Chapter 21 — Winn Montessori community meeting
**Date in the room:** Monday, November 3, 2025, afternoon (same calendar day as Bedichek morning). Filename date stamp “3025” is a caption-folder typo. **Source:** `meetings/clean/20251105-Winn-Montessori-Community-Meeting--November-3-3025.txt` Spanish track exists; not a second vote.
**Draft:** relocate Winn Montessori (cover letter still exploring — **Govalle** in the first draft). Zoned students to **Andrews** and **Hart**. TAP requires reassignment; at 3UA, viable TEA-accepted options narrow (reassign, restart, district restart). Current Winn students **keep a seat wherever the program goes**. Trustees asked him to explore **Ortega or Zavala**; that work is unfinished and would require those communities (`00:26:40`).
Who is in the room
**Campus:** Principal Bridget (first names; “Miss Bridget”). Circle seating as Montessori mixed-age respect (`00:01:03`). Miss Sandra, admin; Miss Allison, **librarian**, logistics; Mr. Devon, screen; Mr. Juan, refreshments; childcare outside.
**Staff who speak:** Ali Giller Ducey; Superintendent Segura. Name tags. English + Spanish recording.
**Board:** none present, none speaking. Segura: his job is to “position the trustees” (`00:30:28`); work session asked Ortega/Zavala; 20 minutes per topic at board, they went 90 on Montessori as a model and, parents say, **never discussed these students** except that they “shouldn’t go into a new school” (`00:28:40`).
Opening (`00:00:09`–`00:27:42`)
Bridget starts in Spanish then English: bilingual community; first-timers and veterans; cannot speak with one voice (countries, languages, income, neighborhood walkers vs. Montessori choosers) but can refuse to pit one child against another. No feeling is a bad feeling; presentation of feeling is the work.
Ali: 90 minutes; comment-card themes; November 20 vote.
Segura in the circle (`00:07:37`): things are hard; board and he trying to stabilize. Nobody is coming to save the budget. Federal Title II, III, IV frozen then released, **will go away** — millions for historically underserved; multilingual and AVID staff hit (`00:09:37`). Last two years they named what they believe: **planning time, essential areas, protecting librarians, protecting nurses** — each has a dollar cost (`00:10:37`). Educators are the unit of change. Post-pandemic vacancies; principal vacancies; leadership churn.
Five objectives: feeder patterns (144 years, desegregation, East Austin MS to 3–5 HS); transfers; program alignment **including Montessori** — “access” without transportation or geography is not access; wall-to-wall DL: move to where EBs are; empty seats (96 schools / ~70k in 1996 vs. 116 now); accountability. Uses Winn as the example that a school is more than a letter (`00:17:50`). Fort Worth. He “felt strongly that Montessori needed to be part of our academic program which is why it’s included” (`00:19:09`).
**STAAR compatibility (`00:19:46`):** Ali flags Wednesday board talk. Segura: blended classrooms make interventions for the test harder; “no one disagrees that students are getting what they need at Winn”; outcomes are moving; Montessori “doesn’t fit easily” into the state system — doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done; Winn is 1 of 116, rare statewide, which puts it at risk when the lens is accountability (`00:20:09`).
**Draft + Friday changes (`00:22:02`):** relocate to Govalle; zoned to Andrews and Hart. Mic fails; “introduce yourself to your neighbor and tell them your favorite thing about Winn.” Restart would require bilingual + Montessori-certified new staff. Friday revision: transfers so current students keep access. Putting a districtwide program in a high-empty-seat area can **keep another school from closing** (`00:25:37`). Still exploring. Nadia’s emails. New options create “anxiousness and fear” even when he is committed to Ortega/Zavala (`00:26:31`).
Q&A
**Wall-to-wall vs. Winn (`00:27:54`).** Wall-to-wall DL is being **moved to** the population it serves; Winn is being **moved away** from the population that makes mixed-age work. Board spent 45 minutes on Montessori as a model, “not never once discussing these students.” Grew Montessori one grade at a time. Stay in **northeast Austin**.
Segura: “it’s all my fault” how the board conversation was teed up (`00:30:24`). 20 minutes per topic, ran 90. Apology. Asks: is “where students are” geography or the current-student map? Parent has the map. He has the map; reads email at 3 a.m. Could Montessori work elsewhere? Parent: must be grown year by year. He doesn’t disagree (`00:31:59`).
**Jose Mustavante**, dual-language guide (`00:39:01`): (continues staffing / Montessori authenticity).
**Pflugerville / Pecán Springs idea (`01:07:56`):** parent: move into portables, Pecán Springs into Winn’s building, then all to the new Pecán Springs when built — stay in the community. Segura: Winn is 3UA **and so is Pecán Springs**. Chain-break is reassign to a campus that can take the TAP. Would be a “strategy pitch” to TEA if Pecán Springs community agreed. If Pecán Springs did **not** have those ratings, easier (`01:08:44`).
**LaGo**, zoned neighborhood, six years, kid was first grade in 2019 consolidation (`01:10:26`): “a trend.” Can’t plan for middle school. What is AISD doing to prevent the next round in five to six years?
Segura: he was here in 2019; oversaw much of it; “the most painful place I’ve ever been in professionally and probably even personally.” After 2019, pandemic, staff exodus, no systems. Last 2½ years: early literacy and numeracy moving. Won’t say never again — federal, state, **ICE**: immigrant families not coming or leaving, **over 2,000**, millions, some still here but not in school (`01:12:21`). If they only do a piece of this plan, “we will be here. There’s no doubt” (`01:13:42`).
Ali: communications can’t even list what every middle school offers because small student bodies can’t make classes. Process should define a **baseline** elementary / middle / high. “That’s going to I think help **recapture** families” — **enrollment recapture**, not Robin Hood (`01:15:37`).
**Camille Sailor**, AISD K–12, sped product, fourth year at Winn, taught high school 10–11 years (`01:15:46`): if AISD believes in Montessori, it needs a **district-level Montessorian**, not a traditional Texas public leader, and a principal who knows the work (Bridget, if she chooses to go). Applause.
Later (`01:35`–`01:39`): 1882 charter-partner option; trustees have said one-on-one they want a contingency if TEA rejects a path. Segura will take a community-backed option to trustees if it aligns.
Board vs. staff
Staff only. Trustees are the audience Segura is “positioning,” and the people who asked for Ortega/Zavala, and the people who talked about Montessori as a model without naming these students.