Reprint from the Progress Times - November 23, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

New Middle School named for Ralph Cantu

 

The new Mission middle school will be named in honor of former Mission Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Ralph Cantu. That was the decision of the MCISD board of trustees in their Thursday, November 15, meeting after several heated meetings where names for new schools were discussed.

When the item came up for discussion, board member Moises Iglesias made the recommendation that the new middle school be named after former Alton superintendent W.H. Spinks, who served the district for many years before it joined Mission to form the MCISD. Iglesias said much of the growth was to the north and the board needed to consider the wishes of those residents when making decisions about a school located in their area.

At the same time, Iglesias made a motion to name the new elementary in honor of Ralph Cantu.

Other board members disagreed. They said that having two Cantu Elementaries would be confusing and not in the best interest of the district. In case of a fire if someone called the fire department and said Cantu Elementary was on fire, the fire department might go to the wrong school. For that reason they said naming the new middle school after Ralph Cantu was more appropriate.

The board voted on a recommendation to name the middle school after Ralph Cantu, which passed five to two.

About 25 residents of Alton were present to ask the board to not change the name of Alton Elementary to Spinks Elementary as had been recommended. Teachers and community members alike said the school had been named Alton Elementary for generations and the community did not want to see it changed.

"Alton Elementary has been called Alton Elementary for five decades and it is hard to imagine our school by any other name," commented Mary Botello, who addressed the board.

A teacher at Alton Elementary, Botello said she had a petition signed by 66 of the 75 Alton staff members who did not want the school’s name to be changed. She suggested that the board save the name Spinks for another school to be built in the area in the future. After discussion, the board voted seven to zero to leave the name of the school Alton Elementary.

Turning their attention to the name for the new elementary, a motion was made to name the school Escobar-Rios in honor of two sisters, Hilda C. Escobar and Alicia Rios, who served as educators at MCISD for 36 years and 32 years respectively. Escobar retired in 1996. Rios died unexpectedly in 2004 two days after collapsing at school. The motion was approved seven to zero.

The next item under consideration was school colors. A school drama club wanted to use black jackets as the club jacket. The question was whether the club could have a black jacket or whether the jackets had to represent the school colors.

Iglesias said campuses needed to stick to their school colors and not let students decide what color jackets their organizations would have. He mentioned a school in Brownsville where official colors for the school were green and orange. But students had ordered their official UIL jackets in silver and black without board permission. Iglesias felt it was the board’s job to select colors, not the students. Allowing different clubs to select different colors would create a snowball effect.

The board was told that the club was not a UIL-sanctioned club, where school jackets were expected to be in the official school colors. The reason the drama club wanted black jackets was so that when they helped with scenery changes, they would blend into the background.

It was pointed out that FFA jackets are always blue, no matter what. Board member Danny Carrera asked if FFA was going to be forced to wear maroon jackets at Mission High School.

Because of the amount of time being spent on the issue it was decided to study the issue further and make an official decision before the next school year.

A delinquent tax collection report given by Esmeralda Garcia showed delinquent tax collections of $1,563,124, a rate of 38.90 percent, which Garcia said, was exceptionally high. She told the board 432 new tax suits had been filed and 205 suits had been paid in full. Five properties would be sold for taxes in the spring.

The board heard an internal audit report showing elementary campuses had fund balances totaling $317,236 while secondary campuses had fund balances totaling $261,455.

Two students were recognized for earning National Merit Scholarships. They were Tara Blagg and Kolby Warren of Veterans Memorial High School (VMHS).

VMHS students Tara Blagg, Rosalinda Flores and Kolby Warren were recognized for earning top AP Scholar designations along with Jose Torres of Mission High School.

Rosalinda Flores, Andrea Austin and Hector Lugo, all of VMHS, were honored for earning National Hispanic Scholar honors.

Under construction related items, the board approved a contract with Milnet Architectural Services for Mission High School renovations. The board also approved a change order for the new middle school, which gives the district a credit of $5,238 and reduces the price of the school to $15,639,772.

Assistant Superintendent Elizabeth Garza told the board that 100 percent of the district teachers were certified as highly qualified in their core subjects and the special education department as required under the No Child Left Behind program.

The board approved U.S. Bank as custodian for flexible repurchase agreement funds.

The district’s 165 votes for director on the Hidalgo County Appraisal Board for 2008-09 were cast for Amador Requenez.

Following executive session Raul G. Rodriguez was named as the district’s new computer programmer analyst. Bids were approved as recommended.