EPISD Wants To Demolish School; City Council Says School Should Be Saved Because It’s Historic

El Paso City Council voted today to accept a recommendation from a historical commission and designate Alamo Elementary School a historic site.

El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) had slated the school for demolition so a new school could be constructed there at a cost of $12 million. The money for the new school was to come from a 2007 voter-approved bond election.

EPISD officials said the school is too worn down and would cost too much money to renovate. The cost to renovate the school is expected to cost the originally budgeted $12 million, plus an additional $500,000 to $2 million.

Proponents of of the school said is a historic site because it has been around more than 100 years and it is in the heart of Segundo Barrio. They also said the school is important because it is the first American school Mexican immigrants attended after coming to the U.S.

EPISD countered that the school is not historic.