The Gladys Porter Zoo opened in 1971 as a gift from a foundation to the city of Brownsville. The Earl C. Sams Foundation envisioned the only zoo south of San Antonio as a place to feature endangered species and to give Brownsville a distinction of its own. The 31-acre site on Ringgold Street in central Brownsville has more than proven its worth to the city. It has become a prime…
The Brownsville Independent School District has announced Brownsville ISD graduate Dr. Jesus H. Chavez as the lone finalist for the position of superintendent of schools. The announcement comes after a thorough and extensive search process and listening to the community through various community town halls, student roundtable discussions, business and community stakeholder meetings, employee surveys and public comments. At the start of the search process, the board of trustees initially…
The Brownsville Independent School District’s Food and Nutrition Services Department is now offering free breakfast and lunch meals over the summer. The Seamless Summer Option Program provides nutritious free meals for children ages 0 to 18 and is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. In order to participate, families only have to find a site during breakfast and/or lunch. Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. and lunch begins at 11:30…
The Brownsville Independent School District is receiving $1,974,800 from the Texas Education Agency. The grant will increase local capacity of the district to appropriately serve students with dyslexia. “We are very grateful to receive this funding from the Texas Education Agency,” said Brownsville ISD Superintendent Rene Gutierrez. “The funding will continue to support our mission to graduate students who are prepared to excel in higher education and successfully pursue career…
The Brownsville Independent School District is launching its Seamless Summer Option Program beginning June 6. The district’s Food and Nutrition Services Department will offer free breakfast and lunch meals through Aug. 5. This program is sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture and provides nutritious free meals for children up to age 18. All families have to do is find a site, have their child show up for breakfast…
The Texas Workforce Commission has awarded two Jobs and Education for Texans grants to support career training in the Cameron County area. TWC awarded Harlingen CISD $332,500 to help the school purchase and install a fire training simulator to initially train 130 students for careers in firefighting. The agency awarded Brownsville ISD $329,060 to buy welding equipment to initially train 130 students for careers in welding. The equipment funded through these grants will…
The Texas Workforce Commission has awarded 41 grants totaling $10,379,293 to multiple public community colleges, public technical institutes, public state college and independent school districts for programs that focus on supporting high-demand occupations through the Jobs and Education for Texans grant program. Locally, recipients include South Texas College as well as Brownsville, Harlingen, La Joya and South Texas ISDs. The JET grant program focuses on projects that develop training programs to…
Two elementary schools in the Brownsville Independent School District now hold the distinction of National Blue Ribbon Schools. Dr. Ruben Gallegos Elementary and Mittie A. Pullam Elementary received the honors from the U.S. Department of Education. Schools receive recognition in one of two performance categories. These are on the basis of all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates: Exemplary High Performing Schools are among their state’s highest performing…
The Brownsville Independent School District is the recipient of $2,412,000 from the Musk Foundation. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently announced that he was going to be donating $20 million to Cameron County schools. “We are very grateful for the donation from the Musk Foundation,” said Brownsville ISD Superintendent Dr. René Gutiérrez. “We are currently working on a plan to expand several of our Career and Technical Education programs and academies.…
One local college and four independent school districts are the recipients of $850,892 in grants from the Texas Workforce Commission. The funds are for programs that focus on supporting high-demand occupations through the Jobs and Education for Texans grant program. The award total for 27 JET grants is $5,718,073 in 27 grants. Funds go to multiple public community colleges, technical institutes, state colleges and ISDs for programs. “I congratulate these JET recipients as…