(August 29, 2008)-- Students who started the school year Monday at Waco’s low-performing G. L. Wiley Middle School will return to class after the long weekend at other middle schools in the district after a judge’s ruling Friday morning.
Students and teachers at the school were told about the ruling late Friday morning.
The judge denied a request for a temporary injunction that would have kept the school open and dissolved the temporary restraining order that had forced Waco ISD officials to reopen the school Monday, after School Board members voted to close it.
The school’s supporters seeking the temporary injunction had argued that board members violated the Texas Open Meetings Act in the process of deciding the close the school.
But 170th District Court Judge Jim Meyers ruled that a subsequent vote by the board Monday corrected any mistakes in providing noticed of discussions about the closing.
“The Act does not prevent governmental bodies from curing prior Act violations,” Meyers wrote in a decision that was faxed to attorneys and the media at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
The ruling cleared the way for the district to close the school again.
“As a result of the court’s ruling…the district will move forward to close the school for the 2008-2009 school year,” the Waco ISD said in a four-paragraph press release.
Parents of students who returned to G. L. Wiley on Monday should enroll their children at the schools to which they were assigned before the temporary restraining order was issued last week.
Parents with questions or concerns may contact the district’s Office of Accountability and Instruction at (254) 755-9425 until 6 p.m. Friday or from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
“Receiving campuses are prepared to welcome former G. L. Wiley students and will support them in making a successful transition to their new campus,” the district said in the press release.
The hearing on the motion started Tuesday morning, a little more than 12 hours after Waco School Board members voted 4-3 for a second time to close the low-performing school.
Board members originally voted 4-3 on Aug. 7 to close the school, but Meyers issued a temporary restraining order last week that allowed about 100 students to report to Wiley for the first day of classes Monday.
After the Aug. 7 vote, Wiley students were transferred to other middle schools, and many evidently decided not to return to Wiley after Meyers temporarily barred the district from closing Wiley.
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott had already given the school a one-year waiver to improve, but board members who supported closure cited the school’s declining enrollment and poor test performance.
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