EDINBURG, RGV – Region One Education Service Center has selected Dr. Arturo Cavazos as its Regional Superintendent of the Year.
Cavazos is superintendent of Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. He has held the post for four years.
“The Harlingen CISD community should be extremely proud of Dr. Cavazos for receiving this honor. It is recognition not only for Dr. Cavazos as the district’s educational leader, but for the entirety of the Harlingen CISD community,” said Region One ESC Executive Director, Dr. Cornelio Gonzalez. “Dr. Cavazos is a model educational leader who is worthy of this recognition and will represent our region well.”
Region One issued a news release to announce the news.
“In his four-year term as the educational leader of Harlingen CISD schools, Dr. Arturo Cavazos has made quite an impact,” the news release states. “His leadership style is described as creative, successful, and immediate.”
Region One says that during his tenure as superintendent of schools for Harlingen, Cavazos is credited with “completely changing the landscape of education and services provided to students.”
Those transformational initiatives, Region One says, include “a full-scale K-12 Robotics Program, chess teams throughout the school district including a state champion elementary chess team, a district-wide pre-school reading initiative, and a restructuring of the college counseling program resulting in a 100 percent rate of high school students applying to college or the military.”
Under his leadership, Region One says, “Harlingen CISD has been taken to new heights.” Harlingen CISD has thus been turned into “a district of choice.” For these, and many more reasons, Region One says, Cavazos has been named the 2017 Regional Superintendent of the Year.
Harlingen CISD has a student enrollment of 18,800. Its academic achievements include earning a district “Met Standard” rating for the past three school years in each of the state’s four indices: Student Achievement, Student Progress, Closing Performance Gaps, and Post-Secondary Readiness.
Region One also cites the Harlingen CISD Board of Trustees as saying that Cavazos “continues to set the path for student achievement in the three A’s – academics, arts, and athletics.”
Region One points out that under the direction of the Texas Association of School Boards, the Superintendent of the Year Program recognizes “exemplary superintendents for excellence and achievement in educational leadership.” The selection of the Superintendent of the Year honor is based on a superintendent’s “dedication to improving educational quality, ability to build effective employee relations, and commitment to public involvement in education.” Nominations for the regional award were submitted to Region One Education Service Center and reviewed by a select committee consisting of Region One School board members who completed Leadership TASB training.
“We recognized that Dr. Cavazos is a visionary leader who has created great innovative opportunities for student learning,” remarked Dr. Filomena Leo, a South Texas ISD board member. “Members of the selection committee agreed that Dr. Cavazos’ focused approach on advancing the district and in providing multiple opportunities for learning is what was most impressive. Dr. Cavazos is confident in his role for HCISD. His leadership and management skills will move the district forward for years to come.”
As Region One Superintendent of the Year, Cavazos is in the running for a statewide honor. A state committee will select five state finalists and the Superintendent of the Year will be announced on October 6-8, 2017, at the annual joint convention of the Texas Association of School Boards and Texas Association of School Administrators.
