NewsWest 9
ODESSA - An entire Odessa elementary school staff is having to reapply to keep their jobs after the school was ruled "academically unacceptable" by the state two years in a row. It's part of a state-mandated process known as "Reconstitution" and it has parents confused.
Administrators held a meeting on Thursday night to address concerns and have a question and answer session with parents.
Goliad Principal, Annette Macias, said she doesn't think parents really understood what reconstitution meant initially.
"Some of the kids came in the day after the board meeting thinking that our school was going to be closed down and that it was going to be closed down immediately," she said.
But that's not the case; the school is up and running. The school is only reconsidering which teachers will be allowed back next year.
"There's some anxiety about re-interviewing but it's all part of the process. I have to go through the same process," Macias said.
One parent, who was fired up at the meeting, said she was upset at the chance of Goliad losing good teachers to what she feels are the state's misplaced goals.
"Arithmetic, writing and reading. I feel like if these three fundamental subjects were taught to our children, they wouldn't be cramming for a state test," Odessa parent, Angie Musick, said.
Others just wanted explanations of how the school was planning to resolve the issue and boost scores. Administrators said they have a plan in place to help improve standards and retain quality teachers.
"Everybody will be compliant, they'll do what you ask them to do, but are they committed to it? I want the committed teacher that is determined," ECISD Interim Superintendent, Thomas Crowe, said.
"With the interventions, what we have in place are after-school tutorials, during the day tutoring, we have a reading coach on campus that not everyone else has," Macias said.
According to the Interim Superintendent, if Goliad doesn't improve next year, that doesn't mean the staff will be forced to leave.
"[The state] won't come in and force at that point. Down the road, about the fifth year, they could come and take over the school," Crowe said.
Goliad is not the only school in Ector County that has these problems. Hood Elementary is also under reconstitution. Crowe added that 19 other schools are watching how these two schools could set an example.
"If we can make the turnaround with them, we can make it with anybody," he said.
"We'll just have to wait and see," Musick said.
