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South Texas ISD and UTRGV announce letter of intent to create collegiate high school
Summary
South Texas Independent School District and representatives from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley announced a letter of intent to establish a collegiate high school that would let high school students earn college credit; the partners cited past success enrolling more than 500 students in dual-credit coursework.
A South Texas ISD official announced Wednesday that the district is expanding its partnership with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and has signed a letter of intent to establish a collegiate high school that will allow high school students to earn college credit while completing their diplomas.
The official said the move builds on a partnership signed four years ago that allowed students at the district’s four high schools to attend UTRGV courses and earn up to 42 college credit hours. "Well, it's an amazing day for South Texas ISD," the official said, later adding that "we are actually going to establish a collegiate high school."
Dr. Bailey of UTRGV, whose team the district credited for the partnership, called the letter of intent "a huge thing for us" and for the Rio Grande Valley. He said the expanded partnership previously "gave more than 500 students an opportunity to get college courses before they got out of high school," and that earning college credit early "helps them progress toward their college degree in a timely fashion. It saves them money and really helps them succeed."
District leaders said the collegiate high school will join similar programs in Harlingen, McAllen and Edinburg. The South Texas ISD official thanked Dr. Bailey, the district board of directors, central office leaders and campus leaders for their roles in developing the partnership and the planned program.
The transcript records an announcement of a letter of intent and plans to establish the collegiate high school "in the near future," but does not record a formal board vote or a detailed implementation timeline. Next procedural steps and specific timelines for opening the collegiate high school were not specified in the remarks.
