For the first time in the pandemic era, the Brownsville Independent School District held a live, in-person ribbon-cutting ceremony, unveiling a $100,000-plus upgrade to the library at Pace Early College High School that turns it into a modern Learning Resource Center.
The ceremony on Wednesday marked the first BISD event since the pandemic arrived in March 2020 where more people were allowed to attend in fairly close proximity to each other. People wore masks and practiced some social distancing, but there were refreshments and the event had a pre-pandemic flavor.
The Pace cheerleading squad, Marine JROTC and drumline participated. Ushers escorted attendees to their protectively covered seats. BISD Superintendent Rene Gutierrez, Pace Principal Joel Wood, Prisci Roca Tipton of the BISD Board of Trustees, librarians and others spoke from a lectern outside the new entrance to the old library.
Inside, the new Learning Resource Center bore resemblance to a library, but there were many new digital features: Touch-screen TVs that can lie down as a table or flip up for presentations, 75-inch presentation TVs and a video wall are part of the ambiance. Desk space with rows of iPads, and tables with STEAM maker-space kits to spark creativity stand in front of several bookshelves of classic books along the walls.
BISD is renovating libraries at 53 schools under a 2018 LIBRO Grant from the U.S. Department of Education at a rate of about 20 schools per year, spending $90,000 to $100,000 on each, said Edwin Barrera, LIBRO Grant director. He said Pace and Putegnat Elementary are the last two schools in the phase-two round of renovations.
A live ribbon-cutting is scheduled Wednesday at Putegnat, BISD’s oldest school, and there will be 18 schools left after that, he said.
Pace contributed $42,000 of its own funds to the renovation for technology upgrades, Barrera said, adding that because many of the renovations were completed during the pandemic, ribbon-cutting ceremonies had to be held virtually. Since many students and parents haven’t been in the schools due to the pandemic, the community is not fully aware of the improvements made using the grant funds, he said.
BISD received an $8.2 million LIBRO Grant over three years from the DOE in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in collaboration with the hard-hit Port Aransas and Aransas Pass school districts.
“We did virtuals but it doesn’t do justice to the project, so we got permission to do these last two live,” Barrera said. “This is one of the transformative designs. Pace didn’t have a significant tech lab, and the maker space was part of the grant. The idea is to make the library a place to enjoy literacy and an inviting place to hang out.”
Tipton, who works in grant writing at Texas Southmost College, said because of Brownsville’s demographics BISD can usually qualify for just about any grant.
“The general fund of the school district pays for general operations, but to move to a higher level, we need to seek out these opportunities and embrace grants,” she said. “We’ve got the demographics to get practically any grant.”
