King: Thousands of dropouts will be going back to school to get their diploma and an industry certificate

EDINBURG, Texas – Dr. Daniel P. King, executive director of Region One Education Service Center, has been passionate about dropout prevention and recovery since 1988.

In an in-depth video interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Dr. King spoke about his work in this field, first as a high school principal, then as superintendent of Hidalgo ISD, then as superintendent of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD, and now at Region One. 

At Region One, King has implemented two initiatives. He explained the first one this way:

“When I first got here and saw the impact of the pandemic (I saw) how we had gone backwards. A lot of school districts, including PSJA, had shut down their 18 to 26 year old (dropout prevention and recovery) programs. So I hired Dr. Darcia Cuellar, who was the last principal of (PSJA’s) College Career and Technology Academy, to go around and encourage the districts to partner with us to open up campuses for 18 to 26 year olds. 

“PSJA opened theirs back up. They graduated 100 students last year. Weslaco ISD and Edcouch-Elsa ISD also opened programs up this year for the first time. They had not had them before. And for next year, we have five or six districts at least committed. So, that’s really going to be great for our community. We’re talking about getting to the point of having hundreds and even thousands of young people going back and getting their high school diploma and (industry) certificates the as we go through the next decade.”

Editor’s Note: Here is the video interview with Dr. King:

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The PossAble Dream Foundation

The second initiative is not strictly part of Region One but will have input from them. Dr. King has set up the PossAble Dream Foundation, a charter school that seeks to bring 18 to 50 year olds back to School. He said the legislature has authorized such schools and that they are called Sub Chapter G Charter High Schools. King will chair the foundation.

“This is not a Region One project. This is a separate organization. So I’m the founder and I’m the chairman of the board of the Charter. The Charter will have independent staff and will be setting up campuses in Brownsville, Pharr, and Laredo.”

While the Pharr building is being developed it is likely the Charter will be housed at South Texas College, King explained.

“The City of Pharr gave us a million dollars in startup funds, which we desperately needed. We’re seeking startup funds in Brownsville and Laredo. It’s looking like we’re likely to be on the campus of Texas Southmost College (in Brownsville) and the campus of Laredo College as well.”

Although the PossAble Dream Foundation has only just been launched, it is already is getting a lot of community support, King said. 

“We’re getting a lot of calls from adults saying they want to enroll, that they want their high school diploma, they want to get an industry certification, or they want to move on to college. They want to better their life. So there’s a lot of excitement,” King said.

“So, we’ll be enrolling 300 adults at each site in Year One. That’s what we’re authorized by TEA (Texas Education Agency) to do. Then we’re going to grow to the point where we have an enrollment of 2,000 students across the three sites.”

King continued: “And so, as we move forward over the next few years, we can get to the point where we’re going to be literally graduating hundreds of adults a year. We’re going to be partnering with community colleges and workforce providers and helping the students get industry certificates, to get started in college through dual enrollment, if that’s what they want, help them to better their lives. We’re accountable that they get their high school diploma. We’re accountable that they get an industry-based certification or engage in higher education. We’re accountable that they get employment afterwards, or that they improve their employment status and that they have a good living wage.”

King predicts that the impact on Deep South Texas, from Laredo to Brownsville, “is going to be huge.”

King added: “We’re going to be adding additional locations over the next few years, across the seven counties. We’re kind of paralleling the seven counties that Region One serves. But I do want to clarify, it’s a separate foundation.

“I’m really excited because this work has been a passion of mine since at least 1988 and being able to see it take off and grow like this is tremendous.”

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