SAN JUAN, Texas - Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD will host its third and final push Saturday to get students who have dropped out of school this summer to come back.
The nationally acclaimed program is called Countdown to Zero Recovering Walk, and it involves hundreds of members of staff and volunteers going door-to-door on three consecutive Saturdays in order to re-engage with students who did not return to school at the start of the Fall semester.
Countdown to Zero provides support and resources to help dropout students successfully complete their high school education. If the students come back and apply themselves, they can secure a high school diploma and earn an industry recognized certificate.
“This is our 18th Annual Countdown to Zero and it has been highly successful over the years,” said PSJA Superintendent Dr. Alejandro Elias.
“They don't get paid for it, but all these staff members want to help our community, help our educational system, by giving those students a second opportunity.”
Elias said PSJA started this semester with 332 dropouts. “Right now, we're currently at 182 and by the end of next week, we should be down to the teens.”
Asked why the students drop out, Elias said: “There are a number of reasons. One is, you know, life happens. Or they might feel that they weren't part of something, weren’t part of a program.
“So what we do now is, if they were in high school, we offer all these CTE courses. We offer pathways for skilled workers, so certificates, associate degrees. There are a lot of different things we offer the students.
“If they're a timid student they might have felt they didn't belong. So, now we have all these clubs, organizations, athletics, fine arts, extracurricular activities that they can do so that they can feel they belong. So, we offer a lot of different things.
“For me, it's always been about giving every student an opportunity. Here at PSJA we are all about opportunities for all. We're about family, taking care of family. There's so much that we can do for every student. It's just for the student to take that opportunity, grab it and run with it, and eventually we'll see them succeed.”
Elias used to help with PSJA’s dropout recovery program in the days when former Superintendent Daniel P. King made it famous. Elias said he was disappointed to learn it had been ditched by the superintendent that followed King. Elias had no doubts he wanted to revive it when he took the reins.
“I felt that we were letting our students down. We were letting our community down. The program had been left (dormant) for three years. When we came back, we had close to 900 dropouts and leavers out there. Our graduation rate was dropping. So, to me, that said we were letting our community down, our students down,” Elias said.
“So, we brought it back, and now we're back on top again. We're enhancing the academic area for every student to take advantage of. And to me, that says a lot, because now we're at almost a 98% graduation rate, and, with the dropouts, we are bringing it back down to the teens. That’s unheard of for a district of our size.”
Elias was proud to report that PSJA’s graduation rate is higher than the state and regional average.
“To me, that says the work we're doing… it’s truly about giving opportunities for all.”
Elias said Dr. King has complimented him for resurrecting Countdown to Zero.
“I met with him yesterday morning for breakfast, and we were actually discussing a lot of the work that's going on. And he was actually commenting to me that he was proud of PSJA bringing the program back, and how successful it's been. And it helps the region. In a way, we're doing work that is helping the whole region.”
Asked why he gets such a large number of staff volunteering to go door-to-door to look for the students, Elias said: “I think the culture and the morale of the staff is there. They feel very positive with the way our accountability ratings have moved up a lot. I think the positive effect is out there and the energy is out there and with the staff, you can feel it. You felt it this morning, and it's just been like that at every event we do.”
Asked if he had any other comments, Elias said: “I would just like to add that, to every student that's out there and wants to come back, reach out to us, we're here to help, even our 18- to 26-year-olds. We brought back our CCTA for a reason, and the reason is to give that opportunity to every student that's out there. Life happens, but we're here to make sure that they succeed.”
Carlos Samaniego is a welding instructor at PSJA. He says he knows how good PSJA’s dropout recovery program is because he benefited when he was a student. He dropped out, was enticed back and his life has gone on a different trajectory as a result.
“This is something personal for me. It's a program that reached out to me when Dr. Elias was my principal back in high school. I was able to come back after dropping out in eighth grade,” Samaniego said.
Asked why he dropped out of high school, Samaniego said: “Just bad decisions, bad choices in life that made me hit a stumble in life, and I had to drop out.”
When he went back to school, Samaniego said he had a different mindset.
“Well, I was in a different school. I had the same administration from my middle school days. I had them at another campus, and they were eager to help me and to encourage me to keep on studying, even though I didn't want to, but they pushed me until graduation.”
Samaniego graduated with a high school diploma in 2017 and then went to Texas State Technical College in Harlingen. “I graduated with my associates degree in 2020,” he said proudly.
Asked about Countdown to Zero, Samaniego said: “It is a big program, and I think it's a really good program, because I think everybody deserves a second chance, regardless of what they've done or the decisions they made in life.
“If we're here to show them that we want them to come back, then that will encourage them to come back. So, it's a really good program for the whole district, and, of course, for our community and our students.”
Samaniego has been volunteering for the Countdown to Zero program ever since he joined the district as a welding instructor four years ago.
“I like to volunteer because this is something that helped me. I see a lot of my teachers from middle school, from elementary, from high school, so I like to come and volunteer and help out. So, the more that I help out the better it is for us and for our community.”
Asked what he would tell students that have dropped out or feel they want to drop out, Samaniego said: “Just come back. It’s never too late. Whatever you did in the past, don't worry about it. Just come back. We're here to help you. There are a lot of resources nowadays in our schools, and if the community goes out there (door to door) it’s because we care as teachers. We care for you, and we want you to have a good, successful future for your family and for yourself.”
