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Port Arthur ISD principals outline turnaround plans as board hears progress reports
Summary
Principals at Memorial High School and Abraham Lincoln Fine Arts Academy presented turnaround plans emphasizing culture change, targeted interventions and partnerships with Texas Instructional Leadership; the board and community praised early signs of improvement.
PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Port Arthur Independent School District trustees on Tuesday heard detailed turnaround-plan presentations from principals at two campuses and praised early signs of progress.
Dr. Angel Murphy, principal of Memorial High School, summarized a turnaround plan the board approved last month that centers on changing school culture, strengthening instructional practice and using data to drive interventions. Murphy described a partnership with Texas Instructional Leadership (TIL), milestones spanning weeks of the school year, new campus staff (including an associate principal and a dean of instruction) and professional-development requirements. She said the school is training teachers to be ESL-endorsed and running focused POCs to prepare staff to pass endorsement assessments, with the district reimbursing test fees after teachers pass.
Murphy framed the plan as a community effort to shift how students and neighbors view Memorial, saying the school is ‘‘trying to change the culture and the climate’’ and stressing that the work is about students rather than any single leader.
At Abraham Lincoln Fine Arts Academy, Principal Trent Johnson presented "Operation Elevate," a three-year plan that sets the near-term goal of raising the campus from an "F" rating to a "C" within one year and improving to higher ratings thereafter. Johnson disaggregated 2024–25 baseline scores for accountability domain 3 and identified student cohorts the campus will target — for example, roughly 48 students described as ‘‘on the cusp’’ of meeting standards — with additional in-school advisory time, before- and after-school tutorials and Saturday school. He cited partnerships with Texas Instructional Leadership, Texas Lesson Study and a two-day training from Educentric as central to building teacher capacity and aligning instruction.
Board members and community speakers repeatedly commended both principals. Trustees noted improvements in campus climate and teacher support and urged ongoing community engagement — including sharing the district’s documented practices so other similar districts might learn from them.
District staff also reported parental-engagement efforts and extracurricular highlights, including a student author from Woodrow Wilson Early College High School, UIL competition wins and a district communications campaign that produced a widely viewed social video celebrating principals.
The meeting closed after routine business; trustees approved the October minutes, a consent agenda and several personnel appointments.
