By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
A town hall meeting was held on Monday for further discussion on a proposal to reconfigure the public school district’s middle school grade levels into three separate campuses.
The meeting was moderated by Dr. Carlos Rios, school district superintendent, who held a previous town hall meeting on the issue in September. The town hall meeting format allowed those attending to ask questions about the proposed plan to create three new middle school campuses beginning in the 2025-2026 school year.
More than 30 people attended Monday’s meeting, a smaller turnout than the previous town hall meeting.
Rios spoke about the history of the Del Rio Middle School campus on De La Rosa Street, and the problems the school and the district are facing. Some of the problems include the increasing numbers of DRMS students, and how the growing student population affects the academic ratings and the engagement between teachers and their students.
“It is difficult to engage with students at a (independent) learning level. Instead of the teachers working with each other, and developing and engaging in lessons, they are using all their energy to manage the large number of students,” Rios said.
One of the other problems Rios highlighted is student participation and students becoming disengaged from athletic teams or other curriculum activities or groups.
Rios also talked about the negative stories about students on DRMS campus. He said the “safety issue” is the biggest issue at the middle school.
“We are not doing this proposal for any other reason than doing better for our students. There is no financial gain. There is no any other kind of gain. It is all about student achievement and student safety. It is urgent we take action,” Rios said.
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 accommodate sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classes.
The current middle school located on De La Rosa Street, which currently houses seventh grade and eighth-grade classes, will change to also accommodate three grade levels.
Rios added that each of the three campuses would have the same programs DRMS currently has.
Rios then said the school district is choosing Garfield Elementary campus because it has a gym, a large cafeteria and an area for a school band to practice in. He mentioned the city of Del Rio has partnered with the school district to help renovate Cody Wardlaw Gym.
The elementary-school students at Garfield Elementary would be rezoned to Dr. Lonnie Green Elementary, Buena Vista Elementary and Dr. Fermin Calderon Elementary. He added the district can also use the Blended Academy campus as an elementary school campus for students who live close in the area.
After Rios finished explaining the proposal, the meeting turned into an open forum, allowing audience members to ask questions from their seats.
The first person asked if the proposal is “definite.” Rios said the recommendation for the proposal is definite, and it is pending a vote by the school board.
Another town hall attendee discussed his concerns, saying, “They will have to do more adjustments,” and asked Rios if the school district could instead build a new middle school on the north side of town. Rios answered his question saying a new school in the north “will certainly divide the community along economic lines.”
Another man asked how many new teachers and support staff are the new campuses going to have. Rios said they could have two to three co-teachers per campus and added the campuses do not need to have “much more” support staff.
One of the parents, who expressed his concerns earlier, had another question. He asked if the school district has staff “on stand by” and ready to teach at the new middle school campuses. Rios said they would have the staff ready, and the principals would divide up the teachers to balance the number of staff members on each campus.
