Brownsville superintendent: We’re on the right track

Hector Gonzales would seem a perfect fit for the Brownsville Independent School District, a superintendent whose school years mirrored those of many BISD's students and who has succeeded smartly.

Gonzales grew up as the youngest child in a farming family in San Benito. His parents spoke little English, and yet, all six brothers and sisters attended college and obtained advanced degrees.

As recently as 2002 BISD was in disarray, having gone through six superintendents in 10 years. Following the work established by his immediate predecessor, Michael Zolkosky, Gonzales brought stability and success to the district. He has been BISD superintendent since November 2006 and last month the district was honored with the Broad Prize for Urban Education, widely considered the nation's top education award.

"Our focus is always going to be on students, and when you make your decisions based on that, you're going to have success," Gonzales says.

In a minority-majority district like BISD, that means paying attention to low-income Hispanics, who make up nearly 95 percent of the district's students.

BISD won the Broad Prize for raising student performance and closing gaps in student achievement among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students. The award established BISD as the most-improved urban school district in the country and secured $1 million in scholarships for its graduating juniors and seniors.

Not surprisingly, Gonzales regards the day BISD received the award as the pinnacle of his professional career.

"I'm very proud of what this district has done and where we are going," he said. "With 32 of our 33 elementary campuses either exemplary or recognized" by the Texas Education Agency "we're definitely on the right track."

The Broad methodology looks "at closing the gaps, at how well the minority student is doing against the U.S. mainstream," Gonzales said. "The key is treating all students as students - not as Hispanics or any other minority. All students can learn, and we have the same expectations for all students."

Just weeks before Gonzales and the BISD Board of Trustees went to New York for the Broad Prize awards ceremony, the superintendent received his annual evaluation, in which he met or exceeded the benchmarks that are part of his contract.

The board gave him a $20,000 raise, and perhaps foreshadowing things to come, did not extend his contract.

When word got out, some in the community interpreted the move as a slap in the face, saying someone who led BISD to such heights surely deserved a contract extension.

Actually, the raise brought Gonzales' annual salary to $225,000, and he remains under contract for two years, through 2010.

His salary compares to a state average of $220,787 for superintendents of districts with 25,000 to 50,000 students and $272,347 for districts with 50,000 to 100,000, according to the Texas Association of School Boards. BISD's peak enrollment during 2007-2008 was 48,848 students, according to the district, so Gonzales' salary would seem to be in line with other districts.

Gonzales said BISD's success has to do with being "data-driven" and involving everyone once a curriculum decision is made.

Citing team teaching in the middle schools as an example, he said, "We don't just tell you here's the program. We're going to train you.

"Meet with your staffs, meet with yourselves and then you tell me if you want to do it. If so, fine. Then you're going to have to be trained," he said he tells principals.

"It's not just making a decision. It's following through on that decision and then giving them the resources that they need," Gonzales said.