Cross Elementary School opened for business Monday to symbolize Mesquite Independent School District's focus on faculty and students.
"When students and teachers are in a place where they love to come to work, every day, it makes the learning a lot easier. The kids are going to be excited about coming to school, the teachers are going to be excited about teaching," said Principal Rashunda Price who spent the past year planning every minute detail of the opening of the district's new school.
District Superintendent Angel Rivera says he's doubling down on staff support this year. More time off, more support, and more colleagues. Mesquite had 155 vacant teacher slots unfilled last school year, just days before the start of school the district is down to just 28 unfilled positions.
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"They probably were passionate about education, and they were frustrated. They sought some other career. Sure, and now they're like, 'You know what, this is not satisfying. I'm coming back,'" he said.
Rivera says Mesquite considered a four-day workweek only because teachers asked him for it. But he felt it wasn't right for kids or parents, and so he found other ways to support his staff and it worked. For kids, he's investing heavily in extracurriculars -- art, music, athletics.
"The more we expose our kids to non-academic things, it gives them brain breaks, it resets you. And then when you go to that math lesson to the English lesson to that social studies lesson, you're much more adept at absorbing the knowledge," Rivera says.
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And let's face it; a bright shiny new school building doesn't hurt as well.
From new supplies to teaching counting to storage, kindergarten teachers Letica Meza and Renee Mitchell called their new digs a dream.
The district says if teachers and students feel loved and supported the grades will come. They're also piloting at some campuses a new curriculum for math, to help students bounce back from the pandemic.
"We have a pilot in secondary math to address that because we took a big dip and the preliminary scores in math. And so we're looking to see what can we do different, but because we do big scale, we're going to do a pilot to make sure that we're doing the right thing," said Rivera.
District-wide they're adding more time in the arts, athletics and music, convinced success there will also translate to better grades in core subjects.
