SAN ANTONIO \u2014 When Shelene Livas became principal at Pershing Elementary School, she wasn\u2019t aware her campus would be on the chopping block one month into the school year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRightsizing was a serious possibility for all of us who were on that list,\u201d Livas said.<\/p>\n
Pershing was one of 19 campuses set to close in the 2023-24 school year, but the San Antonio Independent School District removed Pershing from the list, giving Livas an opportunity to turn things around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was rebranding ourselves, establishing our new identity under new leadership,\u201d Livas said. \u201cFrom there, it was focusing on academics and getting our students where we want to be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The school\u2019s Texas Education Agency (TEA) accountability rating went from an F to a B, the largest improvement for a campus in Bexar County.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell my students to be 1% better every day. We look at our campus like a mountain you are climbing where we, you don\u2019t go from the bottom to the top right away,\u201d Brooke Wetherill, an English as a second language teacher, said. \u201cThat\u2019s not our goal; our goal is to do a little bit better every year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
SAISD has closed 17 schools since 2023 because of low enrollment and low performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the last few years, Texas school districts have done the same to avoid a state takeover \u2014 where the TEA removes a superintendent and school board members and replaces them with state-appointed leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, because of a new TEA rule, closing campuses isn\u2019t enough. The policy states that a campus\u2019 failing rating history can\u2019t be erased by closing it, unless students transfer to an A or B rated campus. Experts say academic turnaround is the only way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that is the heart of school improvement, and that\u2019s the heart of turnaround that you see for Perishing Elementary,\u201d Mary Lynn Pruneda, an education policy expert with nonprofit Texas 2036, said. \u201cThey are getting students on grade-level or helping them grow in the academic year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spectrum News 1 received TEA data from Texas 2036 that showed 1,999 Texas campuses improved their TEA ratings, 4,594 school\u2019s ratings stayed the same and 1,828 campuses\u2019 ratings dropped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning is not just in our classroom; it\u2019s throughout our buildings,\u201d Livas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wetherill said it starts at the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. Livas has set a precedent of making sure there is positive energy,\u201d Wetherill said. \u201cWe celebrate small wins; she\u2019s the foundation of the, what the vibe will be like at the campus.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Livas said it took every person, from students and staff to parents, to make Pershing\u2019s unprecedented 31-point leap happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how you can help: get your children to school, become involved, ask questions, volunteer,\u201d Livas said. \u201cIt\u2019s a community effort.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s efforts she hopes will propel Pershing, as it\u2019s one point away from an A rating.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 When Shelene Livas became principal at Pershing Elementary School, she wasn\u2019t aware her campus would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[836,1570,163,6294,223,82,84,83,6293,27,26986,1569,835],"class_list":["post-439798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-app-education","tag-ctv","tag-education","tag-jose-arredondo","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-san-antonio-what-you-need-to-know","tag-texas","tag-texas-editors-picks","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}