Looking Back and Moving Forward: Community Conversations

We hope to learn from you

• More about your experiences that have led to broken trust with us. 
• What we need to know as we begin conversations about long-range planning.

We hope you learn

• Why we are long-range planning. 
• What a long-range plan is. 
• How we are using Equity by Design to guide our process and what that means for community engagement.

As time passes, the needs of our students change and our facilities continue to age. Long-range planning allows us to anticipate student needs to align our resources to better serve our students.

Our students deserve programming and learning spaces that promote high student achievement, and this requires significant investments. During the 2017 planning effort, more than $4 billion of repairs and improvements were identified, and the 2017 Bond Program addressed $1.05 billion of those needs. We need to think ahead about how we can provide more students the learning spaces and educational opportunities worthy of their gifts and talents.

Improving facility conditions and educational environments helps all students¹, especially those who are underserved; quality educational environments help students reach their full potential.²

Also, one of AISD's  Seven Conditions for Student Success  emphasizes "Well maintained facilities that support state-of-the-art instruction and support cultural identities and safety."

With our strategic plan and academic vision serving as the foundation, the long-range plan will chart a course toward a more equitable distribution of resources, opportunities and investments to support excellence at every level. The plan will:

• create a shared vision;
• identify historic inequities;
• determine current and future needs;
• establish a path of where we want to go; and
• develop strategies for how we want to get there.

The plan will be developed in partnership with our communities and will cover the categories below.

Our long-range plan will not include recommendations for school closures, rather it will be a growth-minded plan that seeks to address historical inequities, while addressing infrastructure needs throughout the district.

We have created long-range plans before and we haven’t always gotten it right. Previous plans were developed with the lens of facilities first. This approach did not recognize all the factors that we should consider when we prioritize investments.

This time we will do better

We are committed to working WITH you. Using the Equity by Design model, we will ensure that historically underserved students and communities are prioritized in decision-making.

Step one in Equity by Design is to identify who to talk to first. To do this we are looking at data about students, neighborhoods and facilities.

The planning process will be divided into four phases. Each phase includes a key conversation that aligns with the Equity by Design model.

Phase 1 included data analysis to identify underserved communities, and initial outreach to those communities. We are currently in Phase 2, where we listen to you to understand what we need to do to move forward. Community-led long-range planning committees develop the plan in Phase 3. During Phase 4, the Bond Steering Committee uses the long-range plan to develop proposed bond projects.

We are looking for volunteers to partner with us as we develop the 2022 Long-range Plan. Families, community members, students and staff are invited to participate on each of the seven committees.

• Academics & Career and Technical Education
• Athletics
• Visual & Performing Arts
• Facilities
• Safety, Security & Resiliency
• Transportation, Food Services & Maintenance
• Technology

Please share this opportunity with your school communities, neighbors, etc.  Applications  are due by Sept 19.

Questions regarding the application process may be submitted to  Let's Talk  or by text (512) 856-6123.

• We want to continue this conversation. If you would like us to connect with your community, let us know via  Let's Talk  or by text (512) 856-6123.
• We'll be offering webinars in mid-October to dig deeper into the data we're using to identify our underserved communities.

Community panelists:

• Gabriel Estrada, Public school advocate, former AISD student, parent and teacher
• Roxanne Evans, Education advocate, former AISD parent and employee
• Gloria Vera-Bedolla, AISD mother and education advocate

• Tell us about the most positive experience you've had with the district. What would you like to see more of?
• What do you see as the district’s greatest opportunity for improvement or growth?
• How can AISD earn and maintain your trust through the long-range planning process or in general?
• Is there anything else you think we should know as we start the long-range planning process?

More thoughts?  Please share your feedback with us .

¹Bad Conditions:

²Evidence-based environments: