SAN ANTONIO – A new program kicked off in the Edgewood Independent School District this school year.
Las Palmas and Roy Cisneros Elementary have transformed its curriculum to International Baccalaureate, or IB. Las Palmas Elementary is now Las Palmas Leadership School for Girls, while the neighboring campus has taken the name of Roy Cisneros Leadership School for Boys.
The honors curriculum is the first of its kind on the city’s West Side and is open to students across Bexar County. Both campuses are in the candidate stage of becoming IB schools, and, in just a few years they will be the first all-girls and all-boys IB schools in the state of Texas.
The halls of the schools may look the same, but the classroom curriculum is now a world-wide education program focused on advanced learning and character development.
“(The curriculum is) trans-disciplinary,” Monica Muñoz, head of schools at Las Palmas Leadership School for Girls said. “Students are seeing how math interacts with science, what their role is in social studies and in reading and how all of the units blend in together.”
The dual-language IB schools at Edgewood ISD have been years in the making in partnership with the nonprofit organization Texas Council of International Studies or TCIS.
“This is an opportunity for students to receive a world class education,” D’Les Gonzáles, director of operations for TCIS said. “Many people pay up to $30,000 to $100,000 for this type of education and this is an education we are providing for free for our students (at Edgewood ISD).”
The campuses are entering their first of three years as candidates to officially become an IB school.
“Schools go through various trainings, have to implement the IB curriculum throughout a three-year process and go through the process of becoming verified and authorized,” Gonzáles said. “It is a very lengthy process.”
It’s a process TCIS and administrators at Edgewood ISD said will be a game changer for students in the West Side of San Antonio and across Bexar County.
Muñoz said the change comes after asking parents what they want for their children.
“The goal has always been college. Parents want a career for their kids,” Muñoz said. “What is unique is now we have that system. We have that support to get us there. It’s not just a wish or hope. We now have a structure. We have the support to be able to.”
Both campuses are dual-language and are still accepting new students from all across Bexar County.
To learn more about the services included and clubs or organizations offered at Las Palmas Leadership School for Girls, click here. To view the all-girls school’s digital brochure, click here.
And to learn more about the services included and clubs or organizations offered at Roy Cisneros Leadership School for Boys, click here. You can view the all-boys school’s digital brochure here.