Parents skeptical of single-sex school

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Parent response was tepid to a school for young men in general, and opposed to locating it at Covington Middle School specifically, during a meeting at Crockett High School on Saturday.

Austin Independent School District has a couple of single-gender school proposals on the table. One would turn the low-performing Pearce and Garcia middle schools into all-boys campuses. A second proposal, supported by a grant from the Moody Foundation, has a more nebulous location. The second proposal was the topic of Saturday's meeting at Crockett High School.

Chief of Schools Paul Cruz insisted AISD was still soliciting input on the idea of where to place a single-gender campus, or if the school district needed a school for young men at all, he said on Saturday. The Moody Foundation has agreed to provide up to $4.6 million for the first five years of operation.

The majority of parents, however, were skeptical as to the benefits of single-gender education and what particular curriculum might be used to boost student achievement. Parents also were strongly opposed to co-locating the campus at Covington for up to three years, until school for young men takes over the campus.

"The main consensus is that we were not in favor of co-location," said parent Laurie Hunter, speaking for one small group that supported Covington. "It's like a two-year-long wake to a funeral."

Austin ISD has suggested both an under-enrolled middle school or the Alternative Learning Center as a possible location for the school. The ALC was seen as less disruptive and more centralized for transportation, but others saw using a campus for disruptive students to be far from appealing to West Austin parents.

Hunter's group suggested that the district find a philanthropy that would be willing to raise the $30 million to construct an entirely new single-gender facility. Hunter, whose three sons have graduated from Covington, said losing the campus and its fine arts program would be a tragedy.

AISD officials and trustees have pushed the concept -- almost to the point of denying the research on single-gender schools has been mixed -- which may have led to some skeptical questions from parents. Some stand-alone ideas mentioned in a spring survey, such as uniforms, were well received.

The district has scheduled a hearing on annual facility recommendations , including the single-gender charters, on Tuesday night. The hearing will be at the Administration Building at 6:30 p.m.