Running Toward the Fire

Sarah Dille would much rather be a real Austin ISD trustee – with full voting power on the school board and oversight over the district’s governance. “I have always thought about running for the board at some point in my life. It’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do,” she told the Chronicle.

But now two AISD campuses – Burnet and Webb middle schools – have received five consecutive F scores, and some form of state intervention is required by the Texas Education Agency. As soon as mid-December, the state agency could decide to take over management of the school district – just as they have in Houston and Fort Worth.

Five seats on the school board are up for election in November. But despite being chosen by Austinites, the board could lose its voting power and authority mere months later and be replaced with TEA-appointed managers.

Dille, a former AISD Teacher of the Year, AISD parent, and UT education professor, decided that she was going to run for the South Austin District 6 seat anyway. Twelve other individuals have also stepped up to run for the board this year.

“I believe in public schools so fully that if there’s any fire I’m going to run toward, it’s going to be one that’s in protection of what it means to be a democracy, a part of the community,” Dille told us. “I knowingly got into this understanding that I could be elected and not have voting power. But I got into it anyway, because I’m willing to do the work even if I don’t have voting power.”

Jessie Neufeld, a lawyer, AISD parent, and co-founder of ATX116 – a group that works to connect campuses across the district – was hesitant to run at first. “I thought about it for a really long time,” Neufeld remembered. 

Both Burnet (pictured) and Webb middle schools received fifth F accountability ratings, prompting a state takeover Credit: Zeke Barbaro

It was when TEA rejected AISD’s 1882 partnership application, which would’ve staved off the possibility of takeover for another two years, that Neufeld started to believe that takeover was likely. “And I felt like the work I had been doing in advocacy and through ATX116 to build community, build awareness, build coalitions – I thought, ‘This work can apply to being a pushed-out trustee in a really unique way,’” Neufeld said.

If TEA installs a board of managers in AISD, we asked Dille and Neufeld what they plan to do during the takeover if they are elected in November.

“My role becomes more of a community advocate, listener, purveyor of information,” Dille said. “It’s really important to work with PTAs. … I would assume that groups like [Keep Austin Schools Independent] are going to continue their work as well, and I would want to partner with them and think about … how to get the word out, have listening sessions, continue block-walking.”

In Fort Worth ISD, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath had expressed in writing to the elected board “hope [that] members of the board of trustees will remain engaged in an advisory capacity” with the board of managers. That didn’t exactly pan out.

“I would go into it anticipating that whatever type of community engagement, oversight, and accountability work the elected trustees would do would have to be self-motivated and self-coordinated,” Neufeld said. “I wouldn’t expect to be asked.”

Neufeld believes that if the soon-to-be elected board is aligned on those goals, they could still be “powerful and effective,” and possibly hold their own independent community meetings. “I think another great idea is having a goal and a plan for community testimony at board of managers meetings,” Neufeld said.

“I’m not interested in working for TEA. I’m interested in doing the work that I know schools should do.”

Sarah Dille, AISD Board of Trustees candidate for District 6

It’s also important that non-AISD folks – local government, neighborhood associations, City Council, Travis County commissioners – are also “engaged and on board with what we want our public schools to look like,” Neufeld added.

And why run now, rather than apply to be on a future board of managers?

“I’m not sure if I would be a viable candidate for a board of managers, but I wouldn’t want to be,” Dille said. “I’m not interested in working for TEA. I’m interested in doing the work that I know schools should do, and that I know Austin wants the schools to do.”

East Austin’s District 1 trustee, Candace Hunter, is the only current board member running for reelection in November. After a particularly challenging last school year that saw campus closures and painful budget cuts, we asked Hunter – why run again?

“I didn’t want to. Literally, when it first came up, I was like hands up, hands off,” Hunter said. “But I really couldn’t find somebody to step up, because I want somebody to continue the good work I feel like we’ve done. … We still have work to do, and that for me just meant I needed to keep going so that we don’t go backwards.”

If the state takes over, Hunter said she’ll do “exactly what I did before I got on the board” – informing the AISD community through her podcast.

“I will continue to do that kind of community outreach, where we’re talking about issues and helping people really understand,” Hunter continued. “The board said this in 300,000 words, here’s what it means in a paragraph to you. Asking people to go and speak to the board. Showing them, this is how you write a letter – don’t read a parrot script, the people start dozing off.”

Her opponent in November, Cheryl Bradley, was District 1’s trustee from 2002 to 2015. Since then, Bradley has advocated for issues through public comment at board meetings – and during a takeover, “there wouldn’t be any difference,” Bradley said.

With her historical perspective, we asked Bradley if the board’s relationship with TEA has evolved. “I don’t think the district has ever been a favorite school district of TEA. I just think the district tried to make sure we stayed on the right side of the Texas Education Agency,” Bradley replied.

Bradley also shared her thoughts about state takeover. “I live in East Austin. I’m living in the house I was raised in, I went through the 1971 integration. See, I know AISD does not listen to District 1,” Bradley told us.

“We spoke up, we advocated, we went to school board meetings. Our voice was never heard, or if it was heard, it was ignored,” Bradley continued. “We are a community that is never asked. We’re told we are a community where things are done to us, and not for us. So if TEA comes in and does the same thing, what have we lost?”

In our conversation, Hunter had framed the possible state takeover as a departure from the historical dynamic of Austin’s school district. In a takeover situation, “For the first time, it’s not us versus them. It’s not east versus west,” Hunter pressed. “It is the school district versus the state. What can we do to preserve what we already have?”

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