Election season is underway in Austin ISD: Candidates spread their messages – News

The field for the Austin ISD Board of Trustees election in November is clear. Lynn Boswell and Kevin Foster had no challengers for their re-election, so we don't need to talk about them. However, Ofelia Maldonado Zapata and Noelita Lugo, the two Hispanic members of the Board of Trustees, have decided not to run for re-election. Eight candidates are vying to replace them.

Sarah Ivory is running for Zapata's seat in the Second District, which includes east and southeast Austin. Ivory lives in Dove Springs, where two of her three children attend AISD schools. She describes herself as a career educator who once went into labor while working at a school in Del Valle. “I've taught elementary school, middle school and high school,” Ivory said. “I've worked as a cheerleading coach, behavior specialist, mentor for new teachers and assistant principal.” Like all the other candidates, Ivory believes balancing AISD's budget will be a big challenge over the next few years, but wants to make sure the district continues to raise teacher and staff salaries.

Ivory will face LaRessa Quintana, a confident 29-year-old with a compelling personal story. Quintana was placed in foster care as a child (her parents later died of a drug overdose) and sent to live with her aunt in Austin, where she attended the first grade of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. She said the experience saved her life.

“The number of foster kids graduating from high school is staggering; the percentage of foster kids going to college is even lower,” Quintana said. “But I had great teachers, staff and classmates at Ann Richards School, and I'm very fortunate to have had that. But that shouldn't be exclusive to that school. We should have all of those resources – the comprehensive resources, the college resources, the social services resources – available in every school in the Second District.”

Quintana works in public relations, managed Vanessa Fuentes' campaign for City Council in 2020 and worked with lawmakers at the Capitol. She is no fan of charter schools, which may explain why Education Austin, the union for Austin ISD teachers and staff, gave her its valuable endorsement at a candidate forum last weekend.

Position 8, the seat being vacated by Noelita Lugo, has attracted six challengers. Amy Moore wants to increase enrollment through outreach in hopes of bringing more state money to the district. A mother of three AISD graduates, Moore worked for 15 years with Austin Partners in Education, a nonprofit that has tutored more than 2,500 students in the district to prepare them for college.

“The families of four out of ten students in our district say 'no' to AISD.” – Candidate Lindsey Stringer

Moore listed the challenges the district faces: “It is imperative to build trust and community engagement throughout the district. Increasing our enrollment is a huge undertaking. Attracting and retaining staff in one of the most expensive cities in Texas is incredibly difficult. It is long overdue to address our special education challenges in a robust and intentional way. Using an equity lens in all of our decisions to ensure our children receive the resources they need to succeed in AISD is non-negotiable.”

Lindsey Stringer is a graduate of Austin Public Schools and the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She is also the mother of an AISD student and a member of the PTA affiliated with Teach for America, a nonprofit organization described as an arm of the charter school movement. Stringer wants to make sure the district meets demands from the Texas Education Agency, which currently oversees the district's provision of special education services, to ensure the state agency leaves the district at the end of next year.

Stringer told us she is running to ensure the district prepares all students for success in college and careers. “That is not happening right now,” she said. “The families of four out of 10 students in our district boundaries are saying 'no' to AISD. Eight out of 10 economically disadvantaged students did not meet the Algebra I expectations last year. [and we] have one of the lowest starting salaries in the area for new teachers. All of these challenges are related.”

Fernando Lucas de Urioste worked as a special education teacher in AISD for nine years before becoming an attorney with the Cirkiel Law Group and the Texas Organization of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. De Urioste taught students with autism and emotional dysregulation and said the district needs to serve this population well to reverse the enrollment decline.

“We have to compete with and win against the charter schools, the outside districts and the private alternatives that families have turned to in recent years,” said de Urioste. “Family engagement and satisfaction are key to combating declining enrollment.” De Urioste has also received the support of Education Austin.

Three other candidates are vying for Position 8. Nathaniel Hellman, a police officer at Austin Community College who is seeking a campaign manager, wants AISD to play a role in solving the homelessness and mental health crises. Dylan “Sky” MacAdams, a recent UT graduate who was arrested for participating in the pro-Palestinian demonstrations last spring, is proposing free lunches for all students and staff, saying his lack of experience in education is an advantage that allows him to face the questions before the committee with an open mind. Neither the chronicle nor Education Austin were able to reach Nick Franke to ask him about his priorities.