Dear El Paso ISD, 

Just like that, we’ve reached the end of our first eight weeks of the 2023-2024 academic year! What a great start we’ve had to the latest chapter in our 140-year history. And we’ve seen success because so many of our students are showing up! 

On Friday, district leadership visited five campuses with exemplary attendance percentages to present students with treats, coupons and a traveling trophy to mark their commitment to being at school. These small incentives are part of our Show Up, You Matter campaign to recognize the collective efforts we make to ensure kids are coming to class. As a bonus, our students with perfect attendance will have a chance at tickets to attend tonight’s UTEP football game against Louisiana Tech at Sun Bowl Stadium. Congratulations to Tippin Elementary School, Coach Wally Hartley PK-8 School, Hornedo Middle School, the Center for Career and Technology Education, and Transmountain Early College High School. You’ve shown up!  

We hope everyone in El Paso’s District shows up tonight during our varsity athletic contests where we will join a citywide commemoration of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Last week, more than 2,100 El Paso ISD student-athletes wore special gold socks to show our youngest citizens that we are behind them in their fight against cancer. Our students and staff are proud to don their gold socks again tonight to Gold Out El Paso.  

Earlier this week, we were proud to unveil an official state historical marker in Segundo Barrio that marks the birthplace of Bowie High School. There’s nothing quite like the pride exhibited by the Bear community, and we are pleased to have a permanent reminder of where it all began. See the marker for yourself at Bowie’s original location — the current site of Guillen Middle School. Thank you to Trustee Leah Hanany, state Rep. César Blanco, and everyone from El Paso County and the El Paso County Historical Commission who helped us realize this distinction. 

Before our intersession gets into full swing, we will see a dozen of our El Paso ISD student teams from elementary, middle and high schools present their innovative, weather-themed experiments in a competition against teams from area school districts during KTSM’s annual Weather Fest on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Outlet Shoppes at El Paso. If you’re out shopping this weekend, come stop by our tables and learn more about optical waves, heat islands and forecasting from our students.  

Intersession is scheduled Oct. 2-13. Next week, teachers will work with select students to strengthen their reading and math skills. The district will be closed the week of Oct. 9-13. All students and staff will return Oct. 16. When we come back, we will continue to build on the positive momentum generated thus far and seize opportunities for improvement. El Paso ISD will continue to foster a positive culture of learning while providing the support necessary to make our students successful. 

During your break, I encourage all of you to take the time to do the things you enjoy. Engage with family and friends while at home or while traveling to a new locale. Rest your mind and fill your heart. When we take care of ourselves, we can take better care of others.  

We’ll get back to building a brighter future for our students soon.  

It starts with us.  

Sincerely,

Diana Sayavedra
Superintendent of Schools

Sept. 29, 2023