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The Young Women's Leadership Academy By Michelle Jimenez Reyes, KTOCG created March 23, 2008 Horace Mann Academy (A Fine Arts Charter) was placed on a list of school closures. As we all know by now, on Feb. 25th the board, with barely any of the facts, voted to close Horace Mann Academy along with several other schools.
When the news first broke the district cited two main reasons for chosing these schools. The first reason was declining enrollment. The second reason was limited funds and therefore limited resources. We have since found out that Horace Mann Academy had an enrollment of 520 students, only two classrooms empty, and a 80% rate of capacity. That doesn't really seem like they have a problem with declining enrollment, now does it?
Soon after the February vote it surfaced that Horace Mann Academy would be the new site for the Young Women's Leadership Academy. According to an article by Elaine Ayala in the Express News (Oct. 2007) this academy will open with only 6th and 7th grades, 75 students per grade~ 150 total. Each year after that they will add another 6th grade class capped at 75 girls. By the time they have their first graduating class in 2014 they will have a full enrollment of 525 students.
Let's look at this again. The SAISD will displace 520 Horace Mann students at the end of this school year so that, hopefully (fingers crossed), by 2014 they will have an all-girls academy with 525 students. uh, what?
This school is being funded with a $1 million gift from a dallas-based organization, Foundation for the Education of Young Women. According to their website the SAISD and this foundation signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" on July 31. No year was cited. Could we assume it was last year, 2007, or had this been in the works since 2006? Which is about the same time Duron came to San Antonio.
The district may be having a problem attracting those 150 girls because we've found out that enrollment will be capped at 100 even though they will be able to draw from in- and out-of-district. Add that information to the fact that the application period keeps getting pushed back. Initially the deadline was in January 2008. Then it was pushed back to mid-February. Then the end of February. As of today, March 23, applications are still being accepted. It's interesting that the 5th and 6th grade girls currently at Horace Mann won't get a chance to be considered before other applicants. First you take away their school and now this?
The Young Women's Leadership Academy's advisory board chairman, Jimmie Ruth Evans has said that "A community is judged by its women. We are going to help support our young women". * How is it that the district has decided which young women in the entire San Antonio Independent School District they are willing to help support? Actually how many young SAISD women will they even 'accept' in their private-public school?
Duron, SAISD superintendent, said. “We want to nurture and peak their intellectual curiosity to address their developmental needs so that they can achieve their personal best as they prepare for college.”* And what about our young men? Don't they need this nurturing to "peak their intellectual curiosity" as well? Don't they deserve the same opportunity to "achieve their personal best"?
At the bottom of the SAISD web page it states:
"San Antonio ISD does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or disability in providing education services, activities, and programs..."
What would happen if young men who wanted the same opportunity would apply to this leadership academy?
We'll be filling in more of this story as it reveals itself to us. For now, we want you to see that the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) lied when they said they needed to close Horace Mann Fine Arts Academy for declining enrollment. They (primarily Duron) needed to close this academy now so that they could meet their end of the deal with the Dallas foundation to open the academy in the fall of 2008.
* taken from a SAISD article on their website. you can read here.
We promised you more......Did you Know? 2007 Superintendent Duron hired a "NEW" Principal Dr. Jesus Chavez for Thomas Jefferson High School, to begin fall of 2007. Approximately the same time Superintendent Duron then hired Chavez's wife, Jeannie Meza-Chavez as the Principal for the yet-unnamed all-girls academy? (Now known as the Young Women's Leadership Academy.) October 27th, 2007 a reception was held for the Young Women's Leadership Academy Principal Jeannie Meza-Chavez. Our sources say that Meza-Chavez had been on the payroll for nearly a year, even though the school does not yet exist. Reportedly, her salary was $91,000. How many hard working readers would like to be paid that kind of money and have light duty work to no work at all for a year? Misappropriation of funds? Funds that should have gone into the existing schools???? Did you know that they are compadres to Duron? Compadres~ godparents to Duron's child/children. How's that for nepotism?! - February 19th, 2007 Horace Mann Academy Parents met with Superintendent Duron regarding their concerns about the proposed closure. They asked about the Compadre/Comadre situation. Superintendent Duron's response was aggitated and without resolve. The next day both Dr. Chavez and his wife resigned their Principal positions mid school year and will be returning to El Paso where they came from.
This series of events and the related articles linked to this page reinforces the intent of Superintendent Duron to close Horace Mann Academy for the physical building, long before the reports in early 2008 that studies were being done and enrollment was down. Superintendent Duron lied about Horace Mann Academy to meet an agreement he had with Foundation for the Education of Young Women. He lied all the way through the SAISD Board vote on February 25th, 2008 when "Mr. Howard asked if the District had a plan or schedule on how the closed school buildings will be used. Dr. Duron said individuals had provided some ideas and indicated interest in the buildings but there were no firm plans as of this date. He said he hoped to have a plan developed sometime within the next two months." From February 25th, 2008 SAISD Board Meeting Minutes.
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