Single-Sex Schools Back on AISD Agenda
Pearce Middle School would transition into a single-sex school, under an option considered by the AISD school board.KUT NewsBy Austin Feldman
The Austin school board is set to resume discussion on a boys-only school. The move comes just one month after the topic was postponed indefinitely.
The AISD board is set to discuss a total of three single-sex schools in a special meeting tonight: a School for Young Men and turning Garcia and Pearce Middle Schools into single-sex schools – one for boys and the other for girls.
AISD hopes the single-sex schools will act as a competitive option to Austin charter schools as well as provide an environment that will reduce distractions and provide students with greater opportunities for academic success.
The school board will review and discuss research collected from a year-long effort to engage the east Austin community surrounding Garcia and Pearce.
A telephone survey conducted by AISD regarding single-gender middle schools within the Pearce and Garcia attendance boundaries recorded mixed opinions. Forty-five percent of responding families favored the creation of a single-gender middle school but only 32 percent favored single-gender middle schools for their own children.
