Goodbye, Porter Middle School. Hello, Young Women's Leadership Academy.

It's official. Last night the school board voted to turn Porter Middle School into a single-gender academy. It isn't effective immediately, but starting next year, the sixth graders of the area will be sent to other middle schools. The seventh and eighth graders are to follow later, with the district planning the all-girls school to start in 2007. We imagine teachers and administrators are probably at a loss to their future role with the school. On paper, this concept sounds like a good one (except for the whole closing of the current school thing). Will A. I. S. D. be able to handle an all-girls school and all that it will entail? We'll see . . .

Photo by Austinist's Matt Wright