Historic Segundo Barrio Building May Not Receive Promised Funds

Plans to reconstruct a historic El Paso building in the Segundo Barrio neighborhood are up in the air. The El Paso Independent School District was supposed to fix up the former Alamo elementary school with funds from a 2007 bond election, but those plans may radically change.

Monday afternoon several families from Alamo elementary’s neighborhood reached out to ABC-7 with their concerns. “It would be great for my son to go to Alamo. It’s closer to my house, it would be more safe,” said Elizabeth Aranda, a mother of three.

Aranda and others want EPISD officials to honor the intent of a 2007 bond election that set aside millions of dollars to go toward the reconstruction and eventual re-opening of Alamo. The school closed its doors in 2005 while families waited for El Paso’s housing authority to finish work on public housing units in the area. The closure was supposed to be temporary, but it may soon be permanent.

Al Patino, chairman of the Bond Accountability Advisory Committee, said the committee will recommend a new plan to EPISD trustees. “It’s a three point plan,” said Patino. “(The first is) not to rebuild Alamo.” Patino said their recommendation is for those funds to go to Hart elementary instead, which is a couple of blocks away from Alamo.

Patino explained their original plan is no longer cost-effective because of a change in Alamo’s building designation. Last year the city placed a historic overlay on the building, which puts extra protections on the building against demolition. Patino said the plan had always been to tear down the building and rebuild it with the bond funds. He said renovating the building and turning it back into an elementary school without knocking down the structure would be at least $2 million more expensive than the original plan.

Patino added other schools have enough vacancies to accommodate extra students and that the city has projected “zero growth” in new families with elementary-aged children for the Alamo area.

“I understand, but hopefully something will get worked out,” said one Segundo Barrio woman who would like to see the school re-open its doors.

EPISD trustees will make a final choice regarding the bond 2007 funds at an upcoming meeting. They will also decide what to do with the Alamo building: whether to sell it, donate it, keep it as is or turn it into something else altogether.

The public is invited to the EPISD board meeting where trustees will discuss the issue. That meeting is slated for September 20 at EPISD’s central office.