To help make Ector County ISD campuses more efficient and to institute some cost savings, officials have devised a plan to bring families back together and provide more high-quality seats.
The ECISD Board of Trustees on Tuesday night heard that the plan impacts seven campuses.
Reasons for the proposal include bringing families back together again in the kindergarten through fifth grade neighborhood schools so parents don’t have to travel to multiple schools to pick up their children.
Right-sizing the schools so maximizing the efficiency of the schools facility use to level out enrollment among the schools.
Give children more access to high quality seats in A and B rated schools
Expand prekindergarten and expand choice school options for families.
Pease will be an IB elementary and Alamo becomes a New Tech Network elementary, which will feed into the new tech middle school planned to come online in 2026.
Burleson, currently a kindergarten through fifth grade, into an early education center, which would save $690,273.55 for a year.
Pease, Noel and Zavala will become kindergarten through fifth grade schools.
Zavala is currently prekindergarten through second grade. Travis is third through fifth grade.
Noel is grades three through five. Pease is prekindergarten through second.
Travis will be repurposed, but there is not a specific plan for it right now. Travis cost savings is $566,454.09.
Staff will have options to move to other ECISD campuses.
It was recommended to reassign Burleson students to San Jacinto and Noel elementary schools for the 2024-25 school years.
San Jacinto is an A rated school under previous state accountability ratings.
Associate Superintendent of Student and School Support Alicia Syverson said there is no available space at Carver and Lamar early education centers and no room for expansion.
ECISD currently partners with the YMCA to provide education for 3-year-old prekindergarten students.
Pease is set to become an elementary International Baccalaureate program and Alamo STEAM Academy will become a New Tech Network school.
George H.W. Bush New Tech Odessa will become a sixth through 12th grade campus.
Superintendent Scott Muri said since he’s been at ECISD he has heard from parents, and board members have made comments, about having to drive from school to school.
Muri said now is the right time to transition them back to the kindergarten through fifth grade schools as they are performing better now.
He added that the district has been talking about these plans for a while “and knew that we were eventually going in that direction.”
“The efficiencies at Travis, that was really looking at our under enrolled elementary schools. The last two bond committees have brought that up that we have some campuses that are under utilized and could the district look at more effectively using those,” Muri said.
Tuesday night was the first of multiple steps.
“We don’t want to shutter Travis,” he said.
Chief of Schools Keeley Boyer said the recommended next steps are to establish attendance boundaries for Zavala, Travis, Pease, Noel and San Jacinto.
Staff meetings with human resources to discuss options with Travis and Burleson will begin Feb. 14 and family meetings will start Feb. 15 to answer questions and get feedback.
The board also authorized the superintendent to negotiate and execute a contract for property at 5038 Andrews Highway. Muri said the 21 acres off 52nd Street will be used for a new transportation facility.
A new transportation facility was part of the bond approved by voters Nov. 7.
The current transportation facility will be maintained by the district.
