Person of the Month

Questions & Answers

You have been with AISD for 15 years.

What have been some of your accomplishments and what has been a struggle for you?

   Over the last 15 years here, there have been lots of ups and downs. It’s normal when you work in education – you have different staff members, students, new laws, and challenges. My time at AISD started as a high school principal in the fall of 2007 and I was able to have success due to a good staff and wonderful students. It was the same when I also became, simultaneously, principal at the middle school. Any success was due to a great staff. Like anything else, any recognition is a team effort. The middle and high school has been recognized by Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Educational Results Partnership and Institute for Productivity in Education Texas Honor Roll, Children At Risk Texas Middle/High Schools, and others.

    As a superintendent for the past four years,  we have worked hard to achieve an “A” rating for our academic efforts. We were not rated by TEA for 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Getting our district through the turmoil during the pandemic has been something I’ve been very proud of. There was lots of chaos and uncertainty during that time, but the fact that we were a small district allowed us to pivot quickly to serve the needs of our students. It helped that we were already, for the most part, a one-to-one district (one laptop device per student). We quickly bought some laptops for the few remaining groups of students who needed devices. So, our students and families had the hardware but many families did not have an internet connection. We needed to move quickly to provide hotspots to those families who couldn’t connect. Our teachers and staff worked hard to provide a good experience during this tumultuous time but the fact remains that it created learning gaps in our students. Nothing can take the place of the classroom, the teachers, and other students in the classroom. That is the best learning environment. To promote safety during this time, we were one of the only school districts to install Plasma Air in our schools. Plasma Air significantly reduces airborne pollutants commonly found in homes such as bacteria and viruses, mold spores, and odors. It is used in hospitals, luxury hotels, airports, and other places. This was an effort to keep our students and staff as safe as possible.

Even before the pandemic hit, we were already implementing Character Strong – a research-based social-emotional learning and character-based educational program. We have also implemented the AVID (Achievement Via Individual Determination) program to promote college readiness and postsecondary success for all our students. I always felt that while our teachers and staff did a great job of getting our students to graduate from high school, we needed to do more to promote skills (collaboration, inquiry, organization, writing, reading) so they could succeed beyond Anthony High School.

    We have also made safety a priority. We now have our own AISD campus patrol and we continue our partnership with the Anthony Police Department to have a School Resource Officer. We’ve reinforced windows at our schools. We’ve added an eight-foot fence around our elementary school with cameras and electronic card readers. In fact, we now have electronic card readers (instead of keys) at all our facilities. Our three schools have a School Check-In kiosk where visitors scan their IDs and check-in. This tracks visitors but more importantly, it is tied to national registries that alert us immediately.

    The work of our HR department has been outstanding these past four years. We have been able to attract quality personnel in all areas. We have also done the work to be part of the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) that will provide some of the biggest incentives in Region 19 for our teachers. Thanks to the support of our school board, we have been able to keep our salaries competitive and improve our benefits. I can want this or that, or I can suggest an initiative, but without the board’s support, we cannot experience the success we’ve had. They also supported me when I wanted to adjust our academic calendar to a year-round calendar. This was a big adjustment for our community and I am very thankful that they supported it.

What would you consider to be your greatest assets and abilities as a leader?

    My secret sauce is assembling a strong leadership team. Each principal, director, and manager has been strategically selected. I want to surround myself with individuals who work hard and who have a good heart for doing what’s best for our students and staff. Those are two qualities that I highly value and, at the same time, strive to do each and every year. As a leader, you have to be decisive, attentive to details, calm, competitive, and humble. I have to focus on priorities while at the same time planning for the future. It helps that I learned a great deal about leadership in my 25 years in the Navy Reserves. I’m very mindful of our community and I always considered it a privilege to work here and I won’t ever forget that.

What other areas will you need to develop?

    As for myself, I need to remind myself to be patient. I like things done quickly and efficiently but it doesn’t always work out that way. As for our district, our focus on academic achievement is never-ending and evolving. We will also continue to emphasize a safe environment.

What do you consider the three most critical issues facing Superintendents and Board of Education today?

    The biggest issue facing school districts is finance or a lack of. School districts are experiencing financial difficulties because the state’s basic allotment ($6, 160) has remained stagnant for the past four years. They have the funds to increase this yet the lawmakers cannot agree on it. It needs to substantially increase and provide annual adjustments for inflation. It is disappointing and shameful that the existing excess budget (over 30 billion) is being held hostage by vouchers.

     Another big issue, also related to funding, is safety. The state says they want one peace officer at every school yet they only provide $15,000 per campus. It’s clearly not enough and it’s just another example of an unfunded mandate. They need to provide adequate funding and resources to address the challenges of ensuring safe schools for all children, regardless of their zip code.

Finally, and also related to funding, is the retention of teachers and staff. The shortage of educators (teachers, administrators, counselors, etc.) is real. We have to have competitive salaries, especially in light of the rising costs of inflation, if our schools going to excel. People in education realize they have a choice of professions and unless we support them for doing what is one of the hardest jobs out there, then the quality of our schools will suffer.

How do you go about engaging parents and community into the fabric of the school as a whole?

    More than anything, I make myself visible and accessible. I enjoy visiting our schools and being at athletic and special events. I also make it a point to have several “Coffee with the Superintendent” days throughout the school year. We promote this on social media. I have an active X (formerly Twitter) account; we also have Facebook and Instagram accounts to promote messaging. I send out messages to the community on our School Messenger system as needed. Finally, there may be times when we have community meetings. For example, when the topic of the school calendar change came about, we held community meetings to explain to parents what and the why. I don’t want to forget to mention our Parent Liaison, Melissa Leos, who has regular parent meetings and events for members of our community throughout the year.

Are you able to maintain a budget?

    Yes, this is one of my most important roles. This year we adopted a budget deficit, as have most if not all school districts, mostly because we needed to maintain competitive salaries. Throughout the course of the year, the deficit is actually whittled down as much as possible.  Again, this is something we need to do because of a lack of adequate funding from the state. Fortunately, we have a very healthy fund balance and this allows us to do this. While we also have an “A” FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating for State of Texas), it is not sustainable in the long run, or after many years. We have been able to pay for some special projects via grants and that has helped out a great deal.

What types of grants have you been able to receive?

    We have received ESSER grants via the federal government, IDEA-B to support special education and related services, the Teacher Incentive Allotment grant, Silent Panic Alert Technology (SPAT), the Rural and Low-Income grant, and the following to improve our curriculum standards: LASO (Learning Accelerated Support Opportunities), TCLAS (Texas COVID Learning Acceleration Supports), Perkins, CRIMSI (COVID Recovery Instructional Support Initiative) and others.

What experience have you had dealing with children and families in poverty?

    I’ve worked in education for 35 years and with the exception of two years north of I-10, the other 33 years I’ve worked in schools with high numbers of children who are at-risk. At AISD, where I’ve been the last 15 years, we have over 61% of our students who are considered at-risk. Because our percentages are so high, all of our students qualify for free lunch. Even as a teacher, I was certified in English and ESL (English as a Second Language) but I chose to work with ESL students during the 9.5 years I was a teacher. My career vocation is to help others less fortunate so that they have a chance to succeed in life.

Does the school system have any plans in place to help children and families in need of food or in poverty?

    Yes, as I mentioned earlier all our students qualify for free lunch so they get breakfast and lunch at AISD. We also have a robust summer feeding program, spearheaded by our Cafeteria Director Tisha Villalva. Her staff has various locations around the community in which we are able to provide free lunch to anyone up to 18 years of age. Our staff, at each of the three schools, have been very generous to students, providing clothes and food to our neediest families – especially during the holiday season. A great example of this is the 1511 Project which is headed by Veronica Ordonez, principal at our middle school. Last year, during the Christmas holiday, they served about 140 students of all ages of underserved families with gifts, food, and blankets. Our parent liaison, Ms. Leos, also organizes turkey and food giveaways to needy families during the Thanksgiving season. Our high Student Council and National Honor Society members and sponsors also organize special community service projects to help the needy in our community. Our Parent Liaison, Ms. Leos, keeps track of donated clothing items that can be, in turn, donated to members of our community. For more information, her phone is (915) 886-6567 and her email is mleos@anthonyisd.net.

How would you continue a policy of improvement of the school facilities?

Improving school facilities is ongoing. We have to keep an eye on existing facilities and we have to plan, if necessary, for new facilities. The biggest challenge is finding the funds for capital improvements. We have completed many projects like installing touchless water fountains, plasma air filters, the development of the overflow parking area, a new intercom system, new air conditioners, continuous painting, and more. Nonetheless, there are other facility improvements that will need to be addressed in the near future. For example, the gyms at each of our three schools need to be converted from swamp coolers to refrigerated air. To do one is about $150,000! In addition, there are other important projects that are needed for our students and staff. I’m hopeful that we will be able to address facility improvements in the near future. We have to do right for our students because they deserve the best educational environment that we can provide for them.