Dallas ISD Trustees to Consider Closing the District's Over-age Middle School

Dallas ISD is looking to close a school for over-age middle school students.On Thursday, prior to its regular monthly board meeting, DISD’s board of trustees will hold a public hearing to consider immediately shuttering Barbara Manns Education Center.Manns Education Center was designed to help middle school students who were two or more years older than most of their classmates and two years behind grade level. The school offered accelerated instruction, trying to quickly catch students up back up to grade level.“It was just a program that didn’t work as it was designed,” superintendent Michael Hinojosa said. “It was small and very expensive per student, but they didn’t serve many students. The economies of scale didn’t allow that school to be self-sufficient.”Manns’ program was voluntary; students could choose to stay at their neighborhood campus. And, according to district administration, this year’s enrollment numbers were too low for the school to be feasible. At year’s end, only 57 students were attending Manns.The initial enrollment goal for the school was more than 200 eighth-graders, with plans to add seventh- and sixth-graders in subsequent years. But Manns never had more than 188 students, and never served sixth-graders.  Continue reading...