South San ISD board president points to new developments for need to increase enrollment

SAN ANTONIO – South San Independent School District board leaders say it’s time to get aggressive about increasing enrollment, as they see a boom in construction of homes around the district.

Board President Connie Prado said the district could lose the students to other schools and districts if they don't act quickly to reopen three shuttered schools -- Athens Elementary, Kazen Middle and West Campus High School.

“There's a lot of development,” she said. “If we don’t get our campus open for the community to transport their kids, we're going to lose them.”

In a presentation Wednesday, the school administration announced estimated startup costs for all three schools to be about $5.6 million. A committee has been formed to attempt to lower the estimate and figure out where the money will come from.

Prado points to these locations as hubs for new homes being constructed:

KSAT found that construction is underway at some of the locations.

Prado said more than 1,000 homes are expected to be built by next year.

“The bottom line is if we don’t get these campuses open, we're going to lose more kids,” she said.  

Superintendent Alexandro Flores issued the following statement after Wednesday’s special meeting: 

“Whether or not we move forward in reopening these campuses, our main goal as a district should be to first focus on performing academically and ensuring that all of our students receive the same quality education and services regardless of which school they may attend.  The main challenges that I see moving forward will be the ability to reopen these shuttered campuses by the ambitious timeline that is being proposed and the potential financial impact these actions will impose on the district.”

More meetings are expected before a decision is made on the reopening of the campuses.