It's out with the old and in with the new at Edcouch-Elsa ISD as a 6 pack of former students are elected as new school board members.
"We were all frustrated, we were tired. We are all came to school here and we felt like we got a really good education but it's fallen off. EEISD has developed a bad reputation," says newly elected board member Jose Saldivar.
The youngest is only 25 years old and graduated from Edcouch-Elsa High School in 2006, but the group says although they are young and new to the game, they are ready to turn things around for the district they all believe in.
"We need to pick ourselves up to number one in the valley," says Jarret Castillo
newly elected school board member.
Castillo, former Yellowjacket quarterback, joins Saldivar and Eusebio Nava outside the administration building where they will have a lot of work ahead of them in a school district which has been under a cloud of controversy for years. It’s had a revolving door of sorts of superintendents and the new members will be soon discussing the future of the current man in charge.
"First things first, we’ll do an audit and then an evaluation and see where we stand there and either retain or we look somewhere else," says Castillo.
Mark Lozano, Hugo de la Cruz, and Genesis Montalvo also block walked for months in anticipation of elections and say their “Forget Politics” campaign struck a chord.
"That's what we want to focus on first. We want to let the teachers know we want to work with them and serve and change that mindset about being intimidated," says Nava.
A tough road lies ahead for the group who wants to mend relationships with educators and students while restoring the faith of their community.
"The good thing is we're united so obviously we can work together."
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