Middle School Proposed for Mueller to Serve Much of Northeast Austin
In April, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees adopted a 25-year facility master plan including a co-educational middle school to be constructed in Mueller where Simond Avenue will soon meet Tilley Street. After a year-long, community-driven process, the plan proposes that the school will serve much of Northeast Austin.
While the attendance area has not been finalized, the school is conceived to serve a similar attendance area as the current single-gender middle schools, Gus Garcia Young Men's Leadership Academy and Bertha Sadler-Means Young Women's Leadership Academy. The proposed middle school would serve all students seeking a co-ed option from the following elementary schools:
Andrews Elementary School
Blanton Elementary School
Harris Elementary School
Jordan Elementary School
Norman Elementary School
Overton Elementary School
Pecan Springs Elementary School
Sims Elementary School
Winn Elementary School
While not currently in the Sadler-Means/Garcia zone, a tenth school, Maplewood Elementary School (attendance zone in green on the map below), could be included in the new attendance zone as well. Students attending the middle school would then proceed to their traditionally-zoned high schools, namely Reagan, LBJ, and McCallum.
The map below also reveals how this potential boundary may encompass much of Northeast Austin.
As reported previously in the Front Porch Flyer, the school design comports with the vision of Austin ISD's Northeast Plan, whose relationships are outlined in the following graphic:
Throughout the development of Austin ISD's Facility Master Plan, the middle school was offered to address the vision by:
Complementing the current middle school options in Northeast Austin consisting of single-gender middle schools to the north and magnet schools to the south.
Offering multiple pathways of Socioeconomic Integration for Northeast Austin families who previously transferred within or out of AISD. As a by-product, this would also Retain/Reclaim Families Living in the Region, as more than 1,000 middle school students are currently leaving the region for nearby charter schools.
Strengthening Academic Achievement through both academic programming and potential relationships with Mueller-located partners like The University of Texas, Seton, Dell Children’s Medical Center, Thinkery, UT’s Wildflower Center, Austin Film Studios, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and the Alamo Drafthouse. These partnerships could energize the region’s schools with an outward-focused middle school. For example, mobile labs, centered at Mueller, could be deployed throughout the region’s elementary schools.
The Northeast Middle School was prioritized within the 25-year plan as a a "Year 1 through 6" project, yet it remains to be seen whether the school will be funded and constructed through a likely November 2017 bond proposal as AISD and its trustees weigh multiple school projects throughout the city. The projects of the 2017 bond will be discussed and vetted this summer with a potential bond defined as early as June.
