Listen
Volunteers have collected enough signatures to request that the state close Burnet and Webb middle schools, in an attempt to stop a state takeover of Austin Independent School District. We’ll discuss what’s next.
As election season gets underway, we’re taking a look at some key local races, including City Council District 5, where incumbent Ryan Alter is facing an uphill battle to keep his seat.
Longhorns fans are recovering after UT blew a lead over rival Oklahoma last weekend. We’ll hear about what to expect as they face the Florida Gators tomorrow.
And: We’ll go on a trip with an Austin choir that’s performing music inspired by the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist.
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.
Alexandra Hart [00:00:08] A group of parents and volunteers at two Austin ISD middle schools have been petitioning for the district to close those campuses after they received failing state accountability ratings. It’s an attempt to stop a state takeover of the district. We’ll discuss what’s next. And as election season gets underway, we’re taking a look at some key local races, including a city council district where the incumbent is facing an uphill battle to keep his seat. That’s coming up on today’s show.
Angela Kocherga [00:00:33] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Alexandra Hart.
Alexandra Hart [00:00:39] Longhorns fans are recovering after UT blew a lead over rival Oklahoma last weekend, we’ll hear about what to expect as they face the Florida Gators tomorrow, and we’ll go on a trip with an Austin choir that’s performing music inspired by the Johns Hopkins psilocybin playlist. Tune in, but don’t drop out. Those stories on today’s Austin Signal. Hello Austin! It’s Friday, October 16th. You’re listening to Austin Signal. I’m your host Alexandra Hart. Thanks for being with us. Parents and volunteers at Burnett and Webb Middle Schools hurriedly worked over the past few days to gather enough signatures to request the closure of their own schools. This move could have potentially staved off a state takeover of Austin ISD. Those signatures were due at midnight last night. Did they succeed? And what does it mean for parents and students either way? Joining us now is KUT’s education reporter, Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez. Greta, thanks for joining us on Austin Signal.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:43] Hi, happy to be here.
Alexandra Hart [00:01:44] So were volunteers able to gather enough signatures?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:46] Yes, so they had to gather at least 51% or 50 plus 1% of signatures from parents of Webb and Burnett. That meant $299 for Burnett and $174 for Webb. Last night, the Austin Council of PTAs told us that informed the effort to gather the signatures and informed parents, told us they had reached that minimum goal. Okay, well with that news, what does this mean for Webb and Burnett schools? So after they validate that they have enough signatures because the district has to validate the signatures and we can get into that in a little bit. Parents will have a say on where their kids will go next. The schools would close if the commissioner approves this plan, then the schools would closed and parents would have a stay on developing that plan.
Alexandra Hart [00:02:34] And just so we’re clear, can you give us a little insight into these schools in particular, where are they located in the city and the demographic makeup of the student population?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:42] Yeah, so Webb and Burnett, they’re both located in North Austin, west of I-35. Over 70% of their students are English language learners, and over 80% are Hispanic. And so that means that a lot of the families don’t speak English at home, and the TEA, the Texas Education Agency, only gives this information in English about the petition, about what it means. They only have it in English. So a lot of these families didn’t understand their options and that’s why was an effort to explain it to them but even so they a lot of them said they didn’t quite understand what was happening and I spoke to a parent who told me that she signed but she didn’t really know what she was signing. Let’s listen to her her name is Karen Peraza.
Karen Peraza [00:03:26] So I didn’t translate it because my daughter was told to sign it, that it was urgent, and then my daughter came up and said, Mommy, sign this letter because it’s important so they don’t close the school.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:39] So she says that her kid came home with the letter and she signed it because her kid told her that it was so they wouldn’t close the school. And so she relies on her kid for translation and so she signed the letter and it was until later on that she realized what she has signed after talking to other parents and she did not agree with it. Yeah, so it sounds like there was.
Alexandra Hart [00:03:57] Of some confusion out there as to what was going on. And then you were out there as people were gathering these signatures. I know there were some additional questions with how this was being presented to the parents, what were some more of their concerns.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:08] Yeah, so volunteers were outside of the schools explaining during drop-off and pick-up. They were also at some after-school activities, but some parents said that they felt like there wasn’t enough time to explain something during a drop-up or pick- up or explain the whole aspect of it. It’s pretty complex. So some of them said there wasn’t enough time. They didn’t understand exactly what was happening. There were also calls being made to these homes and asking them, have you signed the petition. They, some people also knocked on their doors asking them to sign the petition. And finally, some of the forms had already filled out I spoke to another parent who told me that she also received a form from her kid and it already had her name, her kid’s name their address, their phone number. And so she worried about that. She did not sign the position. And I asked the ACPTA president about all this and her name is Crystal Brothwell Hernandez. And she told me that their organization did not send the signed petitions. And that, well, let’s listen to her. We have.
Crystal Hernandez [00:05:10] Offered blank petitions, but there were other volunteers who we were not directly affiliated, but also working randomly side by side. So there are decisions made upon other volunteers.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:28] On that aspect. And when I was out there with volunteers, I also asked them where did you get this information? I didn’t get a clear response about this. And so what role does the district
Alexandra Hart [00:05:39] have in this petition process.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:41] Yeah, so initially they said they wouldn’t be involved. Then they told us this week that they got involved by sending information to parents, both in English and Spanish. And we know that kids were sent home with the forms in their backpacks. And now that the signatures have been turned to them, they have to validate them. The way it’s done is the state does a snapshot of enrollment every year on October 30th. So they have compare the signatures with that snapshot and make sure the signatures match data of enrolled students. So it has to be exactly the same name, the same address from. Like information that parents used when enrolling their students in school, and they have to make sure it’s 50 plus 1 percent. Well, what’s next for Austin ISD, and is it clear where we go from here? So now we have to wait to see if that is validated, and then the superintendent has to turn that into the state by December 1st, and if the commissioner approves the plan, then they would close these schools for the next school year, and the superintendent would have to come up with a plan. With parents and where kids would go next year. Now, I will say the commissioner can still decide to close the schools and appoint a board of managers or appointed supervisors. So it’s not clear if the district has been saved from a takeover because that’s what a take over is, appointing a new board of manager.
Alexandra Hart [00:06:59] And before we let you go, you’ve also been covering the State Board of Education race for District 5. Can you tell us a bit about that district? Is it most of Austin, and who’s running?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:07:07] Yeah, so district five is Bastrop, Caldwell, Guadalupe, Hayes, Travis, and parts of Blanco and Williamson counties. I would like to say what the state board of education does, which is the governing body that decides what is taught in K through 12 schools. And it has 15 members that decide adopt curriculum standards, which are known as TEX, which is what is thought in each subject area. And they also approve instructional materials, including reading lists and textbooks. And so there’s two candidates. Dolores Micarellano is the Republican candidate. She is a 30 year old educator from Kyle. We reached out to her. I did get to talk to her, but she had agreed to do an interview and then she said no. But from what we know about her from her website is she says that she knows what works in real classrooms, not just policy discussions. And that she knows what needs to be fixed and how to fix it. And she’s running on a plan to improve five areas of public education, which include school safety, strong curriculum standards, retaining and supporting educators and ensuring tax dollars are spent on students and classrooms, not unnecessary bureaucracy, which we’ve heard from our state officials recently. And then there’s also from the Democratic Party, we have Alison Bush. She is also a former teacher. She has spent 25 years teaching in, part of it in Central Texas and Pflugerville and Bastrop. And she said that she decided to run for the State Board of Education because there’s not a lot of voices from educators that actually know what happens in the classroom. So she wanted to be that voice in the class room and tell them about what teachers really need because that- was part of what was discussed this year with a very long reading list that was approved. She said that recently the State Board of Education has made changes by quote motivated or changes motivated by political agendas and so she wanted to make that work and she hopes that they can put political ideology aside and work for Texas students. And then she also said that, and I’m going to quote here, that the State Board of Education was passing changes, telling our students what to think and not teaching them how to think. So she wants to leave audiology out of education and that she hopes to work across the aisle and hopes to make a more safe environment for teachers in the state.
Alexandra Hart [00:09:42] All right, we’ve been speaking with KUT’s education reporter, Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez. We’ll have links to both of her stories in today’s show notes. Greta, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Austin City Councilmember Ryan Alter has an uphill battle to secure a second term in office. Alter faces three challengers who say it’s time for new leadership in District 5. KUT’s Luz Moreno-Luzano tells us about the candidates.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:15] When Ryan Alter ran for City Council four years ago, he vowed to put a focus on affordability in District 5, which includes parts of South Austin.
Ryan Alter [00:10:22] Four years later we’ve achieved some really amazing results. Housing costs are down faster in Austin than any other major city in the country. We’ve nearly doubled the senior homestead exemption. We have made it so that landlords can’t surprise renters with hidden fees. But the problem is that while we are saving people money it is going in one hand and out the other.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:10:42] He blames that on tariffs and war, driving up the price of gas and groceries. But Alters’ three opponents, David Weinberg, Liz Brink, and Farrah Abraham are pushing back on his narrative Austin has gotten more affordable. Property taxes have increased, fees are up for utilities like water, electricity, and trash, and the city is again asking voters to consider a bond package that would further increase taxes. Weinberg led the Texas League of Conservation Voters for six years. He says tackling affordability is a balancing act.
David Weinberg [00:11:12] We need to have folks at City Hall who are doing a much better job of engaging with their communities, providing excellent constituent service, and really meeting people in the middle. I feel like we’ve got sort of a council that’s pretty distant from the rank and file in terms of their priorities.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:11:27] Weinberg and Alter spoke during a recent candidate forum at KUT. Brink did not participate or reply to a request for an interview. Abraham did not attend, but sent responses via email. The former reality TV star says South Austin families are feeling the pinch of rising cost while parks and roads get neglected. She favors economic revitalization and updating land use rules to avoid driving up property taxes. Austin has been facing budgetary constraints. The city is hoping to pay for some park and library improvements through a $295 million bond package. It would raise property taxes by about $40 a year on an average-valued house. Alter and Weinberg support the bond package despite their push for affordability. Abraham says quote, taxpayers deserve complete transparency before approving new debt. Then there is the issue of auditing city spending. The City Council hired an independent auditor and began the process this summer. But some believe it should happen more regularly. Austin voters will decide on a permanent charter amendment known as Proposition I this November. It calls for an independent audit every five years. Weinberg and Abraham support that measure. Alter does not, saying Prop I is surface level and problematic.
Ryan Alter [00:12:40] And there’s a motivation for the auditor within that, that they have to recommend as much as their fee is going to be. So they are incentivized to just come up with whatever, throw spaghetti on the wall, as it were, in order to justify their fees. And I don’t think that’s really the right way to go.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:12:57] The candidates agree more work is needed to address homelessness, including increasing shelter beds and access to resources across the city. They share similar views on the privacy concerns around automated license plate readers. Alter and Weinberg both support the plan to create a standalone 911 call center. Abraham says she stands with the three public safety chiefs who spoke out against the move. Alter hopes for another four years to continue building on the work he’s done. Abraham says she wants to focus on supporting local businesses and minimizing wasteful spending. Weinberg says for too long City Hall has been catering to corporate interests instead of residents and it’s time for a change.
David Weinberg [00:13:36] We’ve got a big disconnect between the policy that’s being made at council and what folks are asking for. I want to run to be a listener and someone who’s engaged in the community and truly listening to people on affordability, public safety, parks and the environment, public amenities.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:13:50] Early voting begins Monday, October 19th. Election day is November 3rd. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.
Alexandra Hart [00:14:03] The superintendent of Del Valle ISD has announced plans to step down. Matthew Gutierrez will leave the district in November after accepting a job with the Region 4 Education Service Center based in Houston. It’s one of 20 such centers created by the Texas Legislature to work with schools across the state and help them operate more efficiently. The Del Vale ISD Board of Trustees is working on a transition plan and is expected to share more details soon. A much anticipated cold front has finally arrived, bringing strong winds and temperatures resembling actual fall weather, highs in the upper 50s to mid 70s. National Weather Service has a wind advisory in effect until 7 this evening. Winds will be from the north at 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50. A warn of tree limbs could be blown down, so be careful out there. We’ll have more Austin Signal coming up after the break. Stay with us. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. An Austin choir is presenting a free concert this weekend. It’s called Visionary and it promises to take the audience on a psychedelic trip through music. For KUT’s Art Meet, Stephanie Federico explains what that means.
Stephanie Federico [00:16:17] Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon read a story a couple years back about patients taking psychedelics to treat depression. It mentioned a playlist they listened to during their trips. That sparked an idea.
Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon [00:16:28] That’d be cool to do a whole concert that was just music from the psychedelic trip playlist.
Stephanie Federico [00:16:34] Adrienne is the artistic director for Austin Cantorum. I met her during a rehearsal for their upcoming concert at First English Lutheran Church in Central Austin. The group is a semi-professional chamber choir made up of mostly working adults.
Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon [00:16:48] We specialize in creating sort of unique emotional experiences with our concert that actually go on a journey. So this psychedelic concert sort of fit perfectly with what we like to do.
Stephanie Federico [00:17:04] Johns Hopkins developed the playlist to support participants in its psilocybin studies. Research has found that the chemical in so-called magic mushrooms can be used to treat adults with major depression and PTSD. The playlist is nearly eight hours long. That’s the length of a typical mushroom trip. Adrienne condensed it to about an hour and 20 minutes. Singer Holt Skinner will be playing the role of trip advisor during the show.
Holt Skinner [00:17:30] So I’ll be kind of be guiding the audience through the psychedelic trip they’ll be experiencing for this program
Stephanie Federico [00:17:37] When Adrian announced that they were going to do a concert around the playlist, Holt told her about his own experience using ketamine to treat his depression and anxiety. He had even listened to the playlist during his treatments.
Holt Skinner [00:17:50] And so she thought it would be a great part of the experience to have someone who’s experienced this to talk about the different phases and how the playlist is designed to assist patients going through these procedures.
Stephanie Federico [00:18:03] The program is split into phases. It mirrors the arc of a psychedelic trip.
Holt Skinner [00:18:08] Starting with just whenever people arrive into the space. We’re gonna have some classical guitar playing, and it’s designed to kind of help people settle in, get comfortable, and maybe resolve some of the fear they might have around this kind of experience.
Stephanie Federico [00:18:22] Then the program goes into the onset phase, where the medicine starts to take effect. The next phase is the ascent.
Holt Skinner [00:18:35] The music starts to become a little more unhinged in some ways.
Stephanie Federico [00:18:39] The climax of the concert is Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei, which is based on his Sadagio for Strings.
Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon [00:19:01] It’s like the unofficial morning song of America, where everybody knows that that’s just like the saddest song in the world, not song, saddest piece in the word. But it’s also totally, it kind of goes up in this totally beautiful crescendo, and it arrives at this huge moment, and just makes you, we’re gonna make the room sort of shudder with our sound, so that’s gonna be fun.
Stephanie Federico [00:19:28] After that, the program comes back to Earth. Adrienne says music can heal and open you up to different traumas you may not have realized you have. She wants the audience to just let the music wash over them.
Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon [00:19:40] Let the music take you where you’re gonna go and don’t fight it, you know? If it brings up bad memories, I hope it doesn’t, but if it does, maybe just allow yourself to, you know, let the nerves in your brain take that into a different avenue so that that way you can feel something healthy about it.
Stephanie Federico [00:20:02] She hopes people leave feeling emotionally fulfilled.
Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon [00:20:05] But I also hope that people understand that psychedelics are not just like, you know, wood stock and, you now, it’s like it can theoretically have really amazing effects on people who need that kind of therapy.
Stephanie Federico [00:20:30] Austin Cantorum is not condoning drug use at the performance, though. Can’t regulate what people do when they come here, but there is a fire station right over there just in case anybody. She just wants everyone to have a good musical trip. For KUT’s Art Beat, I’m Stephanie Federico in Austin.
Alexandra Hart [00:21:00] Longhorns fans have been licking their wounds after UT blew a 10-point halftime lead against the Oklahoma Sooners last weekend in the Red River rivalry. The Lost scoffs at Longhorn, their number one spot in the college football rankings, and has people wondering what the rest of the season will look like for UT. The Texas Standards’ Angela Kocherga spoke with Austin American statesman UT beat reporter Danny Davis about the Lost and what to expect this weekend as the Horns face off against the florida gators.
Angela Kocherga [00:21:28] Well, it was a close game last week and Arch Manning threw two fourth-quarter interceptions How big a deal is that and should Texas fans be worried about his ability to perform when the game is on the line?
Danny Davis [00:21:42] Obviously, it’s a big deal. I mean, you can’t throw two fourth quarter interceptions in the SEC. This is too good of a conference. Even a team like Oklahoma that’s struggling, that’s a team with a big budget and some talented players. So you can make that many mistakes that late in the game. But I mean it’s one of those things with Arch. He throws two interceptions and the world’s ending. He throws to touchdown passes and plays like he did against Ohio State. You know, he’s king of the world. So that’s kind of how it is with him. He’s got to move on to Florida, I guess, but obviously he can’t play the way that he played against Oklahoma going forward if he wants to lead this team to the promised land.
Angela Kocherga [00:22:18] Yeah, that’s a great description. Well, it seems like no matter how each team is doing, the Red River rivalry is always a competitive game. I remember those Texas OU games back when I was at UT. So what is it about this particular game that always makes it such a toss-up?
Danny Davis [00:22:35] I mean, these are two teams. I mean this is what rivalry should be. I mean every once in a while you’ll get a lopsided one. Oklahoma had a couple bad losses the last couple of years, but they’d have like an injured quarterback or something weird going on. But this is a team that’s circled on, you know this is the game that’s circled everyone’s calendar the entire season. You know, Texas doesn’t have pep rallies for the Florida game. And I don’t know what Oklahoma does to get ready for the Texas game, but I’m pretty sure that they, you know throw pretty big parties up there too. So I mean it’s the game that you know kids if you grow up a Texas man you want to be at Oklahoma. Vice versa, it’s the same way with A&M later in the season. So, I mean, Ravera games are supposed to be close and the Red River game, same way.
Angela Kocherga [00:23:12] Well, all that said, it’s worth noting that this season, OU is an unranked team. They’ve lost two games already, but they still beat the Longhorns last weekend. Does Texas need to make any changes or was it just an off week?
Danny Davis [00:23:26] I mean, Texas isn’t going to make any changes because Steve Sarkeesian can be a little stubborn, but I mean we’ll see. I mean they, Steve is pretty insistent that his system works and that he believes in his system and his players believe in his system. And we’ll, see I mean there’s questions about his offensive play calling because Texas really struggled offensively and Steve will point out that offense has worked in the past and he won a national championship a couple years ago. At Alabama and that’s probably the reason why he got the Texas job was because of his offensive play call. And so he believes in the system. We’ll see if they can turn it around. And then special teams has been a disaster the last two weeks. But Steve doesn’t seem to want to let Jeff Banks, the special teams coordinator, go. He believes in that system. He believes it had some success in the past. That success really hasn’t shown itself the last few seasons, but Texas isn’t going to make any changes. I don’t think they’re going to make changes the rest of the season. If there’s going to be changes, it’s going be in the off season. So what you see is kind of what you get and it’s up to the Longhorns to get it figured out in the field.
Angela Kocherga [00:24:22] Well, the college football playoffs have 12 teams this year and Texas is currently ranked 7th. How much of a setback was this loss in terms of making it to the postseason?
Danny Davis [00:24:33] I mean, it’s not the end of the world. I think Texas, it narrows Texas’ margin of error, definitely. I think everyone kind of believes that two losses is probably the cutoff line. So Texas has, what, seven games left in the season, regular season, so they can only really afford one loss. The good news for Texas is a lot of the teams on its schedule have also struggled. I mean LSU’s kind of falling apart. Ole Miss has had a bad loss. Florida does not look as good as it did a couple weeks ago. I mean It’s not like they’re going to, they don’t have to face Georgia this year. So, I mean, Texas is probably going to be favored, probably, you know, most of his games going forward. So they take care of business on the field. They’ll be in the playoff. They may be able to slip up once, can slip up twice. But the Oklahoma loss definitely does not help them, but also helps that they beat Ohio State. So, I mean they’re gonna get dinged for the Oklahoma loss, they’ll get boosted by the Ohio State win. So that’s, you know, evens itself out, but they still got to, you know, get it done in the field
Angela Kocherga [00:25:30] Well, let’s talk about this weekend. The Longhorns are taking on another unranked team. As you mentioned, the Florida Gators. What are you going to be looking for?
Danny Davis [00:25:39] And we’re going to see if Arch bounces back, not only from last week, but also last year. I mean, you know, don’t forget this is a team that Texas lost at Florida last year that probably kept them out of the playoff. That was 29-22 loss last year, some of those Florida players are still there, including Jaden Baugh, who’s a running back, probably one of the country’s best running back. So, you, he’s going to have, you he’s gonna want to come into Austin and, you know, he is running pretty well the last two years against Texas. So we’ll see if he can do it a third. So we will see how the run defense plays against this Russian offense of Florida and Arch can get things going. After after a rough week at the Cotton Bowl.
Alexandra Hart [00:26:12] That was Texas Standard host Angela Kocherga speaking with the Austin American Statesman UTV writer Danny Davis. The Longhorns take on the Florida Gators at home tomorrow. Kickoff is at 11 a.m. That’s it for us today on Austin’s Signal. Thank you to KUT’s Greta Diaz, Gonzalez Vazquez, Luz Moreno Lozano and Stephanie Federico for their reporting. Caroline File is our technical director, Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer, Jimmy Moss is our showrunner, and I’m your host, Alexandra Hart. Austin Signal will be back on Monday. We’ll talk to you then. Have a great weekend.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
