After serving in a variety of capacities, Raquel Rodriguez feels ready to take over as principal of Ross Elementary School.
This is Rodriguez’ 19th year with Ector County ISD. She had been assistant principal at Noel Elementary School for the past three years, taught for 10 years and was in the curriculum and instruction department for five years.
She replaces Susan Hendricks, who is now leadership coordinator for ECISD. Ross has 40 staff members and about 350 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade.
Rodriguez also went through the talent pipeline at ECISD for those aspiring to be campus chiefs and was pre-selected, along with several others, for a principal spot at a June ECISD Board of Trustees meeting for when there was an opening.
“I have been preparing for this for a very long time,” Rodriguez said.
She added that it’s not just the three years as an assistant principal that have qualified her for the principalship. It’s also her years in curriculum and instruction, which has prepared her for what matters most which is “fully supporting teachers.”
“I feel extremely fortunate because Ross seems to be right up my alley with the systems and procedures that they have in place. My main goal here is to keep the momentum going and to continue with the wonderful things that they’ve been working on the past few years,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is from Odessa. She graduated from Odessa High School and received an academic scholarship to attend University of Texas Permian Basin. She earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science.
“I worked in the computer field for a while and then went into teaching,” Rodriguez said.
She and her husband, Gilbert, have two children.
When she had her son, she wanted to be there for him.
“If I was going to have a career and still be a mom, I realized I needed to to do something (where) I would be there with him. It worked out great. He went to the school that I was teaching at and then … I had my daughter (and) she went to the school that I was teaching at. When they were off, I was off. … That was when I realized that I had a deep love for teaching and learning,” Rodriguez said.
Being a principal now feels right.
“It feels like I have the background to help me in this role, and so that’s what feels right. It feels natural to me. Definitely, the years I spent in curriculum and instruction, I went to trainings for all content areas for all grade levels. I came back to the campus and supported teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade with planning lessons, modeling instructional strategies, preparing and delivering trainings for professional development,” Rodriguez said.
“… It’s more than just being a principal. It’s being the instructional leader because you roll your sleeves up and you get on in there with everything that’s going on,” she added.
Ross is entering its third year as an Opportunity Culture campus. It had been in place Noel for one year.
“I’ve been involved with creating a plan for Opportunity Culture, and seeing the first year through. But coming to a campus where it’s their third year, I see how it’s supposed to flow and it’s given me this overall picture of what it’s supposed to look like,” Rodriguez said.
“… The culture of coaching and feedback for teachers in this campus is incredible. We definitely commit to protecting purposeful in-school time for planning, collaboration and teacher development. All of those things in the long run are what truly impact student learning. …,” she added.
She added that she is pleased to be at a campus where she can continue the momentum.
“I work closely with Ms. Hendricks and I can text her at any time. She’s been supporting me through the transition just to make it a flawless transition. I haven’t had to create anything from scratch, that’s for sure,” Rodriguez said.
“… I know Ms. Hendricks. I used to be her instructional specialist, so I know her style. She trained me back when I was in curriculum and instruction. We have very similar philosophies and our work ethic is very similar. It was just a natural fit here …,” she added.
Her assistant principal, who is also new, is Brenda Ruiz. Ruiz has been a special education diagnostician, Rodriguez said.
“So she has that incredible background where she will be able to fully support all students. She’s learning now about the the ELL (English Language Learner) students and how to help support bilingual students. That’s going to be new for her, but she’s going to be a great asset in the area of special education,” Rodriguez said.
Along with building on the existing foundation at Ross, Rodriguez said she would like to introduce blended learning.
“I think that would be a slow implementation, starting with just a few pilot teachers. But I have seen the incredible growth that blended learning (can) bring in a classroom from my experience at Noel. We implemented blended learning there and it was incredible. Everything flowed so easily for teachers, so that’s definitely something I would like to do in the future.
“… I always describe it (blended learning) as a blender with all of these best practices. It does not take the spotlight away from the teacher. The teacher still is in control of her mini lesson. … After her mini lesson, she’ll have students practice independently in an independent station. She’ll have students practice through technology in a technology station. She’ll have students working, collaborating together in a small group. And all this will be happening at the same time while she’s pulling small groups,” Rodriguez said.
“Blended learning still has the traditional whole group mini lesson and then everybody breaks into their areas. They’ll also transition from students working independently to students coming to the collaboration station to those students going to technology. They get the opportunity to try the lesson in all these different models. If they work better independently, they still have the opportunity to work in a collaboration station. They still have the opportunity to develop their technology skills. It’s not limiting the lesson to just one way of doing it. You have several different ways of doing it and students get opportunities to try all these different ways,” to see what works best for them, she added.
“The teacher is still able to pull her small group and work with the kids who need that re-teach. It’s really neat to see it in action,” Rodriguez said.
Chief of Schools Keeley Boyer said the district is excited to have Rodriguez as the new principal at Ross.
“She is an innovative leader who things outside the box when it comes to instructional practices. She has a strong background in special education and curriculum and instruction and will bring a ton of energy to Ross,” Boyer said.
