SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio charter school is closing its doors just weeks into the new school year.
Jubilee Academies Highland Park campus students and staff will start at a new school this month.
“You go to starting school and shutting it down and giving us two weeks; that’s not good,” Judy Regalado, whose child attends the campus, said.
Many parents said they’re frustrated with the closure.
Their little ones started class at the East Drexel Avenue campus on August 14. By August 31, Jubilee Academies notified parents that Highland Park would close, and students would begin at one of its other campuses by September 18.
Parents like Dora Rodriguez shared similar sentiments.
“Everybody got disappointed; it was like a last-minute thing,” Rodriguez said.
Adriana Santillano felt a slew of emotions when she heard the news.
“It was very emotional, we couldn’t believe it,” Santillano said.
For Judy Regalado, the school’s closing was difficult.
“When I heard that the school was closing, it was very heart-wrenching,” Regalado said.
Associate Director of School Development Abel De Leon tells us the campus currently has 210 students, and they needed 300 to keep it operational.
We asked De Leon about making the changes during the school year, and he said, “If we didn’t rip the Band-Aid off now, there would be more pain later.” Adding that finishing the school year would have left Jubilee with a deficit of $1.5 million.
De Leon said students can transfer to Jubilee Highland Hills or Jubilee San Antonio.
The charter school district will offer bus transportation with drop off and pick up at the Highland Park campus through the end of the school year.
Parents and students still have concerns.
“Some of them (students) are already saying, ‘we’re not going to meet each other anymore.’” Rodriguez said. “They say well, ‘am I going to have my teacher,’ and I say, ‘no, you’re going to have a new teacher.’ (Not having) a smaller group of kids in each class the attention from the teachers.”
De Leon tells us Jubilee Academies is doing its best to keep teachers with their current students.
