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ECISD outlines Project Gateway push to recover students, reports 502 returned so far
Summary
The Edinburg CISD presented Project Gateway data showing active efforts to recover students who withdrew last year; staff reported 502 of 533 returning students remain actively enrolled and the district is tracking 348 dropouts and 174 'no-shows' during a five-week recovery window.
Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Mario Salinas and staff on Tuesday described Project Gateway, the district’s outreach effort to find and re‑enroll students who left ECISD during the 2024–25 school year. The presentation said Project Gateway began Aug. 25 and runs through a cutoff of Sept. 26 for accountability reporting.
The district said it started the 2025–26 school year with about 11,178 students classified as leavers that the recovery team would attempt to locate. “When we started the 25‑26 school year, we started looking for for about a 170 students,” project analyst Freddy Martinez said. Martinez reported that, as of the most recent run of the district report, 533 students who withdrew last year had returned this school year and 502 remained actively enrolled.
The presentation included a breakdown of outcomes for the 533 returning students: counts coded as “good” reasons for withdrawal (for accountability purposes) included homeschooling, migration to another country, graduation, and verified enrollment in another Texas district or charter. Martinez said 17 of the 533 were reclassified into categories that do not count against accountability (for example, documented out‑of‑state or international moves). He said 10 students were in categories considered “bad” for accountability — including dropouts, pending enrollments in charter schools, or unknown out‑of‑district moves — until verification is completed.
Dr. Salinas described fieldwork conducted by parental involvement assistants, truancy officers, dropout prevention clerks, registrars and campus administrators: “We’re conducting phone calls. We’re doing home visits. They’re out in the field. They’re knocking on doors,” he said, and staff verify enrollments through the state TSDS (Texas Student Data System) when possible. The district uses forms such as homeschooling declarations and “return to home country” letters to document reasons for withdrawals.
District data run early on the meeting day showed 348 students still listed as dropouts and 174 listed as no‑shows; the presentation said the current district dropout rate is 2.18 percent compared with 1.26 percent the prior year. Project staff emphasized that the five‑week window for the intensive recovery phase includes daily follow‑up and weekly roundtables where campus teams adjust outreach strategies.
Staff described campus‑level supports intended to prevent departures and reengage students: targeted early‑warning monitoring of attendance, grades and discipline; counseling and social‑work referrals; mentoring (including peer mentoring and programs such as GEAR UP where available); after‑school programming and credit‑recovery options; and flexible scheduling at the district’s Vision Academy for students who work or have other obligations. Dr. Salinas noted that Vision Academy graduates last year numbered 161 across four sites and described extended hours and Saturday sessions to accommodate working students.
Board members pushed for additional, nontraditional options to retain students. Trustee Javier Salinas and several board members urged pursuing partnerships with local vocational and certification programs — for example CDL, welding, cosmetology/barbering, nursing assistant and other short‑term credential programs — so students can leave school with employable skills. Trustee Salinas said these options should be fast and practical: “We have to continue to think out of the box,” he said. Several trustees also proposed expanding mentoring, “safe club” supports for isolated students and more visible campus outreach to families.
Staff said the Project Gateway report is shared weekly with principals and attendance teams during the five‑week window and that the district will present a final report after the cutoff date for accountability. “We started August 25. Our deadline for accountability purposes is September 26,” Dr. Salinas said.
No formal board action was taken on Project Gateway during the meeting; the presentation was informational.
