By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
A proposal by public school district administrators to reconfigure the middle school grade levels into three separate campuses was discussed at a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
The meeting was moderated by Dr. Carlos Rios, school district superintendent, and he talked about a proposed plan to create the three new middle school campuses for the 2025-2026 school year.
Rios spent the first half of the meeting explaining the background of the district and listing the academic challenges the Del Rio Middle School (DRMS) faces.
The proposed plan would involve using the San Felipe Memorial Middle School campus on West Garza Street and the Garfield Elementary campus on West Martin Street to also accommodate sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
The current middle school located on De La Rosa Street will still exist and operate, and the school staff of DRMS will be divided among the other campuses, Rios said.
After Rios finished explaining the proposal, the meeting turned into an open forum, allowing people to ask questions, either at a microphone presented in the middle or from their seats.
People first asked questions about how the proposed plan was going to work, including how student teams/groups and faculty were going to be affected.
The first question was from Tomas Cerna, a parent who asked for the reasons why the district is choosing the campuses on West Garza Street and West Martin Street as the new middle school campuses. Rios answered by saying the two reasons were because there are available facilities in those locations and for “keeping the community together.”
Another town hall attendee asked Rios why the district is not considering construction of a new campus.
Rios said the reasons for using the existing campuses as new middle school campuses are because the “enrollment in Del Rio is not growing,” and “the (city) population is shifting to the north,” and the school district does not want to bus students too far.
Rios added some money will be spent fixing Garfield Elementary.
Another parent asked if the proposal was “informational or decisional,” and Rios responded saying he will present the proposal during a school board meeting on Monday. The same parent asked if a platform can exist for more people to provide feedback.
Another parent asked questions about how the number of teachers and faculty will be divided at the new campuses, including teachers for special education students. Rios said, “Whatever the numbers are, it’ll be equally divided, and the kids will have their needs met . . . We are required to provide those services by law.”
Questions were asked regarding the sports teams and the courts/fields they will practice on.
Rios said the school district will have a bus to drive a team to different campuses that has a court available, such as a tennis court or a track field.
Another sports-related question was asked whether there will be one sports team for all three campuses, or separate sports team for each campus. Rios said, “(Teams) may practice together or share a track, but every team will have their own identity.”
Rios added that every middle school will have their own separate sports teams, and the teams will have their own coaches who will travel with them.
Questions about the fine arts groups were brought up, and a parent asked where the band team for the Garfield Elementary campus will practice. Rios responded by saying they will practice at the district’s Student Performance and Administration Center.
Some parents present also expressed their concerns and criticisms over the project presented.
One parent said campuses work better together, adding, “We’re not moving forward, we’re moving backwards.”
Other people in the audience shared the opposite opinion. A woman, who works as a DRMS teacher, said the proposal is the “best idea given to us.” She said the teachers at DRMS will be more successful if there were fewer students at the DRMS campus.
By the end of the meeting, Rios said not everything may happen “word by word.” To address people’s concerns, he said the steps for the proposal will involve meeting with the campuses, having parent teacher student organization (PTSO) meetings and getting as much feedback as possible.
Joshua Overfelt, vice president of the school board, thanked the people who attended the meeting and said the choices the school board makes on the issue will be “for the students and the betterment of the community.”
Jesus Galindo, school board secretary, said the board will listen to people’s input, adding that, “(this meeting) isn’t the last time that any input will be allowed. We want Dr. Rios to continue (receiving) input (from) staff and the parents and the community.”
Before the meeting finished, Rios added the first step will be presenting the proposed plan at the regular school board meeting on Monday.
