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Superintendent Blog: Transformation Zone will help bring academic options for students
This Superintendent's Blog entry was made on Jan. 26, 2018
The EPISD Board of Trustees last week took a bold step toward creating true and transformative change at some of our schools. The Board voted to approve the receipt of a $447,000 Texas Education Agency Transformation Zone Planning Grant that will allow the District to begin the process of planning to positively impact choices at priority campuses like Bowie High School and CCTA as well as other focus schools like Andress, Chapin, Bassett, Richardson, Hughey, Logan and Milam.
During this planning phase from January to June, we will be spending time engaging the communities of select schools identified in the grant to understand what families and students want and need in their schools. We will also be recruiting and selecting the first cohort of Transformation Zone leaders so that we are poised for the implementation of leadership training in the fall of 2018.
Simply put, the grant will help EPISD partner with a proven leader in school transformation to create El Paso-specific strategies that will help bring equity in learning to some of the schools that have experienced gaps in academic learning.
What the grant is not, despite some of the erroneous information disseminated, is a conversion to a charter-school system. EPISD has been loud and clear about its intention to bring quality program options to all students. We will respect and continue the culture of our schools as members of the EPISD family of public schools.
It also has been rumored that SEN is an organization with ties to charters. It is true that a small portion of SEN’s work is to support the opening of independent charter schools in New York City- they opened one such school in Fall 2018. But the bulk of their work has been opening in-district, public schools; they have supported the opening of approximately 130 district schools in comparison to the one charter school.
The TEA has found a great partner for EPISD in the School Empowerment Network (SEN), a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to helping underserved students gain access to top-quality educational services by developing leadership teams and creating school reset opportunities. SEN has a proven record of partnering with dozens of school districts like EPISD and creating long-lasting, meaningful changes that have a strong impact on the lives of students.
EPISD is not alone in partnering with SEN. The Fort Worth Independent School District, also the recipient of a Transformation Zone Planning Grant from the TEA, is working with SEN as well to do similar work.
SEN will play a critical role in developing the district structures and leadership capacity to effectively launch the Transformation Zone. Over the next months, EPISD will seek input from key stakeholders – including educators and parents – to determine what they most would like to see included in new schooling options.
I am grateful to have the support of the Board of Trustees and also the backing of Georgina Perez, El Paso’s representative on the Texas State Board of Education. These leaders understand the opportunity that is before us, and they’re going to play a key role in making sure whatever plan is developed becomes a success.
Our end goal is to present to the TEA a clear plan that delineates EPISD-focused goals and objectives to help these schools and their students. I personally commit to making sure that this plan celebrates and enhances the spirit of each of the campuses it impacts. We know that in order to secure state funding for the implementation of the plan, we must build a roadmap that includes the communities we serve. We can’t do that by forgetting our history and our culture as a District. Be on the lookout for meetings in these communities. And while the Transformation Zone Planning Grant will provide the infrastructure to redesign the mentioned school and maybe even others, our pilot program will begin at Bowie because we have heard repeatedly from the El Paso community that they would like Bowie students to be better served.
This transformation opportunity is a chance at partnering with proven leaders to bring about real change using the talented and caring educators that serve our children as employees of EPISD. There were a lot of rumors that surrounded this grant — the same type of rumors that have for years held us back and prevented us from realizing our full potential. The Board and I have made a commitment to our communities to continue our efforts to provide top-notch educational services to our students as members of the EPISD Family. No matter what others may say, we remain steadfast in our desire to grow and improve EPISD.