State: EPISD’s probation will not affect students applying to college

The Texas Education Agency said the El Paso Independent School District’s probation status should not hinder students trying to get into college.

“I have no jurisdiction over EPISD but I’m an EPISD taxpayer and an EPISD mom who’s really worried about the black mark this is going to have on my kids when they apply for college to come from a district that is a known cheater,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar at a District Board meeting on Tuesday.

The concerns come as the TEA lowered the school’s accreditation to probation because of former Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia’s admitted cheating scheme that denied some students of a proper education.

“That’s a situation where adults have done things inappropriately but the students are not going to be punished for something that an adult did wrong,” said Suzanne Marchman, a TEA Spokeswoman. She added a district’s probation status should not be a black mark in a college application. “That in no way affects a students diploma from that school. What that probation means is the district has some areas that need to be addressed and corrected. But those are not related to a student receiving their diploma or being able to get into college.”

The worst case scenario would be the district’s accreditation being revoked. Marchman said on Wednesday there’s nothing to indicate that would happen because EPISD is fully cooperating with TEA. “If a school’s accreditation is revoked, it’s not revoked in the middle of a school year so that credits are invalidated, so if any kind of decision like that to close a school or close a district (is made), it comes in the end of a school year and what it does is it prevents them from continuing to operate as a texas public school.”

EPISD said the probation status will not affect the quality of education their students receive.