Keeping Dobie Middle School open could cost teachers their jobs
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Showing support for teachers and their principal, students at Dobie Middle School staged a walkout Wednesday airing their frustration over the future of the school.
In August 2024, Dobie was identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement under the Federal Accountability System for the third consecutive year. A campus that fails to exit CSI for multiple years is required to prepare a campus Turnaround Plan.
Dobie and the discussion about what the district will do moving forward has been a hot button topic, with AISD discussing closing the school, moving students to Lamar Middle School and the most recent announcement that they are looking at a district managed restart plan.
Another option could mean a charter school and AISD work together to turn things around at Dobie.
'Current teachers and staff and the principal has been working so hard for the past two years,' said Yessyka Velasquez, a parent at Dobie.
While the district is no longer exploring a temporary closure for Dobie, the district is now proposing a district-managed restart plan, which could mean that not all staff will be around next year.
'It is concerning because they want to get rid of the principal along with every staff member, teachers and all,' Velasquez said.
TEA extends deadline for Dobie MS turnaround plan
Velasquez said the school has seen a lot of turnover through the years and students have not had stability. She said she's hoping some of the same faces return next year if AISD decides on a restart plan.
Jose Carrasco, with Austin Voices, shares the same concern with a restart.
'We need to stabilize things, we need a consistency of things, not restarts,' Carrasco said.
He said the STAAR Test and the A to F accountability system are also part of the reason some schools are seeing failing grades.
'Especially for a school like Dobie who has 73% of students that don't have the strong English, then to give them an English test,' said Carrasco. 'That test is a broken system nobody likes it.'
In a recent meeting with Texas Education Agency (TEA) commissioner Mike Morath, he said the A to F accountability system will help improve student outcomes.
'What the evidence shows is that schools that have a D or F rating, they get better very quickly because people realize that, hey, we need to change what we have been doing
because what we have been doing hasn't worked,' Morath said.
Webb and Burnet Middle School are also facing the same decisions.
AISD will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss these plans.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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This morning the sound of water woke me at seven, splashing onto our balcony. I'd been awake reading until nearly two, and hoped to sleep until eight or nine. First, it's a Saturday. Plus nothing pressing waits at my desk. And that's a rare thing for me. A flock of geese honked, the birds sang, the usual morning sounds, but the downpour was strange, beyond strange, as the sky was that vast beautiful blue that happens more and more this time of year. I threw back the covers. When I stepped onto my balcony, I saw that my upstairs neighbor was pouring buckets of water over his. I said, 'What are you doing?' And he said, 'I'm cleaning my deck.' He heard the alarm in my voice, the distress in my tone, but he threw another bucket anyway, splashing potting soil out of another of my planters. 'Well, you've made quite the mess of mine!' I yelled. Which made the big white dog that lives below me bark and the small white dog bark that lives next to the big white dog bark. Before long there were three dogs barking. 'Okay, I'll stop,' he said. And without apology, he went back inside and slammed the door. It took me all morning to clean up the muddy spray that smeared my flooring, chairs, flowerpots, and siding. A part of me felt like marching up to his place to say that a condo balcony isn't like the deck of a house where you can do what you like. But I know disinterest when I hear it, heed it when it comes at me, and try not to overreact, i.e., cuss at him. Because I wanted to cuss at him. The bright spot is that he made me miss my old upstairs neighbor, Frank. Or, sometimes known to me as, 'Fraaank! For cripes sake, are you smoking on your balcony again?' 'I know. I know,' he'd say. Frank and I never met face to face. We were a little like Tim & Wilson who never revealed his full face on the sitcom "Home Improvement,' communicating not from behind a fence, but with a floor/ceiling between us. But the way we disagreed, I realize, was a rare gift between neighbors. Compared to what happened this morning, our exchanges were gentler, more considerate, even humorous — the best kind of neighborly give-and-take. 'Fraaank?' 'Promise you won't tell the board on me.' Frank needed to smoke, and I knew it. I also know the truth of condo living is that it's impossible to connect deeply with all of your neighbors, consideration is more important. So Frank's smoking was kind of a test. It felt like that to me anyway, and I did my best not to over object to his dependency because I also valued his quiet dignity, his sort of innocent chuckle mostly aimed at himself, and for two years, he revealed more and more ways the word 'neighbor' was apt. For example, in August of 2022, I had a gathering of friends that was bound to get a little rowdy because I'd made a pitcher of Negroni's. I texted Frank to say that one of us tends to laugh really loud when her dance shoes are on — it was me — emphasizing that it was Girls Night Out because I thought it might be rude to warn him but not invite him. Later — two seconds later — he texted back, 'Can I come?' Frank died in 2023. And, writing this now, I think how the people I know on the island are smart, hardworking people, saving the world with our organic food, recycling, and electric vehicles which, if nothing else, mirrors our hope. We do what we can, fight for things that need saving, buy our books from our local bookstore, support our community because, we figure, too many people don't anymore. I understand that this is the best most of us can do, and it's the best I can do. But Frank? Frank (Frank R. Jozwiak, tribal lawyer) did so much for so many that it feels as if this is no longer a story about neighborliness, but about selfless dedication. Frank and I never talked about our work lives. 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For more information visit This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: A good neighbor who was worth the wait | Opinion
