On Wednesday, the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees met at Town Center Elementary School to address questions and comments from parents, teachers and community members affected by the consolidation recommendation.
“There is no one who wants to be here tonight. There is no one who wants to close a school. The district is facing an $8.5 million deficit,” interim superintendent Doug Williams said. “The board has taken great consideration to come to this point, and we need your input.”
On Monday, the Board votes on the TCES consolidation option. In the open forum, community members expressed concerns about the trustees’ decision.
“Eight years ago today, Oct. 1, 2017, my wife and I were at the Route 91 concert shooting in Las Vegas, where several of my friends were shot. We came to TCES because of the location next to the police station,” parent Tyler Reich said. “I will do my best to ensure my three kids are safe to the best of my ability.”
In addition to the importance of safety, other parents presented statistics and facts.
“There is a group of parents that has been working very diligently and looking at the data, so we asked the board to look at the data carefully, because we feel like the decision was very rushed,” parent Leslie Pham said. “The board showed us that we were the lowest in terms of safety. Today, we did a walk-to-school day to show that with all the students who bike and walk to school, there was hardly any traffic.”
In addition to concerns voiced by parents, teachers expressed their desire to preserve the culture and tight-knit community of the school.
“Town Center has the highest teacher retention rate of any campus under consideration at 94.4%. For comparison, we are the only school being considered for consolidation that has its retention rate above 90%,” GT Specialist teacher Heather Bass said. “Breaking apart the staff risks dismantling a vital part of CISD success that upholds the very vision of this amazing district.”
Moderator Clay Phillips asked questions submitted by the community, including the future of the campus after two years of housing Lakeside and Austin Elementary Schools during construction.
“In relation to the long term, one of the things that we did that felt like it was important is we put together a property and facilities channel,” Williams said. “That is made up of trustees, citizens and some realtors. The committee has been meeting, and they have not made that determination yet.”
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