In a split vote, the Mercedes school board opted Tuesday to move students from the Mercedes Early College Academy campus to its early education facilities next school year at a cost of at least $1.2 million, although many specifics have yet to be finalized.
Due to a lack of facilities, Mercedes Early College Academy (MECA) was moved to the Mercedes High School Campus last semester, but the move caused friction and tension.
The district’s administration described that move as one necessitated by lacking facilities at MECA’s previous location, and said Mercedes High has adequate facilities to accommodate the extra students and personnel.
Superintendent Carolyn Mendiola described friction over the move as the result of an “adjustment period” last month, a characterization a majority of trustees evidently didn’t agree with Tuesday.
“I think the early college is our golden goose,” Trustee Eddie Howell Jr., who voted for the move, said. “I think it’s one of the best things that we have going right now for our district. We’re losing a lot of students. We’re losing a lot of students. I think it is something that we can use as a marketing tool to bring students, keep them here and bring more students in. I think it’s something very important.”
Howell said the district could beautify an old central office location and accommodate staff.
“We can find a home for them as well,” he said. “I know it’s gonna cost money, but it’s an investment. Sometimes you’ve gotta take two steps back to move five or ten steps forward.”
Howell also sympathized with MECA students, who he said are learning in subpar facilities at the Mercedes High campus.
“You know, right now they’re in portables, their conditions are not up to par with, say, the rest of the kids,” he said.
Other trustees who spoke in favor of the move largely cited the importance of continued success for MECA students.
A vocal minority of trustees opposed the move, largely based on concerns over inequity and associated costs.
“I don’t believe in prioritizing one student over another,” Trustee Brian Acosta said. “You know, early college has done well, yes they have. I don’t believe that a different facility is gonna affect that. As far as from a marketing perspective, we’re not the only district that has an early college, a lot of other districts have early college.”
Acosta expressed concern over the implication that Mercedes High students weren’t being valued because they weren’t getting a new campus.
“I don’t think that’s the case; we’re graduating students out of Mercedes High School with associates degrees this year, and we have been in the past,” he said. “In addition to that we have a STEM academy that is a dual enrollment program. And are they any less than the other students? I would say no.”
In large part, Acosta was critical of the cost of the move: some $1.2 million. He said that money could be used to address other inequities in the district, among them Harrell Middle School’s lack of a gymnasium.
There are some 541 students at that school, administration noted — more than there are at MECA.
“I understand, we’ve built a fund balance over time, but there’s a lot of uncertainty right now,” he said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty with our funding, our enrollment’s going down and to be spending $1.2 million is quite a bit of money — over $1.2 million, because we don’t know what we’re going to find when we transition back.”
None of those funds are budgeted, Superintendent Mendiola said. There are 71 staff members at the district’s central office building, she said, and no ready plans to accommodate culinary and special education students that may be affected.
“We would have to look at the previous facilities that we’ve had and try to accommodate them,” Mendiola said of those central office employees.
She also expressed concerns over shuttling MECA students via bus, something she said would tax an already overtaxed transportation fleet.
Trustees questioned why a presentation on the move submitted to them by administration wasn’t shown to the public during the discussion. The superintendent told the board she wasn’t sure why that information hadn’t been officially presented and made public.
Mendiola declined to give that information to The Monitor Wednesday, saying it could be requested through an open records request.
Ultimately, the lack of the public’s access to that information didn’t matter, despite Trustee Rachel Treviño pleading for a stay on the decision.
“Who ends up paying the price?” she said. “Our staff. Our kids. I don’t have a problem with MECA having their own building. Maybe we can, I don’t know, get a bond? See what the taxpayers say? Maybe add another wing to the high school? Maybe add another building? With time, with preparation.”
