AISD to Close Paredes Middle School

Less than a month before the new school year begins, on July 22, Austin ISD unexpectedly proposed the immediate closure of Paredes Middle School, with trustees to vote Thursday night, July 30. The Southeast Austin campus was home to 848 students and 88 staff last school year.

This will be AISD’s 12th school closure within a single year, following the shuttering of eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and International High School at the end of last school year. In April, AISD Superintendent Matias Segura reassured the community that the district would “suspend any additional school closures.”

In comparison to the months-long feedback process that had preceded the closure of 11 schools in the fall, the quick turnaround to close Paredes feels jarring, community members told trustees at the board meeting on Tuesday, July 28. AISD trustees and parents asked Segura why he waited until three weeks before the first day of school to close Paredes.

“Our families, teachers, and staff deserve better,” Laurie Solis of the Austin Council of PTAs told trustees. “They deserve consistent communication, transparency, and genuine opportunities to partner with the district in addressing challenges before we reach this point.”

Segura wrote to families on July 22 that the Paredes closure is necessary because “academic outcomes” are not improving at the rate needed. Paredes has received three consecutive F accountability ratings from 2023-2025, which are heavily based on standardized test scores. 2026 accountability scores are set to be released in mid-August.

“A fourth [unacceptable score] is a real possibility for Paredes [in August]. I think that we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that,” AISD’s chief of staff, La Kesha Drinks, told trustees at the board meeting.

If Paredes received a fourth F in August and remained open this school year, it could create the potential for the campus to receive a fifth F in 2027 – a benchmark that would allow TEA to take over AISD, likely replacing the superintendent and board with state appointments.

At the July 28 board meeting, district officials discussed further challenges at Paredes: The campus has the most staff vacancies in the district. And while 2025 fall semester testing data showed strong improvements in math and reading, 2026 spring test results declined – one reason district officials gave for closing Paredes now, rather than grouped with the 11 other school closures in the fall.

If trustees approve the closure Thursday, Paredes students will be reassigned to Bailey and Mendez middle schools. Only about a quarter of Paredes’ geographic attendance zone will be assigned to Mendez, and three-quarters to Bailey, a larger and lower-rated campus (C) than Mendez (B). Mendez will return from charter to district control this school year.

Trustee Andrew Gonzales pointed out that Paredes students have much less time than Bedichek and Martin middle school students to smoothly transition to their new schools. “Paredes students are being deprived of that opportunity by this recommendation coming at the time that it is,” Gonzalez said.

And unlike Paredes and Mendez, Bailey is not a dual-language campus – reassigned Paredes students would not have access to the same programs needed to learn English at Bailey. About 36% of Paredes’ student population were English language learners as of April.

“Considering that there is dual-language at Paredes but not at Bailey, we are witnessing marginalization happen in real time,” Taylor Carriker-Cavin, an AISD teacher and Education Austin member, told the Chronicle last week.

On Tuesday night, a district representative said that Paredes students rezoned to Bailey who were enrolled in dual-language have the option to individually transfer to Mendez and access bus transportation.

The closure of Paredes will likely save the district about $2.4 million, Segura told trustees Tuesday.

While the abrupt school closure is far from ideal, Education Austin President Ken Zarifis told the Chronicle, he believes it a wise move for AISD to avoid landing in another vulnerable position for state takeover in 2027.

“It’s not a situation that we want to be in. It’s not a situation the district wants to be in,” Zarifis said. “It’s hard on the kids. It’s hard on the parents. But if this [decision] was made during the school year … it’d be even worse.”

Partnership Ends, Takeover Looms

The proposal to close Paredes came just two days after AISD announced the termination of its partnership with the Texas Council for International Studies, a nonprofit that was set to manage Dobie, Webb, and Burnet middle schools starting this fall.

While Paredes has three F’s as of 2025, Dobie, Webb, and Burnet have four, and could receive their fifth when accountability scores are scheduled to release in August.

AISD had sought to work with TCIS with hopes to access the benefits of an 1882 partnership, namely the potential of increased state funding and two years of relief from accountability consequences, which would delay the possibility of state takeover.

The Texas Education Agency rejected that bid in late May, leaving AISD vulnerable to takeover in the event that Dobie, Webb, or Burnet receive a fifth unacceptable score from TEA in August.

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