In the bad old days of educational benign neglect in the Brownsville Independent School District, Garden Park Elementary in the impoverished Las Prietas barrio, literally across the tracks from the city, was one of those schools where the administrators and staff made do with what they could to teach the students.
It was mentioned in the same breath as was Palm Grove, on the opposite side of town also along the Rio Grande. Both were small schools with facilities that dated back to the 1940s and before that. The classrooms were refurbished military barracks or plantation structures dating back decades. Both had septic tanks years after the rest of the BISD schools had sanitary sewers.
Today, the student body is more than 90 percent Hispanic and close to 80 percent of students are categorized as economically disadvantaged.
That's why it is so notable that of all the schools in the BISD, Garen Park will be the only elementary school that will represent the district and the city in the national chess finals in Nashville, Tenn.
"I tell people not to judge us from what they see outside," said principal Victor Caballero. "Judge us by what we do with our students on the inside."
Caballero has good reason to be proud. It is the fifth time that Garden Park has represented the district in the national chess tournament, each time climbing up the ranks. It was the only school that represented the district in regional, state and national competition and has risen from a 10th place to third national ranking with its K-3 team.
Academically, the Texas Education Agency ranks it and Ortiz Elementary in the top 10 schools in Texas in terms of comparative academic growth.
This year, its K-1, K-3 and K-5 teams will compete in the nationals after qualifying at the regional and state competition and look forward to finally getting a crack at a national title this weekend.
"We've made a lot of noise," Caballero said. "when we go to national competition we are always asked where Garden Park is from. I tell them that we a re a little school in the tip of Texas along the Rio Grande river. We've made a lot of noise and this year we're hoping to bring back a national title."
Caballero said the Garden Park students will leave on Thursday for Nashville and return May 13.
Let's go Tigers!
6 comments:
BISD is closing a bunch of schools and tearing down another bunch. WHY??? Private schools are stealing their lunch, the citizens should ask for a reduction on their taxes. They are loosing a lot of students and they blame the birth rate? What and who else are they going to blame? Wait till they open the chemical plants then YOU will really have a reason pendejos
When ever I visited Garden Park Elementary, I was very impressed by the attitude of the Office Personnel, Teachers, and especially the Kids. As a former city employee who had the pleasure of monitoring the fire safety aspects of this school, I was pleasantly surprised at the military like response to the unannounced arrival of the fire marshal inspection team.
No "wait let me get the principal", No "give me a couple of minutes". What I witnessed would have impressed every Drill Sgt. in the Service of our country. This was not a fluke or one time thing. Consistently, Garden Park Elementary excelled in the way it teaches the Students to do a great job year after year. There is an mind set of being better than the rest that has apparently taken hold in that campus. West Side Ese.
Y que? You'll never be one of them saying "ese" won't help either just shows your ignorance...
To the genius at May 6, 2019 at 12:07 PM calling people "pendejos..."
If you're going to call someone a pendejo, you should probably learn the difference between "lose" and "loose."
To the idiota at 9:31am this is a blog estupido not a formal or a college thesis. There's always a pendejo luring in places they shouldn't be. Don't lose your head over an informal blog again PENJEJO...
@May 7, 2019 at 9:31 AM
Para el profe:
Tips for Writing a Blog Post
Use an outline. ...
Write a catchy introduction. ...
Write short sentences. ...
Stick to short paragraphs. ...
DON'T BE FORMAL. ...
Use “you” ...
Use simple language. ...
Use contractions.
Aver si se te quita lo PENDEJO...
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