PECOS, Texas — School bonds are an investment for everyone involved, from taxpayers in the community to visionaries in the school district. Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD passed a school bond back in 2021 that included two new elementary schools, and after showing one to the community last week, they unveiled another on Thursday night.
The community was excited to celebrate the results of their efforts. PBTISD unveiled Austin Elementary School last week that teaches pre-k through first grade, and Thursday night it was all about the second through fifth grade campus of Zavala Elementary School.
A new two-story academic building that has Pecos flying high.
“Today is a great day to be an Eagle," said Brent Jaco, Superintendent of Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD.
Zavala Elementary has a little bit of everything.
“We have a lot of creative, flexible learning spaces," Jaco said. "We know students learn in a different way instead of just sitting in a row in a classroom. We have flexible furniture, we have learning exchange spaces, we have think spaces, we have a library that offers possibilities; we also have a maker space, STEM lab, lots of different areas that kids can get a variety of learning and meet their needs.”
With improved learning tools, it’s something simple creating excitement.
“We actually have a slide in our school, we call it Ernie," said Chris Henson, Principal of Zavala Elementary School.
A yellow slide named Ernie for a reason.
“The kids have to earn their way onto the slide with attendance, good behavior, [and] great grades so we call it 'Ernie the Slide.'”
Henson says attendance is already up.
“It’s been amazing for our students right now," Henson said. "Our attendance is up tremendously from prior years and the kids are loving being at school. Our parents are saying that the kids want to come to school, they’re getting up early and just ready to go, so we’re so excited to have our new building.”
A new building that Jaco helped make a reality.
“It’s been a lot of work," Jaco said. "We passed the bond in May of 2021 [and] immediately started working with a group of educators, administrators, parents, community members and even students were involved in the design and development of this building.”
There was a need for this new facility.
“The average age of our facilities was 65 years old," Jaco said.
Now it will help Eagles soar into the future.
“This building will be here for the next 30, 40, 50 years, and so we built that kind of in mind to be flexible but state-of-the-art learning community right now, and really provide for that future growth and learning as it transforms," Jaco said.
Jaco noted that their community was ready to improve education and this is an example of that from the successful 2021 school bond. PBTISD also passed a school bond earlier in 2023 that includes a new high school and middle school which the school district is excited about.