The Allen ISD school board voted Monday night to approve a proposal for attendance boundary changes that would close two elementary schools on the city’s east side.
A member of the Allen ISD school board resigned Monday night after the school board voted to approve a proposal for attendance boundary changes that would close two elementary schools on the city's east side.
Up against a state mandate to provide daylong kindergarten, budget troubles, overcrowding on the fast-growing west side and slowing enrollment on the east side, the district voted 6-1 to move east side children out of Anderson and Roundtree elementary schools and re-purpose the buildings.
The proposal has been a flashpoint among parents who say they are frustrated by the district's plan, which would force students on the city's east side to travel further away from home to get to school.
"Neighborhood schools are the center of Texas education," Holly Barnard, a clinical child psychologist and Anderson parent, told NBC 5 immediately after the board's Monday night vote. "That's what it should be. That's the way it's always been. They just don't want to touch certain neighborhoods on the west side. They don't want to touch them."
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Minutes after the vote, Vatsa Ramanathan, who was the one school board member who voted against the proposal, abruptly resigned.
Ramanathan told NBC 5 he didn't resign over the outcome of the vote but rather because of the process that led to Monday's meeting.
The district says this is all happening because of converging factors: Declining enrollment on the east side and overcrowding on the west side, a $5 million dollar budget deficit within the district, and because of a state mandate to provide full-day pre-kindergarten.
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Anderson and Rountree are on the east side where enrollment is dropping. The district plans to reassign students from those campuses to different schools.
The district said Anderson will be transitioned to an early-childhood development campus while Roundtree is being planned for non-instructional use in the future.
Parents had asked for either a no-vote Monday or for the board to put the changes on pause.
One board member there is no more time to push the pause button and that action is needed now.
District leaders said they've considered several options, listened to feedback from parents and recognize that change can be difficult.
School officials said they're also considering what's best for the future of the district.
The changes take effect in the 2023-2024 school year.
