Board members for the Austin
Independent School District are
considering an outside nonprofit to
handle three of its middle schools
with chronic failing grades.
Another failing grade for these
campuses would give the Texas
Education Agency the authority to
take over the district as a whole.
More about community meetings
happening this week and the Texas
Attorney General has notified AISD
of a complaint alleging the district
violated the state's bathroom bill.
More about those stories coming up
on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Plus, South by Southwest officially
kicks off tomorrow, but the
unofficial showcases and house shows
have plenty to offer up as well.
Come hear about one benefiting a
women's correctional facility here
in the Austin area.
Those stories and a whole lot more,
up next on Austin Signal.
Howdy out there!
You are tuned in to Austin
Signal from listener-powered public
radio, KUT News.
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
It is the 11th day of March,
thank you for making us part of your
day. We started out our Wednesday
with showers and thunderstorms here
in Austin and across the area.
Unfortunately, it appears that that
rain is leaving us for a good chunk
of time with some warmer days ahead.
The National Weather Service is
forecasting a high right above 90
degrees on Sunday, BYE BUD In
classic Texas fashion, the high just
24 hours later on Monday
is expected to top out
in the mid-60s.
We will of course keep you updated
on the latest right here
on Austin Signal.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
has notified the Austin Independent
School District of an alleged
violation of Senate Bill 8,
colloquially known as the Bathroom
Bill, limiting transgender Texans'
use of public bathrooms in
government buildings.
The announcement seems to be the
first major enforcement action of
the new state law, and comes after
another investigation the AG's
office said it planned against AISD.
For more, we're joined now by Acacia
Coronado. She is the education
reporter for Austin Current, KUT's
collaborator on The Signal,
and a partner with KUT newsroom in
covering Austin.
Welcome back to the show, Acacia.
Thanks for having me.
So let's talk about this alleged
violation, what's in
that?
So according to the attorney
general's office, the violation
states that a
student used a restroom that is
not consistent with their sex
at birth.
And that followed a complaint that
was made to the AG's office.
Yes.
So the attorney general's office
said they were investigating this
because they received a complaint
through the tip line that the
attorney's general's office set up
to report these things once
the law went into effect in
December.
Okay, that law is in effect
now, what are the penalties
associated for violating
Senate Bill 8?
So the penalties that are
in Senate Bill 8 say that it's
a $25,000 violation
fee for the first time
and then $125,000
fee for subsequent violations.
However, the notice that
Austin ISD was given according to
the attorney general's office was
that it will incur a $5,000
penalty per day that the violation
continued.
Did it say why it was only 5,000
if the first is supposed to be
25,000?
It did not.
Do we know which school in the
Austin Independent School District
this complaint was filed against?
So according to the
attorney general's office statement,
it was a parent from
Austin High School that submitted
the complaint.
Okay, what have you heard so far
from Austin ISD officials in regards
to this
alleged complaint?
So Austin ISD has said that they
received the notification from
the attorney general's office and
they said that will respond
accordingly.
You also reported this week about
the options AISD board members
are considering for three schools
with continued failing grades.
Can you remind us what schools those
are and what is being considered
for them?
Yeah, so those schools are Burnet,
Webb, and Doeby Middle Schools, and
it was added to
their schedule for Thursday's
information meeting that the board
hosts to
discuss the possibility of
partnering with Texas Council for
International Studies, who
has also brought on Region
1 Education Service Center as an
advising partner.
What do we know about this group and
their history with schools here in
Texas?
Texas Council for International
Studies has worked with several
districts including Edgewood,
Longview and San Antonio ISDs.
They actually, all the schools
listed on their websites are
partnerships under the SB 1882
program, which allows districts
to partner with
outside organizations to operate a
school, either for innovation
or to turn around a school that
might be failing for continuous
years. Okay.
Um, so.
The Texas Council for International
Studies has 15
partnerships across the state,
and some of these include
schools in San Antonio
that are
still at a lower
rating, and they also
include schools that have
kind of improved and gone down
and improved and go down.
Was this the only group considered
for this kind of initiative?
So we are not
clear yet on whether there
were other groups considered.
We have requested to the school
district how many groups
applied to operate the
three middle schools.
However, we have been
sent to an attorney general's ruling
on whether that information can
be released because the district
said that their bid process
is technically not closed until they
for the contract.
So we were
still waiting to find out out of
how many they selected them and
what made them the
winner.
Okay, uh, will the community
have an opportunity to discuss this
new consideration?
Yeah, so community meetings are
being held at all three of the
middle schools for the parents
of those middle schools later today.
And then tomorrow at the
board meeting, there's still
the public comment section at
the beginning of the board meetings.
So community can also voice
their thoughts then.
And it sounds like there's still a
little bit of this process to be
played out.
How soon might a plan like this
move forward or how soon do
officials hope that they might be
able to put this kind of plan into
action?
Yeah, so the deadline to apply
for one of these partnerships is
March 31st.
So the district has to name
their partner and apply with their
partner by then.
They have a scheduled voting meeting
on March 26th, which
is when we're expecting
that they will take the vote,
whether to move forward or not with
this partnership.
And the implementation of it would
be in the next school year.
We have been talking with Acacia
Coronado, she is the education
reporter for Austin Current, KUT's
collaborator on the Austin Signal,
and a partner with KUT Newsroom in
covering the city. Thank you for
your reporting, Acacia.
Thank you so much for having me.
This is Austin Signal, thank you for
tuning in. Since the start of the
second Trump administration,
immigration crackdowns have been in
the news and affecting communities
and families across the nation, as
well as right here in Texas.
Austin-based documentarian Louise
von Asa has taken a closer look at
this by talking with the folks being
directly affected.
She's the director of the new
documentary Ice America's
Hunt for Migrants.
Louise, thank for being here with us
on Austin Signal.
Thank you for having me.
Also joining us is Mando Rayo,
host of the Tacos of Texas podcast.
He is featured in the documentary as
well. Mando, thanks for coming on
The Signal. Happy to be back.
Louise, I'm gonna start with you.
Obviously ICE detentions and
ICE activities have been in the
news for the last number
of months.
What made you want to document
what's happening with US
immigration, particularly here in
Texas right now?
Well, I started
to have this idea for a documentary
back in I believe it was March,
I was in Europe because I'm
originally from Belgium and I was
promoting my other documentary
there.
Okay.
And whenever I was talking
about ICE, nobody really
knew what ICE was,
which surprised me because up here
in the United States, it was
such a big topic.
So I was like, okay, this is a story
I feel like I need to tell
here. This needs to be known.
And so I flew back, talked to Mando,
because we worked together on the
podcast, listened to his story
and then, you know, talked to
Network in Belgium and then started
making that documentary.
Yeah, speaking of that story, Mando,
you are affected by this as
well.
Your story is shared in the doc.
Can you tell us a little bit about
that experience?
Yeah, yeah.
During the first Trump
administration,
you know, I was petitioning for my
wife.
She's originally from Honduras.
And we're kind of at the last
part of the interview
process.
And I turn over my birth
certificate and the ICE agent there
says that basically turns it around
and says, well, we're going to have
to do an investigation on you
because you were born along
the border in the 70s.
And it was
caught off guard, caught surprise.
Quickly after that, you know,
I mean, I'm a US citizen.
Case anybody ask.
Yeah, yeah.
And back then,
you know, during the first Trump
administration, they were
specifically targeting people born
along the border.
And so I
reapplied for my passport
and then it was denied.
And so for four years, I
was basically stateless.
I had to prove I was a U.S.
Citizen, which was
crazy.
Yeah, Louise, in your documentary
you speak with a DACA recipient who
was detained in El Paso at
the airport ahead of a work trip.
She managed to capture her
interactions with ICE officials and
let her partner know that an ICE
official had taken her DACA card and
was not giving it back.
Let's listen to a brief clip from
that documentary highlighting those
interactions.
Okay, I'm asking you some
immigration documents here,
do you have a visa?
Have a work permit.
What you have in hand is my work
authorization.
I'll see you on the far side, okay?
Sochil is allowed to live and work
legally in the US under DACA,
a program that protects people who
were brought here as children.
Go ahead, go through screening.
I'll see you on the first side. Do
you not want to take your airplane ride?
Are you threatening me?
No, I'm not threatening you.
I'm asking you, do you want to take
your airplane ride? If you do, go
though screening.
When I saw the message, I didn't
know what had happened.
I was kind of like waiting to hear
from her and then I texted her back
like, what happened, did they let
you on the plane?
Go ahead and turn off your phone,
you can come in with those answers,
okay? For what?
We're going to question you in
regards to your documents.
What's the questioning for?
Don't do all the talk about it.
What's the questioning for?
Uh, how do you, how you got the
format authorization?
I need to have my lawyer here.
That's right
I can wait for my lawyer.
While you can't see your lawyer,
let's just go by plane ticket.
So we're already past screening, so
it doesn't work that way.
We're gonna go downstairs.
Okay, Louise, how did you connect
with Xochitl?
Um, actually, um, I got
connected with a journalist up in El
Paso, a friend, and
then he told me, Hey, you should
check out this case, which I had
already read about it, but then he
connected us and then, um
we were able to, uh, speak to
the, to such hills partner Desiree
and I found their
story.
These are such innocent people.
Like they're literally working
on a community farm.
They love flowers.
They're like such sweet people.
And they're caught up in the system.
And we really wanted to show like,
who are all these people that
are being swept up with this like
hard immigration crackdown because
it's not like what they were
promoting. It's like, we're going
after, you know, the worst of the
worst.
Well, we're going to have a link to
the documentary in our podcast show
notes for today.
I wanted to also ask you about
Amanda, this attorney that you
talk to and share her
story.
How did you get connected with her
and what was that experience like?
I actually got connected through her
through an event that Mando had
organized together with American
Gateways.
Through that organization, I was
looking for an immigration lawyer
because we wanted to follow,
we wanted to see what the work looks
like on the ground.
And she was like, Amanda, she's
amazing. She's like young, full of
energy. She has her own immigration
story with her own family.
And she's like really out there
working and trying to get those
stories out. And so we thought that
she would be an amazing person
too. To follow.
Yeah, and I thought it was really
powerful because in the story or
in the documentary, it's mentioned
that we are seeing lots of
ICE activities taking place on
streets and people being detained
that way.
But what Amanda is doing, it's kind
of in plain sight out just in
a regular building, right?
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. That was something that
like really hit me hard.
So we filmed the scene at an
ice check-in in San Antonio.
And people are just waiting there
because they have like their regular
ice check in.
So everybody's just waiting on
chairs and then you get called in.
And if those people stay in,
that probably means they're
detained. And if not, they're
free to go and they have to come
back in like another month or year
or whatever the term is.
But to me, it was so like,
it really touched me how
all of this is like you because
you know, we've seen like all the
violent videos all around
us. I mean, we're flooded with it
and the protests in response as
well. Yeah, but this was so
happening so quietly and
such like it was almost like
a machine. It was just routine.
I want to turn it over to you.
I know you have done some reporting.
You've been on the Texas Standard
talking about this as well You've
seen the impacts of immigration
enforcement or even just the
threat of this type of enforcement
on the community here in Austin What
have you seen or what have you
heard?
I mean, I think people are scared.
I think that there's a different
culture. We're in a red state,
right? Even though we live in
Austin, there's the culture of
compliance.
There's a culture of just
don't make waves, don't makes
noise, and I think that's why we
haven't seen a lot of protests here
in central Texas,
unlike Minneapolis, right.
But people are scary, but they're
trying to figure out, okay, well,
how do I take my children
to school?
And being aware or
you know, if they're street vendors,
how do I look out for some things?
Where's this safe place that I can
sell my food or either go
to work or or or buy
food, you know So I think there's
definitely there's a lot
of people that are wanting to
mobilize that are mobilizing But
it's kind of under the radar
Even though like we haven't
seen a lot of activity in central
Texas, you see that on the outskirts
of town for sure but
um, yeah people are
definitely scared
Okay, Luis, is there anything else
about the documentary, about putting
it together, anything else that I
haven't asked you about that you
would like to speak about?
I am an immigrant myself to this
country, right? I came here from
Belgium, from Europe, and
it took me five years
to get my citizenship.
I got it last year in April.
And I thought it was a pain in the
ass to get it.
And then making this,
listening to all these stories,
realizing how people are waiting 20
years, you know,
and still no
movement in their case.
I never worried about this and I
guess I just realized what
privilege I have just being from
Europe.
As an immigrant, were you scared to
cover this topic?
As a black person, yes, for sure.
And I worked with, I didn't do this
by myself. I worked like a white guy
from Belgium, Kunti and I, he's
really talented.
And we made sure that he was
always right by my
side. And also if we had questions,
because we did have like law
enforcement asking us what we were
doing, he would always be answering.
And it definitely makes a difference
if I'm by myself or if I am with
like another person of color or if
am with a white person.
Yes, and I did have a conversation
with my husband about this and
with Manu and with all the people
that were featured in the
documentary.
Because right now you can watch the
documentary on YouTube.
And at first it was geo-blogged so
you could only watch it in Europe.
And then we decided to not
do that anymore because honestly I
was scared as well for
repercussions.
I still am, but I think it's like
what Manu said earlier.
You need to speak up and you need to
do your part.
And I guess part of it is being
brave.
In some way or form, yeah.
Well, we've been speaking with Luis
Van Assa, director of the new
documentary, Short Ice America's
Hunt for Migrants, as well as Mando
Rayo, host of the Tacos of Texas
podcast who's featured in that
documentary as well.
Again, the 30-minute documentary is
available to watch on YouTube.
We're gonna have a link to the doc
in the show notes and at kut.org
slash signal.
Luis, Mando, thank you for your
time. Thanks, Jerry.
Thank you so much.
And thank you out there, forcemen,
and part of your day here with us.
This is Austin Signal.
We'll be back after a break.
This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
Music lovers who do not have a badge
to go to SXSW shows
this year can still take advantage
of dozens of unofficial events
and house shows happening across
town.
For KUT's Artbeat, Ella Kopekin
reports on one unofficial show
that benefits people who can't
attend the festival at all.
Every year during South by
Southwest, local bookers put
together unofficial music showcases
around Austin.
Nicholas Reyes is the organizer of
one showcase in East Austin that
raises money for the Texas Prison
Education Initiative.
It feels like an oasis from
the festival.
Artists to get to see friends from
out of town. Everyone kind of knows
each other. It's very communal.
The initiative, commonly called
TPAY, is an education program
at a women's prison in Lockhart.
The classes are all taught by
volunteer professors and graduate
students from UT, like Reyes,
an assistant math professor.
He became a volunteer teacher at the
prison in 2019.
I love the students, that's my
favorite aspect of it.
Reyes is also an established fixture
of the Austin music scene.
Known as Nicky Christmas, he started
playing around town while he was a
UT student.
Before COVID, Reyes hosted a free,
unofficial South By Music Showcase
every year.
The official South by organization
brings in a lot of people from
out of town.
The unofficial showcases
just give the bands more
opportunities to play more shows.
And this was just the biggest thing
that I threw every year.
In 2022, he decided to
make the show a fundraiser for
T-Pay. The aim is to get as many
donations as possible.
The money raised is divided.
About two-thirds goes to the
musicians, and the rest goes to
T-pay.
Sometimes bands will just donate
their portion to TPEI.
Dorothy Rao is T-Pay's program
coordinator and only paid employee.
They said the Texas Prison Education
Initiative depends entirely on
outside funding to operate.
Calculators, notebooks, pens,
pencils.
We have about a hundred students
every semester.
And the other thing we have to pay
for is to register them at the
university.
So we're paying to register each
student so that they can get that
college credit and that college
transcript once they get out.
The program helps students land on
their feet.
When they get out of prison.
So after they leave, they can
request a transcript from UT and
they can either use this to continue
their education or to
show experience and job applications
and also just to like build their
confidence and have something they
enjoy in an environment where
there's often a
lack of...
Reyes knew his concert would have a
bigger audience thanks to South By,
and that could translate to more
donations for T-Pay.
I thought that it would be nice to
set up donations.
It goes a long way towards buying
school supplies.
Rao attended the benefit for the
first time in 2024.
There were a bunch of cool bands,
the vibes, the building, it just
feels so old school Austin and the
way I love.
Sunday's lineup at the Sahara Lounge
will feature bands exclusively from
Texas and New York.
The first three years, we had a big
contingency of Mexican bands, but
those bands are not traveling to
Texas anymore.
Fewer acts from outside the U.S.
Playing the festival means more
local bands filling in.
Matt Galsadon is a singer and the
lead guitarist for Queen Serene,
one of the five Austin bands on the
bill for the show.
It just seems like less bands are
coming into town now.
The lineups are a little bit more
low key. It is feeling a little more
like it's a locals kind of
festival again.
As opposed to like being like this
giant international thing.
Sarah Ronan, the band's lead singer,
said unofficial South By shows feel
more community-oriented.
Friends always come out, the
lineups are actually curated,
and there's just heart and soul
actually put into it.
It feels like that's what South By
was supposed to be.
The prison education program used to
rely heavily on grant money, but now
funding is mostly donation-based.
Rao says that's why the concert is
so important.
Organization like this is really
hard to sustain.
Fundraising is really hard and it
takes away a lot of time and energy
that can be put towards other things
like teaching and like getting
new volunteers and starting new
classes.
The benefit show is one of.
Two yearly fundraisers for T-Pay
and the only one in person.
Just being able to f-
confident in our
financial stability to be able to
continue to do what we're already
doing would be really amazing.
Reyes wants to keep putting on the
annual showcase indefinitely,
maybe even a few times a year.
I'll be doing this every South by
Southwest forever.
I am hoping to do a
counterpoint to this event in
winter.
And the TPAY leadership is just as
invested in keeping the event going
as Reyes.
Getting to.
See so many bands I like,
be with my friends, and
support an organization that I
really care about is like such a
beautiful combination, a beautiful
soup of everything that I like about
Austin.
A South By show that's just as much
about the people playing as the
cause they're playing for.
For KUT's Artbeat, I'm Ella
Kopeikin.
South by Southwest EDU
is underway right now.
South by SouthWest Conference and
festivals run from tomorrow through
next Wednesday.
You can keep up with more art beat
coverage at KUT.org.
And our colleagues at KU-TX are
gearing up for day one
out at Schultz Garden.
Doors open up at 730 in
the morning with music starting at
8 o'clock with Quinton, an Austin
artist. Speaking of those
Austin artists, you know, kind of
re-emerging at South By.
We're going to start off the music
with an Austin artist.
It's a $10 entry, which directly
benefits the Central Texas Food
Bank. That means you get to do
something good and take in some good
tunes as well.
And that's just the beginning of
what they have planned for South By
Southwest. You can check out all the
details at kutx.org.
Also, it's just the beginning of
what's happening out at Schultz
Garden tomorrow There's gonna be
live music from 8 until
11 o'clock and then the
Austin signal is going live out
at Shultz garden tomorrow It's
a one-hour live special show.
It's free open to the public You
can come out here from some of the
great people that we're gonna be
talking to currently slated
to speak with Shaky Graves and
Kid Jones, as well as some chefs
from La Santa Barbacha,
Ramen Del Barrio, and Die Due,
and director and producer of a
documentary that is premiering here
at South By.
Lots happening again.
Schultz Garden tomorrow, one
o'clock. It is free, it is open to
the public. We're doing some radio.
This is a community show that
we make for you.
And, Maya, it would be nice to see
some of you out there tomorrow and
to just share this experience
for you because you are
the reason that we do what we do
every single day.
So thank you for supporting this
station and thank you tuning in
to Austin Signal.
Again, we'll be out at Schultz
Garden live tomorrow, 1
o'clock, it's free and open to the
public. If you can't be there, tune
in on the radio.
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
We will talk to you then.