UPDATE: El Paso ISD to redesign Hart Elementary School

(UPDATED OCT. 18) An elementary school in South El Paso is set to undergo a major redesign.

The El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a plan to transform Hart Elementary School into a New Tech campus.

ABC-7 has reported on EPISD’s use of the New Tech Network, a California-based company that focuses on integrating 21st century, project-based learning to public schools across the country.

The district currently has four high schools — Austin, Bowie, Franklin and Irvin — and four middle schools — Brown, Canyon Hills, Guillen and the Young Women’s STEAM Prep — that use the New Tech model in its classrooms.

Hart would be the first elementary school in the district and the second in the state of Texas to become a New Tech campus. Unless parents and students opt for another campus, Hart students ultimately attend Bowie High, which is home to Oso New Tech.

Scott Gray, the New Tech Coordinator for EPISD, told ABC-7 that the opening of a New Tech school in Hart is exciting for families with kids attending the school, saying it will shift mindsets away from the traditional, Industrial Age classroom.

“Imagine a student that’s been doing this for five years before they get to Oso New Tech,” Gray said. “Just the calibur of student (is) what we’re excited about.”

The redesign will be funded by a $1.2 million grant from the Texas Education Agency.

The grant specifies that the redesigned school be launched at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year.