This came in from Dan Wever:
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Why does the EPISD want to go to the K-8 grade format for elementary schools?
I will tell you!
When asked this question one must first understand why they changed from their K-6 elementary, 7th, 8th, and 9th Junior High Schools and 10th, 11th, and 12th grade High Schools programs.
Well the big ol bad State came along and said that the classrooms in K-4th grade would be limited to 22 students to 1 teacher. It had been proven that smaller class sizes in the early grades improved everything that was measurable in education all over the United States.
The EPISD at this time had a K-6 grade elementary and a Junior High setup of 7th 8th and 9th grades and then High School 10th, 11th and 12th. Well, the State edict of 22-1 student to teacher ratio, meant that there were not enough classrooms in the elementary schools. So what happened over a couple of years was the 6th grades were moved out of the elementary schools and joined with the Junior High 7th and 8th grades and the 9th grade went back to the High Schools. This is how the EPISD ended up with the setup we have today.
So what is the answer to the original question? Well have you heard of the District of Innovation mantel that the EPISD has elected to wear? Yep, you guessed it the district is no longer bound by the State 22-1 rule. Of course they say they will try to keep it the same ratio but looking at other school district’s explanation of why the killing of the 22-1 rule will not be so bad.
“Proposed: While we believe that in certain circumstances small class size plays a positive role in the classroom, in many cases master teachers, who are highly trained in student engagement strategies, are equally effective with larger class size environments. Often it is not the number of students but the classroom environment that influences student learning outcomes. We will attempt to keep all the core K-4 classrooms to a 22:1 ratio. However, in the event the class size exceeds this ratio, the superintendent will report to the Board of Trustees. b. A TEA waiver will not be necessary when a K-4 classroom exceeds the 22:1 ratio. c. This will give our district the flexibility without having the bureaucracy of waivers within TEA.”
Here is another:
“Why is the district seeking local control over the class size ratio? Local control over the class size ratio will enable the district to minimize disruption at the beginning of the year due to class size. Furthermore, the district will also eliminate time utilized to complete and submit annual waivers on class size ratios, thus increasing the time spent on campus related operations.”
These two examples show what is planned for their districts and the same will be in line for ours because that is the way money can be saved by crowding more little kids into smaller classrooms with a total disregard for the real educational studies that tell them this is bad or not as good as the smaller class size. But then again this bond issue is not about the students or they would not be wanting to turn over 4000 children away from their neighborhood schools to accomplish their K-8 goal at a cost of over $185,000,000.
elpasospeak 
IOW, back to some of the failed policies that got that district into legal trouble to begin with. What a total load of horse puckey. But, what can you expect from a system that is run by people with little classroom experience, or real educational experience, for that matter?
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Didn’t all the EPISD teacher organizations support both the bond and the District of Innovation initiative?
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I am curious to know from the inside what the teacher organizations are really thinking. My understanding is that they’ve been promised raises, potentially from the “cost savings” of the closed schools.
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Teachers would not have abandoned over 4000 children by closing their neighborhood schools for a promised pay raise. The Board of Trustees only hear what the Administration wants them to hear and the teachers are only getting what the Unions what them to hear. With the District of Innovation the EPISD has the Teachers unions by the balls as they can destroy them whenever they want. The Unions do not realize that the reason the District of Innovation were created was to get rid of the Unions and make every rule locally controlled. Go back and look at how the law got through the legislature and who the people were that were pushing it through. This time they will go after Vouchers and will have a little Tea party when it is passed, if it is passed.
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Remember that in the 1950’s the EPISD was tops in the state.
What happened? Short answer is MONEY !
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EPISD Bond PACs spend big on misleading advertisement spots!! El Paso Times this morning:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/education/episd/2016/11/02/school-bond-pacs-spend-big-advertising/93181158/
Campaign is dishonest at best. They think El Paso voters are stupid.
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At our school the innovation is art classes of thirty students with a long term substitute, not art certified who gives coloring book pages to students–and many of these do not have chairs to sit in.
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To clarify, not all the teacher unions agreed with the District of Innovation. It is my understanding that one union refused to sign off on the final copy of the plan because of citations of law that were added by the education commissioner that would have allowed for evaluation instruments to become punitive in nature if the district chose to by way of developing their own evaluation instrument.
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