By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
As a result of Frank Roberts Elementary School earning an “F” accountability rating last year, according to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), campus administration, staff, and students will be closely monitored and will need to submit monthly reports to the state while collaborating on a yearlong plan to bring the school back into good standing.
According to the San Benito Consolidated Independent School District (SBCISD) officials, the elementary school previously earned a “B” rating before its dip and now has until May 2027 to turn it around.
This discussion dominated a regular meeting of the San Benito CISD Board of Trustees last Tuesday at the John F. Barron Administration Building.
“It’s all or nothing. We need to do whatever it takes to move this campus out of this rating. Please know that we are doing our absolute best and using every resource available to work hard as a team,” said Diana Atkinson, SBCISD’s Coordinator for School Improvement. “I am very confident that we will be in a different place by May 2027.”
“Monitoring” is a term that, if it hasn’t already, will be used to describe teamwork in the Frank Roberts ES classroom among teachers, their students, and those who will be there five days a week, offering educational assistance to even the educated.
The teacher-to-student ratio is about 15:1, which is ideal for what the school is and will be experiencing in the coming months.
Atkinson said she plans to be at the elementary school on Mondays and Fridays, with the end of the week mapped out to plan for the next.
“There will be an Early Childhood coach on Tuesdays, an English Language Arts Reading coach on Wednesdays, and a Math instruction coach on Thursdays,” Atkinson said at the meeting.
“So that campus is going to have support every day, sitting in and leading, modeling, and planning; we’re going to be at the campus, at their disposal.”
Place 3 Trustee Israel Villarreal III expressed concern about classroom monitoring and the disruption it could cause between teachers and students.
As a student, he remembers when an administrator would walk through a learning session, and the focus was a bit off because of it.
“We are having conversations with students about people coming in and out and about observers, but I think by now they have become used to it,” Atkinson said. “Sometimes we’re engaged in the teaching. It’s a culture we need to build, and we tell them we’re coming in to support.”
Superintendent Fred Perez, who will receive quarterly reports from Atkinson, also emphasized the obvious.
“We have over the past couple of years let students and teachers feel like it’s the norm to see us in the classrooms,” Supt. Perez said as he sat next to Trustee Villarreal. “Because, as you said, when we were in school, it was very different seeing someone; it was someone different.”
Dilia Cornett, SBCISD’s Assistant Superintendent of Academic Services, will visit classrooms at random.
In her presentation to trustees, Atkinson identified several areas for improvement, including “milestones” that began in August and end in May 2027.
The TEA provided these milestones, which SBCISD must report to the state monthly.
In August, an on-site assessment identified causes of low performance and limited progress. That month, Atkinson said the team discussed needs assessments and developed a plan after she, new Principal Manuela Lopez (former SBHS principal), and other school leaders met.
Lopez said a Frank Roberts ES administration team met with campus leaders, parents, and community members in September to review the performance rating and gather input on the plan.
“It went real well; the parents wanted to know what they can do to support the needs,” Lopez said. “There was a consensus that we need to increase the parent engagement at the campus.”
Then a few weeks into the school year, parents received written notice. Meeting details were also posted online.
Atkinson used the board meeting to explain the campus rating and the plan moving forward, which the trustees approved unanimously.
During this process, Atkinson showed trustees what she described as “capacity building.”
It includes the following: tailor training and support to each educator’s needs, with added help for new or struggling staff; use a robust observation and feedback cycle to strengthen instruction; observe teachers needing more support weekly and others at least every two weeks; and finally address the needs of students in special education and bilingual/English as a Second Language programs.
“Every teacher is on board, so I think we have a solid team,” Atkinson said.
Lopez said although it would be acceptable to earn a “B” rating at the end of the year, an “A” would be ideal.
“We want to play it safe, and I know ‘B’ is something attainable for us,” Principal Lopez said. “But in reality, our goal is to be an ‘A’-rated campus at the end of the year.”