W-2 Forms Are Online

Current BISD employees may download additional copies of their W-2 forms from the Employee Online link located on the BISD homepage under Employment.

BISD High School Scientists Rock!

Brownsville ISD's annual High School Science Fair was held on Saturday, January 17 at Pace Early College High School. Almost 200 projects were presented by students from all 7 BISD high schools. The top winners in each category will advance to the regional competition to be held on February 20-21 at the Student Union Building at the University of Texas-Brownsville. Special thanks to Pace for hosting the event and to the many judges, sponsors, and participants who make the district competition successful each and every year. View the results by categories.

Students Offer Tax Help

Six BISD High Schools, Hanna, Lopez, Porter, Rivera, and Veterans Memorial, have been designated as Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. Students in the business classes at these schools have been specially trained to assist with free tax preparation for families or individuals earning $53,000 or less in annual income. View the VITA locations, dates, times, and information necessary for VITA assistance.

BISD Middle School Bands Are Tops!

Brownsville ISD middle school band students swept the 2015 Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Region 28 All-Region Band audition held on Saturday, January 17. BISD bands earned a total of 146 All-Region Band Chairs, including 12 of the 16 available 1st chair positions. For the fifth consecutive year, all BISD middle school bands had students earn chair. Over half of the middle school band programs improved their results from last year. The BISD All-Region Band students will perform on January 24 at 6 pm at the Harlingen ISD Performing Arts Center. Congratulations to our middle school musicians and their directors. View the number of chairs by campus.

Community Leaders Head Back to School

Brownsville ISD will host its popular Principal for a Day activity on Friday, February 20. Each BISD campus will invite a business or community leader to serve as a guest principal for one entire morning. Guest principals will begin the day at their respective schools where they will shadow the campus administrator and participate in a variety of school activities. The day will conclude with a luncheon where participants will share stories about their morning spent in the principal's office. BISD Principal for a Day began in 1992 and has enabled hundreds of local leaders to experience the joys and challenges of public school administration.

BISD Launches Custom Mobile App

Life on the go just got a lot easier for parents, students and employees searching for the latest news and information from the Brownsville Independent School District. From a campus phone number to the day’s lunch menu to an update on classroom progress, a new BISD mobile app offers fast answers on all those topics and so much more. The free app, which features the BISD logo, can be downloaded for Smart phones and devices from the App store or Google Play store for Android.Developed in partnership with SchoolMessenger, a leading provider of communication solutions for education, the new app is both secure and flexible. It integrates the notification services that SchoolMessenger already provides to BISD stakeholders with many of the features available on the district’s website. Families will have 24/7/365 access to all things BISD. View the Media Release.

Readers' Favorites

Four BISD educators and three campuses earned recognition in the 2015 Readers' Choice Awards sponsored by The Brownsville Herald. Congratulations to Principal Mary Solis, Veterans Memorial ECHS; Teacher Diana Cisneros, Russell Elementary; Music Teacher Stephanie Zamora, Stell Middle School; and Coach Mario Cisneros, Pace ECHS. The Readers' Choice campuses are Hanna ECHS, Stell Middle School, and Sharp Elementary School. Winners will be highlighted in the newspaper and receive recognition plaques. View the list.

BISD's Rich History

The BISD Museum, located on the first floor of the Central Administrative Building (CAB) at 708 Palm Boulevard, showcases the district's history from its earliest days to today. Exhibits include the original bell from Putegnat Elementary School as well as sports and band memorabilia. The BISD Museum is open weekdays from 8 am to 12 noon and 1 to 5 pm. Special tour arrangements can be made by contacting Hilda Williams at 698-1752.

BISD History Champs

Over 400 young BISD historians participated in the district’s 20th Annual History Day held on Saturday, January 10 at Veterans Memorial Early College High School. The top two winners in each category will advance to the Regional History Day to be held at the University of Pan American on Saturday, February 7. History Day participation promotes critical thinking, innovation, and intellectual development. It helps students harness the social studies skills that are tested on the U.S. History STAAR and End of Course exams. Congratulations to these outstanding BISD students and the many employees who helped make this annual competition a success. View the History Day Awards Summary by campus.

Rivera Cluster Boosts STEM Awareness

Rivera Cluster elementary schools are implementing a Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) Awareness Initiative to encourage students to engage in the world of scientific inquiry and to promote academic opportunities. Approximately 3,000 Rivera cluster elementary students will engage in research, application, and hands on activities through STEM projects that are directly linked to the grade level TEKS. As a culmination of their many hours of hard work, these future scientists, mathematicians, and engineers will present their projects at two STEM Expositions to be held on Saturday, March 21 and Saturday, May 30 from 9-11 am at the BISD Administration Building parking lot. View the invitation.

Chavez Earns State UIL Award

Tom Chavez, Athletic Coordinator for Rivera Early College High School, has been selected as one of the recipients of the 2014 UIL Sponsor Excellence Award. Chavez will be honored locally with a trophy presentation and will receive a $1000 award. Rivera Principal Aimee Garza-Limon was notified by letter. The announcement was made at the BISD Board Meeting held on January 13, 2015.

All-State Honors for BISD Band and Choir Students

The Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) held the Area 6 Audition to select the 2015 All State Band and Choir members. The Department of Fine Arts is pleased to announce that 33 BISD students, 5 more than last year, earned chairs in these prestigious ensembles, ranking them in the top 2% of Texas music students. The All-State Band and Choir will perform at the TMEA convention in San Antonio on Saturday, February 14, 2015. In order to earn a place at the state level, the BISD students went through rigorous district, region, and area auditions. They competed against students from Houston, Corpus Christi, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. This year, BISD band and choir students earned more all-state chairs than any other school district in TMEA Area G. Congratulations to the outstanding BISD young adults who are top high school musicians in Texas for the 2014-2015 school year! View the results by campus.

Milestone for the Porter Nation

Porter High School will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Saturday, February 7, 2015 from 2-4 pm in the school's gymnasium. All past Porter graduates and employees are invited to celebrate 40 years of quality education for students in the Porter Nation. Make plans to attend. This is an opportunity to visit with Porter alumni and past administrators. Call (956) 548-7800 for more information.

Rivera Not on List

Correction: The Brownsville Herald incorrectly listed the Rivera Early College High School as one of the six Brownsville ISD 2015-2016 Public Education Grant (PEG) Schools. Rivera is not on the PEG list.

We Appreciate Our Board Trustees

January 2015 is School Board Recognition Month. Brownsville ISD joins districts across Texas in thanking local school board members for their efforts. This month provides an ideal time to express our appreciation to this special group of volunteers. The men and women who comprise the BISD Board of Trustees make the time to generously provide this important public service because they care about our children’s education. They care about our schools being the best they can be. They care about our next generation and the future of this community and our state. Board service is truly “a work of heart.” Take a moment to thank the BISD School Board Trustees for their dedicated service.

No Classes for Victoria Heights

Victoria Heights Elementary School will not hold classes today, Friday, January 9. The water to the school has been cut off while BPUB crews repair a large water main leak which caused a sinkhole to develop on Roosevelt Street. Victoria Heights parents and students were informed of the cancellation via the School Messenger system. Repairs are expected to be finished in time for classes on Monday.

Snack Packs Are a Success

Thank you to those who generously donated to the Snack Pack Project to provide food to BISD students in need during the two-week holiday break. A total of 318 Snack Packs were delivered to students at 16 BISD schools. The students were identified by school nurses and counselors as being especially dependent on breakfasts and lunches for their daily meals. The Snack Pack Project is an annual collaboration between Brownville ISD and the United Way of Southern Cameron County. This is the project’s fourth year to provide meal assistance.

W-2 Forms on the Way

All current BISD employees will receive their W-2 forms no later than Friday, January 23, 2015 at their respective work locations. The W-2 forms for former BISD employees will also be mailed by that date.

Calling All Employees

The BISD Wellness/Fitness Center offers all sorts of activities for employees. To learn more, attend one of the upcoming basketball, ultimate frisbee, and/or soccer league meetings on January 13-14. Wellness is Hot Stuff in 2015! View the announcement.

The Flu: A Guide for Parents

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has provided a handy flu guide for parents. View the brochure in English/Spanish.

Basketball Telecast

Everyone is invited to view the Pace vs. Porter basketball game tonight on KBSD TV. The game starts at 6 pm.