Families Find Out More About Facilities Options at North Central Meeting

Some 250 people joined me on Saturday, October 15, to find out more about proposals to alleviate overcrowding in North Central elementary schools. These proposals are not final. They’re among several options in a new process for planning school facilities that the AISD Board of Trustees will consider on November 21 and December 12.

For two hours on this Saturday morning, participants learned about the proposed Facility Master Plan, as well as three proposed scenarios for North Central Austin schools. Two sessions were held at the same time, one in English and one in Spanish, with the majority of participants attending the Spanish-language presentation. Then, we broke out into work groups by school to hear from families. Lots of input, lots of ideas! Thanks for joining us.

There are three proposed scenarios. All three would:

• Have sixth grade students from Barrington, Brown and Walnut Creek attend middle school in their attendance area rather than elementary school, as is common throughout most of AISD; and
• Create a Pre-K village on the Dobie Middle School Campus, and re-assign pre-K students from Graham and Hart to that campus. Retain the existing boundaries for Dobie Middle School students.

But each of the three scenarios would be different in this way.

• In the first scenario, Pre-K students assigned to Barrington  and  Wooten would be assigned to a Dual Language Pre-K Center  at Ridgetop Elementary. Ridgetop students, including the Dual Language program, would be moved to Reilly Elementary.
• In the second scenario, Webb Middle School would be repurposed to be a Pre K-8 school, and a portion of students in the Barrington Elementary School attendance zone would be assigned to this newly designed school.
• In the third scenario, a pre-K center just for Barrington students would be constructed on the Webb Middle School grounds. It would be separate from the middle school campus, and have its own gym and cafeteria.

Please let us know what you think of the scenarios! Share with your principal, too!

Target Transforms T.A.Brown Library

There was a sense of excitement and anticipation in North Austin at T.A. Brown Elementary School last Friday as I waited with Principal Veronica Sharp, her students and teachers, and more than 100 volunteers for Target to unveil the results of the long-awaited library makeover at the campus.

We were not disappointed.

The “oohs” and “ahhs” could be heard all over the building. And the students were just as excited as us grownups to see the transformation!

Last fall, T.A. Brown, also known as “The Best School in Town,” was chosen as one of the 42 U.S. Schools to benefit from the 2011 Target School Library Makeover program. This program leverages Target’s world-class design and construction expertise to transform elementary school libraries.

Because T.A. Brown was built in 1957, the library was ready for a makeover. And what a makeover it was. 

The redesigned library included new lighting, new furniture and carpeting, eco-friendly design elements, and new reading spaces. And, because we try and stress recycling, the new shelving installed allowed the campus to reuse the old shelving as a literacy lending library for teachers. How cool is that?

The new technology upgrades Target provided also included 10 new iPads for the campus. And, in addition to the 2,000 books Target donated to the campus, each student and his or her siblings also received seven books to take home and add to their own collections. We are so grateful for Target’s generosity.

This great new library comes at a time I have told my staff that I want to blow the cover off reading in AISD! I am confident that this wonderful library at T.A. Brown will certainly inspire students to want to become better readers.

In addition to unveiling the new library, Target also launched a Target Meals for Minds school-based pantry site at the campus. This pantry will help us to combat childhood hunger and its impact on learning. Through the Target Meals for Minds program, all T.A. Brown Elementary students and families will be able to choose from a variety of staple foods and fresh produce to take home.

AISD and Brown Elementary School are grateful to Target for this wonderful library makeover.