Tag Archives: IDEA Mesa Hills

IDEA Public Schools officials announced Monday their program providing personal technology devices, including computers or tablets, to all scholars enrolled at IDEA this year.

“Every IDEA scholar will be better prepared for college through the integration of one-to-one technology across our academic programs,” says Dolores Gonzalez, Chief Program Officer for IDEA Public Schools.

By providing each scholar with a personal technology option, IDEA Public School is reaffirming its commitment to academic rigor for all children to support their success to and through college.  

“We are committed to ensuring that our personalized technology program does not mean simply giving scholars a device, but rather ensuring continuity of rigorous learning opportunities despite the uncertainty of our current environment,”   Gonzalez added.

School officials say that their one-to-one personal technology creates “opportunities to meet the needs of every student with an intentional focus on structure and rigor to keep all scholars on track regardless of where the learning itself is taking place. Technology allows for uninterrupted learning, regardless of possible restrictions placed on in-person schooling.”  

Officials add that the program also allows schools to extend the learning window, create new opportunities and learning models for students, and boost the home to school connection.  

“One to one will ensure our scholars develop strong technology literacy and  increase the volume of reading and writing while fostering student agency and accountability for learning,” says Gonzalez.   

For more information please visit IDEA’s Back to School webpage.  

Wednesday afternoon, officials with IDEA Public Schools announced their Start Strong 2020 Plan, the district’s guidelines for the 2020-2021 school year.

After receiving an updates from the Texas Education Agency and receiving input from over 4,000 of its parents, IDEA officials announced that IDEA El Paso’s first day of school will be August 3 to align with neighboring school districts.

IDEA will be adopting an updated calendar that will have fall and spring intersession breaks. In the event that schools must make up for lost days of instruction, these extra days will be leveraged.

“Safety has always been important to us at IDEA Public Schools, but this year, it’s even more important,” says JoAnn Gama, CEO and Superintendent of IDEA Public Schools. “We know the decision to send your child to school this year is a difficult one, and we want our parents to know that we are implementing measures to ensure students and staff are protected and the needs of our entire community are considered.”

In conjunction with state and federal agencies, IDEA officials shared that they are “closely monitoring the evolving pandemic and the impact it will have on next school year”

As students return to school on August 3, IDEA families will have the option to either receive instruction online only or participate in in-person instruction, as specified by the campus.

IDEA parents shared their feedback in preliminary conversations, but IDEA will now offer two learning paths, and would like to hear from families once more. All IDEA families will receive a letter this week via email and text with instructions on how to provide their feedback.

Schools will be following up with individual families to learn preferences in July.

For those families who will join physically, IDEA has increased its safety precautions to protect students and staff while in their care.

Starting in August:

⦁ Arrive during an assigned, staggered drop-off time to avoid crowding.
⦁ Wear a mask during the morning screening and transition procedure. If they don’t have one from home, IDEA will provide two cloth masks per student.
⦁ Have their temperature checked by IDEA staff wearing a mask.
⦁ Be asked to clean their hands before entering the building at a hand hygiene station.
⦁ Walk to their classroom wearing a mask provided by IDEA or brought from home.
While in classrooms:
⦁ Classrooms will be limited to small groups as designated by CDC Guidelines.
⦁ Have an assigned seat with a state-of-the-art plexiglass guard for safety.
⦁ Enjoy their classroom lessons and meals while not rotating.
⦁ Be taught by passionate educators who will wear masks during 1:1 conversation, but not during whole group instruction.
⦁ Have multiple hand hygiene breaks built into their day

“IDEA Public Schools is pleased to announce increased support to students by providing personal technology devices to all scholars enrolled at IDEA. This includes computers or tablets at no cost to families,” school district officials added.

“This addition to IDEA’s instructional model will supplement the instructional option parents choose for August of 2020. IDEA believes this increased access to technology will provide continuity of learning during this period of uncertainty.”

For more information please visit IDEA’s Back to School webpage.

Even as the school year rolls to a socially distanced close, officials with IDEA Public Schools are looking toward the future, as registration for new and returning IDEA El Paso scholars is now open.

IDEA Public Schools first opened in El Paso, Texas in 2018, and as of August of 2020, IDEA El Paso will serve 3,000 students at eight schools, with the addition of IDEA Horizon Vista, located in Horizon City and serving Pre-K thru 1^st and 6^th grades.

Parents can go online for more information on how to begin the 10 minute registration process for the 2020 – 21 school year.

“This year, IDEA Public Schools is celebrating 20 years of impact for students, families, staff and communities,” IDEA officials shared via an emailed news release. “During the last two decades, IDEA Public Schools has grown from a small school with 150 students to the fastest-growing network of tuition-free, Pre-K-12 public charter schools in the United States. Currently, the network serves nearly 53,000 college-bound students in 96 schools across Texas and Louisiana.”

School officials also shared that, for the 14^th consecutive year, 100 percent of seniors have been accepted to college and for the past 13 years nearly 100% of our graduating seniors have enrolled in college.

“IDEA remains on-track to uphold its legacy of sending 100% of its graduates to college,” officials added.

IDEA has been recognized as a “Great Place to Work” and received national rankings on U.S. News & World Report’s Top High Schools lists for the 12^th consecutive year.

For more information, visit www.ideapublicschools.org.

In efforts to help the community during the COVID-19 pandemic, IDEA Public Schools has been offering free curbside meals at all of their campuses throughout Texas and Louisiana.

As of Friday, IDEA Public Schools has served one million meals since March 19 to children throughout communities in the following areas: Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Tarrant County, Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

“Cafeteria workers and bus drivers are some of the unsung heroes in our mix. From day one, they put themselves on the frontlines to ensure thousands of families had one less thing to worry about -meals for their children,” says Irma Munoz, Chief Operating Officer of IDEA Public Schools. “Despite the risk to their health, they’ve remained steadfast in their commitment. To say we are grateful is an understatement.”

All IDEA schools in Texas will offer breakfast, lunch and supper available for curbside pick-up from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Monday – Friday. Weekend bundled meals are also available on Fridays.

For IDEA schools in Louisiana, meals will be available for pick up on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at IDEA Oscar Dunn in New Orleans and from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at IDEA Bridge and IDEA Innovation in Baton Rouge.

All meals are provided via drive-thru only. All children in the community 18 years and under are eligible for meal service at any school location. Due to new regulations by the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), if a child is not present in the car, parents must be able to show proof of child identity in order to receive meals.

Families wanting more information on school closure, meal service, childcare services, and the distance learning program, can visit the IDEA Public Schools website.

IDEA Public Schools will celebrated its second year in El Paso and honor the support and achievements of  founding students, teachers, community supporters and school leadership at a Pan con Café brunch event.

Hosted by Ernesto Cantu, Executive Director of IDEA Schools El Paso, the event aimed to thank members of the community for their support.

At the luncheon, attendees heard from IDEA’s CEO and Founder, Tom Torkelson, and learn more about the IDEA Public Schools’ partnership with the El Paso community to serve students and families.

Richard A. Castro, Board Chair, Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development (CREEED), the region’s education advocacy and grantmaking organization dedicated to improving educational attainment for all students, issued the following statement on today’s education event:

“Preparing all students in our region to pursue and complete a college degree requires us to have a bold vision and to invest in more high quality seats, so students leave high school with the skills and training they need in higher education.

For over two decades, IDEA Public Schools has been working in communities across Texas with large Hispanic student populations like our own to increase educational attainment. Not only are students and their families benefiting from IDEA’s college for all motto – because 100 percent of their students go on to college after high school – but entire communities are shifting because they are recognizing the power that high academic standards, with robust students supports, can have on their education system in general.”

Eddie Rodriguez and other board members from the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development (CREEED) were on hand to speak at the event.

Over the last two years, IDEA has opened three campuses in El Paso serving nearly 1,800 students. In 2020, IDEA will also open IDEA Horizon Vista with grades Pre-K through first and sixth grade.

This year, IDEA Public Schools celebrates 20 years of impact for students, families, staff and communities. Over the past 20 years, IDEA has grown to a family of 96 tuition-free public schools that serve more than 53,000 students across Texas and Louisiana.