Superintendent announces departure

Mission Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Oscar Rodriguez Jr. announced Tuesday that he will be leaving the district. Rodriguez still has one school year remaining on his contract with the district.

The superintendent said his wife, Claudia, has been offered a position with Dallas ISD that she has decided to accept. “This was not an easy decision for her to make,” Rodriguez said. “Consequently, I will be joining her in Dallas at some point. The timing of my departure will be up to the board of trustees. I have one more school year left on my contract, and I am prepared to see it through.”

“I want to join my wife as quickly as I can, and my kids are up there,” he added. “So, I’d like to join them at the end of the first semester.”

Rodriguez has not yet met with the full board to discuss options or a timeline for his departure. 

The announcement comes at a time when the district has just received preliminary data from the Texas Education Agency indicating that the district has made significant strides academically. Up to eight campuses are expected to be named “exemplary”, the highest rating by TEA. Last year, three campuses received the top rating.

The district itself is also expected to jump up a level in the agency’s ratings, from “acceptable” to “recognized.”

Earlier this year, Rodriguez was named the Region One Superintendent of the Year.

“ I’m honored to have worked with him,” said School Board President James Olivarez. “ I know he is bringing recognition to the district.”

Referring to the progress made on the district and campus ratings by TEA, Olivarez said, “We have gained a lot. We hired him because of his academic strength, and he has proven he can get the job done.”

Rodriguez will be remembered for the innovative programs he has implemented at Mission CISD. He introduced Operation College Bound in 2007, which is a day-long event bringing every high school senior in the district to the gym to fill out college applications for UT-Pan American and South Texas College. The seniors also fill out the FASFA form for college financial aid under the guidance of staff. The program is at least partly responsible for a seven percent increase in college enrollment by graduating seniors from MCISD.

The superintendent recalls the days when he was a high school principal trying to get students to sign up for college. He said, “Then one day I saw what they were doing at Austin College, and I said, ‘We can improve on that. We’ll put all the seniors in the gym and trap them, and the only way out is a college application and a FASFA.”

Soon after being hired by Mission CISD in April 2005, Rodriguez started another initiative he called Pathway to Progress. The main goal was to have the district achieve an accountability rating of “recognized” or “exemplary”, and to have each campus do the same. The district was rated “academically acceptable” when Rodriguez was hired. This will be the first year since the implementation of the TAKS test that the district will have moved up to “recognized” rating. According to the preliminary data, all but three campuses will also be ranked “recognized” or higher.

“I am very proud of what our schools have been able to accomplish over the past three years,” Rodriguez said. “I set the bar pretty high and our students and staff have risen to the challenge. Shortly after my arrival in Mission, it became very clear to me that our students are capable of great things.”

The superintendent said the first step was to get the adults in the district to believe the kids could achieve. “Once we get the adults on board, then everything else will happen,” he said.

“We instituted the ‘No Excuses, Just Results’ mantra, he said. He explained that when he first arrived, one principal tried to explain the poor performance of his students, saying, “Well sir, you don’t understand, these kids come from….” Rodriguez responded, “Don’t tell me ‘these kids’. Is there another school in this district that has the same population that you have that is exemplary or recognized? Then you really have no excuse do you?”

“So now we have everybody believing that the kids can achieve.”

Mentoring programs were established. Students with failing grades were identified after three weeks, instead of after failing the six weeks. Those students were placed in the Odyssey program where they received tutoring in the specific course areas they were struggling with – before they failed and became disillusioned.

Football coaches and band directors were enlisted to be part of the solution to help every student succeed.

Independent study period was eliminated. Rodriguez explained, “When I first got here we had seniors who had periods off, called ISP. They were all over the campus, and I wondered why. I pulled data on them and many of them hadn’t passed their TAKS and many hadn’t taken their ACT. But they were able to go home, or whatever. We stopped that. ISP is gone.”

College readiness classes were instituted, and become mandatory this year, to prepare the students for the ACT and SAT college entrance exams, as well as resume writing, filling out college and financial aid applications and other processes to facilitate the students’ acceptance into college.

Not satisfied with just getting students to pass the TAKS test, Rodriguez’s goal has been to prepare students for college.

“I told these campuses, you made exemplary, that’s great,” Rodriguez said. “But exemplary does not make college-ready. Commendable performance makes college ready. That’s the level of achievement they need to be at, not just exemplary as a school. When children are achieving at a commendable level in English, math and social studies, that’s college ready.”

“That’s our next goal,” he said.

“My time in Mission has been a good one,” Rodriguez said. “It has been filled with good people and great students. I am very proud to be a part of the legacy of excellence that is Mission CISD.”

“In the meantime, there is still room for improvement, and I will continue to strive toward that improvement while I am here. I made a commitment to the students of Mission CISD and I will continue to focus on that.”

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Curbing Hunger Drive next week

“Hunger never takes a vacation,” said Tomas Tijerina of Renee’s of Sharyland as he introduced the Curbing Hunger program to the Mission City Council recently.

Last week, the council voted to participate in the project designed to help the Mission Food Pantry restock on badly needed food items during summer months. The food drive will be held the last three days in July.

On July 29, 30, and 31, whichever day is garbage day for Mission residents in their respective areas, residents will be asked to place bags of food at the curb in front of their home. Volunteers will pick up the food bags and deliver it to the Mission Food Pantry.

Tijerina said the food pantry is especially needy during summer when children are home from school and Winter Texans, who traditionally make donations to the food pantry, are back up north. 

Tijerina said the number of families who use the food pantry has increased this year due to high unemployment. Currently, supplies are very low.

Non-perishable food items should be placed in plastic bags marked “Food Pantry” on designated days. Volunteers will be driving through each area of town and picking up the bags between 8 a.m. and 12 noon on the day garbage is picked up.

Those who miss the day for the pick up, or who plan to be out of town on that day can leave their donation anytime at Renee’s, 2600 East Griffin Parkway, Mission Parks & Recreation, located at 721 N. Bryan Rd., or at the Food Pantry, 414 West 12th Street in Mission. For more information about items suitable for donation, call the Pantry at 585-3004. 

Anyone wishing to volunteer to assist in the pickup of food during the drive should call 519-9595.

Because of the current level of need Tijerina would like to make Curbing Hunger a yearly tradition in Mission, perhaps to be held in May in the years to come so that the pantry is restocked before summer begins. 

Tijerina said the program is being modeled after a similar project held annually in Sommerset County, New Jersey that has been very effective in the 14 years it has been in effect.

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AUSTIN – Operation Lone Star, which provided health care to more than 11,000 South Texas residents in just two weeks last year, is expanding this summer to provide free health clinics in more locations.

 Military personnel, state and county officials and hundreds of volunteers will provide free health services at locations in Brownsville, Raymondville, La Sara, San Juan, Peñitas, Laredo, Hebbronville, Rio Grande City and Zapata this year.

In Peñitas, Operation Lone Star will be at Dr. Javier Saenz Middle School, 39200 Mile 7 Rd., between Jara Chinas and Tom Gill roads. Sites will provide care from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday.

Services provided include immunizations, sports physicals, blood pressure screenings, preventative health education, diabetic screenings, hearing and vision exams, as well as tooth extractions and oral restorative work, among other services.

The two-week event is a joint project of the state health and human services agencies, Texas State Guard, Army and Air National Guard, county health departments, local service groups and civilian volunteers. Operation Lone Star covers seven counties and is the largest humanitarian effort of its kind in the United States.

“People turn out for free medical services, and we also tell them about state programs that will provide year-round access to health care,” said Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins. “Operation Lone Star provides us with an excellent way to reach out to Texans who can benefit from our services.”

State health and human services workers will provide information about health and wellness programs to prevent substance abuse, help people with disabilities and protect vulnerable children and adults. Local nonprofit organizations also will have staff available to provide information about their services.

“Every year, we see thousands of people along the border take advantage of this program,” said Leonel Vela of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. “For some, it may be their only visit with a doctor all year. That means the information about state services could ultimately be as important to these families as the medical care they receive.”

Operation Lone Star also serves as a way for state and local officials to train for a medical emergency. Setting up the two-week, multi-site clinics becomes a real-time exercise on how to respond to a public health crisis.

For more information, call 2-1-1.

 

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