Zahira Torres is the education reporter for the El Paso Times. She writes about the area's nine school districts, public schools and early childhood issues.
Voters in the Socorro Independent School District selected two new board members Saturday. I decided to post the questionnaires that were filled out by both candidates before the election. Both questionnaires were available online before the election. They will help many readers learn more about their new board members.
As presidential candidates tout their plans for a more “green” environment, El Pasoans are among millions, nationwide, who are hoping to galvanize support for climate change.
Several school districts throughout the city will participate in Earth Day activities today that include turning out lights at schools, planting seeds and a ceremonial toast to the anniversary of the event.
“I think kids need to be more aware of their environments, especially nowadays that our resources are becoming limited and you hear so much about global warming,” said Shirin Ditmore, a counselor at LeBarron Park Elementary School and the mother of a student on the campus. “I don’t think the kids are very much aware of what’s going on, so, learning how to protect earth is a big investment for our future and for their future.”
About 100 students from LeBarron Park and Lancaster elementary schools will plant seeds at 1 p.m. today at Blackie Chesher Park, 9144 Escobar Drive.
The park will be the site of a future elementary school, which is expected to be the district’s first certified “green” building.
The event is one of several throughout the city that will honor Earth Day, which began April 22, 1970. About 20 million people participated in the first Earth Day rally to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment.
Organizers expect that about a billion people will take part in local, national and international events today.
Canutillo High School will shut off all non-essential lights in hallways, classrooms and the cafeteria in observance of Earth Day, district officials said.
“As students, we are concerned about energy conservation and global warming, so the project’s goal is to help our school district implement more energy conservation programs,” said Sammy Barraza, a junior at the campus, who organized the Project Green Eagle Campaign.
A ceremonial toast and an informational session about water conservation and recycling for students will also take place at 8:30 a.m. today at Jane A. Hambric School, 3535 Nolan Richardson.
Anyone interested in participating in Earth Day initiatives can also call their representative or senator and ask them to take action on climate change, according to the Earth Day website.
A couple of public information officers at different districts were reassigned in the past week.
Last week, EPISD announced that Luis Villalobos, the executive director of public relations for the district, was moved to a position overseeing the policy office.
Today, Socorro ISD announced that the director of its public relations office, Minerva Baumann, will be a Title I specialist working with community and parental outreach in the Federal Programs Department.
Vicki Icard, the district's director of student services, is now overseeing the department.
""I am supervising the staff until they (district officials) decide what they want to do with that position," Icard said.
Icard said she was not sure if the district was looking at hiring a new director or placing the department under the direction of another department.
Baumann, who returned from medical leave today, started her new position immediately.
"The only thing I know is that they really felt that they could use me in parental involvement and that it was in the best interest of the district," Baumann said.
EPISD superintendent Lorenzo Garcia said the district is looking for qualified candidates to fill the position.
Hello to all.
First, let me apologize for the tardiness of my first blog. Now, let's discuss other information that might be of more interest to those reading the blog. Since I will be your education reporter and I will be asking many of you to share a little bit of your lives with me, I feel it is important that I do the same.
I have been at the El Paso Times for nine years. My last assignment was covering Fort Bliss, which is expected to grow at a dramatic rate, as many of you already know. This issue will be critical to the growth of many districts as soldiers continue to arrive with their families. I also covered business and reported on stories for the city desk. At the El Paso Times we share many duties, so, I have had the opportunity to cover various education-related assignments. I am originally from El Paso. Normally, I wouldn't feel the need to point this out but many people, who I have met these last few weeks, found the answer important enough to ask the question.
I look forward to working with all of you. I encourage you to call me or email me with any information about your districts and any concerns or praises you may have in regards to your children and your schools. Also, I invite PTA members, teachers, administrators, board members and others to share their contact information with me so that if a story comes up in your area I may contact you. My phone number is 546-6156; email is ztorres@elpasotimes.com
Let's get started.
It's with mixed emotions that I write this, my last entry in the Education Notes blog. As of this week I am no longer the education reporter for the El Paso Times. I will now be covering city hall for the paper. I'll start a new blog in connection to that beat, but Education Notes will now be written by our new education reporter: Zahira Torres. Look for her first blog soon.
Well, it's hard for me to leave behind the education beat. I have been covering schools for about 10 years now and that aspect of journalism has been pretty prominent in my career. I've had the chance to meet some great people, including teachers, students, trustees, parents and administrators. I wrote some great stories, too. The school beat is just full of those.
But ultimately the chance to cover city hall is a great one, and one that I can't pass up. So be kind to Zahira. She's a great reporter and she's going to write some great stuff. I like to use the word "feisty" to describe her, and given the state of education (or at least school boards and superintendents) in El Paso right now, that trait will come in handy.
¡Gracias!
The one thing critics of Socorro Superintendent Sylvia P. Atkinson didn't want just happened. Those critics didn't want a crowded race for the two at-large positions on the board of trustees. Nine people filed to fill those two positions, including board President Charlie Garcia. This crowded race could give Garcia enough name-recognition votes to win re-election. Oh yeah, Garcia is a supporter of Atkinson.
The people on a cleverly-named online forum have thrown their support to two candidates: Joe Sarabia and Tony Ayub. But so many people threw their names in that they are afraid the votes on May 10 may be scattered. This could give Garcia, or any of the other candidates who allegedly support Atkinson, an edge.
Here's a list of all nine candidates in alphabetical order: Tony Ayub, Lorenza Fraire, Charles Garcia, William Goodman, Paul Guerra, Karina Hagelsieb, Rafael Hernando, Ernest Peña and Joe Sarabia.
Of note here is the decision of Barbara Perez-Peña not to run for re-election. Perez-Peña is the county's longest-serving trustee currently active. She's finishing her 15th year on the board. While her last year was tainted by criticism that she backed Atkinson for personal reasons, it should be noted that she has served the district with honor for a very long time.
There are two positions up for re-election in the Ysleta Independent School District this year: the Eastwood feeder pattern area and the Ysleta High feeder pattern area. The incumbents in those races are Mickey Duntley and Marty Reyes, respectively.
A quick call to the district showed that Reyes has already filed for re-election. No big surprise there. It'll be interesting to see if she draws an opponent. That area has not been known for having too many school-board candidates.
Duntley, who has been implicated in the ongoing corruption investigation by the FBI but has not been charged with any crime, has not filed for re-election. Richard Telles-Goins has, though. Telles-Goins was a frequent board meeting attendee about six years ago and at one point told me he would run for the board. He never did file, though. This time, the paper work is already in.
The filing deadline for all districts is Monday at 5 p.m. Interested people should pick up a candidate package from the superintendent's office at their respective district.
With the filing deadline for school-board races looming, a fourth person has filed to run in the Socorro Independent School District. Parent Karina Hagelsieb contacted me with the news that she, too, is seeking to unseat at-large trustees Charlie Garcia and Barbara Perez-Pena.
Hagelsieb is a Socorro High graduate, a former central office employee and a resident of the Horizon City area. She also has children in the school district.
Here is a quote she emailed over to me with her notice of intent to run:
“The low morale and the inability to pass the SISD’s bond election are strong indicators the District’s leadership is lacking. It is time the resident’s voices are accurately represented. I will work to ensure decisions are made based on the best interest of the District."
She also said that if she's elected she would:
There was a lot of talk about whether long-time Montwood area band parent Tony Ayub would run for the Socorro Independent School District Board of Trustees this May. Late on Friday he made it official: he is. Ayub filed the necessary paperwork to be on the ballot and joins Joe Sarabia and Paul Guerra as the only official candidates so far in the race to select two at-large trustees. The incumbents, Charlie Garcia and Barbara Perez Pena, have picked up the application to file for re-election, but neither has officially filed.
Ayub, who in this picture can be seen on his frequent role of band booster, is being heavily supported by the people who normally post on a cleverly-named online forum. The people on that forum say they will back both Ayub and Sarabia chiefly because of their opposition of Superintendent Sylvia Atkinson.
This election should prove very interesting if Garcia and Perez Pena decide to run for re-election. They both have been supporters of the superintendent and their controversial extension of her contract should come up during the campaign. The people on the forum often claim that their grassroots efforts were responsible for the failure of the $397-million bond election last November, and say they can regroup to help elect their candidates to the board. This May's election will be a test of whether that's true or not.
I got this email from the Ysleta Independent School District public relations office and I decided to post it here. Congratulations to the Del Valle JROTC for a job well done:
Del Valle High School JROTC precision air rifle team has won the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) Western Region Championship Army. The championship was conducted at Colorado Springs, Colorado on February 23, 2008.
The Del Valle (Conquest Rifles) Army JROTC precision rifle team is coached by LTC (R) Gary Crafton; Team Captain is Cadet Captain Juan Gaucin; members are Cadet Captain Atenas Bojorquez, Cadet Staff Sergeant Lorenzo Hernandez, Cadet Corporal Juan Arceo and alternate Cadet Staff Sergeant Jacob Najar.
Del Valle scored 2,285 points out of a possible 2,400, outscoring ten other Army teams from the West and six other Army teams from the East. The cadets fire the .177 caliber air pellet rifle, at a distance of 10 meters from three positions, prone, standing and kneeling.
Del Valle will compete against three other Army JROTC regional qualifiers and four teams each from Marine Corps and Navy JROTC's at Fort Benning, Georgia on March 27-29 for the combined Army, Navy, Marine Corps JROTC National Championship.
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