Port O’Connor Elementary to close, Seadrift to merge

Following a vote by the Calhoun County Independent School District Board of Trustees on July 20 at HJM Elementary School, Port O’Connor Elementary School is slated to close, and Seadrift School’s upper grades will be merged into Travis Middle School.

The vote to close Port O’Connor Elementary School was approved by board members Dana Dworaczyk, Brian Batts, Vinson Philips, Bill Shrader and Michael Williams. The vote was opposed by board members Tyler McAfee and Cynthia Alford. The votes follow an approximately $4 million deficit in the CCISD budget for the 2026-27 school year.

“Tonight we are being asked to make one of the most significant decisions this board can make: the closure of an elementary campus and relocation of seventh- and eighth-grade students. These decisions affect students, parents, employees and taxpayers in two communities. They deserve more than just assumptions and changing estimates,” Alford said. “Mr. Cardwell, based on the above data, is this your recommendation as superintendent of CCISD to close Port O’Connor Elementary and transfer seventh and eighth grade?”

“Based on the data I’ve been provided, moving forward for long-term stability, yes, ma’am,” Cardwell said.

The vote to merge Seadrift School’s seventh- and eighth-grade classes was approved by Batts, Philips, Shrader, Dworaczyk and Williams and was opposed by Alford, McAfee and Tyler. (Several Port O’Connor parents criticized the decision, with the vote coming 23 days before the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.

“Right now, I am irate. I am fearful. I’m sad and disappointed in the board. Twenty-three days is not enough time to make a decision of this magnitude. They did not give us a clear path. They did not say this is where your kids are going,” Port O’Connor parent Melissa Gee said. “We live in Calhoun County; it doesn’t do us any good for the school district to fail. But I don’t know that our children will continue being a part of this district.”

Among the more than 100 people who attended the meeting, several fiercely opposed the closure of the school and the merging of the classes, speaking during the public comment period and following the votes.

“We bought our house eight years ago, planting our family here. So many moms in my group did the same thing, building businesses here. Take a school out and the market still comes down. Look at Point Comfort, Magnolia. It happened to them. We already struggle as it is. We all have to tighten our belts. Why can’t we do the same thing here?” Port O’Connor parent Masha Beard said. “We spent half our summer trying to stop this. But I think there is a rip in the current, to pull stronger and to figure out how to fight this. … It’s far, far from over.”