Category: You Should Know..

We are proud to announce that our Superintendent, Dr. Joe E. Gonzales was invited to participate in a series of segments for KTSM’s Studio 9, hosted by Robert Bettes. Dr. G. has 61 years of experience in the field of education. He has been recognized and honored by the State of Michigan Senate and House of Representatives as well as the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Among his many awards, he’s been honored with the United States senior senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson Award and Outstanding Hispanic Educator in two states and featured on NBC’s Nightly News, both nationally and internationally. For these and for everything Dr. G. has done for Burnham Wood Charter Schools, our local media has reached out to him.

So, don’t forget to watch our Dr. G. on KTSM Studio 9! It will air on Friday, August 12 from 6:30-7:00 P.M. and again on Saturday, August 13 from 6:30-7:00 P.M.

“As a Purple Star School District, we are proud of one of our District employees like Fernanda Valadez, serving our country”.

This article acknowledges the benefits of having a military base in Fort Bliss in El Paso, because you are close to home.

The 4th Expeditionary Sustainment Command has its headquarters in San Antonio, Texas but we are present in five states, two time zones, and 25 communities from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Little Rock, Arkansas.

El Paso, Texas is one of the communities where our Soldiers pursue civilian careers or attend college full-time, and still serve their community and country.

Specialist Hector Perez and Specialist Fernanda Valadez, both 92F – Petroleum Supply Specialists, serve with the 263rd Quartermaster Company, a local El Paso Army Reserve unit.

—4th Expeditionary Sustainment Command Facebook page

The Linguistic Academy of El Paso is expanding with support from the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Education Development (CREEED)! This $150,000 grant will allow the Linguistic Academy to expand their innovative language immersion program. The expansion will include ten new classrooms, a teacher workroom, computer lab, library, and meeting rooms. To read more about the grant, see the CREEED announcement in English or Español.

A 3D rendering of the new Linguistic Academy classroom wing

In these challenging times, many parents seek face-to-face instruction. KTSM covered this trend in a report aired on October 1. You can view the report below or read the story on the KTSM site.

Charter school district sees rise in enrollment while a local public school district sees a drop As the pandemic continues presenting changes and challenges for schools across the country, a charter school district in El Paso sees a jump in enrollment. www.ktsm.com

Burnham Wood Family of Charter Schools has again taken the lead when assuring that our students have every opportunity to succeed, whether it be through face-to-face instruction or virtual live streaming of classes. Superintendent Dr. Gonzales stated:

"We have learned that children learn best in a face-to-face pedagogical environment. Most educational experts proclaim that receiving lessons in a purely technological setting causes most children to perform at a 30% deficit from the traditional teacher-to-student and student-to-student setting. It is difficult to substitute solely technological classrooms for person-to-person classrooms. That is not to say that students did not learn and progress in a distance learning program, as some students actually received better grades in some classes and preferred the virtual learning platform."

"The combination model provides choices. A student may choose to attend school on campus and be involved in direct face-to-face instruction. This model is the same as the historic method of instruction delivery. Other students may choose to to receive the same instruction, but through a virtual platform. That is, these students will receive their instruction via an electronic device away from the campus setting. Both sets of students will receive the same instruction from the same instructors at the same time via face-to-face teaching and live streaming to students who are at home. The choice for on-campus or at-home learning is totally up to the parents. All our campuses have been contacting parents to ascertain which instructional delivery method is preferred by the parents and students. All classes will be in real-time (live). Tutoring will be available to any student who would benefit from tutoring."