SAN ANTONIO – The Edgewood Independent School District is implementing a new program called Accelerating Campus Excellence, or ACE, at two low-performing schools in the district.
The district is starting the program in the fall at Perales Elementary School and Gus Garcia Middle School.
The ACE program is intended to help struggling schools, and it focuses on strategic staffing and student support.
“The ACE programming allows us to go longer in our school day. So we will actually extend the school day by another hour. We'll also have more evening events ... We're actually going to be able to provide dinner for our families, and we're actually going to have parent workshops,” said Dr. Eduardo Hernandez, superintendent of Edgewood ISD.
Under the new program, staff members need to reapply for their jobs.
“Besides just teachers, also, the principal has to reapply. The assistant principals have to reapply. Every, every, every professional staff member at the school has to reapply,” Hernandez said.
The district is hosting a career fair next month. The staff members can apply at any school, including Perales Elementary School and Gus Garcia Middle School.
“There are stipends that the people are going to receive for the extra -- for the additional duties and responsibilities that they're going to be asked to perform at the school,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said as part of the new ACE program, Garcia Middle School will partner with Texas A&M University-San Antonio. It will have a university professor in the school that will work with teachers to improve their curriculum.
Hernandez said the program will last at least three years.
