Episd project

El Paso Independent
School District
(EPISD)
Communication Issues and Solutions
Business Team 5:
Amro Hussien
Carolina Mesa
Monica Pena
Karla Perez
11/12/2010

The El Paso Independent School District has a rich history of education and culture over
its 100 years of existence. The EPISD has experienced a rapid growth since its introduction in
1882 from the amount of elementary, middle, and high schools built to the number of students
enrolled. The district has developed rapidly in the education processes along with the number of
different programs that the district has implemented to help guide students towards success. The
EPISD’s mission statement states that, “The mission of the El Paso Independent School District
is to meet the diverse needs of all students and empower them to become successful members of
a global community.”
The EPISD is vested in producing a graduating student body that exhibits the mental,
emotional, and physical maturity required in today’s productive society. This goal is achieved by
investing in both faculty and students to create a nurturing environment that promotes a high
level of academic success and personal growth. EPISD provides the resources and assets of the
District to create an exceptional environment for students. EPISD also believes that a good
environment where all the members work in the same team is fundamental for a meaningful,
motivational, and successful education experience. The district is focused on devising ideas on
how teachers and students can help contribute by minimizing the negative impacts on the
environment.
El Paso Independent School District is located in El Paso, Texas, and it is the largest
district in the Texas Education Agency’s Educational Service Center- Region 19. The EPISD
counts with more than 63,000 students in 94 different campuses. It consists of a total of 11 high
schools, 15 middle schools and 57 elementary schools. Also EPISD is the 10th
largest district in
Texas and is the 61st
largest district in the United States. EPISD produces about 9,000 jobs
positioning as the largest employer in El Paso and it has an annual operating budget of $475
million. The district has grown considerably over the years to about 253 square miles, and it is
currently bordered by Texas-New Mexico state line, and the Ysleta ISD. They offer a wide
variety of programs to get the GED and citizenship classes. They also offer some recovery
program for students that are in risk of dropping out of school, an occupational center, and
several magnet schools.
Besides the fact that it is a large district, there is also a rich history that accompanies it.
In 1882, the newspaper had announced that, “$700 has been subscribed by the citizens of El Paso
in lands, money and all material for the purpose of erecting a public school”. At the start of the
district formation, O.T. Bassett was elected as the first president of the school district and Mayor
Joseph Magoffin oversaw the new school board. This was the beginning of a new mission that
had an intriguing plan for the future. In late 1883, El Paso which was a progressive city of 4,000
experienced the first official public school open. The school at the time consisted of 200
students. John Merrill was elected the principal of this school and he received $150 a month for
his duties. Anna Moore was the only teacher hired to work in the school at that time and she
received a salary of $75 a month. There was a vast amount that needed to be accomplished. Later
on that year, the superintendent Calvin Esterly, signed a contract to give the students of El Paso
the opportunity to have a new, better, and bigger schoolhouse. In 1884, Central School was built
on the corner of Myrtle and Campbell streets. In 1885, they expanded the institution with a
second floor that was added so they could establish their first high school.

In 1883, EPISD was in charge of building the first public kindergarten class in the entire
state of Texas. It was located at the current Central Elementary School/ and Alamo Elementary
School, which celebrated its 110th anniversary in 2009. This makes the school the oldest
operating institution throughout the district. El Paso High School was built with Reminiscent of
Greek and Roman architecture, and it has become an important historical benchmark for EPISD
as the oldest operating high school in El Paso. The high school has been operating since 1916
and is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Along with the history, the school
district has had for many years indulged in several programs to better educate and sharpen the
minds of students.
The school district has communication processes that they implement between the
students, parents, and the teachers but there have been complications in recent and past years that
have not made some of the processes sufficient. Since recent outcomes have occurred, it has
exposed several problems in the school district that need to be addressed. We have discussed the
issues and have come up with specific solutions that would help eliminate the communication
barrier between the interested parties.
The Current Communication Process in EPISD:
Currently the El Paso Independent School District has various strategies for
communication of safety within the schools which needs some improvement. As communication
about safety should start at an early age, we felt it was appropriate to talk to one of the Principals
of an elementary school in the El Paso ISD. I had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Calk, a
Principal in the El Paso ISD. This will help understand what students are being taught to do at a
young age and what is currently being done to protect them while in school. The question that
was asked for the Principal to answer was, “What are the current procedures that are in place
regarding communication to help minimize safety issues within the schools?” Ms. Calk
answered by stating, “ We have letters that are sent out to parents, visitor passes are required at
all times in the facilities, employee background checks are done, and references are called and
questioned about the possible candidate to be employed by the school district.” She also stated
that, “parent volunteers also go through background checks, students have access to
administration and teachers, El Paso ISD website has a vast amount of information, phone
message systems are in place, and there is constant mail that is sent out to employees when
necessary. Ms. Calk stated, “Communication regarding the safety of the child needs to also start
at home.” She gave the example of when a parent teaches their child to look both ways to check
and see if there is no oncoming traffic before they cross the street. The parent needs to teach their
child what to do if there are safety issues or concerns going on at school. She also stated, “The
parent needs to ask what is out there and being offered in the schools to work together. If parents
do not speak up about a concern they have or don’t request classes they want, the schools will
not know an issue exists and will not be able to review it and try to resolve it.”
I also had a chance to interview Bernice Zubia, Director of Communications for the El Paso ISD.
We briefly spoke and she stated that, “There are times when a letter is sent out district wide and
when maybe just one school will receive notification on an issue.” This means there are times
when there is some type of communication that needs to go out to every single employee of the
district and there are times when the issue is just specific to a single school, so just that one

school will receive a notification. She then went on to give an example of one letter that was
sent out to one school. She used the Irvin High School incident when a teacher from Irvin was
arrested of a child pornography charge in September of this year. A letter was specifically
created for this incident and sent home with each of the students to read and provide to their
parents.
A visitor’s pass is always required when entering a school facility. This requires the
individual to go to the schools office and request permission from the staff by telling them why
you are there and which student and/or teacher you are there to visit. This is an attempt to
prevent uninvited individuals to roam the school without permission and disallowing anyone
from doing any harm to students. Employee background checks are done for every applicant and
they will not get hired by the district if proven to have failed the requirements. Reasons why
they did not pass the background check are not disclosed for privacy reasons. References are
called and questioned regarding the applicant. Parent volunteers also go through the same
processes and if they fail to meet the standard requirements, then they will not be permitted to
volunteer at the school. In the elementary schools, the students are taught that if they are
mistreated in any particular way, they need to tell either a teacher or the counselor. The school
also meets with students to discuss safety communication topics. An example is the
stranger/danger topic and how to respond to these instances. This instructs children to stay away
from strangers and what to say if approached by an individual who attempts to lure you in.
Another example would be how to treat your family members. People in general, not just
children, tend to disrespect their family. Besides this fact, yet they are very respectful and polite
to strangers. This class shows the important values to children regarding how to treat their
families at home. There are classes that teach children how to be respectful to each other. It
focuses on how to respect the feelings and properties of others in their surroundings.
Individual counseling is offered to all students who need advice for issues that are going
on in their lives. Issues can range from a student being bullied by his/her peers or any type of
personal problem that can occur at home. On the El Paso ISD website, it talks about how
parental engagement program will be implemented at each level from elementary to high school.
The objective of this program is to improve communication and cooperation between the
community, parent and teachers regarding all issues. Parent classes are offered, but very few
parents attend. At times, there are classes that have been offered and only up to three or four
attend. A major factor that has affected the ability of parents to attend these classes would be the
high demand of attendance at their personal jobs. Parents also feel that it is unnecessary to attend
those classes discussing topics that they feel they have a strong foundation in. The school
district has started to send automatic messages about events to parents’ cell phones. These
messages are sent from either the school or school district to the phone numbers the school has
on file for the parents. These messages could be regarding any type of communication the
school or district may want to convey to the parents. Some of these messages are a reminder that
school dismissal will be early due to parent/teacher conferences or it can be an invitation to all
parents regarding a PTA meeting to discuss important topics regarding the children. Once these
invitations have been sent, it becomes the responsibility of the parent to make the time and effort
to go meet the teacher to discuss how their child is doing academically and to see if there are any
concerns with the child. If there is no appropriate communication on hand, then the parent’s
chances of knowing about potential dangers become minimal. A teacher may want to bring the
concern up that lately your child has been quieter when then usual. This could be a sign of a

concern on hand and the matter needs to be addressed to the attention of the parent. Regardless,
the major focus is that the communication needs to be there between the teachers, parents and
students; which are the current challenges faced today.
EPISD Current Communication Challenge Regarding Safety Issues and Sexual Abuse
The El Paso Independent School District has had an overwhelming number of instances
regarding children safety and abuse for the past years that shouldn’t be the main focus of any
educational institution. The issues have included students fighting on school grounds, drug abuse
in high schools, and unnecessary interactions between the student and the teacher. Although you
may here about these types of occasions in any school setting, the problem seems to be swelling
like an untreated wound. The EPISD has over 63,000 students in 93 schools ranging from
elementary to the high school level. A major weakness of the EPISD is their current lack of
safety coordinators whom are able to prepare their employees in dealing with the students when
a hazard, such as the few listed above, arise. Hence, a serious dilemma arises when school
teachers are untrained. The Ysleta Independent School district, in comparison, has about fewer
20,000 students than the EPISD. However, they have safety coordinators who develop and
monitor district wide safety programs, conduct accident investigations, and work closely with the
principals and department chairs on developing safety procedures. The school district lacks any
real responsibility towards the safety of their students. Not having appropriate procedures in
place allows for violence and abuse to occur on a regular basis. The concern arises when sexual
interactions between a student and instructor occur and go unheard of. That, in itself, allows us to
question the safety of our children in any educational institution.
A recent example involved a dance teacher from Irvin High School named Marco
Alferez. He was arrested in September 2010 for making child pornography in his own home and
is suspected to have over 70 children as victims. The prosecutors claim that Alferez made videos
depicting these 70 children all of whom are believed to be in the El Paso area. Authorities
confiscated 12 VHS tapes and 107 8mm tapes from his house and the district found enough
evidence to fire Alferez after he was tried in court. The EPISD has a policy to perform criminal
investigative background checks before employment. These background checks include
fingerprinting and reference checks on all the teacher applicants before they get employed. They
implemented this policy before hiring Alferez and found that he had no criminal record. This
begs the question: how could parents and educational staff been more aware that this was
occurring? What could have been done to prevent this instance? This prime example shows that
there is a lack of safety and that changes must be implemented. It is significant to realize the
essential role that a teacher has on our children’s lives and their development. In fact, the
students are strongly influenced by the instructors because of the massive time spent with them
five days a week. If we cannot guarantee the security of our children from the teacher, who is to
say that, this would not happen again? I strongly believe that the real problem lies in not having
the proper form of integrated communication between the parents, students, and the teachers.
The EPISD has the PTA program which does attempt to have some form of communication
between the parents and their children’s mentors. For a majority of the schools in the district,
especially elementary and middle schools, they host a Parent-teacher conference every nine
weeks in order to discuss grades and to see how the kids are progressing. In essence, it’s a great
idea but the main issue with this strategy is that not all of the parents or guardians attend these

meetings. Another issue that should concern the district is that a good amount of the parents
never even bother to know who their children’s instructors are. How are the parents going to
know what is going on in their children’s lives if they do not make the upmost effort in getting
involved in the kid’s lives outside of the house? Hence, it is apparent that the EPISD has a poor
child development program that does not properly train employees about the hazards that
students face in the school environment. Some of the teachers do not possess the proper
knowledge and awareness to prevent child abuse. This weakness is where new procedures must
come into play to safeguard our children’s future.
Furthermore, another staggering issue is the excessive fighting that occurs in the high
schools of the district. There were cases where students in Irvin and El Paso High went off
school grounds and fought each other while an audience observes and records for online
viewing. The EPISD has zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and has four different levels to
classify misbehavior. Level 1 offense deals with the use of inappropriate language, level 2 is the
possession and use of tobacco products, level 3 deals with inciting a fight or in the act of
fighting, and level 4 deals with possessing a knife or firearm. Fighting in schools has a level 3
impact and the EPISD deals with these issues by having them placed in alternate schools. The
Raymond Telles Academy enrolls high school and middle school students who are referred by
the El Paso County Juvenile Probation Center. The other alternative school that deals with this
sort of behavior is the Juvenile Sentence Center/ Delta Academy who enrolls children from
elementary to high school who are from the probation system and have either violated parole or
committed crimes. The district has strict policies on fighting and violence in their student code of
conduct which also covers student’s rights, student responsibilities, the scope of the districts
authority, and expectations of student conduct. Their policies appear to be concrete regulating
the punishments of students who act in this misconduct but what are the actions that can be taken
to avoid fighting in schools? The inadequate amount of security guards at these schools allows
for the students to go to certain spots around campus and commit these violent acts of behavior.
The children in elementary and middle school usually go to the outdoors with their peers, but the
supervision that takes place is not sufficient in these settings. Those security guards and
administrators cannot possibly see everything that goes on. There could be a group of students
who commence in drug usage and bullying in areas that are not watched by administrators. It
makes it almost impossible to catch all of the students who commit these behavioral acts. Some
action needs to be taken to help eliminate these factors from our school systems. High school
students may find it satisfactory to go off campus during lunch hour to get under the influence of
marijuana and cocaine. It is mandatory that the teachers and administrators get more involved to
help ensure everyone’s safety and well being.
It is vital that the children properly communicate with the teachers and parents. One of
the possibilities as to why a child might not tell the parent that they got bullied at school is
“ratting” out that person they are afraid of. The children need to know that they must
communicate with the parents and administrators when this occurs with a student or even when a
teacher makes an inappropriate offense with false language. The school district must establish
better plans and procedures to decrease the communication barrier. This would help prevent
situations similar to the Marco Alferez incident from occurring. If at least one or two of those
children had spoken up, then this could have been disclosed much sooner and the damage could
have been circumvented. The children are the medium in the communication process that is
detrimental for any future prevention of safety issues and abuse. Hence, the educational system’s

safety policies and preventative measures must be reconstructed for the betterment of our
children, their education, and our society.
Solutions to the Communication Challenge:
Safety issues will always be an important issue to address in all school levels and
although many are currently being properly assessed, the real hardship begins with
communication. We have outlined the current communication strategy, and exposed the current
communication challenge. The biggest question is how can the schools of the El Paso
Independent School District improve communication by removing barriers of communication
among students, teachers, and parents?
Constant preventive or corrective action methods are a striving goal for school officials in
regards to school safety, yet the biggest challenge prevails in the actual communication. Getting
students to speak up in regards to sexual abuse or drug abuse is hard but getting school officials
to speak up is also very unlikely to occur as often as we wish. In a recent El Paso’s Child
Protective Service study (2009), it was found that the reporting philosophy of the school
principal impacts on teacher reporting. Consequently, school principals avoid making reports
that would produce scandals and that would otherwise jeopardize the maintenance of good
parental relations and school image. Every principal strives for those excellent TAKS test scores
and this is what has become the main focus for many school teachers as well. In potential unsafe
situations, the communication of such activity remains undelivered. Basically, what needs to be
done to remove this communication barrier is to have principals encourage reporting rather than
being reluctant to the reporting of such events that would otherwise be seriously investigated.
School principals need to provide more emphasis in this area and have this become a mandatory
duty for all school employees because at the end what you get are stories such as the “Alferez”
case and Irvin High School making a front page headline in the newspapers.
After much research with schools and talking to one School Board Trustee, I found out
that there are many good areas that schools are currently concentrating on in regards to school
safety. Unfortunately, this areas lack a major focus in communication strategies or the removal
of communication barriers. The major concentration is mostly in areas such as video
surveillance, security systems and drug awareness for the students. It has been proven that very
few actually concentrate on any mandatory teacher training that creates teacher awareness.
Moreover, many don’t support preventive child abuse of sexual or violent acts that may be
occurring within the school grounds or at the children’s homes. The excuse is that teachers have
previously obtained an extensive education. That education includes child behavior among other
issues mentioned, such as peer pressure. However, is it not true that teachers are mostly
concerned and pressured about obtaining those exemplary academic scores from their students
than anything else? Consequently, teachers may neglect to observe and become aware of the
student’s deep emotional problems created by the abuse that is present in their lives. Perhaps,

this is precisely the reason that students are incapable of reaching the expected academic goals.
The need to assertively continue to educate teachers in this area as strongly as desired is actually
going beyond an unattended plan of action. The solution to this communication problem
between the teacher and the student is to implement additional child development programs.
These programs would remain specifically mandatory for teachers and could occur on a regular
basis. Ideally, these programs would be designed to create awareness on procedures that alert
teachers and that could be followed to prevent disastrous and detrimental situations that lead to
the student’s willingness to remain silent. These programs if well designed should create rapport
and communication between the teacher and the student.
In one interview with a teacher from the EPISD, the teacher addressed that they do
concern themselves in regards to the children’s safety at school. She stated that although she
disagrees with the behavior, she believes that some teachers or other staff members may hesitate
to communicate issues like such because of the fear of potential law suits that could be brought
against them for wrongful accusations. Because many people find it difficult to believe that
anyone would sexually hurt or victimize children, many tend to deny that the problem exists and
once again the communication of that wrongful act goes unattended. It is only when scandals
arise that people become aware of the lack of communication that is currently in place. In
situations like these the communication solution is to advise all teachers and staff members that
if they make a report in "good faith," they have immunity from civil or criminal liability. The
best tool to utilize here; is to provide yearly orientations for all school staff members in addition
to related informative correspondence and emails throughout the scholastic year.
Finally, in my research I also found that some barriers of communication also begin with
the student and the parents. An unstable emotional environment at home often times leads to the
child’s detrimental silence. It makes sense to think that a child that is being bullied or abused
sexually is not going to report the actions if that child is being neglected by his/her own parents.
Often times, you find disassembled families going through a divorce. Also, many single parents
struggle to divide themselves between their work and their children. Still many parents don’t
understand that communication with their children should at all times be their top priority. Many
parents forget that our kids our growing up in a world of drugs, violence and abuse. Parents
cannot depend on schools to provide all the safety measures merely because the violence, drug
abuse or any other unsafe situation may be occurring on school grounds. Other parents are fully
aware about unsafe situations happening in schools grounds but unfortunately may not know
how to come across with a strong topic such as “sexual abuse” without compromising their 6
year old emotional well-being. To help parents accomplish this responsibility, the school could
aid the PTA to perhaps include a class for parents that teaches them communication strategies.
There are many community outreach programs. Some of these programs are offered by nonprofit
organizations like AVANCE that could be considered an essential asset to implement in the
school’s PTA meetings. In fact these programs could be implemented on a designated Saturday
as part of a school communication awareness program for parents. In a conversation with a

program specialist for AVANCE, she stated that in order for any parenting program to be a
success the parents have to begin when their children are born and develop a continuous
communication routine throughout the remainder of their childhood. Programs like AVANCE
teach parents the necessary tool to make communication in their families a successful venture.
We must understand that children will not normally respond when they find themselves facing a
real situation of drugs, violence or abuse unless we teach our children to speak. But, parents
need to know exactly how to encourage their children to speak up and schools can be a hope in
the encouragement of issues like these.
We have listed some suggestions on appropriate tools to focus and aid in the removal of
communication barriers. Taking action and implementing them is the next step. The problem of
communication has to be confronted at various levels. Schools are constantly working on
preventive issues such as drugs, violence, and abuse, but without the appropriate communication
between parents, teachers, and students all efforts will be a complete waste. Many schools are
currently working hard on implementing ways to deviate wrongful behavior by students or
teachers such as; thorough background checks on school teachers, installing security cameras,
bringing a dog to the school campus to search for drugs, or holding PTA meetings to discuss
issues about improvements on student’s scholastic achievements. The El Paso Independent
School District has assertively implemented these excellent preventive measures to deviate the
unwanted behavior but unfortunately more needs to be done in regards to corrective action which
has to do precisely with the low communication among the students, teachers, and parents.
Therefore, this is also about removing communication barriers and communication
encouragement! Much can be done to alter attitudes and conditions but the ultimate challenge
arises in removing those communication barriers so that our children, teachers and parents speak
up among each other. The “Alferez” case is an example of the communication failure that exists
in the EPISD. By implementing better methods of communication, parents and school officials
can simultaneously work together in adjusting the part where the system is still failing and still
allowing our children to be subjective to horrific acts in their lives. We are adamant that proper
communication and child safety should be a top priority for educators and parents.

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