In her first year as a campus chief, Alejandra Garcia is looking to build on the accomplishments she helped achieve as an assistant principal at Travis Elementary School.
Travis was an F school under state accountability ratings last year, but they are a C this year and Garcia had a hand in that.
Garcia, along with Principal Amy Russell, who is now helming Bowie Middle School, established procedures that moved Travis up in the rankings.
“My first year as an administrator was Ms. Russell’s second year as a principal here. We were just setting procedures and that’s something that this year we’re going to come in and continue with those procedures. Mostly we just need to tighten and continue at what they’re doing, but also add some rigor and some depth into it so that we can continue growing and shooting for that A. It’s possible. I think that teachers have the love and the passion and the drive to get there,” Garcia said.
Michelle Keast, who was a fine arts teacher at Milam Elementary, is now the assistant principal at Travis. This is Keast’s first year as an assistant principal. “So we’re definitely learning and growing together, which has been fun. It’s been a good experience this past two weeks,” Garcia said.
Garcia has been with ECISD for eight years serving as an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Ector Middle School; an assistant principal at Ector College Prep, Ector’s new name, an assistant principal at Travis and Odessa High School and now principal of Travis. A native of Big Spring, Garcia earned her associate degree at Howard College. She got a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s in educational leadership from University of Texas Permian Basin.
She started working on her doctorate in June in educational leadership from Texas Tech University.
“The information that I’m going to learn during my doctorate work … goes hand in hand with the work I do here. I’m in a cohort with 13 other principals and superintendents and assistant superintendents that I can also just bounce ideas (off of),” Garcia said.
The online degree has one person from Midland with the remainder from Lubbock or other parts of the country. Garcia said she went for a doctorate because knowledge is power.
“I just think I wanted to keep learning. I wanted to keep growing … The more schooling I have, the more education I have, the more I’m able to help students, the more doors open, so that we can have more resources to help in whatever position I’m ever in,” Garcia added. But really, she wants to be in a position where she can make decisions that are going to help a majority of students.
“I love the whole scheme of education. I think it’s great,” she said. From an early age, Garcia said she knew she would go into education. Her brother, Gerardo Garcia, and her sister-in-law Elise Wagner, both teach at Odessa High School.
They have one daughter, Scarlet, who attends Reagan Magnet Elementary School. “… My mom says that I would line up my dolls and be teacher. She knew whenever kids would get in trouble at school because my dolls would get in trouble the same way that the kids would get in trouble at school,” Garcia said.
“… I have been very lucky that school has always been such a positive thing for me. … Of course, I wanted to grow up and make it a positive thing for other students the way it was for me,” she added. Garcia said she had a gifted and talented history teacher that made learning engaging and fun. “We did projects. We did videos. We did storytime with history. I learned so much that year, but I remember having so much fun,” she said.
That’s when she knew she needed to be in a role where she could give that kind of experience to everyone.
Her goals for Travis are to continue growing and try to get an A rating next year. She would also like to get more parent and community involvement and grow their magnet program.
Mauricio Marquez, former OHS principal and now an executive director of leadership for the district, worked with Garcia as an assistant principal at OHS.
“She has great rapport with students, parents and teachers and a strong understanding of curriculum. She will be a great asset to the Travis learning community,” Marquez said via text message.
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