YISD board votes for armed officer at each campus; De La Torre wins superintendent award

Maria Cortes Gonzalez, El Paso Times
Updated ·4 min read

After a closed meeting, the Ysleta Independent School District board of trustees voted Wednesday night to have an armed officer at every campus. The move comes after the Texas Legislature approved an education bill, House Bill 3, that requires all school districts in the state to have an armed officer on every campus.

The bill emerged as an effort to improve safety for students after the mass shooting in May 2022 at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. The shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead.

"The Ysleta Independent School District is responding to the "Armed Defender" requirements of House Bill 3 by developing a plan to have at least one armed defender at each campus as the law requires," Tracy Garcia-Ramirez, a YISD communications and marketing department representative, said in an email.

"Given the local and statewide shortage of police officers, these defenders will be a mix of off-duty El Paso Police officers and Ysleta ISD employees who are uniformed security officers. The Ysleta ISD employees will be commissioned security officers, licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety to carry a firearm, and authorized by the Ysleta ISD Board of Trustees to do so at our schools in order to respond to any life-threatening emergency," she added.

Ysleta Independent School District Superintendent Xavier De La Torre has been named regional Superintendent of the Year.
Ysleta Independent School District Superintendent Xavier De La Torre has been named regional Superintendent of the Year.

YISD Superintendent Xavier De La Torre wins regional award

Ysleta Independent School District Superintendent Xavier De La Torre has been named the 2023 ESC-Region 19 Superintendent of the Year for his excellence as a public-school administrator and outstanding achievements that include transforming the 108-year-old school district into one of the best districts in the state, according to a YISD release.

ESC-Region 19 officials made the announcement Wednesday. De La Torre will go on to represent the region in the state Superintendent of the Year program.

“I am truly humbled to have been chosen by Region 19 for this honor, and the opportunity to represent our district and area at the statewide level,” De La Torre said in a news release. “But I am also deeply grateful to my Executive Cabinet and the countless administrators, teachers, and staff members who have been by my side at Ysleta ISD, working diligently to literally turn this district around over the past nine years.

“I’d also like to express my sincere thanks to the Board of Trustees for their unwavering support throughout the pandemic, and their patience and dedication to our students and schools as we focused on improving our academic progress in our efforts to provide a superior education to all students,” he added.

In his letter nominating De La Torre for Superintendent of the Year, Ysleta ISD board President Cruz Ochoa said Ysleta ISD has become one of the state’s top-rated districts under the current leadership, with a stunning transformation of schools and facilities through the passage of nearly $1 billion in voter-approved facilities bonds since 2015.

“He has breathed a vibrant, new life into our district, launching our schools and programs into the 21st century for one simple purpose: to provide our children with a relevant, world-class educational experience that positions them to thrive in a changing global economy,” Ochoa said in the statement.

Due to De La Torre’s successful school improvement and instructional leadership, YISD has earned multiple local, state, and national designations and accolades, such as:

  • The only “A”-rated district in the city of El Paso for academic performance from the Texas Education Agency in 2022, with more than half of its campuses also earning individual “A” ratings.

  • No. 1 school district in El Paso for two years in a row, according to Niche, an online platform that seeks to help parents find the best schools and neighborhoods for their families, using dozens of public data sets and over 100 million reviews and survey responses. It gave Ysleta ISD a grade of A- in 2022 for its academics, teachers, sports and other factors.

  • No. 1 in College, Career, and Military Readiness in El Paso, with 81% of the Class of 2021 considered career- or college-ready by TEA, far surpassing the state (65%).

  • National Blue Ribbon School awards for four campuses ‒ Desertaire, Ramona and Vista Hills elementary schools, and Valle Verde Early College High School ‒ since 2017.

María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150, mcortes@elpasotimes.com and @EPTMaria on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: YISD board: Add armed officers to campuses; superintendent wins award