El Paso High Schools

6 districts flunk federal ratings

Only three of El Paso County's nine school districts met federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards under the No Child Left Behind Act, according to results released Thursday.

Each district and school receives an annual state rating, ranging from exemplary to unacceptable, and a federal AYP rating, which a school and district either meets or misses. Meeting standards for the federal rating system are similar to achieving a recognized state rating.

A school can fail the federal ratings based on three factors: performance on the mathematics and reading state mandated tests; not enough students were tested; and, a school's overall attendance and graduation rates.

This year, only El Paso, Tornillo and Ysleta school districts met AYP rating standards. The remaining districts - Socorro, Canutillo, Clint, Anthony, Fabens and San Elizario - all missed the standards, which are based on performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exams.

Officials at some districts that did not meet AYP standards argued the system is flawed and punished districts with previously high scores that did not grow enough from year to year, particularly regarding special education testing.

"Our students with special needs, while they outperform the other districts, did not grow enough to meet the annual yearly progress," said Xavier De La Torre, superintendent of the Socorro Independent School District.

"We are disappointed and we are probably more frustrated than anything else," De La Torre said. "We have decided AYP is important, but it will not define the district."

District officials said federal ratings are calculated differently than ratings by the Texas Education Agency. The Socorro, Canutillo and Clint school districts, along with El Paso and Tornillo, are rated as "recognized" by the TEA.

Clint district spokeswoman Laura Cade said her district narrowly missed AYP by three of 21 measures testing reading by special education and limited-English proficient students.

Canutillo district spokesman Gustavo Reveles Acosta said tests for special education students also caused that district to miss AYP.

"It's sad. In one end, we are celebrating it is the first time we are recognized (by the state) in 10 years and on the other hand we are dealing with AYP all because the feds and the state are not in line with how they test," Reveles Acosta said.

Former El Paso high school teacher pleads guilty to child ...

EL PASO, Texas — A former high school dance instructor pleaded guilty Aug. 2 to child pornography charges, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Marco Antonio Alferez, 35, pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting children and distributing child pornography. Alferez faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 50 years in federal prison.

According to the factual basis filed in this case, and admitted to by the defendant, ICE HSI special agents assigned to the Cyber Crimes Group executed a search warrant at Alferez' residence on Sept. 21, 2010, and seized his computer and more than 100 videotapes.

A subsequent forensics review of the computer revealed the presence of 98 commercially available child pornography videos. The computer also contained about 150 self-produced, hidden camera videos depicting children in a dressing area during various stages of undress, including full nudity.

In each of the self-produced videos, the defendant can be seen initially setting up the hidden camera and often heard off-camera instructing his students to take off all of their clothes in order to try on clothing he supplied.

The videotapes also contained similar scenes of children from five El Paso schools where Alferez taught, including two elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools. Furthermore, the two of the self-produced, hidden-camera videos depict Alferez engaging in sexual relations with a minor female. In all, Alferez's recordings contained about 400 child victims.

Alferez remains in federal custody pending sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, an ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. Since ICE launched Operation Predator in 2003, more than 12,800 child sex predators, sex tourists and child pornographers have been arrested.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators by calling at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. For more information, visit www.ice.gov .

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