March 29, 2017

Meet Relocated to Sams

Due to road construction and traffic issues, the Special Olympics Texas Area-1 Meet scheduled for Friday, March 31, 2017 from 9 am – 1:30 pm has been relocated from Veterans Memorial ECHS to Sams Memorial Stadium. Be a fan in the stands and cheer these fine athletes!

March 28, 2017

EOC & STAAR Testing

Brownsville Independent School District would like to remind you that BISD students in several grades will be End Of Course and STAAR testing on March 28-30, 2017. Student attendance on these dates is critical. Please stress the importance of rest, proper diet, and a positive attitude so that our students do their very best. It is also very important that students arrive to school on time. No cell phones or electronic devices are allowed on BISD campuses during testing. As per the Texas Education Code, “Any irregularities in test security or confidential integrity may result in the invalidation of student results.”

March 24, 2017

Mini-Grants/Student Scholarships Available to BISD Employees and Students

Dr. Esperanza Zendejas initiated the Dollars for Champs and Champions Program through the Brownsville School District Centennial Foundation Corporation to provide college scholarships to deserving BISD graduates and educational mini-grants to motivated teachers and employees. Applications for the employee mini-grants, ranging from $500 to $3,000, and student $1,000 college scholarships are now available. The application deadline is Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Download the employee mini-grant and student scholarship applications here.

March 23, 2017

Middle School Choirs Post 18 Top Awards

BISD middle school choirs earned 18 sweepstakes awards at the 2017 Region 28 Choir Concert and Sight-reading Contest on March 8-10 in Harlingen. Special recognition to the Besteiro Middle School Boys Choir on earning the school’s first sweepstakes award. BISD is proud of these amazing vocalists. View the results by campus.

March 22, 2017

A Message to BISD Students in Grades 9-11 and Their Parents

Summer school dual enrollment courses with Texas Southmost College (TSC) are now open to all current 9th, 10th, and 11th grade BISD students. All costs related to taking dual enrollment summer courses are free to BISD students – this includes tuition and textbooks. Learn more here.

Garden Park and Hudson Claim Champion Titles

Congratulations to the Garden Park Elementary K-1 chess team and Hudson Elementary Primary chess team for placing 1st in their respective sections and claiming the titles of South Texas Chess Champions at the 2017 TCA South Texas State Scholastic Chess Tournament held on March 11-12 at the UTGRV Edinburg campus. The event attracted over 1,200 kinder-12th grade participants from across South Texas. BISD chess players represented the district in every section. View the tournament results.

March 21, 2017

BISD Drumlines/Colorguards Place @ TECA

Lopez ECHS hosted colorguards and drumlines from across the Rio Grande Valley at the 2017 Texas Educational Colorguard Association (TECA) Indoor competition held on Saturday, March 18, 2017. BISD schools were well-represented by students and directors and earned top places in several divisions. Congratulations on these achievements. View the results.

BISD Makes State Soccer History

Brownsville ISD is set to make state history by fielding 12 soccer teams, male and female, in the UIL Bi-District Soccer Playoffs. All six BISD early college high schools have qualified both their soccer teams for the playoffs which will begin on Thursday, March 23 at 7 pm at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville. Best of luck to our soccer athletes. View the latest updated playoff schedule here.

BISD Launches Mini-Grant Program

Dr. Esperanza Zendejas initiated the Dollars for Champs and Champions Program this school year to provide college scholarships for deserving BISD graduates and educational mini-grants for motivated teachers and employees. Applications for the fall mini-grants, ranging from $500 to $3,000, are now available. The application deadline is Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Student college scholarship applications will also be made available at a later date. Download the Dollars for Champs and Champions mini-grant application here.

Hanna Drummers Are Tops in the State

The Hanna Golden Eagle Indoor Drumline proved it is the best in Texas by earning 1st Place at the 2017 WGI Competition held in Houston on May 11, 2017. Groups from all over Texas attended this competition to earn an opportunity to compete at the world level. The Hanna Drumline qualified to compete in the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio on April 20-22. Congratulations to the students, directors, and Sam Rodriguez, the Hanna Percussion Director, on this outstanding achievement.

Employee Summer School Applications

The application for the 2017 BISD Summer School is now open online. The deadline to apply is Monday, April 3. View the directions, flyer, classified vacancy list, and certified vacancy list.

March 10, 2017

Superintendent Presents Cummings, CTE, and BLA Plans

Superintendent Dr. Esperanza Zendejas made a presentation to the BISD Board of Trustees at the Board Meeting held on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 about the current and future plans for the Cummings Middle School campus. The Superintendent explained that the Brownsville ISD Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs need to expand. The district CTE 3-Year Plan calls for the expansion of high-demand programs that lead to licensures and certifications. Currently, the Webb campus, originally constructed in 1916, houses several of the CTE programs including Cosmetology, Patient Care Tech, and Pharmacy Tech which serve students from all the district’s Early College High Schools. The size of the Webb campus limits the CTE program capacity to instructing 100 students in the morning and another 100 students in the afternoon. The four CTE Department employees are also located at Webb. The building has no capacity to expand and the parking is limited. In addition, the Webb campus is in need of significant repairs. The plan to move CTE programs to the Cummings campus will allow for additional students and classrooms which will maximize CTE allocated instructional funds. The plans also include moving the Brownsville Learning Academy (BLA) to the Cummings campus. BLA has outgrown its campus of portable buildings, located on Morrison Road, and needs additional classrooms to serve its high-risk, overage student population. The proximity to CTE classes will give the BLA students, in grades 9-12, multiple opportunities to earn industry licenses and certifications that lead to viable careers. Dr. Zendejas has already shared these plans with the Cummings staff on several occasions and will hold meetings with the Cummings parents in the very near future. View the plan for Cummings, CTE and BLA.

March 9, 2017

5 More National NCUST Awards for BISD Schools

Five BISD schools have been ranked as some of the best performing urban schools in America by the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST). Paredes Elementary, Stillman Middle School, and Veterans Memorial ECHS have earned the coveted 2017 Excellence in Education Silver Award with the possibility that those awards could become Gold Awards when the final announcements are made on May 15-17 at the National Excellence in Urban Education Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee. Breeden and Pullam Elementary Schools were both named 2017 Bronze Award recipients. NCUST finalists all serve low income communities with an array of challenges but still boast achievement results that exceed state averages for all students. Congratulations to the students, parents and employees at these 5 campuses.

Attention

Please be advised that false information stating that a BISD principal has been arrested was recently posted on a social media site. This is totally false and hurtful to our school district. The BISD Police Department is conducting a full investigation into this matter.

Reading Award for Breeden

Dyslexia students at Breeden Elementary earned 6th place for special honors as a top 10 school in the National Learning Ally’s Great Reading Games contest. BISD dyslexia students competed against 17,308 students in more than 1,200 schools across the country to achieve this recognition. Congratulations to Canales Elementary (23rd Place), Stillman Middle School (31st Place), and Perez Elementary School (45th Place) for earning places in the National Reading Contest for students with dyslexia for the 2016-2017 school year. Thank you BISD dyslexia teachers, campus staff, and administration for your commitment to promoting literacy for all students.

District OAP Teams Advance to Bi-District

At the High School One Act Play (OAP) district competition held on Tuesday, March 7, three BISD teams qualified to advance to bi-district competition. The Hanna ECHS team qualified to compete at the 6A competition on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at PSJA Memorial High School. Rivera ECHS was named an alternate. The Lopez and Veterans Memorial ECHS teams will compete in the 5A bi-district competition on Tuesday, March 21 at Valley View High School. Congratulations and best of luck to our BISD One-Act Play troupes as they move up in competition.

March 6, 2017

Showing Appreciation to Our Diagnosticians

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has proclaimed March 6-10, 2017 to be Educational Diagnosticians’ Week. Brownsville ISD recognizes and appreciates the district diagnosticians who assess, diagnose and work with children to enhance their classroom performance. View the Governor’s proclamation.

March 2, 2017

9 DI Teams Head to State

Nine BISD Destination Imagination (DI) teams from Veterans Memorial ECHS, and Garcia (2), Manzano and Stillman Middle Schools, and Perez, Benavides, Keller, and Paredes Elementary Schools placed 1st and qualified to advance to the Texas DI State Tournament on April 7-8 in Lubbock, Texas. A total of 75 district DI teams competed at the South Border Bridge DI Regional competition on Saturday, February 18 at Veterans Memorial ECHS. Over 190 Rio Grande Valley teams participated in this regional contest. DI competition encourages teams of learners to focus, frame challenges, take risks, and have fun while incorporating STEM, the arts and service learning. The participants learning patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others, and the collaborative problem solving process. View the DI Regional Tournament results.

H-E-B Surprises Pace Principal

Rose Longoria, the principal at Pace ECHS, has been named a finalist for the 2017 H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards, one of the largest monetary awards programs in Texas and the nation. Longoria was surprised with the news at a student assembly on Thursday, March 2 at 9 am by a group of H-E-B representatives carrying gifts of balloons, flowers and cake. As a principal finalist, she received a $1,000 check for herself and a $2,500 check for her school. Longoria will compete against other educators for the chance to win greater cash prizes ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. Overall statewide winners will be announced in Austin in May. Best of luck to Rose Longoria as she advances in the H-E-B awards program.