Ector County ISD school board members traveled to San Antonio last week for the Mexican American School Boards Association (MASBA) annual conference. For the third year in a row, they left with an award in-hand. Actually, this year it was two awards and a winning work of art.
MASBA presented ECISD with the award for Outstanding Workforce Development Initiative and the award for Outstanding Special Education Initiative. Additionally, Yaretzi Barrera Alapizco, a junior at Permian High School, won first place in the conference’s student artwork exhibit for her work, titled “La Muerte Dijo Si, You Digo Que No.”
The Outstanding Special Education Initiative acknowledged the innovative approach ECISD took to hire virtual diagnosticians, virtual speech pathologists, and use contractor services to complete 1,800 new evaluations and 1,300 3-year re-evaluations in the 2023-2024 school year. Speech pathologists and educational diagnosticians are hard to fill positions throughout the state and nation.
The Outstanding Workforce Development Initiative highlighted ECISD’s career placement work connecting the future talent pool of workers (our students) with local industry needs, strengthening the local workforce. The program reduces barriers for students by introducing them to employers, providing career counseling, supporting them through resume building and the application process, coaching them on professional etiquette, and preparing them for interviews which are held on campus.
See more about MASBA by visiting www.masbatx.org.
