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Pasadena ISD highlights services for highly mobile and at‑risk students, cites rising numbers
Summary
District staff outlined programs and partnerships serving foster care, McKinney‑Vento/homeless, migrant and military students and reported notable increases in some categories compared with state averages.
Pasadena Independent School District staff presented a spotlight on services for highly mobile and at‑risk students at the March board meeting, describing increased local need and a network of campus and community supports intended to keep those students in school and on track for graduation.
Nitzi Retta introduced the presentation and district staff described the at‑risk cohort to include foster care youth, McKinney‑Vento (homeless) students, migrant students and military‑connected students. Presenters said district data show a marked increase in shelter‑identified students (described as "doubling" compared with state figures) and an increase in hotel/motel‑identified students (described as "tripling" compared with state figures).
Presenters described the role of campus case managers who act as a "bridge" between campuses, district departments and external partners. Staff credited a range of internal departments — human resources, technology, finance and others — and long‑standing community partners for supporting housing, technology and academic continuity. Staff also described a foster care success story of a student who graduated after being housed transiently and said those outcomes motivate the program work.
District staff said that federal grant funding varied year to year and that this school year the district did not receive a specific federal grant (listed generically as a federal program) that it had previously used; staff said the district leaned on Title I and other local funds and partnerships to continue services. Staff also noted the district uses technology to track credits and attendance to find and reconnect mobile students.
The presentation closed with a recorded testimony from a former student, Atziri Marisol Montoya Lopez, who described enrolling in Pasadena ISD in 2015, connecting with counselors and district programs, receiving school supplies and transportation to events, and graduating in 2019. "Everything that this program offered me helped me to go where I'm at right now," she said.
The board received the presentation for information; no action items were taken.
