Dallas ISD Students, Parents Rally To Save Schools
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Holding signs reading 'Save Fannin!' and 'Think about the Children!' hundreds of Dallas ISD students and parents held rallies Thursday in an effort to help save their schools.
"I love my school," said a 6-year-old girl in the crowd.
Built in 1915, James W. Fannin Elementary can accommodate 507 students. According to DISD records, only half of that number is now enrolled there.
The district estimates closing the campus could save close to $1.5 million each year.
But families say the move would pull apart their close-knit community. "It's like a little piece of history for my family," said Daisy Torres. She and her six brothers went to the school.
Now, she walks several miles a day to drop off her own children there. That walk could soon grow considerably longer if her kids are sent to another school. "It's gonna get harder next year," she said.
Across town in South Dallas children chanted, "Save our schools! Save our schools!" at a protest against the closing of H.S. Thompson Elementary and Pearl Anderson Middle School.
"We don't want our schools shut down, and the reason they're being shut down is because there's no economic development in our community," said local community activist, the Rev. Ronald Wright.
In all, the district has proposed shutting down 11 schools for an annual savings of $11 million, one solution to the shrinking DISD budget.
Still, young students cling to hope for an alternative.
DISD will hold another week of meetings to address each individual school it is proposing to close.
