their performance get lost in an A/B school. Who cares if it drops Lamar to a C or D. That's still passing.  No support for these kids is going to happen.

TLDR: The whole situation is fucked.  They are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  If you are an A/B rated school in AISD, you will be absorbing one to two F rated schools in the next few years.  It's a death spiral I don't know if AISD can get out of.

 

Edited by CooterBrown
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Posted
11 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Do you think an ISD that can't deliver 100 desks to school in the first 8 months of school can delivery a huge construction project in 3 months? Get the fuck out of here.

Just have the kids BYOD from Dobie. 
 

12 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

TLDR: The whole situation is fucked.  They are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  If you are an A/B rated school in AISD, you will be absorbing one to two F rated schools in the next few years.  It's a death spiral I don't know if AISD can get out of.

 

100% agree. It’s completely asinine to me that people who have spent their careers in education think that shuttering a facility and moving students to another building is going to miraculously fix the underlying factors that have led to poor student performance. It’s flat out lazy and only kicks the can down the road instead of taking a longer term approach to addressing the needs of kids at Dobie which likely look different than kids at Lamar or Burnet or wherever. Unfortunately, TEA isn’t forward thinking and funding to come up with solutions targeted to the needs of a community doesn’t exist. TEA has an agenda and AISD is playing defense. This doesn’t end until TEA manages all the large urban ISDs.

Posted

There were a lot of strong emotions at the Lamar meeting yesterday.  They finally shut it down at 11pm after going 5.5 hours.  Lamar teachers spoke out strongly against "the plan".  Lot's of existing Lamar parents making veiled threats of white flight.

Posted
21 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

4.  Murchison is under enrolled by over 200 kids and has plenty of room for modular buildings.  The unspoken elephant in the room on why Murchison wasn't on the table are two fold: 1. Murchison parents would never accommodate Dobie kids and move their kids to private schools. 2.  Burnet MS and Webb MS are in the same situation next year and will have to close.  They are saving the A/B schools with capacity for the larger middle school closures coming next year.4.

 

 

That's terrible.  I feel for everyone going through this.  Doesn't sound like there's an acceptable way forward with this current group of administrators.  

 

Webb is zoned for Lanier/Navarro or Mac?

Posted
1 minute ago, swraith said:

There were a lot of strong emotions at the Lamar meeting yesterday.  They finally shut it down at 11pm after going 5.5 hours.  Lamar teachers spoke out strongly against "the plan".  Lot's of existing Lamar parents making veiled threats of white flight.

My Lamar 6th grader said that Dobie was all the talk at school yesterday.  She said she's ready to go to Colorado if we decide that's best.

 

Posted

My Lamar 7th grader said his friends group was oblivious on Monday.  They have science STAAR today but by Wednesday I bet his friend's group will be talking about it.  I made him listen to a part of the discussion on Monday night.

Posted
29 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

TLDR: The whole situation is fucked.  They are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  If you are an A/B rated school in AISD, you will be absorbing one to two F rated schools in the next few years.  It's a death spiral I don't know if AISD can get out of.

8 minutes ago, royiv said:

TEA has an agenda and AISD is playing defense. This doesn’t end until TEA manages all the large urban ISDs.

These -- while not granting ANY absolution to AISD and its overall management and handling style, this circumstance is mostly a result of a system the Legislature purposefully set up as a trap to ensure eventual state control of all urban school districts.  AISD may have done a poor job, but they did a poor job of an impossible task: ensure that no school in a massive urban district ends up with an F grade.  Socioeconomics alone dictate that WILL happen.

And once THAT happens, then there are very limited tools available to stave off state takeover.

Combine that with shrinking enrollment (as what used to be affordable family neighborhoods are no longer places where families with kids can buy/move), massive budget holes due largely to 1) recapture sucking half of our money away and 2) fuck all in the way of state funding (the goal is to starve and kill public schools, and the Lege is achieving that goal)....and this shit was inevitable.

And it's only going to get worse.  The Legislature set a trap that can't be avoided.  And if it means that thousands of kids will be utterly fucked over in the process....well, that's actually the point.  It's maddening, but you know, fuck you for living in a community (we call them "cities") that our current Legislature actively hates and wants to cause maximum harm to.

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Posted

Was listening to a teacher talk about this last night. If AISD gets taken over by the state and doesn’t improve (because why would it) then what happens?

I know right now we’re talking about preventing the takeover, but this honestly seems like a losing battle with the current funding mechanisms.

Posted
5 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

Was listening to a teacher talk about this last night. If AISD gets taken over by the state and doesn’t improve (because why would it) then what happens?

I know right now we’re talking about preventing the takeover, but this honestly seems like a losing battle with the current funding mechanisms.

Rights to operate the district are sold to the highest bidder. As a private school operated district, there's no longer a need to publish academic performance.  Problem solved.

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Posted
30 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

That's terrible.  I feel for everyone going through this.  Doesn't sound like there's an acceptable way forward with this current group of administrators.  

 

Webb is zoned for Lanier/Navarro or Mac?

Feeder patterns: https://www.austinisd.org/sites/default/files/dept/planning-asset-management/2024-25_FMP_Feeder_Pattern_20240904(1).pdf

Attendance boundaries:  https://www.austinisd.org/modules/custom/schools/maps/schools.html

Webb is zoned to four schools:  McCallum, LBJ, Northeast, Navarro.

Not every middle school has attendance boundaries.  On the east side, Gus Garcia (all boys), Sadler Means (all girls), and Marshall (open two years) do not have boundaries.

Sadler Means and Burnet MS are currently receiving brand new buildings.  Marshall was built as part of the 2017 bond.

Posted
2 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Rights to operate the district are sold to the highest bidder. As a private school operated district, there's no longer a need to publish academic performance.  Problem solved.

And when that fails…

Assuming AISD isn’t 100% incompetent and packed full of low performing teachers, achieving performance metrics on a shoe string budget seems unlikely.

There was an idea a few years ago to break up the AISD into the surrounding districts. But haven’t heard about that in a while.

image.thumb.jpeg.4169b2b9323a1696ea08d2b87736f2bd.jpeg

Posted (edited)
On 4/19/2025 at 4:59 PM, South Austin said:

When my daughter started kindergarten at Highland Park in 2010, we heard that a ridiculously low percentage of fifth graders were going to Lamar (I recall 25%, but my memory could be exaggerating). We figured it would be either Kealing or St. Theresa’s for middle school. But by the time she was in fifth grade it seemed like 80% of the kids were going to Lamar. It was pretty impressive how Lamar improved so much and drew the parental support from the Highland Park community. It turned out to be a pretty great middle school experience for both our kids, and I fear this latest issue with Dobie, along with mother fucking vouchers, are going to cause more parents to forgo Lamar like so many used to.

Yep, and AISD is about to ruin all of that improvement in one fell swoop.   Segura (superintendent) was never qualified for the job in the first place, although to be fair, the last couple before him were even worse despite having the credentials.  He did a terrible job in the meeting last night, blatantly lying and doubling down when called out by angry parents.   They would have gained much more traction if they were just fucking honest about it.   

As Larry mentioned, Lamar families are a fairly altruistic bunch.  The messaging from the dumbasses in central office should had been, "You know what, we've failed these kids for years and have failed to foresee what was an extremely obviousy situation that is now upon us and we have planned absolutely nothign for it.   The Lamar community has demonstrated the ability to put in the tough work that families have to do to make an inner city school work, and we're asking you to help out your neighbors now because there really isn't much we as administrators can do at this point."   This would have gone over much better than the lying, obfuscating, and refusal to accept any ownership for the situation that those cowards presented last night.  What a sorry bunch of overpaid dipshits, starting with and especially the superintendent.   Vouchers are already going to further decimate AISD, but this move will send a ton of high-performing kids to private schools whose families, just a week ago, were ride or die with the public school system.

Edited by Samson's Wig
Posted

When the state takes over a school district shouldn’t we stop calling it an “independent” school district? Here in Houston, we have a state appointed superintendent and a state appointed board of managers. None of these people report to or are accountable to the citizens in the district. There is no independence from TEA.

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Posted
48 minutes ago, swraith said:

My Lamar 7th grader said his friends group was oblivious on Monday.  They have science STAAR today but by Wednesday I bet his friend's group will be talking about it.  I made him listen to a part of the discussion on Monday night.

Lots of hot parents at that meeting that undoubtedly had long discussions within earshot of their kids afterward.  Lamar teachers are shitting bricks right now as well and will be discussing it with the kids as well.   I see a wave of panic leading to mass exodus before things calm down a little.   If enough kdis bail from Lamar it will make way for more Dobie kids, I guess, but it will also result in Lamar becoming an F rated school all over again.

Posted
4 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Yep, and AISD is about to ruin all of that improvement in one fell swoop.   Segura (superintended) was never qualified for the job in the first place, although to be fair the last couple before him were even worse despite having the credentials.  He did a terrible job in the meeting last night, blatantly lying and doubling down when called out by angry parents.   They would have gained much more traction if they were just fucking honest about it.   

As Larry mentioned, Lamar families are a fairly altruistic bunch.  The messaging from the dumbasses in central office should had been, "You know what, we've failed these kids for years and have failed to foresee what was an extremely obviousy situation that is now upon us and we have planned absolutely nothign for it.   The Lamar community has demonstrated the ability to put in the tough work that families have to do to make an inner city school work, and we're asking you to help out your neighbors now because there really isn't much we as administrators can do at this point."   This would have gone over much better than the lying, obfuscating, and refusal to accept any ownership for the situation that those cowards presented last night.  What a sorry bunch of overpaid dipshits, starting with and especially the superintendent.   Vouchers are already going to further decimate AISD, but this move will send a ton of high performing kids to private schools whose familes, just a week ago, were ride or die with the public school system.

I don't think Segura could have said anything last night that would have appeased the cohort of angry parents and teachers.  Late into the evening 1 Lamar teacher basically said out loud they are likely going to quit at the end of the year.

Posted

If only this was an AISD problem and not a social, political, cultural and economic failure*. But, heads gotta roll and roll they will. It’s easier than fixing things.

Anyway, “closing failing schools” or a state takeover or whatever costume change they come up with won’t solve  anything. You could put Eanes in charge and it wouldn’t get one iota better. We’d  still be just rearranging deck chairs while we listen to the strings play “Nearer my God to Thee.”
 

 

 

* I’d like to point out preemptively that I didn’t mention funding, because even though the way we pay for education in Texas is a huge part of the problem in Austin, the amount we pay is more than enough. 

Posted
13 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

If only this was an AISD problem and not a social, political, cultural and economic failure*. But, heads gotta roll and roll they will. It’s easier than fixing things.

Anyway, “closing failing schools” or a state takeover or whatever costume change they come up with won’t solve  anything. You could put Eanes in charge and it wouldn’t get one iota better. We’d  still be just rearranging deck chairs while we listen to the strings play “Nearer my God to Thee.”
 

 

 

* I’d like to point out preemptively that I didn’t mention funding, because even though the way we pay for education in Texas is a huge part of the problem in Austin, the amount we pay is more than enough. 

TLDR; Statewide, we have built and set up a system guaranteed to deliver failure, and in that respect, it's a roaring success.

This is all working as designed and intended.  The death of public education is the end-game.  They aren't hiding it.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, swraith said:

I don't think Segura could have said anything last night that would have appeased the cohort of angry parents and teachers.  Late into the evening 1 Lamar teacher basically said out loud they are likely going to quit at the end of the year.

I bailed after parents started yelling and screaming, and watched the rest on Zoom.  There was no need for that, even if the anger is justified.  Segura was a spineless liar, though, and his performance did nothing to cool down the temperature. He got flustered easily and started making slips in the company line.  One of the more common was when "if" became "when" anytime he was flustered.   The most blatant lie, at least of those I noticed, was when he said Title 1 designation does not equate to money, even though in the next breath he said but it doesn't matter because Title 1 is being cut by 25%.  No answer to the questions about how Lamar is supposed to help these Dobie kids, of whom around 5% passed the last STAAR test, when Lamar will not be receiving the massive amount of additinoal funding that Dobie gets.     I have never been impressed with him, but last night was the most sure sign of him being in over his head yet.   

The most telling part of all of this is that the charter school option involves bringing in a group with a proven track record of getting underperforming schools up to par (something AISD has proven it is incapable of doing at Dobie), but they will not consider it at all.  He hid behind some vague notion of "values", (talk about a subjective term), when we all know the reality that it is about preserving funding and jobs and that these kids are the last consideration for this board and admin.  They are going to take kids who are failing in an environment where they have tons of funding, a 14:1 student teacher ratio, and all of the special programming kids like this can ask for and dump them into a school that will have none of those extras services, currently has a 36:1 student/teacher ratio, is already well above the population limit to the point I don't understand how they pass fire inspections and they can barely get all the kids fed lunch each day, and somehow were supposed to believe this is better than leaving them right where they're at and brining in a third party that has proven success at schools just like Dobie?   Fuck those lying assholes.

The boogieman of the state is very real, and no one wants that, but the lack of accountability from the district is depressing.  They've had years to address this issue and he tried to push the nonsense that they just found out about all of these "F" grades in the last month.   They were using the false hope that a lawsuit would work out in their favor as an excuse to do absolutely nothign to plan for this when it's been obvious it was coming since before the pandemic.  They tried to pull off busing to avoid this issue back in 2020 or so.   Shuffling kids around to massage test scores rather than working to find ways to actually educate kids is pathetic ass covering, and they're all culpable even if they're fairly new to the job.

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Posted
1 hour ago, CooterBrown said:

I went to the AISD meeting at Lamar last night about moving Dobie MS to Lamar.

They gave 3 options:  let a charter school run Dobie, close Dobie for good and redraw attendance boundaries, or move them all to Lamar.  Really, only #3 is on the table.

A few things:

1.  Lamar is over enrolled by 200 kids.  AISD can't give a number but they think 400-450 kids will opt to enroll at Lamar. That will put the campus 50% over capacity.  Not only will the Dobie kids will be sent to Lamar but they have to offer Lamar to the charter school kids that are zoned to Dobie.  That could balloon the total number of kids by another 100-200. 

2.  The Title 1 funding Dobie gets will not follow them to Lamar.  Segura said they will provide money.  From where? The deficit is 10s of millions.  

3.  The plan is to put 2 9-classroom modular buildings next to the tennis courts and track.  Segura says they can do a site plan, find a contractor with immediate availability, get permitting, do site work, install the buildings, do sewer, water, electric, get inspections, and get a certificate of occupancy within the 3 month timeframe.  That's comical to say the least.  There are kids sitting on the floor in class at Lamar today because they don't have enough desks.  Do you think an ISD that can't deliver 100 desks to school in the first 8 months of school can delivery a huge construction project in 3 months? Get the fuck out of here.

4.  Murchison is under enrolled by over 200 kids and has plenty of room for modular buildings.  The unspoken elephant in the room on why Murchison wasn't on the table are two fold: 1. Murchison parents would never accommodate Dobie kids and move their kids to private schools. 2.  Burnet MS and Webb MS are in the same situation next year and will have to close.  They are saving the A/B schools with capacity for the larger middle school closures coming next year.

5.  There is zero plan to improve the outcome of the Dobie kids.  Their teacher-student ratio is 14:1.  At Lamar it's 36:1.  It is expected to be over 40:1 even with additional teachers.  There are no ESL services at Lamar.  50%+ of the Dobie kids are ESL.  Basically, the goal is to take the failing kids and have their performance get lost in an A/B school. Who cares if it drops Lamar to a C or D. That's still passing.  No support for these kids is going to happen.

TLDR: The whole situation is fucked.  They are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.  If you are an A/B rated school in AISD, you will be absorbing one to two F rated schools in the next few years.  It's a death spiral I don't know if AISD can get out of.

 

Jesus dude. If this is true I really feel for parents of public school aged kids these days. What a goat rodeo.

Posted
Just now, Vegas64 said:

Jesus dude. If this is true I really feel for parents of public school aged kids these days. What a goat rodeo.

My 4 kids all graduated from McCallum.  In that sense, I feel like I dodged a bullet.

Unfortunately, I have a grandson.  He's at Doss.  I doubt that will end up a much better track.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

My 4 kids all graduated from McCallum.  In that sense, I feel like I dodged a bullet.

Unfortunately, I have a grandson.  He's at Doss.  I doubt that will end up a much better track.

You need to be telling your son/daughter that they need to be paying very close attention and making some decisions about the future.  AISD is ciricling the drain, and nothing is going to save it.    It's a matter of when, not if, TEA takes over the district.  My bet is within the next 2 years.   Everyone that can should get out while the getting is good.

Our kids are begging us to stay at Lamar for 8th grade.   We're not sure what we're going to do, but I'm solid at this point that they won't attend high school in AISD no matter what we do next year.

Posted
On 4/20/2025 at 8:01 AM, Bolero88 said:

Roundabouts are almost always better than the alternative. I find that people who complain about them are usually bad drivers. 

They are also dumb as shit.

Redundant, I know.

 

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Posted
On 4/20/2025 at 8:01 AM, Bolero88 said:

Roundabouts are almost always better than the alternative. I find that people who complain about them are usually bad drivers. 

I agree with this 100%, but if you saw roundabout he is referencing you would agree it's the dumbest fucking roadway project in the history of roadway projects, yes even that one.  It's not the type of roundabout one thinks of when they think of a roundabout.  It needlessly made that very tiny intersection more dangerous.   I would love to know the backstory on it, as it almost has to involve someone pocketing cash on the deal, or some type of "spend it or lose" type situation.  It's really dumb.

Posted
1 hour ago, Samson's Wig said:

Lots of hot parents at that meeting that undoubtedly had long discussions within earshot of their kids afterward.  Lamar teachers are shitting bricks right now as well and will be discussing it with the kids as well.   I see a wave of panic leading to mass exodus before things calm down a little.   If enough kdis bail from Lamar it will make way for more Dobie kids, I guess, but it will also result in Lamar becoming an F rated school all over again.

On the bright side, those poorly educated children will have a good shot at a long career in the Texas legislature. 

Posted
1 hour ago, Samson's Wig said:

this move will send a ton of high-performing kids to private schools whose families, just a week ago, were ride or die with the public school system.

Anecdotally, one of my law partners has a sixth grader at Lamar, and he told me this morning that he just put his kid on a transfer waitlist.  He's a fellow liberal and supporter of public schools, but this bullshit is too much for him to take.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

I read elsewhere that rising Dobie 6th graders will not be sent to Lamar for 6th grade.  They will be rezoned elsewhere.  This just affects rising 7th and 8th graders.  Not sure if that is true or not ... please correct me if I am wrong.

But if it is, then Lamar will get Dobie kids for two grades, then one grade, then none.  Not great for overcrowding at Lamar but eventually the Dobie kids will track to a different school.  

Of course, the schools closest to Dobie are also receiving low scores, so there could still be be a contagion for years of schools shutting down for poor grades and the kids there getting shifted to other schools farther away that are full.

Posted
1 hour ago, Samson's Wig said:

I agree with this 100%, but if you saw roundabout he is referencing you would agree it's the dumbest fucking roadway project in the history of roadway projects, yes even that one.  It's not the type of roundabout one thinks of when they think of a roundabout.  It needlessly made that very tiny intersection more dangerous.   I would love to know the backstory on it, as it almost has to involve someone pocketing cash on the deal, or some type of "spend it or lose" type situation.  It's really dumb.

Thank you.  I am not criticizing the concept of roundabouts, I'm criticizing this single roundabout.  It's ridiculous.

Posted
1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Thank you.  I am not criticizing the concept of roundabouts, I'm criticizing this single roundabout.  It's ridiculous.

I'll have to take your word for it. 

Posted
1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Pics?  Of the moms?

lol.  One of them, who I happen to live with (no pics), was on the news along with me in some b-roll footage.  I told her when I saw them shooting us that we were going to be used for the "basic white people" part of their segment, and sure enough there we were.

  • Haha 1
Posted
1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Anecdotally, one of my law partners has a sixth grader at Lamar, and he told me this morning that he just put his kid on a transfer waitlist.  He's a fellow liberal and supporter of public schools, but this bullshit is too much for him to take.

Not surprised to hear it, and they won't be alone.  This happening at the same time as vouchers, although I don't have a clue if that will be available for this fall or not, will send folks fleeing in droves.

Posted
1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Thank you.  I am not criticizing the concept of roundabouts, I'm criticizing this single roundabout.  It's ridiculous.

I like roundabouts but am not familiar with that specific one.  That said, I hate Americans who stop in the middle of the roundabout and try to waive you in.  WTF? Keep going!?

  • Hook 'Em 4
Posted
1 hour ago, Texas Jeff said:

I read elsewhere that rising Dobie 6th graders will not be sent to Lamar for 6th grade.  They will be rezoned elsewhere.  This just affects rising 7th and 8th graders.  Not sure if that is true or not ... please correct me if I am wrong.

But if it is, then Lamar will get Dobie kids for two grades, then one grade, then none.  Not great for overcrowding at Lamar but eventually the Dobie kids will track to a different school.  

Of course, the schools closest to Dobie are also receiving low scores, so there could still be be a contagion for years of schools shutting down for poor grades and the kids there getting shifted to other schools farther away that are full.

That is something parents have suggested but it is not what the district is doing.

 

And yes, Burnet and Webb are both likely to be shut down next year, precipitating another round of "we never saw this coming" from the administration, followed by decisions that fuck over as many kids and families as possible.  The district is circling the drain, and it won't be saved at this point.  If there was strong leadership in place it would still be a long shot, but with the inexperienced child running the show right now, coupled with the state's hard on for taking over city schools so they can funnel money into their pockets while at the same time indoctrinating kids with proper evangelical/modern republican principles protecting kids from all of the drag queens that are present on every single big city campus and converting all of the trans kids who just need better male role models, you know like Mike Morath or Dan Patrick, there is a zero percent chance things get better.

  • Rage+1 1
Posted
8 minutes ago, texasdago said:

I like roundabouts but am not familiar with that specific one.  That said, I hate Americans who stop in the middle of the roundabout and try to waive you in.  WTF? Keep going!?

World's tiniest roundabout.  People heading north and south just treat it like it's not there and don't break stride as they pass through it.   I've had more near misses on my motorcycle there than anywhere else I ride.   People do dumb shit on roundabouts all over Austin (and Texas) but this one is special in its complete lack of thoughtful design, and more importantly the complete lack of need. 

Screenshot 2025-04-22 at 2.42.22 PM.png

Posted

The Dobie/Lamar thing is insanity. The reasons why have already been mentioned, but I'd also point out that in a school with a huge population of ESL kids, they are forced to take the freaking STAAR tests in English. Tell me again how the state wants these kids to succeed. What a farce. I'm just so sad for all of these kids. 

Mine went through Lamar and for all three years, he'd complain about how there was no time to get through the lunch line, and "walking" between classes was just a slow shuffle of tightly packed sardines, shoulder to shoulder. He never wanted to do much on the weekends because of the drain of being around so damned many people. Now he's a freshman at McCallum and I'm dreaming of noping out of this country and retiring to Costa Rica but we've got the rest of his education to deal with...

Posted

Yeah, that roundabout sucks.

I was bringing the boat back from the shop and for some idiotic reason went through your neighborhood rather than 2222 thinking the hills weren't as bad. I couldn't get the boat around that going from driftwood to southbound lakewood. I had to back up and go the wrong way through the intersection to make it. 

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