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The Austin Independent School District is handing over control of three middle schools to a nonprofit in the hopes of avoiding a districtwide state takeover. Dobie, Burnet and Webb middle schools are trying to avoid a fifth accountability rating that could trigger the takeover. Acacia Coronado with the Austin Current has the story.
Austin city leaders have approved a new strategic plan to address some of the issues faced by people experiencing homelessness. The plan calls for more shelter beds, better coordination and increased community partnership. We’ll have more about those ambitions and the costs.
We remember the music and career of local Austin musician, Jon Dee Graham, who died Friday at 67.
And who’s the guy who dances at the corner of Barton Springs Road and South First Street?
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] The Austin Independent School District is handing over control of three middle schools to a nonprofit in the hopes of avoiding a district-wide state takeover. Doby, Burnett, and Webb middle schools are trying to avoid a fifth failing accountability rating that could trigger that takeover, more about that. Plus, Austin city leaders have approved a new plan to address some of the issues faced by people experiencing homelessness, which calls for more shelter beds, better coordination, and increased community partnership. More about these ambitions and the costs that’s on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:39] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:44] And who’s the guy who dances at the corner of Barton Springs Road and South First Street? Well, his name is… I’m not gonna tell you his name, you’re just gonna have to tune in to find out. Come and meet him. That’s up next, right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, you are tuned in to Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Gihannel. It’s March 30th, the last Monday of the month. We’re glad that you’re making us part of your day. The Austin Independent School District voted to hand over control over Dovey Web and Burnett Middle Schools to Texas Council for International Studies. These schools have failed accountability ratings four times, and a fifth failure could trigger a district-wide takeover from the state of Texas AIC is hoping that the move could improve the future of these middle schools. For more about this move, we are talking with Acacia Coronado, an education reporter for the Austin Current. Thanks for being back on the show.
Acacia Coronado [00:01:48] Thanks for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:49] So, this decision tells more about the things that AISD was considering prior to making this move.
Acacia Coronado [00:01:56] Yeah, so each of these three middle schools, as you mentioned, have four failing accountability ratings and so they are trying to prevent them getting to a fifth. They had been really investing in their math and reading, teaching over the last few months, but upon reviewing their beginning and middle of year scores, the district officials just shared that they did not feel confident that they would know for a fact that the would not receive a fifth F, so they were looking for a partner that could really come in and improve some of those testing scores and other aspects that TA takes into account when doing an Accountability Rating.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:32] Okay well speaking of that partner that partner is the Texas Council for International Studies who are they why were they chosen.
Acacia Coronado [00:02:39] Yeah, so the Texas Council for International Studies was created to support schools that use the international baccalaureate programs, but they also run, they operate about a little over a dozen partnerships under Senate Bill 1882, which allows for this outside operator partnership that Austin ISD is applying for. And so they operate partnerships in Edgewood, Longview, and San Antonio ISDs. And so. Austin ISD kind of looked at their progress at some similar schools, including I think a similar middle school in San Antonio, to see, to get an idea of what that could look like for AISD and their three middle schools, and they selected them based off of that.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:19] Okay, and is this just like a one-year thing? What kind of window is this?
Acacia Coronado [00:03:23] The contract that they’re looking at is three years, which is similar to what they had at Mendez Middle School.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:29] Okay, okay, so and you’re reporting you call this a high stakes move. Can you tell us more? What do you what do you mean by that?
Acacia Coronado [00:03:36] Yeah, so if TEA was to deny their application, which they still can, and the schools were to get a fifth failing accountability rating, the state could either take over the entire district by appointing board of managers to replace the school board, or they could select to close the schools.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:01] And has that statewide takeover happened in other school districts here in Texas?
Acacia Coronado [00:04:06] It has. We did see it in Houston ISD and we saw it in Fort Worth ISD and a few others. So it is a possibility and so that’s something that AISD I think has been trying to stave off and they’re hoping this partnership will not just improve the schools but also prevent the situation.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:23] Okay, so I believe the votes happened late on Thursday, so there’s been a little bit of time for the community to kind of take it in. What have you heard? What’s the response been from parents, teachers, and even students?
Acacia Coronado [00:04:35] Yeah, so I got to visit one of the community meetings before they made the decision on Thursday. They held community meetings a week or two before, and teachers and parents seemed open to an idea if it was something that could, in both the short-term and long-term, improve the outcome of the school for the students.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:56] And was there more discussion at the meeting on Thursday, or was it more just a vote on the plan itself?
Acacia Coronado [00:05:02] On Thursday we mostly saw a brief discussion and then a vote. One of the board members did share that she was grateful that even though they did select kind of close to the March 31st deadline for applying for a partnership, she was grateful that it was an intentional plan that was put forth.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:19] Okay, so where are we at in the process? Is this like a final step? I believe you said this application could still be denied. What happens next?
Acacia Coronado [00:05:29] What happens next will really depend on the response and the feedback they get from TEA. Superintendent Segura did say during the meeting that the response and the final decision could take a couple months. So we might not know even up until May or June what the final outcome of this is, but now it kind of goes to submitting the application by the March 31st deadline and then getting a response or feedback from TEA.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:54] And if they, as soon as that response comes back, if it’s approved, this, I’m guessing, would go into effect immediately next school year.
Acacia Coronado [00:06:01] Yes, it would go into effect next school year for the next three school years. And the partnership under SB 1882 would allow for the schools to not have an accountability rating for this school year and the following one.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:15] Okay, we have been speaking with Acacia Coronado. She is an education reporter for the Austin Current partnering with Austin Signal and KUT in covering the city. Acacia, thanks as always.
Acacia Coronado [00:06:25] Thanks for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:33] The City of Austin has a new homeless strategy that will add more shelter beds and resource centers to the system. KUT’s Luz Moreno Lozano tells us more about this two-year plan.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:06:47] The city’s plan was crafted with more than two dozen community partners. It includes adding more shelter beds to the system, opening two centers to help match people with additional services, and increasing collaboration with community partners David Gray is the city’s Homeless Strategy Officer
David Gray [00:07:02] We wanna get people out of our abandoned buildings and we wanna get out of parks and green belts. We need more beds to put them in. We need spaces to bring those people inside.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:07:14] For people who are experiencing homelessness, this plan is a first step in helping to get people off the street. Tony Carter, who has been experiencing homelessness since 2019, says the city should do more to help the people who need it.
Tony Carter [00:07:26] You go around here and you think, you know, all the people that’s here in Austin, you would think someone, or they would have enough resources to… People that is out here, you know, but Austin do not have that.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:07:43] He says one of the biggest issues is the city’s lack of safe places for people to sleep. Over the last seven years, Carter has been in and out of homeless camps and rapid rehousing, which provides a rent subsidy. He was doing this while trying to hold down a job, but nothing has quite worked. While unhoused and living in camps over the last couple of years, he has been swept out so many times he’s lost valuables, belongings, and even pets.
Tony Carter [00:08:07] They’re gonna keep kicking us out, sweeping us. We need housing, we really do, because you kicking people out that don’t have a place to go. We need the resources, we need parliament-supported housing. A place where we can go get help.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:08:29] And not just any help, meaningful help, people who work at the center that make them matter and feel safe and who care about the cause.
Tony Carter [00:08:37] A lot of people, they’ll go to the shelters, but they ain’t gonna stay. Cuz the employees don’t know how to treat the people for more. Thank you very much. Restroom or facilities, whatever, you know, all messed up and you got nobody cleaning. Or if they is cleaning, they have cleaning them, you know, and then you got people’s stuff getting stolen there and all that.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:09:01] The plan aims to address those concerns by establishing standards at shelters, including staff training, and service expectations like food quality. As the City looks to adopt and implement the plan, Gray says the City will be leaning on its community partners to help bring some of these needs to fruition, especially as the City navigates budget constraints. One of those partners will be the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO. The organization recently announced a new program called Right at Home that will provide financial assistance to more than 1,000 families in Austin. Ashley Hamilton is the manager for the new program. She says the goal is to keep people housed by stepping in before they hit a crisis point.
Ashley Hamilton [00:09:40] And when we talk about a person being able to have income, well, in order for them to have income, they need to be able to get to their car. Maybe their car broke down. They need to able to pay for the repairs. That all contributes to them staying housed. If they can’t get to work, they can pay their rent. If they pay their own rent, then eventually the eviction
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:01] process comes in. She says the same could apply to child care costs or medical care. Hamilton says her organization and others are doing everything they can to help people, but they are at a turning point and hopefully this new plan will help guide them.
Ashley Hamilton [00:10:15] We are now stepping into a time where we’re acknowledging that our current kind of system isn’t working to the best that we think that it could be. And it may take us to do some things a little bit differently in order to really achieve the goals.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:33] Tony Carter says all this work is good, but he hopes the city plan is thorough enough to help the people who really need it, because there are still thousands living unhoused in Austin. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin
Jerry Quijano [00:10:47] And now some sad news to share that happened since we were last on the airwaves with you. John D. Graham died on Friday. His musical career started when he left behind the classrooms and student life here at UT Austin to join the Skunks. The band would go on to open for seminal acts like Ramones and The Clash and were inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Graham would move on from the group and link up with many other artists including Luanne Barton, Kelly Willis, and Patti Griffin. And Graham joined forces with Alejandro Escovedo in the band True Believers. And yet, many Austinites will remember him for his solo work and his regular presence at the Continental Club on South Congress. Our friend Lori Gallardo from KUTX said Graham’s songs would quote, connect to the soul in ways you didn’t think possible. We’re gonna have a link to a Studio 1A performance that Graham did back in 2016 in today’s show notes. John D. Graham was 67 years old. Little Adaloo-Bee-Loo This is Austin Signal, welcome back. We could debate all day long about whether Austin is still weird, but sometimes it is undeniable. We got a question for KUT’s ATXplain project about a person whose whole thing is getting noticed. KUT’s Matt Largey has the story.
Matt Largey [00:12:22] Ardiabello doesn’t remember exactly when he first saw him. It was a few years ago. He and his wife were living in South Austin. They were driving through the intersection at South First and Barton Springs Road.
Ardiabello [00:12:34] We notice this person dancing, rapping, having the time of their lives, and it appears to be a young gentleman not doing anything wrong, not bothering anybody. They’d go through this area a lot.
Matt Largey [00:12:44] Let’s see them again.
Ardiabello [00:12:46] I would say close to 90.
Matt Largey [00:12:47] Percent of the time we drive by. Same corner every time, looking like he’s having the time of his life every time. In a city known for its characters, this man stood out. It didn’t look like he was just hanging out on a street corner. There was no sign plugging his Instagram, no Venmo code asking for money. Could it be a dude who was just genuinely out there?
Ardiabello [00:13:12] We were just interested, how are you having such a great time? And I’m sure some other people wonder, what are you up to?
Matt Largey [00:13:18] So Artie asked A.T. To explain about him, and one evening, I went to go find out.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:13:29] This is my spot. When you come here, you will see the.
Matt Largey [00:13:31] Man, he gets there a little after 5 p.m. And time for rush hour. He’s wearing something that will attract your attention He looks pretty sharp. He’ll stay all evening dancing singing rapping waving
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:13:44] By now, everybody know I’m not crazy. But if they didn’t know, let me just go ahead and answer that question too. I’m now crazy. I’m nowhere near crazy.
Matt Largey [00:13:52] His name is Broderick Cornelius James, Jr. AKA Primetime King, AKA Positive Thinking King, P.O.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:14:01] WEIRD!
Matt Largey [00:14:03] He says he’s out on this corner more than 300 days a year. A lot of what he does is more like pantomime. The microphone that he holds doesn’t do anything. It’s just a prop. He raps or sings along with the music in his headphones. At times, he seems lost in the performance.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:14:19] It’s an actual unofficial show, not a real show, like, but it’s an actually unofficial show that people are actually invited into the show with me standing at the red light.
Matt Largey [00:14:29] He calls it Invisible Theater.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:14:31] Invisible theater means everybody is my audience. If they spend a moment or five or two minutes, I got two minutes to impress. So in that two minutes I might get a couple people who will look my way, that’s the audience.
Matt Largey [00:14:46] Every few minutes, someone stops at the light, rolls down their window, and shouts at him. These are the moments when Broderick really comes alive.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:14:53] What’s up, man? I love you, man. He got somebody in the car.
Matt Largey [00:15:03] Broderick is 46 years old. He grew up in Atlanta, joined the army, got married, had kids. Things went downhill about 20 years ago. His marriage fell apart. He went to jail. He was having mental health problems. Things were really bad.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:15:18] I wanna kill myself, right? I wanna commit suicide or whatever the word is.
Matt Largey [00:15:23] He spent some time in psychiatric treatment. A doctor there gave him some advice.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:15:27] She told me, you gotta find a way to replace your pain and what you went through to make you wanna do that. You gotta find something in the community to do or in the world to do that can make you feel just like that pain made you feel in reverse.
Matt Largey [00:15:44] He did find something. If you’ve been around Austin long enough, you might remember, because this is not the first intersection he’s been a fixture at.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:15:52] No, no it’s not. It’s not the first. Everybody know me from being on the other side of town in North Austin.
Matt Largey [00:15:57] Specifically, the intersection of Lamar and Runberg. For years, Broderick was known as the Runberg Running Man. The Running Man was famous, a mascot for the neighborhood. His superpower was positivity. This is from a short documentary he made about him back in 2013.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:16:15] I turned my community into a place that people want to see somebody be happy. That is the purpose why I’m here. Know what I’m saying? At the end of the day. Look at this. When everybody said it was negative, we turned it into something good.
Matt Largey [00:16:30] But over time, it became more than just running and dancing. People wanted him to be more of a leader to solve their problems, and he got burned out.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:16:39] I feel like they made me king, Martin King of that. Like up there, I became like somebody I never wanted to be. I never want to be the actor.
Matt Largey [00:16:47] He was more interested in being an artist. Plus he says the corner started to get more dangerous. Broderick put ten years into being the running man. And then he stopped. Then he left.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:17:01] Even though I left Rumburg, I had to replace it with another corner. Like, I could not just leave Rumburgh and not have, I have to find another corner, had to, because this is my lifeline.
Matt Largey [00:17:13] In 2022, Broderick moved to an apartment in South Austin. One day, he came out to Barton Springs in South First. He stood on the northeast corner, looked out at the intersection, and he knew this was the place.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:17:26] I saw this as my sanctuary and I was like, this is where I’m going to perform until I die.
Matt Largey [00:17:35] If The Rendered Running Man was about inspiring a community, Bradwick’s new character isn’t too far off. If The Running Man is Martin Luther King, he says this version is the spiritual descendant of Leslie Cochran.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:17:48] We know Leslie is the king or slash queen of weird. So let me be the kingpin. I’ma be the other side. I’m gonna be the part of the corn.
Matt Largey [00:17:56] Leslie was, of course, the cross-dressing, thong-wearing icon of Austin weirdness in the late 90s and 2000s. He died in 2012.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:18:04] I honor the king, he’s the peak. You can’t have anything without a foundation. I’m on his foundation. This is weird Austin, this is Leslie Austin, and I’ll get a chance to continue his legacy.
Matt Largey [00:18:19] As I watch Broderick do his thing, a couple of teenage boys tear up to him on these electric bikes. At first, I think they’re going to give him a hard time, but then the high fives start going up. And it’s clear that they came here to see him, to joke around, to say hi. He’s a fixture in their lives.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:18:39] It’s the idea of where I was when I wanted to commit, to not live anymore. Once I got free, this became like the freedom. So for me, to be out here is to wave to everybody, to say what’s up to everybody because this to me is my family.
Matt Largey [00:18:59] And just like family, it’s not always fun. Some days he just doesn’t have the energy. But he still comes out, gives it the energy he does have. Because you never know when someone is gonna need what you’re putting out there.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:19:12] Everybody is looking for something, you know what I’m saying? I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s love, it’s peace, a friendship, a connection. I’m not saying I’m giving them what they’re looking for, but I’m giving them something that I guess to make them say, maybe this is enough like to keep going, because that’s what the world want. People want to be encouraged. Give them a reason not to give up.
Matt Largey [00:19:34] But there’s a danger to doing any kind of public performance, at least as Broderick sees it. There’s no doubt he’s charismatic. He radiates confidence and positivity. Just spending a few hours with him makes you want to be a better neighbor. For the Running Man, that meant people wanted more from him. He felt like they wanted him to fight their battles, to be the activist. Here on the other side of town, he says people wonder why he’s out here on the street. Doesn’t he want to be more than this? He tells me about a time when a woman in fancy business clothes stopped and asked him, is there anything she could do to help him become more? How could she help him fulfill his vision? And at the time, he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have an answer. But he kept thinking about it.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:20:21] If she came back and asked that question, I’m no longer clueless. The answer would be no. There’s nothing she can do to help me.
Matt Largey [00:20:30] He’s already living the dream. The vision, he says, is already realized.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:20:35] I don’t want this life-changing, aha, revelational message of what I’m trying to do for the world and Nobel Peace Prize, no. We’ve already reached that already. This is it. This is what you get.
Matt Largey [00:20:58] It sounds simple. Show up in the same corner almost every day. Give folks who come by a wave or a high five. Put on a show for people who are late for dinner. People resting to pick up their kids. People who avoid making eye contact. Make them smile. Help them chill out at the red light. Let them know weirdness is still alive. In a city where people want you to be more, be bigger, maybe the invisible theater.
Broderick Corneilius James, Jr. [00:21:25] I love the smallness of my name, not making it bigger than it needs to be. You got the stars for big. I want to be small, compact. You can pull up on me and say you love me like you do. That’s what I want.
Matt Largey [00:21:50] I’m Matt Largey in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:54] If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers 24-7 support. That story was originally part of our most recent AT Explain live show. Our next show, show number 10 with brand new stories, is coming up on May 21st at Bass Concert Hall. You can get tickets at TexasPerformingArts.org. One last thing before we get you out of here today, the Texas women’s basketball team will play this evening for a spot in their second consecutive final four. The 1C Longhorns will face Michigan with tip-off scheduled for six o’clock. The win tonight would send the Horns to Phoenix for another game on Friday night against UCLA. That is it for today’s show. Thank you for starting off the week here with us. You can find more about us at kut.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director and Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host Jerry Quijano. We will talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
