On Wednesday, the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees was presented with testimonies from Wilson and Pinkerton Elementary School students, administrators and parents sharing grievances regarding the potential closure of Pinkerton amidst CISD budget issues. 

“We want a real solution, not a plan thrown together in the last couple of weeks that may or may not work,” said Jason Moore, father to two students at Pinkerton. “We need a plan that works for many years, not two. There are less than 20 public IB elementary schools in all of Texas.”

With the Dual Language Immersion program facing threats of consolidation into one campus, families relying on the proximity of the school to their house would face difficulties commuting and continuing to be involved in their school’s community. 

“Many DLI families are considering removing their children from the program,” another Pinkerton parent said. “This means ultimately less funding for the school and consolidating DLI would only further explode an already marginalized population of students.”

Pinkerton’s IB program has bolstered enrollment and brought additional federal funding according to the HB 3 Bilingual Education Allotment, making it unique from other CISD elementary schools such as Wilson and Austin which were exempt from consolidating despite CISD’s budget deficits. Parents and faculty shared fears of the consolidation being a premature solution to a larger problem, altering their child’s education. 

“We moved here specifically for the school’s DLI program,” resident Randy Pearson said. “I want to implore you to actually get the input from these families that do actually have a choice of where to send our kids next year if this does go through.”

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