Tag Archives: EPISD

Here is a little game you can play with your coworkers: try to find a document at your work that is written in cursive from beginning to end. Go ahead I will wait.

How many did you find? I suspect that it was very close to zero.

Here is the next game you can play: Try to remember the last time you had to read a document that was written entirely in cursive. Go ahead, I will wait. Was it last week? Last month? Last year?

Can you even remember a time?

Here is another: When was the last time you were asked to write something in cursive for your work? Received an email in cursive? Read a book in cursive? Read a road sign, a billboard, a loan application, a mortgage, a car lease, a divorce decree? The truth is, unless you have a job as a calligrapher, you do not need to use cursive writing at all in today’s modern world.

Writing in cursive simply is a skill that is no longer necessary in today’s world. Sorry fans of longhand. The ship has sailed. The train has left the station. The toothpaste is out of the tube.

You are reading this online, in print type, where I would venture to guess nearly 100% of the writing is presented in non-cursive format. Have you been negatively impacted by that fact? Has your brain suffered? No, you don’t even realize that nearly all writing is in print format because print is so ubiquitous. Thank you Mr. Gutenberg. Your revolution is nearly complete.

Yet, despite a nearly 100% lack of any kind of need, starting next year in elementary schools all across Texas, resurrected like a character in the Walking Dead, cursive writing as part of the newly adopted English Language Arts TEKS will begin to be taught again.

Proponents of this “kids need to learn a dead skill” initiative cite several reasons for bringing it back. The first is the disproven notion that students need to know cursive writing in order to read historical documents like the Constitution. (Debunked about a year ago). In fact, you don’t need to know how to WRITE in cursive in order to READ in cursive. Those are two completely different skills.

A student can be taught to read cursive in about 30 minutes. You don’t have to know calligraphy in order to read the Coca-Cola logo, do you?

The second is that learning to write cursive somehow improves hand-eye coordination in little ones. Perhaps this is partially true, but so does learning to play an instrument, painting a picture, drawing, and playing video games. Data from research indicates that cursive writing has no greater benefit to students than any of those activities, yet we don’t have “video games” as part of the standard curriculum.

So why the push to bring it back?

The TEKS , those standards that your child is mandated by law to learn and school districts are obliged to teach, are not free from political influences and pressures. What your child learns in school is subject to legislative arm twisting, lobbying efforts by hundreds of organizations, and hearings by multiple committees and departments.

In a red state like Texas, we often are pressured by lawmakers to return to a fantasy world that never existed, where mom stayed at home dutifully vacuuming the carpet daily, dad brought home the bacon, and all the little white children were above average. You remember those days, don’t you?

Those days were the days when all the little children learned how to write in cursive, so that they could send Grandma a Christmas card each year, handwritten, making her so proud. You remember right? No you don’t.

The problem, of course, is that world didn’t really exist, except in the imaginations of politicians who continually mistake ’50’s and ’60’s TV sitcom families for reality. The fact, separate from the fantasy and the voices in their heads, is that many of the skills taught back then are not needed today. We taught Latin as a matter of course in many schools “back then.” We don’t teach Latin, except in some select places, anymore. And good riddance. Latina mortua est.

Cursive writing was put back into the TEKS because of some crazy longing for “the good old days” that really never existed except in the minds of east Texas white Tea Party Republicans. Qualem blennum!

Cursive writing, like Latin, is nearly dead. Want more proof? After 5th grade, there is not a single TEKS that revisits cursive writing. Not one. In any subject. In other words, the skill is completely ignored after students leave elementary school, never to be seen again. T

hat is 4 years (2-5th grades) that is wasted on a skill of very little value other than to make some east Texas blue haired ladies that taught elementary school in the 1950’s happy. For the next seven years a child is in school, they will not be asked to write a single thing in cursive. Not a single thing.

The STAAR test won’t be written in cursive, and the written responses can be submitted in cursive or printed format. Of course, if they are taking the test online, print is the default.

Teaching cursive handwriting should go the way of the educational Dodo bird. We have quite a few of those dead skills and classes that we, as a society, have tossed aside because time and technology have made them useless. Sliderules, keyboarding, “Home Ec” and how to shoe a horse are among the thousands of things we have relegated to the dustbin of educational history.

It’s time we send cursive writing there as well. Let’s teach kids skills that they actually will need to succeed in their futures, not some politician’s fantasy past.

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Author: Tim Holt is an educator and writer, with over 33 years experience in education and opines on education-related topics here and on his own award-winning blog: HoltThink. He values your feedback.

Feel free to leave a comment.  Read his previous columns here.

Starting next school year, a new partnership with the Texas Tech University Health Science Center El Paso will pave the way for EPISD students to earn a registered-nurse degree by the time they are 20 years old.

A new agreement with Texas Tech University Health Science Center gives incoming Silva Health Magnet students an opportunity to earn the pre-requisites necessary to enter the Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing upon graduating.

Incoming Silva students enrolled in the program can take up to 60 college credit hours to earn an associate’s degree through El Paso Community College. Upon successful completion, they can receive admission into the accelerated nursing program and earn their RN in 16 months.

“The beauty of this program is that Texas Tech has agreed to extend all of those credits and allow them to enter the bachelor’s of science in nursing program right after high school,” said Patty Benitez, a facilitator in the EPISD Office of Transformation. “It’s a great opportunity for our students. We foresee a high interest.”

Benitez worked closely with Texas Tech while serving as an assistant principal at the campus.

Beyond the educational opportunities, she touts the financial savings for students.

“It’s free of charge for students,” she said. “Silva will offer the whole 60 hours which includes tuition and books. EPCC also offers tutoring resources for our students.”

Dr. Manuel Santa Cruz, Texas Tech assistant dean and chair of the undergraduate program, joined with Benitez and Silva to announce the new partnership and explained the program’s widespread impact for the community.

“We are contributing to the need for nurses in the workforce,” he said. “There’s a huge nursing shortage right now in the community. If we look at the state of Texas, in the year 2022, we will be needing 20,000 nurses needed in state and in West Texas 3,000 to 4,000 nurses and that number continues to grow.”

The program begins in the fall with the incoming class of 2023. Texas Tech has agreed to reserve 10 percent of the admission class each year to students meeting all of the requirements.

Senior Disha Ganjegunte, a student leader involved with the development of the program, looks forward to the opportunities it brings to future Silva students.

“Texas Tech is just a huge part of us coming to Silva Health Magnet,” Ganjegunte said. “This is setting the foundation of not only excelling in academics but also getting that exposure to the medical fields with Texas Tech mentors. It’s a great opportunity that you now have a pathway to get to Texas Tech and actually graduate as a nurse.”

The future neonatologist sees the program as a solid pathway to many healthcare careers.

“Even if our students don’t want to be a nurse, just having that exposure and building up all those prereqs and going through the program, graduating as an RN, is a great resume builder,” she said. “It’s great for just building up all those skills you actually need to be a physician.”

Sophomore Emmanuel Ortega is considering pursuing a nursing degree at Texas Tech after he graduates. He sees the edge this new program gives students interested in a healthcare career.

“This is a huge opportunity and will open lots of doors,” he said. “A lot of students want to be doctors or nurses but they don’t know what it looks like. This is going to be hands-on, which is what you need to get into a medical field. And Silva, just its name, opens doors and I think this is going to so beneficial for the future.”

Story by Reneé de Santos  |  Photo by Erika Reyes – EPISD

Historic Jones Stadium at El Paso High School will play host to a free football clinic for over 200 El Paso and Ysleta ISD student-athletes.

Now in its third year, The Dallas Cowboys High School Clinic presented by the Texas Lottery will give students from high schools represented the opportunity to learn both on- and off-the-field lessons.

At the clinic, Dallas Cowboys Youth Camp Coaches will instruct students on techniques and skills.

Camp Coaches will also be joined by a Dallas Cowboys current player to assist in sharing football insights and other life lessons.

Student-athletes were selected by their coaches for the high school football showcase.  Officials with the clinic share that the two school districts are expecting great competition during the day.

The clinic will start at 8 a.m. on Saturday, March 30 at El Paso High School’s Jones Stadium.

• WHAT: Dallas Cowboys High School Clinic – El Paso, TX – Presented by the Texas Lottery.

• WHEN: 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 30.

• WHERE: Historic Jones Stadium at El Paso High School, 800 East Schuster.

• WHO: Dallas Cowboys Youth Camp Coaches with over 200 EPISD and YISD student-athletes.

More than 40 lunch ladies from cafeterias spanning all of the El Paso Independent School District gathered here on a recent Saturday to so something that didn’t involve a kitchen.

The EPISD Food and Nutrition Services employees came together to have their long, beautiful hair chopped off in the name of charity – Children With Hair Loss.

The hair was properly cut and treated by cosmetology students at the Center for Career & Technology Education, who also gave all participants a complimentary manicure to show their gratitude.

The 40 women – including some students – donated nearly 620 inches of hair to Children With Hair Loss, a nonprofit organization that provides free wigs to children with medical conditions affecting hair growth.

Children With Hair Loss is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that provides human hair replacements at no cost to children and young adults facing medically-related hair loss.

Food services employees organized the event in an effort to give back to the community.

Story by Gustavo Reveles  |  Photos: Food & Nutrition Services -EPISD

The Cougars once again won the District Mock Trial Competition and represented the city in the Dallas Bar Association’s State Mock Trial tournament this weekend.

This is the third straight year Franklin has taken first place at the district tournament and participated in the state competition.

Mock Trial is a tournament for aspiring lawyers and legal fans where participants are given a ficticious case and must then develop and present both the prosecution/plaintiff and defense. The students then play the roles of the attorneys and witnesses.

Members work together to learn the facts of the case and create strategies for trial and then compete in local-area meets.

The 2019 Franklin Team is:  Mia Beldner, Gabriel Agustin Del Campo, Michael Fallon, Luisa Garcia, Andres Hinojos, Derek Jones, Sam Magana, Jorge Pompa, Alec Tellez and Alec Trujillo.  The Franklin sponsor is Alison Cundari.

Two members of the El Paso District Attorneys Office, Amanda Enriquez and Elizabth Howard, serve as the team’s lawyer coaches.

At the State Competition in Dallas this weekend there were 28 teams from around Texas competing for the honor to represent Texas at the National High School Mock Trial Competition, in Athens, Georgia, this May.

While the Franklin Team did not break the Top 10 this year at the State Competition, they know that their hard work paid off this year and look forward to competing again next spring.

The regional competition was organized by the regional coordinator, Claudia Duran, on Feb. 8-9 at the El Paso County Courthouse.

EPISD’s very first Pat Arnold Battle of the Bluebonnets on Thursday helped kicked off what is sure to become an annual tradition among students who love reading.

The contest — which asks participating school teams to answer questions about the books named as finalists for the Texas Bluebonnet Award by the Texas Library Association — had its first edition in the EPISD Boardroom with several elementary schools participating.

EPISD librarians organized the contest and named it after Pat Arnold, a former EPISD librarian who passed away last year and had shown tremendous dedication to literacy in the District.

Round by round students answered questions about books like “Amina’s Voice” by Hena Khan and “Bravo! Poems About Amazing Hispanics” by Margarita Engle in front of a crowd of book fans from throughout the District.

In the end the champions of the first edition of the EPISD Pat Arnold Battle of the Bluebonnets was Mesita Elementary.  Second place went to Fannin Elementary and third place was Bradley Elementary.

Story by Gustavo Reveles  |  Photo by Leonel Monroy  – EPISD