Parents rally against new charters

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Monday night's Austin ISD board meeting will be the culmination of months of discussion on how to move forward with future plans for facilities in the school district.

After months of discussion, the Austin ISD board of trustees is faced with making major decisions on new campus configurations, the possible sale of the district administration building and charter schools in East Austin run by a charter school system run out of the Rio Grande Valley.

One group of parents opposing the IDEA Charters gathered to demand a "quality education for all children" in Austin. Another group, intended to rally in favor of the charters, failed to materialize.

To some parents, the charters are an insult. They say that Superintendent Meria Carstarphen and the board of trustees are giving up on East Austin and its children. Under the proposed rollout plan, a new IDEA charter would be placed at Allen Elementary School, starting with kindergarten through second grade. Eventually, the campus would expand to serve kindergarten through sixth grade.

"Our children are not lab mice," said one parent at Allan Elementary. "They do not need to be experimented on."

"If AISD is insistent on having a charter school, put in in a different area," said another. "Eastside does not need this here."

The IDEA Charter School system had planned a parent support rally today at Metz Recreation Center in East Austin. It was canceled. No official reason was given for the cancelation.