This is your Friday update, which takes a quick look at the week ahead and some developments that El Paso Matters is following.
EPCC experiences enrollment bump: El Paso Community College announced a fall 2023 enrollment of 24,963. That is a 3% increase over last year’s 24,203. The fall semester started Aug. 28. Meanwhile, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso has staggered starts for its schools of nursing, medicine, dental medicine and biomedical sciences that range from late August to early September. A spokesman said that the university should have its registration numbers ready by early October. The University of Texas at El Paso also reported a slight increase.
City Rep Complaint Forwarded to Ethics Commission: The city’s Ethics Review Commission will conduct a hearing to review an ethics complaint filed against former city Rep. Claudia Rodriguez. The complaint was filed by Tom Laign. Laign alleges, in part, that Rodriguez abused her city-issued fuel card while she was in office. Rodriguez served as a city representative from February 2020 through Jan. 2, 2023, when she lost her re-election bid to Art Fierro. The date for the hearing has not been set.
EPISD Corrects Dual-Language Teacher Stipend: After a number of El Paso Independent School District bilingual teachers noticed a reduction in their pay, the school board voted 5-0 Tuesday to update its policy to ensure teachers receive their promised stipend for teaching in two languages. Board secretary Isabel Hernandez was absent and trustee Alex Cuellar recused himself from voting. Superintendent Diana Sayavedra said the issue happened because administrators misinterpreted the new compensation package passed by the board in June. Previously, the policy gave teachers stipends up to $2,500 if at least 50% of the class spoke another language besides English at home. The new policy provides these stipends to any teacher in a bilingual program assignment.
The post The Week Ahead: EPCC sees a 3% increase in enrollment appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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