By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
The public school district’s board of trustees has agreed to pause plans to create three new middle school campuses.
The trustees made the decisions during their regular meeting on Monday.
Dr. Carlos Rios, school district superintendent, presented the proposed plan to the San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District (SFDRCISD) Board of Trustees. The plan is to reconfigure the middle school grade levels at Del Rio Middle School (DRMS) for the 2025-2026 school year.
The proposal was also discussed at a public town hall meeting Sept. 10. Rios presented the same plan to the board members on Monday, including details about how the plan will work, again listing the academic challenges DRMS faces.
A few of the DRMS’ academic challenges Rios listed included low attendance rates, high failure rates (in classes) and the large number of students filling up a single campus.
“All through we have a lot of activity because of the size (of student numbers), it is limited to a select number of students, and the enrollment increases at sixth grade and seventh grade. . .
The reality is there is a problem at DRMS. We have had some ‘okay’ years, but we haven’t had ‘great’ years, and it is time for actions to be taken to be able to provide students a (path) to be more prepared for high school,” Rios told the board.
Rios said the “keys to success” for redesigning the middle-school grade levels are the relationships between the schools and the students, the students’ academic success and the number of students participating in academic programs.
“We should be able to graduate more students with higher certifications, graduate more students with college hours, and (have) less students depending on credit recovery. To do all that, we must do a better job at DRMS.
“It is not because the teachers don’t try (at DRMS), but because we focus on structure and safety, and (we are) too big to focus on successful academic interaction,” Rios said.
The proposed plan would include using the San Felipe Memorial Middle School campus on West Garza Street and the Garfield Elementary campus on West Martin Street to accommodate sixth, seventh and eighth grade levels.
The current middle school located on De La Rosa Street will continue to exist and operate as before, and the staff at DRMS will be divided among the other campuses.
Rios also talked about the elementary students at Garfield Elementary. He said the majority of the Garfield students will move to the district’s Blended Academy, which he mentioned has vacancies to house 375 students, and the remaining students will transfer to the schools nearest their home addresses.
If the board approves the proposed plan, the next steps will be to conduct parent and staff meetings for the three schools affected, and to hire a demographer to conduct studies on how to divide the students. He also said a survey will be conducted to get feedback from families Joshua Overfelt, vice president of the school board, asked the board members if they had any questions for Rios. Board member Amy Haynes said her main concern is to get feedback from teachers and staff. Rios said the board is able to meet with staff at their campuses and get their feedback.
Overfelt asked if the board is going to ask the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for more waivers to assist in the reconfiguration plan, and Rios responded saying the board does not need “additional waivers.”
Overfelt also asked if the board would be able to provide transportation services to move equipment and other teacher/staff belongings from one campus to another, and Rios replied, “They will absolutely provide services.”
“Can we come back at a special meeting in (October) and pull up this (item again) . . . That gives us about two-and-a-half weeks to go and visit these campuses, and maybe have one more open forum,” Overfelt said. Rios also added that the goal for the topic is to “come up with a reconfiguration for (middle-school) grade levels for next year.”
Diego M. Almaraz Jr., board member, asked if the selected campuses have the classroom vacancies to house numerous middle-school students. Rios said there are “absolutely more rooms available” at the three selected campuses.
Raymond P. Meza, president of the school board, mentioned his concerns about having enough resources at the selected campuses to help the students, including computers, calculators and other devices. He added computer labs and teacher-resource rooms must be available at selected locations.
Many of the board members agreed with Rios’ intentions, but they also worried about the concerns of the people who would be affected. Meza shared his sentiments about getting input from the staff at the campuses. Jesus Galindo, school board secretary, also talked about how it is important to get more input from citizens and teachers/school staff.
Rios recommended hiring the demographer beforehand to conduct data. He also suggested the school board to set up a special-call meeting to take further action on the “reorganization” of the middle-school grade levels.
Board member Rebekah Chavez said she agreed with hiring a demographer to “initiate a starting point,” but also urged district officials to listen to people’s concerns.
The board agreed to postpone the proposal until further discussion at a special meeting in October and to hire a demographer to conduct studies for the school board. No further questions were asked and no formal action was taken.
