Socorro teachers knock on doors for district campaign

Teachers working on a Saturday typically means extra training but Saturday some Socorro ISD teachers had a choice: train or walk door to door knocking on family homes. SISD said those teachers who volunteered to walk and talk to families this morning were helping inform families who can’t always make it to school meetings about the services they offer and that could convince parents to stay in the district.

Teachers who anonymously emailed ABC-7 said it was because of idea, a new charter school set to open in the area in the next school year. The district, however wouldn’t confirm that but did acknowledge the competition for students

“You have school districts in El Paso, and IDEA, who are trying to come and take our students. And we’re a school district that is not going to let anyone come into our family homes and our school homes,” said SISD superintendent Dr. Jose Espinoza.

For some teachers winning students back from the charter school is exactly what happened.

“We were fortunate enough to speak to a parent who was thinking of taking their child to IDEA” said Alicia Vasquez, a Curriculum Instructor at SISD.

The teacher’s union telling ABC-7 Friday if students leave SISD for charter school funding could be lost and cost jobs in school. Teachers explained it’s the activities beyond academics like sports and fine arts that win children and their parents over.

“It’s the different activities the school offered and they were convinced to take their kid out of IDEA and re-enlist them in our campus,” Vazquez said.

“He was actually very excited because he wants to do sports, and the other school is not going to offer any sports.”

Some teachers told ABC-7 they were concerned there would be retaliation if they did not participate in the walk. The district and teacher’s union said there would not be retaliation.

The IDEA charter school plans to open fall 2018.