Bel Air High School (El Paso, Texas) - History

History

Bel Air's first graduating senior class in 1961 had only 61 graduates; today Bel Air High School graduates more than 400 annually. The school is part of the Ysleta Independent School District. Bel Air is a school for health professions.

Bel Air High School made Newsweek 's list of the nation's top high schools based on rankings influenced heavily by the number of students who took Advanced Placement tests the previous year. According to a MSNBC.com report, Bel Air ranks 984th on Newsweek 's list of the nation's top high schools. The schools were ranked based on the number of students taking the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests in 2004 divided by the number of graduating seniors. The school is in good standing as of October 2005, making significant academic progress (double digit increases) under the guidance of then principal Daniel Girard. In the December 2008 issue of U.S. News & World Report, Bel Air High School was ranked as silver metal in U.S. news rank for its college readiness index. This was based on school data from 2006–2007, when Mr. Girard was principal.

A decade ago, Bel Air was on the verge of being taken over by the state for poor academic performance. Instead of state oversight, the school in 1996 became the only public high school in the county to be reconstituted, meaning all employees, from custodians to teachers, had to reapply for their jobs at the school. Only former principal Vern Butler was allowed to remain without having to reapply for his job. Seventy-three of the 132 teachers and staff members who were at Bel Air were rehired.

The current facilities consists of a main building, a four story science wing and library, Army JROTC Building, Health Professions (HP) Building, Fine Arts Building, a Theatre Building, high school stadium, and newly made field house.

In October 2006, 12 teachers at Bel Air High School filed a grievance against the Ysleta Independent School District claiming they were required to work during off-duty hours without compensation. The grievance claimed labor-law violations and harassment from then-principal Daniel Girard and other administrators. In June 2007, two members of Ysleta Independent School District Board of Trustees apologized to the teachers who complained, but the Board voted not to compensate the teachers. After the filing of the grievance, five of the twelve teachers had either requested a transfer to another school, or quit. Daniel Girard, who had been Principal of Bel Air High School since September 25, 2005, accepted a job as a principal of Akins High School in the Austin Independent School District. After Daniel Girard left the district an independent investigator, appointed by the YISD, found no wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Girard. Upon Mr. Girard's acceptance of principalship in Austin in May 2007, Marvyn Luckett, who had previously been with the YISD for over 22 years, was appointed Principal of Bel Air High School for the 2007-2008 school year. Since then, school data based on the 2007-2008 school year show that Bel Air High School has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (August 2008). In November 2009 Bel Air High School was re-recognized by Texas Education Agency (TEA). Since July 2010, Dr. Dora De La Rosa became principal. She was the principal for Tejas School of Choice, another school in the Ysleta district.