Brownsville ISD Superintendent sits down with ValleyCentral ahead of new school year

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Students and Teachers at Brownsville ISD are kicking off the new school year this week. ValleyCentral sat down with Brownsville ISD Superintendent Jesus Chavez to get an outlook on the upcoming school year and the goals the district has in place.

Chavez will oversee his second school year at Brownsville ISD. Chavez tells ValleyCentral he has been pleased with the district's efforts to not only graduate students and continue their education but also to prepare them for jobs and careers.

"I know we also have some students who say I don't want to be in college for two years or four years," Chavez said. "For them, we also focus on what work you are going to be doing and what specific training, what certification do we need to get you?" Chavez said the district's strong partnership with Texas Southmost College will continue to allow its students to receive Career Technology Education training as dual enrollment to allow which will allow them to earn college credits while in high school.

A big change Brownsville ISD will see, along with all Texas school districts, is the required cell phone ban policy on school grounds. This comes after Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1481 into law this past legislative session.

Chavez tells ValleyCentral that BISD is forming a policy that will follow the law but also put safety first, and urges parents to have a conversation with their kids. "Students can bring them and put them up, keep them away from actually having them available during the day. That's what the law requires." Chavez said. " There will be some disciplinary action if needed if they take them out or they're on the phone while they are in math or science class, which we don't want because it's prohibited for them to be using the phone during the day."

As previously reported by Valley Central, BISD will also continue its regular schedules for its after-school programs after federal funding was restored. The after-school programs include the following.

• Non-ACE campuses will operate Monday through Thursday, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• ACE campuses will operate Monday through Friday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Chavez said the biggest goal for this school year is to continue their mission of success for all students, and that all comes down to how the district works together.

"The primary goal we have is we want all of our students to do well academically," Chavez said. "We work very closely with our teachers and our principals to make sure we have a good school improvement plan as it relates to how students learn and how they perform. So we're going to continue to emphasize that."