The Austin Independent School District is encouraging parents to enroll their children at Pearce Middle School for the upcoming school year.

The district said it's working to recruit an administration team and teachers to staff the school before the first day. Pearce will remain a neighborhood school, however, the district encourages any students in AISD to enroll.

Those interested should attend the new student orientation from 8:30 - 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 14 on the Pearce campus at 6401 North Hampton Drive.

Pearce Middle School was closed down earlier this summer for repeatedly failing to meet state testing standards. This year the middle school ranked "academically unacceptable" for its fifth consecutive year. Pearce has been rated either "low-performing" or "academically unacceptable" eight of the past 10 years.

A repurposing plan for the failed school was approved by the state this week.

The details of the repurposing plan can be found at AustinISD.org/schools/pearce. The Texas Education Agency agreed to the plan, so long as four specific conditions are met. Those include the following.

• AISD must assemble new administrative and teaching teams. Although, the TEA has allowed for a case by case review of the 75 percent requirement of instructional staff being removed for teachers who did not teach a subject that resulted in the academically unacceptable rating.
• The management team previously assigned to AISD will maintain the same authority over the campus.
• Students wishing to transfer from Pearce Middle School will not be allowed to transfer to another school that has been rated academically unacceptable, including Lamar Middle School and Martin Middle School.
• The district must implement the plan submitted with a focus on recruiting the highest quality administrative team and effective faculty. The management team will be required to report to the TEA on a regular basis to detail progress.