Excitement Was In the Air on First Day of School in Aldine ISD on Aug. 20

Aldine ISD Superintendent Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney greets a student at Avalos P-TECH School on the first day of school.

There was a certain buzz in the air on Tuesday, Aug. 20 as Aldine ISD students began the 2019-2020 school year.

Aldine ISD Superintendent Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney started her second year with an early morning visit to the district’s newest high school, Rose Avalos P-TECH School and joined a communitywide celebration to welcome students.

“This was an exhilarating and exciting way to start the new school year,” Dr. Goffney said about her early-morning visit to Avalos. “It was wonderful to see the community support and the excitement in the eyes of our students.”

Avalos P-TECH School, named in honor of former MacArthur High School Principal and current Aldine ISD Trustee Rose Avalos, has an initial class of 124 students. The school is designed to offer smaller class sizes, a personalized learning environment and provide students with the opportunities to earn a high school diploma, an associate’s degree or a two-year postsecondary industry certification through internships, and other job training programs. Avalos P-TECH is a partnership between Aldine ISD, BakerRipley and Lone Star College.

Goffney then paid a visit to Worsham Elementary, one of the district’s two ACE (Accelerating Campus Excellence) Demonstration Schools.

In the spring of 2019, AISD adopted the ACE model, which uses strategic staffing and a “whole child” approach to bring the most accomplished educators to struggling schools. Several of the state’s largest school districts have implemented the ACE model with notable success. The districts have seen dramatic academic outcomes in multiple schools with similar demographics as Aldine’s.

Both Worsham and Goodman were featured on Channel 2 and Channel 11’s morning newscasts.

After her visit at Worsham, Goffney and other administrators visited García-Leza EC/Pre-K/K School, which is one five campuses that will be immersed in an English/Spanish two-way dual-language program during the 2019-20 school year. The dual-language program is also offered at Vines, Hinojosa, Magrill, and de Santiago and will focus on kindergarten students.

“We are excited about providing more academic offerings and choice for Aldine ISD families,” Goffney said. “As we discussed options and ways to meet this goal, it became evident that a dual-language program was the perfect answer.”

Goffney spent the rest of her day visiting campuses across the district including four schools that have new principals this year, MacArthur Ninth Grade School (Yul Everline), Goodman Elementary School (LaDon Ward), Griggs EC/Pre-K/K School (Tonya Porter-Brisker) and Lewis Middle School (Tonya Clark-Antwine). She made quick stops at Gray and Eckert Elementary. Her final stop of the day was to Nimitz High School.