Hidalgo County schools accounted for just under a fifth of the 26 Texas schools nominated as 2021 National Blue Ribbon Schools, the state announced Thursday.
Achieve Early College High School in McAllen and South Texas Independent School District’s Preparatory Academy and Rising Scholars Academy were nominated, a release from the state said, while Pharr-San Juan-Alamo’s Zeferino Farias Elementary and Hidalgo Independent School District’s Hidalgo Elementary were nominated as Exemplary Achievement-Gap-Closing Schools.
The National Blue Ribbon Schools program recognizes schools that have high student achievement and highlights where exemplary progress has been made in closing achievement gaps among student subpopulations.
“These 26 schools exemplify academic excellence, and I thank the teachers, staff, administrators, students, and parents for their outstanding work,” Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in the release. “We have a responsibility to ensure that every Texas student graduates with the knowledge to succeed in college or a career, which is why last session we passed transformative legislation to invest more money into our classrooms and give our teachers a pay raise. This session we will build on these accomplishments to ensure that every Texas student receives a quality education regardless of their zip code.”
McAllen Independent School District held a press conference Thursday touting the achievement, noting Achieve Early College High School was the only high school in the Rio Grande Valley to be nominated and one of just five high schools across the state.
“McAllen ISD is a high performing district because we have examples like Achieve Early College High School,” Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez said. “To be recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School is a tremendous honor for us and it exemplifies a lot of hard work, a lot of teamwork. Students that are resilient and can overcome challenges, and we did all of this in the midst of a global pandemic, so on behalf of the administration and our board of trustees I want to extend our gratitude and a big congratulations to Achieve Early College High School.”
Miguel Carmona, the high school’s principal, said the school earned the Blue Ribbon title in 2015.
“Of course it takes teamwork, and here you see some of our team. But there’s more of the teachers that get it done, the staff, the custodial staff, the cafeteria staff, all of us working together to make sure it gets done,” he said.
PSJA ISD sent out a release Thursday about its school’s nomination.
“Congratulations to our students, teachers and staff at Zeferino Farias Elementary,” Superintendent Dr. Jorge L. Arredondo wrote in the release. “We are really proud of you for earning this acknowledgement bestowed to only a few in the entire state each year.”
The statement noted that since the program’s inception, the district has had six other schools receive the honors.
“We at Zeferino Farias Elementary are honored to be nominated for the National Blue Ribbon School Award,” Principal Leticia Rodriguez wrote. “This was made possible through the determination, collaboration, and commitment of our students, staff, and community.
The nomination continues to drive our passion towards excellence in all areas for our students.”
Nominated schools must now complete an application process before national award winners are announced in September.
