State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.

EL PASO, June 9 - State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh has penned an open letter to his constituents about education. Specifically, the El Paso Democrat writes about the chances of Ysleta ISD winning the Broad Foundation Prize.

Here, below, is Shapleigh's letter. He addresses it to "Don," but tells the Guardian it applies equally to all of his constituents in District 29.

Dear Don,

As a citizen, I so appreciate your involvement in El Paso public education. Nothing is more important to our community and our future. One reason your family is so admired is your commitment to our great schools and universities in our community.

Yesterday, the Broad Foundation experts gathered ten community education leaders to "jury" Ysleta ISD. YISD is among five finalists for the national Broad Foundation Prize. Eli Broad of Los Angeles has made education his passion. With national best practice education experts, he identifies five districts in the U.S. as "finalists." No one applies; no one lobbies. Broad makes the selections based on sound, objective, best practice analysis.

If a district is among the final five, $250,000 in scholarship funds are awarded immediately to students who have worked hard to move from Cs to As, and a date to gather more evidence on a district's best practices is set. Broad’s experts then gather data, evidence, objective analysis and community input to establish which among the five is the best. Several core values guide that work: excellence, transparency, fidelity to accountability and independent monitoring of student performance data. That information then goes to the Broad Panel, which is comprised of three past Secretaries of Education, three Governors and academics, who then select the national winner. That will happen on October 19, 2010 at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Broad is the gold standard. Other districts in the running are mostly on the East Coast.

I predict YISD will win even though Socorro ISD is also in the running. YISD runs on the legacy of one transformational education leader, a shared value-added mission statement that has reached all the way to the parent level and two excellent superintendents that followed. 

What you will soon find is that El Paso public educators—campus leaders, counselors, hundreds of talented teachers, and community groups—are among the finest in the nation. Certain two-way dual language programs, financial literacy, college readiness programs, and early college high schools (Gates Foundation) are considered national best practice programs.

That is, except at EPISD. Don’t get me wrong—EPISD has great teachers, some of the best principals, and some great campuses. Chapin comes to mind. Students persevere and succeed at EPISD as they do everywhere in our great community. Our students are as proud and resilient as our community. My two children went to EPISD schools. So what’s wrong?

What’s wrong is the persistent, dysfunctional culture at Boeing—EPISD headquarters. It is top-down, based on fear—not hope, calibrated to a Superintendent's whims, crony relationships and contracts. It's not focused on what every student needs to succeed and not true to best practice analysis. The difference between EPISD and YISD is night and day.

Over my twenty years of active public service as a volunteer and then as Senator, what I learned is El Paso must deal with challenges now, not pass them onto the next generation. With ASARCO or the corruption at the County, it was often too easy to just look the other way. Truly great communities have the courage to take a strong stand.

Over my professional lifetime and having worked with 36 superintendents, here’s what I know: EPISD has failed to attract any quality superintendents. That comes from a Board (and the larger community) that has never achieved a shared, value-added consensus around excellence that leaves a lasting legacy. Why has EPISD never dealt adequately with LEP issues? Why does every superintendent bring in the next software program and call it success? Why have two of EPISD's superintendents been among the worst ever? Check around—talk to teachers, counselors, LEP coordinators, veteran parents groups, students—not the paid expert who comes to your boardroom—you’ll see what I mean.

During yesterday’s session, I listened carefully to the words that passionate, effective educators, community supporters and engaged business leaders used to describe YISD’s legacy in El Paso. What was it that made YISD unique? Here is some of that commentary:

• "clear consensus around a lasting community vision and mission, which were vetted with students, teachers, parents, supporters"

• "sustained fidelity to that vision and mission over a generation"

• "oriented to student success, and from superintendent to superintendent, the system can almost run on its own"

• "support and resources for talent in the classroom"

• "best parental engagement in Texas"

• "every child counts— tenacious about every child, reconstitution was invented at Bel Air"

• "superintendents who work within a successful framework, who do not reinvent but do add value where needed"

• "inviting, open, inclusive, innovative—when you volunteer at YISD, you are valued and put to work"

• "open to new ideas and change if it helps the students—what more can we do, how do we do it better  is how YISD approaches every year"

• "authority and accountability in teachers and principals, not a 'director'"

• "robust in attracting resources with an established, active YISD foundation"

• "value placed on data driven, best practices and good ideas move easily from campus to campus"

• "committed to professional analysis, best practices"

• "every campus has a strong, multi-year campus improvement team"

• "strategic plans thoughtfully include input from students, parents, graduates, business groups, and academics; YISD makes the extra effort to get all engaged"

• "seamless integration into college readiness programs, YISD students come ready for college with high expectations"

• "founded on hope"

For us to fix EPISD, we need to learn the lessons of YISD, where on each of the core elements of excellence, the opposite "descriptors" might apply at EPISD: fear, not hope; superintendent, not student; directors, not teachers; retribution, not accountability; cheating, not fidelity; exclusive, not inclusive; secret, not transparent; crony, not quality. 

When you dig deeply into the “Bowie Model,” which is now at every LEP school, you will see exactly what I mean. When you dig further regarding honest value for taxpayer-paid services (especially among administrators and contractors close to Garcia), you may feel outrage. More money for a deeply flawed model will not make for better schools—what Garcia is doing is teaching the town to cheat, not compete. What will kill Garcia’s tax increase is teachers who "will not take it anymore" (their words, not mine). That teachers vote against their pecuniary interest to help kids get a better district is what this election is all about.

When Garcia’s TRE goes down (my best guess is 3 to 1), when we gather around one of our most valued institutions (our largest school district), to pull together as we always do, and as we must, to diagnose what has happened, what we can do to make it better, I have faith that from this election will rise the foundation of another great district. Having been through some tough times over the years, we all know that it is hard, patient, but essential work. It is the only way great communities build the lasting values, relationships and institutions that will truly move us up.

Let’s work together to make it happen.

Adelante con Ganas!

Senator Eliot Shapleigh
District 29—El Paso

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