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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — A struggling South Texas school district that cut its sports programs in 2012 to focus on academics has met academic standards for the first time since 2011.
State accountability ratings made available to districts Friday show the Premont Independent School District has met academic standards districtwide, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (http://bit.ly/2bqhxzF ) reported.
"I'm just so thrilled. We were looking down the barrel twice ... and the students cowboyed up," Superintendent Eric Ramos told the newspaper. "I can't sit down."
The district, in a rural farming community about 70 miles southwest of Corpus Christi, overcame financial struggles but student academic performance was not up to par. That prompted the Texas Education Agency in November to revoke the school district's accreditation. The action was put on hold until preliminary academic and financial accountability ratings were released this month.
If the district had received poor preliminary academic or financial ratings, a board of managers would have been appointed, suspending the powers and duties of elected trustees for the appointment period.
The Texas Commissioner of Education also would have named the members of the board, which could not have been disputed, and would have appointed a new superintendent during the term of the board of managers.
Ramos said although standards were met districtwide, Premont's secondary campus didn't meet standards. Premont's primary campus failed to meet all measures last year and this year met three of four.
The school district got its first closure notice in 2011. It was spared closure in 2013 when Premont agreed to work with Texas A&M University-Kingsville to analyze student performance, monitor instruction, mentor teachers and help students prepare for college. The first arrangement of its kind in Texas is in the third year of a five-year alliance.
"This is a model everyone is looking at," said Albert Ruiz, the university's Dean of the College of Education & Human Performance. "But it's not an overnight fix. We still have work to do."
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Information from: Corpus Christi Caller-Times, http://www.caller.com
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