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Harlandale ISD principal presents three-year turnaround plan for Vesto Elementary
Summary
Vesto Elementary principal presented a three-year turnaround plan after two consecutive unacceptable ratings, targeting higher reading and math performance, stronger teacher PLCs and partnerships with ESC Region 20; benchmarks will be administered late Januaryearly February.
Ms. Motomayor, principal of Vesto Elementary, told the Harlandale ISD Board of Trustees that the campus has produced a 202526 2026 turnaround plan after the school received unacceptable performance ratings for two consecutive years, triggering a turnaround under Texas Education Code 39A101. "The purpose of this plan is to ensure that we take intentional, data-driven action to accelerate student learning and address performance gaps," she said.
The plan sets measurable targets and a three-year milestone timeline. Ms. Motomayor said the campus aims to raise reading proficiency to roughly 42% meeting grade-level expectations and to strengthen math through the district scope and sequence, adoption of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) over time, and intensive PLC-based teacher development. She told trustees the campus saw an overall grade of 69 in 2023, dropped to 52 in 2024 and was calculated at 62 for 2025, noting state adjustments under the Texas Accountability system impacted final labels.
School leadership outlined strategies and partners: ESC Region 20 will serve as a core capacity-builder, Blue Bonnet Reading is already being implemented, and the school will roll reading HQIM and PLC work in year one, adopt math HQIM in year two and sustain fidelity checks in year three. Monitoring will include monthly learning walks, district coordinator walkthroughs and campus data reviews.
Trustees asked about headcount and grade-level distribution. Ms. Motomayor said current enrollment is about 540 students this year versus about 520 last year, and estimated roughly 180 students across grades three through five. On the risk of an ongoing "forced F" label tied to domain results, a district staff member explained how the three-of-four domain rule can cause a forced F if several domains fall below thresholds, and described how raising multiple domain scores would change the overall outcome.
Board members pressed on testing cadence; Ms. Motomayor said benchmarks are ongoing and that the next formal benchmark window is scheduled for the end of January into early February. Several trustees commended the campus team for recent growth and said they look forward to future reports.
The district did not take an action to adopt the plan at the meeting; Ms. Motomayor ended by inviting further questions and said staff will continue implementation and reporting to the board.
