HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) -- Like many other school districts in the Rio Grande Valley, Harlingen CISD is facing a decrease in enrollment, which will require proposed changes to its elementary school operations.
"When we looked at our enrollment, we have noticed that there has been a decline of enrollment over the last six years," Tanya Garza, assistant superintendent for elementary education. said. "About 1,700 students is what we have lost, which equates to about $10 million annually."
That loss had led HCISD to propose an optimization plan for the district for what they say will best utilize their facilities and maximize opportunity.
The proposed plan, which would go into effect next school year, would move students from Jefferson Elementary to Lamar Elementary, which would be turned into a fine arts academy. Students from Crockett Elementary would be moved to Zavala Elementary.
"We want to be able to provide equitable instruction for all of our students, and in some of our small campuses, we have to share staff," Garza said. "They have a halftime music teacher, and then that music teacher travels another two or three days to another small campus. And so how do we bring that together so that we have one campus with a full-time teacher and more opportunities, such as these enrichment ones?"
Jefferson and Crockett would not be closing, but instead they would be repurposed. The Jefferson campus would be used to further the district's partnership with Ninos Inc. Head Start, which already uses some of the building.
The Crockett campus building would be turned into what the district calls a center of HOPE - Helping Others Prosper and Excel. It would house district support resources like their community closet and an expansion of their KEYS at-risk program.
HCISD presented the plan to parents at Jefferson Elementary on Thursday night.
Lydia Rodriguez was at the meeting. She grew up in the neighborhood, went to Jefferson, and lives down the street now.
"Jefferson is a staple in the community," she said. "I'm an alumnus here; I'm a community member; I was hoping to be a parent of a future student here. It's a loss and it weighs on us."
HCISD emphasized they don't want to lose the legacy that Jefferson and Crockett elementaries have had on the Harlingen community.
"We want the voices of our community in how do we create these special legacies for our community, for the people that have walked those halls because the buildings will remain," said Garza. "And we're going to continue to provide other opportunities for the community in these buildings."
That legacy is one that Rodriguez will continue to carry no matter what.
"It's because of this place that I want to come back and give to my community as a bilingual teacher and invest the way I was invested in by the staff and more than anything the atmosphere and community that we have here," she said.
The proposal has already been presented to the school board, and HCISD officials have met with staff at the campuses affected.
They're currently in the process of parent meetings like the one at Jefferson and from there they will form transition committees made up of staff from impacted campuses. From there they will host public hearings before presenting a final recommendation in April.