As with other recent meetings by the Amarillo Independent School District Board of Trustees, public comment on Monday evening was filled with concerns from Pleasant Valley residents — more than 50 of them in attendance — who spoke out on the closing of their cornerstone school.
According to Amarillo ISD, due to declining enrollment (or less than 250 students), Pleasant Valley Elementary, Park Hill Elementary and Sunrise Elementary were closed after the 2024-25 school year and consolidated with nearby campuses. Of the three impacted schools, citizens of Pleasant Valley have been the most vocal, partly due to their excellent academic rating and loyal supporters.
Other AISD campuses on the watchlist are Landergin Elementary, Travis 6th Grade Campus, Lamar Elementary and Hamlet Elementary.
Pleasant Valley supporters speak out
Hope McCoy first acknowledged AISD agreeing to have a town hall meeting with the group, before she offered her comments. “The school plays a vital role in the heart of the neighborhood, which is why we are fighting and coming together to save our community. For us, this school is not just a building where lessons happen," she said. "It’s where our children take their first steps towards learning, where parents meet each other for the first time and where generations ... have shared in traditions like school plays, fairs and holiday programs."
McCoy noted it also means children can walk safely to school, and connections are stronger with teachers, students and families, improving attendance, building trust and leading to a better outcome for students. It also impacts Pleasant Valley's stability. “When a school closes, families move away and the sense of community weakens," she said.
“I understand the district faces challenges, enrollment numbers, budgets and facility needs, but closing the school should have been the very last option,” McCoy said.
She asked the board to consider looking for ways to increase the school's enrollment, such as adding a bilingual program or sixth-grade class and/or redrawing the district lines. McCoy then asked those in the audience from Pleasant Valley to stand up, and over half of those in the room stood, many wearing T-shirts with "Pleasant Valley – 'A' Rated School 2022 & 2024."
Former teacher Mary Herring said, “Our family has been here for six generations. The $39 million you got from somewhere would have gone a long way to keep all these schools on the north open." She asked why AISD couldn’t have done what they did with Carver Elementary. “Now parents have to drive six miles to Woodland Elementary.”
Herring said smaller classes help teachers maintain control and improve students' learning. “I know a teacher who has 22 in her class, and that’s too much. We found that quite a few of them could not even read words at the end of first grade.”
Tom Scherlen, former Amarillo City Councilman, spoke about how the decision to close the elementary affects the whole community and the city. “You took the easy way out, not what was right,” he said. “That act is prohibited by the 1965 Civil Rights Bill, and we’ll do what we have to do. We have got to make common sense.”
Mike Fisher brought up new Texas laws requiring police or school resource officers. “We have some cops that cover, like three campuses or more, but we’ve got two cops stationed right here at the school district headquarters. Who are we protecting? Children or adults?" He also said that of the three schools closed, two had mostly minority students, which violated the Voting Acts Right.
He also mentioned the schools were closed to save $3 million, but the $40 million the district found could have been used to keep them open. "Instead, we’re spending money on a 'bus barn,' and there is no dollar amount mentioned,” Fisher said.
Wanda Mosely said many teachers want to go back to Pleasant Valley to teach. She also was among those who questioned why the town hall meeting wasn’t on the agenda.
“It has been agreed on, but we haven’t set a time,” AISD trustee Tom Warren answered.
“You did this on your own,” Kay Poindexter, another former teacher, said to the board. “You’re taking students and putting them in schools that have lower scores.”
Sean Hall, a member of the Pleasant Valley/River Road Neighborhood Revitalization Group and former teacher, said they have been holding monthly meetings to try to explain AISD's decision on closing the school. “We had 250 signatures to keep it open,” he explained. “I don’t think you understand how upset these people are.”
Beverly Newman, a teacher who lived in Pleasant Valley 14 years, said she wasn't going to speak but felt the need to do so after hearing others. Newman said she felt like it was a mistake to close the school and urged parents to transfer their kids to River Road or Rolling Hills.
At one point during a near-two-hour closed session, the lights went out in the Rod Schroder Education Support Center Board Room due to the hail and rainstorm, and much of the crowd left.
Approval of transportation site renovation
During the meeting, AISD Chief Operations Officer Kirk Self addressed the need for a new transportation site for storing and maintaining school buses.
The present location off Jefferson on Amarillo Boulevard requires repairs to ensure safe parking for buses and employee vehicles, as well as additional facility space to meet their needs, according to Self. He said there is adequate space not being utilized at AACAL (Amarillo Area Center for Advanced Learning), which is part of AmTech and located in the old Sears Building by Arts in the Sunset.
Sims + Architects was chosen for an agreement to come up with a plan and design a renovation of AACAL, with additional bay doors to the east side of the existing automotive shop, and parking space on the south lot for buses and employees. Self clarified that he was not asking for the expenditure for the space, but the ability to start the process with the architectural firm.
Warren asks AISD taxpayers for forgiveness
AISD board member Warren said that while he admired the work that Self was doing and saving money for the district, he could not in good conscience, vote for the measure.
“It sounds like what we’re looking at getting, it’s going to cost a lot of money. It’s all about optics,” he said. “We’re telling communities that we’re going to have to do without some schools, and as important as this is, I don’t see how I can vote for it. We came up with additional money, and we start to look like we’re not responsible.”
Warren asked all the citizens at AISD who pay taxes for forgiveness for not asking more about the $40 million that was found. “I know I’m going to be judged on that, you know, when my day in judgement comes, and so I’m asking for the forgiveness for the fact that I didn’t ask for more information. I just can’t vote for it,” he said.
Trustee Don Powell countered and said, “I think we are responsible. We exercise judgement, and sometimes we may be wrong, but I don’t question our integrity."
"There’s a lot of ways to build it when the plans come back," Powell said. "It can be what I prefer to call a Cadillac or and Chevrolet. That’s where we have discretion. You don’t know that you can’t vote for it until you hear the figures. We could do it cheaper, but in 10 or 50 years from now, the maintenance will be higher.”
The measure passed, with Warren casting the only dissenting vote.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Pleasant Valley pushes to reopen school as AISD agrees to town hall
Comments