Staff report
The Board of Trustees for the Hays Consolidated Independent School District approved Monday the selection of Sandra Valdez as the new principal at Blanco Vista Elementary School.
Valdez has enjoyed a successful career in education for more than 15 years. She began in 1999 serving as a pre-K, kindergarten, and 4th grade bilingual teacher for Socorro Independent School District. Her tenure also included several leadership positions in the bilingual department, such as: bilingual/LPAC coordinator, bilingual department budget chairperson, tutoring coordinator, and mentor teacher. After earning her Master in Education Administration from the University of Texas at El Paso, Valdez began her role as an educational leader with the Canutillo ISD. There, she served as an elementary and middle school assistant principal. Most recently, she was the principal of Jose Damian Elementary School.
Valdez was selected as the new principal for Blanco Vista Elementary School after meetings with campus teachers, staff members, and parents. The principal selection committee used information gathered in focus groups held at the campus at which stakeholders expressed the qualities they would like to see in a principal and the direction they would like to see the campus grow.
“A strive for academic excellence,” is what Valdez says, “drives her leadership.” She is the type of person who “works closely with teachers and all stakeholders to address student needs and ensure barriers to student learning are identified.” Valdez has extensive experience in the successful planning, implementation and evaluation of the bilingual program. Furthermore, she has built and maintained a campus culture of excellence that puts the needs of students first and foremost and sets high student expectations.
As principal, Valdez has led Jose Damian Elementary to exceeded STAAR state standards and received ‘Met Standard’ accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency for 2013 and 2014. Most impressively, the campus received distinction designations in 2014 for ‘Top 25% Student Progress,’ ‘Top 25% Closing Achievement Gaps,’ and ‘Academic Achievement in Mathematics and Science.’
