Page 2 updated May 1, 2008 A Neighborhood Champion Emerges We recently reported that the school district had our Keep Travis Open banner removed from the fence where it had been for nearly two months. Today (4/16) were told that Hogwild Records has agreed to allow our banner to hang on their property. They're located across the street from Travis Elem. at 1824 N. Main. Thanks Hogwild!!! Be sure to support this neighborhood business! You can read the original post here. Keep Travis Open members phoned Faye Gonzalez last week at the SAISD central office and were told, in a nutshell, that it's THEIR property and they don't want our banner on THEIR property. Funny. We were under the impression that public schools were the public's. After all, isn't it our taxes and such that pay for those institutions?
The Keep Travis Open Fundraiser was a great success! The grand total raised was a whopping $668! We have many people to thank.... read more here.
The 12th Annual Cesar Chavez March for Justice What an experience this was! Look at all those people. This march was truly inspiring to our Coalition. We have a much deeper understanding of what "Si Se Puede!" means. Check out our Cesar Chavez March page for more pics and a short video.
It's been said.... that Tynan Elementary had originally been on the proposed school closure list right up until the last minute. By last minute, we mean right before the list went public on Feb. 4. Tynan was taken off that list and another school put on, just like that. What saved Tynan? A grandparent. A grandparent that sits on the SAISD Board of Trustees. | Our YouTube Channel that hosts all of our video Board Meeting Minutes are HERE
A PUBLIC SCHOOL OF CHOICE The "Keep Travis Open" Community Group (KTOCG), along with parents, students, and other community members urge the SAISD Board to allow The William B. Travis College Preparatory Academy For Elementary Students to commence educating its children in the Fall of 2008. Students need to be encouraged and guided at a very young age to strive towards college. This proposed college prep academy would do just that by servicing pk-5th grade students with a curriculum of Think Green, Think Technology, Think Character Development. Travis would also become more attractive to families who currently send their children to private tution-based schools. The belief is that the academy's enrollment would increase immediately. And isn't that really what the school board wanted?
The type in black is the E-N editorial, the bold red is our commentary. Editorial: SAISD early college great deal for students
Web Posted: 04/15/2008 05:34 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
The San Antonio Independent School District's plan for an early college high school is a win-win situation. Students, the school district and Alamo Community Colleges all can benefit. The proposal deserves the enthusiastic community support. The old saying of "If it sounds to good to be true, It probably is." should be in the back of everyone's minds when considering this ECHS. The concept is not new, currently more than 27 early college high schools are operating across the state, and 11 more are in the planning stages. While the concept is not new. It is not a tried and true success either. Of the current 27 ECHSs not one has graduated a class of seniors yet. The schools are only in their second year of existence. Shouldn't the district wait and see how these other ECHS perform before jumping on this bandwagon? After everything this school district has been through in the last several years (since the Diana Lamm fiasco) and taking into consideration their current weak financial status wouldn't it be prudent for the board to take a wait-and-see attitude? If this ECHS is a good idea today then it will be just as good, if not better, in two years. Read the rest of the editorial and our comments here.
Do You Believe This? We have had our KEEP TRAVIS OPEN banner hanging on the fence at Travis Elementary since about Feb. 21. On Friday, March 28 someone at the central office of SAISD calls the school and says that the banner has to be taken down. The reason? Because they have received too many complaints from the community about the banner. We don't believe that for one moment. And you shouldn't either. We believe that it is another attempt by the superintendent to keep us quiet about these unfair school closures. Well, if they think can take it down for too many imaginary complaints let's have them put it back up with an onslaught of real requests FOR the banner! Call Faye Gonzalez at 210.299.5775 and tell her you want the KEEP TRAVIS OPEN banner back up immediately. 
San Antonio Independent School District: A Classic Lesson in Arrogance & Unaccountability
By Frank (Pancho)Valdez
Within the past 30 days the SAISD Board of Trustees has voted to close six public schools, citing a decline in student enrollment. SAISD Superintendent Robert Duron told an assembly of about 300 parents and students at Travis Elementary that the school was underutilized with an enrollment of 320. Yet SAISD Board president Julian Trevino and Duron support converting Travis into a college prep high school for about 60 students! This same rationale was made to explain the closing of Horace Mann Academy, a middle school with an enrollment of over 520. Duron and his board wish to convert Mann into an ALL girls academy for about 100 students with the remaining space to be made into district administrative offices! So much for underutilization! The tragedy is that there are SAISD schools with less enrollment yet they were spared the ax! We ask WHY? [Click here to read the rest of his article] this op-ed piece has been sent to six local publications. We are proud to be the first to publish it in it's entirety. Frank (Pancho) Valdez is a proud father of a Travis Elementary student. |