Ask Ibefel Franco where she wants her son to graduate from, it doesn’t take long for her to answer – IDEA Travis.
Franco got her first taste of an IDEA graduation as officials show new parents a video that includes pictures of other IDEA students graduating – a hallmark of the school’s motto that “from pre-kinder to 12th grade, IDEA Public Schools is focused on sending 100% of our kids to college.”
The one-step forward approach connected with Franco as did her son’s turnaround from making C’s and F’s to A’s and B’s.
“They do this big celebration for the seniors,” Franco said. “And I could see my kid, I could see us doing that. You know what I'm saying? That right there was confirmation for me that I had made the right choice and moving him from school.”
For Franco to have her son have that IDEA moment, it will require the Midland ISD board to approve the expansion of IDEA Public Schools beyond eighth grade and to 12th grade. The board is supposed to consider expansion at Monday’s meeting.
Franco and her son told the Reporter-Telegram, they want to see that happen, and they are not the only ones.
Jazmine Perez’s 12-year-old son attends IDEA Travis, and she appreciates IDEA’s teachers bringing the passion to learn back into her son’s life. When he arrived at IDEA Travis, he was three levels below where he needed to be, Perez said. “He wasn’t in a good place, and now two years later, he was a student of the year.”
That type of improvement is being seen across IDEA Travis’ campus. Midland ISD reported in August that IDEA’s 38-point improvement from 2019 to 2022 was the greatest inside the district.
Both Franco and Perez said IDEA has provided a school for families on the south and east sides, respectively. They called IDEA a community, where teachers work with students and communicate with parents.
And the community appears to support the school. Bethany Solis, executive director of IDEA Schools of the Permian Basin, told the Reporter-Telegram the number of students on the waiting list is around 600.
“I'm not the only parent that feels this way about Travis, because as soon as you sign up, they let you know the expectation because they have an expectation of greatness,” Perez said, “not just from one child, but for all of their children.
“And that's what I love about it, because this school can genuinely say they take the kids under their wing as their own children. So, if there's not enough representation of that (on the school board) to where they're not knowing the impact that IDEA is having, then that's concerning to me.”
K-12 is the IDEA model
IDEA Permian Basin officials want to see the school on Midland’s southeast side moved to a K-12 model, because that is typical of the IDEA education experience. Travis Executive Principal Hailey McCarthy came to Midland to run a K-12 school.
“I really am excited for high school,” McCarthy said. “I love these eighth-graders. And I am really excited to have seen what they can do, because I think they can do some really amazing things.”
Solis said the IDEA experience at the elementary school levels – including the improvements when needed – is to prepare students for high school, where IDEA students can take as many as 11 AP (advanced placement) or “IB” (International Baccalaureate) courses
“It's on us to figure out how to support them from where they will be successful in AP courses, IB courses in preparation,” Solis said.
Should the board vote to extend IDEA Travis to 12th grade, the school would serve 1,500 students from K-12th. That would happen in facilities built by IDEA Public Schools, not Midland ISD.
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September 19, 2022 at 12:43PM
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Parents want IDEA Travis expansion; MISD board to decide - Midland Reporter-Telegram
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