Deanna Davenport Elementary School at risk of closure

CANUTILLO, Texas - On November 2, 2021, a vote took place to either approve or deny a $177.5 million bond for the Canutillo Independent School District. The bond was rejected. If approved, the bond would have paid for many expenses for the school district, such as a $10 million payback for the electronic devices needed for the pandemic, maintenance projects at some of the campuses, and overcrowding at Reyes Elementary. Now, none of these issues can be fully paid for.

Due to the district being unable to pay for these costs, the school board is looking at every possible fix. Their first idea would affect many - the closure of Deanna Davenport Elementary. On January 14, Deanna Davenport staff held a parent meeting to talk about the possible closure and to hear any suggestions parents came up with to deal with the problem.

"Right now, we're just looking at options- there's nothing set in stone. District officials are looking at every possibility that we could possibly utilize to address those critical needs. Right now, it is on the table that a possibility is integrating Deanna Davenport with Bill Childress elementary, and again that is just a possibility right now. As with any big decision that the district makes that impacts students and our community, we are asking input from the community about possible ideas and solutions," said Christina Rodriguez, communications specialist for CISD.

Some parents were vocal at the meeting. That included Chris Saenz, who has one child who's had a successful academic career after leaving Davenport, and a daughter who goes there right now and loves the school.

"They pay attention to the kids here. The classrooms aren't that big. Which is great, and they want to take our kids and put them in schools with huge classrooms, so our kids are going to get less attention. And this is going to affect everybody it's going to affect the families, the parents our children and there's going to be an emotional issue to this as well. My daughter loves this school. When I told her they might close this school, she was devastated."

Saenz also shared the difficulties of getting his daughter to a different school when he has worked near downtown El Paso.

Nothing has been decided on yet, to fix the issue of the expenses and whether closing down Davenport will be the solution.