A Publication of South Texas Independent School District January 2015

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BOARD

STISD scores high on Texas Academic Performance Report

STISD and campuses rank among the best in Texas The STISD Board of Directors recognized all five STISD campuses for their rankings among the best in the state in the Niche 2015 Best K-12 Schools list during the Jan. 20 board meeting, held at Biblioteca Las Américas in Mercedes.

South Texas Preparatory Academy (STPA) in Edinburg ranked 11th in the Best Pub-lic Middle Schools in Texas list. All four STISD high schools ranked among the top in the state in the 100 Best Public High Schools in Texas. The Science Academy of South Texas (Sci Tech) in Mercedes ranked 4th, South Texas Academy for Medical Pro-fessions (Medical Academy) in San Benito ranked 54th, South Texas High School for Health Professions (Med High) in Mercedes ranked 62nd, and South Texas Business, Education & Technology Academy (BETA) ranked 72nd. STISD was ranked 7th out of 100 in the Best School District in Texas list, and it received an A+ overall Niche grade.

According to the company website, Niche ranks more than 100,000 public and pri-vate schools and districts based on dozens of statistics and 27 million opinions from

of the campuses appear on the list. “It is a true honor to see all of our campuses and our district as a whole ranked among the best in the state in the Niche lists. Know-ing that these rankings take into account opinions from students and parents makes this even more special, as it is a testament to the STISD experience.”

The STISD Board of Directors received an explanation of the 2013-14 District & Cam-pus Performance Report during a public hearing held at the Jan. 20 board meeting.

The report shared reflects data from the 2013-14 school year and years prior. It includes sections on the district vision, mission, beliefs, parameters, objectives and strategies; the guidelines and glossary for the 2013-14 Texas Academic Perfor-mance Report (TAPR) for the district and individual campuses, and the reports

themselves; PEIMS financial reports for 2012-13; campus performance objectives; a report on violent or criminal incidents; and a report on student enrollment and academic performance after graduation.

Overall, the TAPR shows the district with a 2014 Accountability Rating of Met Standard and a Distinction Designation for Postsecondary Readiness. Campuses also received Met Standard and all Distinction Designations possible.

Left to right: Ana Castro, principal of STPA; Barbara Heater, Ph.D., principal of Med High; Harry Goette, principal of Medical Academy; Nora Casarez, Ed.D., principal of BETA; Irma Castillo, acting principal of Sci Tech

300,000 students and parents. They offer unique insight into more than 120,000 K-12 schools. Students and parents can explore millions of reviews and rankings and compare educational outcomes across schools and districts.

Marla M. Guerra, Ed.D., superintendent of schools for STISD, was pleased to see all

Information contained in the graduate report is provided by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and is for students attending postsecondary institu-tions in Texas. It consists of data from the first year enrolled in those institutions and is reflective of students who graduated from STISD during the 2011-12 school year.

The complete report is available on the district website at www.stisd.net in the Ac-countability & Needs Assessment section.

BOARDWorks

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STISD celebrates Board Recognition MonthEvery January, STISD celebrates School Board Recognition Month, honoring the school board members for their devoted service to the students and their advocacy for the district within the local community, throughout the state, and across the nation.

The STISD Board of Directors was recognized at the Jan. 20 board meeting by all STISD campuses. Each campus presented the board members with a token of appreciation for their service.

The STISD board is unique from any other school board in the fact that it is comprised of 24 members from Cameron, Hidalgo and Wil-lacy Counties, making it the largest school board in the nation.

Each county has four elected positions representing each County Com-missioner’s Precinct. In addition, each county judge appoints a member for every 100,000 people.

The current membership of the board is representative of 13 different cities throughout the Rio Grande Valley. The members have back-grounds in education, business, law, medicine and transportation. The board brings over 200 combined years of service to the district.

The board currently consists of seven board members with over 15 years of experience, five of which have over 20 years, and one of which has 30.

Pictured, left to right: Logan Streicher, Culinary Arts student at Medical Academy, and Victor Loya, Culinary Arts instructor, address the board. It is tradition for Medi-cal Academy to present the board with food made by the

Culinary Arts students.

Pictured, left to right: Douglas Buchanan, STISD Board of Directors Vice President, of Raymondville; Israel Quin-tanilla of Raymondville and Berta Palacios of San Juan.

Pictured: Sci Tech senior Stephanie Kreimerman of Mission showed her appreciation through song. Kreimerman composed her own unique tune for the

STISD Board of Directors.

STISD board member Eduardo “Larry” Cantu, of Los Fresnos, was administered an oath of office by Sonia Rodriguez, administrative assistant for Marla M. Guerra, Ed.D., superintendent of schools, at the Jan. 20 school board meeting in Mercedes.

Pictured, from left to right: Joe L. Lopez, Board President, of Brownsville; Douglas E. Buchanan, Board Vice President, of Raymondville; Maria G. Leal, Board Secretary, of Palmhurst; Graciela Camargo of Weslaco; Eduardo L. Cantu of Los Fresnos; Yolanda Cuellar of Progreso Lakes; Javier Farias of McAllen; Richard Fleming, M.D., of Mission; Adrian Garcia of Brownsville; Homero Garcia of Weslaco; Margarita Garcia of San Juan; Sylvia Sánchez Garza of Edinburg; Hector Gonzales of Lyford; Ed Gonzalez of Edinburg; Filomena Leo, Ed.D., of La Joya; Robert J. Lerma of Brownsville; Henry LeVrier of Brownsville; Ramon Montalvo, III, of Weslaco; Eliceo Muñoz, III, of Brownsville; Berta Palacios of San Juan; Irma Perez-Treviño of Harlingen; Israel G. Quintanilla of Raymondville; John L. Solis, III, of Raymondville; Rick Villarreal, D.D.S. of Brownsville.

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BOARDWorks STISD teacher receives National Teacher Board Certification

District retirees recognized for years of service The STISD Board of Directors and administrators recog-nized district retirees for their years of dedicated service to the district during the January board meeting.

Jesus Jose Aguilar and Rolando Dominguez were both presented with retirement resolutions commemorating their service to Med High. Aguilar was a bus driver and custodian, and he served the district for 23 years. Domin-guez was the head cook in the cafeteria and served the district for 28 years.

Left to right: Barbara Heater, Ph.D., principal of Med High; Rolando Dominguez, STISD retiree; J.P. Villarreal, administrator for support services

Left to right: Barbara Heater, Ph.D., principal of Med High; Jesus Jose Aguilar, STISD retiree; J.P. Villarreal, administrator for support services

Jose Cuellar, math instructor at Sci Tech, was recognized at the Jan. 20 board meeting for receiving his National Teacher Board Certification.

Established in 1987, the National Board is an independent, nonprofit organization working to advance accomplished teaching for all students.

According to the organization, National Board Certification is the most respected pro-fessional certification available in education, and it provides numerous benefits to teach-ers, students and schools. It was designed to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teachers and to generate ongoing improve-ment in schools nationwide.

Cuellar completed four components to earn certification: written assessment of content knowledge, reflection on student work

samples, video and analysis of teaching practice and documented impact and accomplishments as a teaching professional.

Cuellar joined the district and Sci Tech in August of 2007. With his certification, the district now has 13 teachers who are certified, making STISD the leading district in the Rio Grande Valley for National Teacher Board Certifications.

Pictured: Jose Cuellar, Sci Tech math instructor

Daniel Saenz and Aiza Galvan, not present at the meet-ing, also received retirement resolutions from the Board of Directors. Saenz retired from Sci Tech after serving as bus driver and custodian for 22 years, and Galvan retired from BETA after serving 10 years in the same position.

The board expressed its appreciation to all district retirees for their years of commitment to serving students through-out Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy Counties.

Bulletin Board

• Parent Connection Meeting (STPA): Thurs-day, Feb. 19 at 6:00 p.m. -Family Communica-tion and Student Skill Builder • STISD Board Meeting: 7:00 p.m. on Tues-day, Feb. 24, at the Medical Academy Library in San Benito.

• Med High & Sci Tech Open House: Thurs-day, Feb. 26

• Spring Break (no classes): March 16-20

BoardWorks is published for patrons of South Texas Independent School District after each regular meeting of the Board of Directors. Board meetings take place on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. Board minutes are the final authority on action taken at STISD board meetings.

Editor: Amanda Odom(956) 514-4255 or amanda.odom@stisd.net

BOARDWorks Non-Profit

OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit #333McAllen, TX

100 Med High Dr.Mercedes, TX 78570

Phone (956) 565-2454Fax (956) 565-4639

Website www.stisd.net

SUPERINTENDENT

Marla M. Guerra, Ed.D.

Joe L. Lopez, PresidentDouglas E. Buchanan, Vice-PresidentMaria G. Leal, SecretaryGraciela CamargoEduardo L. “Larry” CantuYolanda CuellarJavier FariasRichard Fleming, M.D.Adrian GarciaHomero GarciaMargarita Garcia Sylvia Sánchez Garza

Hector GonzalesEduardo “Ed” Gonzalez

Filomena Leo, Ed.D.Robert “Bobby” J. Lerma

Henry LeVrier Ramon Montalvo, III

Eliceo Muñoz, IIIBerta Palacios

John L. Solis, IIIIrma Perez-Treviño

Israel G. QuintanillaRick Villarreal, D.D.S.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Find us on Twitter: @SouthTexasISD & on Facebook at: https: www.facebook.com/SouthTexasISD

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• The STISD Board of Directors reviewed and approved new professional and support positions requested for the 2015-2016 school year. All applications are required to be completed through the OneApp online process found at the following link: http://www.stisd.net/departments/human_resources/employment. For additional information you may contact Janie Chavez at janie.chavez@stisd.net or at 956-514-4224.

• The STISD Board of Directors approved a generous donation by the Carlos Garza Family to The Science Academy of South Texas during the Jan. 20 board meeting.

Tell your friends and family!We are now enrolling for the 2015-16 school year.BETA: 9th- & 10th- grade Medical Academy: 9th- & 10th- gradeRising Scholars: 7th-grade only Apply Online: www.stisd.net

The STISD Board of Directors received an update on the con-struction of the new Medical Academy campus during the Jan. 20 board meeting.

This update included progress made in the construction project since the last report during the Dec. 2 board meeting.

The new facility will be located on the outskirts of Brownsville, across the expressway from Rancho Viejo.

As of Jan. 20, the project was at 83 percent complete, and it was on track for completion later in the spring.

Construction highlights as of the board meeting included the beginning of installation of floor tiles in the hallways and ceiling tiles throughout the building.

The contractor was also focusing on the transportation/main-tenance facility and parking lot, and preparing to pour asphalt.

Update on new Cameron County Academy

Board approves John Hopkins Discover Program The STISD Board of Directors approved Sci Tech’s proposal for a new John Hopkins Discover Program to begin during the summer of 2015.

The proposal is for a two-week summer program for pre-college students to be held at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., a world leader in teaching and research. It is an intensive program designed to expose students to a variety of subjects, such as arts, sciences and engineering. Within the program, in-

Bottom Left: Interior of the Medical Academy gymnasium

Bottom Middle: Interior of the new Medical Academy cafeteria

Bottom Right: Exterior view of the construction site of the Medical Academy campus

structors will lead the participating students through their choice of topic with lectures in the morning and the opportunity to in-teract with leading researchers on the subjects in the afternoons.

Students who participate in the program will have an opportunity to receive a taste of college life, alongside one college credit.

To be eligible, students must be rising high school sophomores, juniors or seniors and have a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.

Board approves Biotechnology course for Science AcademyThe science department at Sci Tech will now offer a Biotech-nology course as an option for 9th- and 10th-grade students.

The Biotechnology course will serve as an introduction course for Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Bioengineering, to be offered to 11th- and 12th-grade students at the campus.

Pre-requisites for it include completion of Pre-AP Biology and concurrent enrollment in a Pre-AP Chem-Biotech course.

Students who choose to take this course as opposed to Pre-AP Environmental Systems (Pre-APES) will not be required to take Pre-AP Environmental Systems if they choose to take APES in 11th- or 12th-grade.

Recommended class size is no more than 24 students per section. It is also recommended that Biotechnology and Bioengineering be taught in the same lab room so that the equipment and supplies can be shared between the courses.

Some of the equipment in the gymnasium, including the basketball nets, had already been installed, and the contractor was starting installation of the floor.

The new 181,495-square-foot Medical Academy campus will ac-commodate 800 students, about a 250 increase from the number at the current San Benito campus.

As Medical Academy relocates to its new facility in Brownsville in the fall, STISD’s second middle school - South Texas Academy of Rising Scholars (Rising Scholars) - will open in the existing building in San Benito.

Additional information about both campuses can be found on the district website at www.stisd.net.

The STISD Board of Directors approved the implementation of a new language course at Sci Tech for the 2015-16 school year during the Jan. 20 board meeting.

Sci Tech will implement Business Spanish in the fall of 2015, providing students with an additional course to help them learn ef-fective communication in Spanish.

The course will provide a second language foundation for students who are interested in electrical engineering, electronics or

circuit design. It will also introduce students to methods of how business is conducted.

Students will expand their Spanish vo-cabulary with the verbs necessary to be successful in a competitive engineering and business environment.

A major emphasis will be placed on developing students’ ability to com-prehend what they hear and read, to then express those thoughts orally and

New Business Spanish course approved for Sci Tech

Sci Tech introduces new Bioengineering course

in writing.

In addition to developing student’s commu-nication skills, students will develop aware-ness of and appreciation for other cultures.

This course may be adjusted to fit student needs. For example, the non-native speaker will focus on conversational Spanish in con-trast to the native Spanish speaker that will target the written/technical areas.

Sci Tech will offer one of Project Lead the Way’s (PLTW) newest courses in its program curriculum for the 2015-16 school year - Bioengineering.

The PLTW Bioengineering course will be offered to 11th- and 12th-grade students as a science or technology course option. It will be offered as an Engineering course option and will be a terminal course.

Pre-requisites for this course include completion of Pre-AP Biology, Pre-AP Chemistry and Biotechnology. This course will advance student knowledge in the field, while preparing students for college and beyond.

Courses offered by PLTW hold high

standards and are all hands-on activ-ity, project and problem based. The courses help students develop critical thinking, innovation and real world problem solving skills.

The course is also beneficial to students interested in exploring Bioengineering tech-niques in the engineering capstone course, Engineering Design & Development (EDD). EDD gives students the opportu-nity to work in teams to solve problems of their choosing. Teams research, construct and test a model in real-life situations and document their designs to present and de-fend their designs to a panel of engineering experts.

The recommended class size for the PLTW Bioengineering course is no more than 24 students per section, and it will be taught in the same lab room as Biotechnology so that all equipment and supplies are accessible to students between both courses.