Instituto Bilingue San Jose

An amazing staff serving the students in the south McAllen community.

Feel extremely blessed for my son to be at Thigpen-Zavala. He has been going there for 4 years and we couldn't be any happier. He is excelling in every way with the help of everyone. He gets so much encouragement from the teachers, coaches and so many others. You can see that Mrs Casas, the Principal, plays a very vital role in the success of the students. She is very involved and makes everyone feel welcomed. We have and will continue to choose Thigpen-Zavala!

I've had a handful of issues in the the years my child has been attending. I've seen my child's learning process digress as this school has continued to place my child with children that need more specialized attention. I diligently drive to assist my child in advanced ideas and methods during the summers and after school only to have my child placed in a low expection class. My child is not challenged to grow and advance learning skills and now has a " I don't have to do more because it is not expected of me in my class" view. I am not okay with this minimal goal setting and this school needs to do more to encourage just the opposite mentality in these children. I've been told by a teacher that they won't push them to read so they enjoy reading more. Goal setting IS pushing them to read. Give them a higher goal and at least give them the opportunity to meet a higher challenge. The expectation from the higher level classes vs the lower level classes is extreme. The Starr test wouldn't be as stressful if some of these children were taught with a bit more confidence in their ability to comprehend. "Things are difficult if WE make them difficult" is what I have always told my child. Every child that is capable of being challenged at a higher level SHOULD be challenged. This school is creating a pool of children that will have to work that much harder in high school and college to catch up to the median. Unless this is this district's median. Needless to say we will be disenrolling; my child is worth more than this.

We Moved to Texas, for my Job. Originally From North Georgia. My Son Attended Clarke Creek Elementary School in Cherokee County, Georgia. He was there Kindergarten and 1st grade. He as always excited about school. Then we moved and he started 2nd Grade in this school. He did not like going to school. He did like all his teachers, but he absolutely did not like to stay in school. His grades started to slip and he started to fall behind. The school even enrolled him in ESL program. I thought it was a joke since my son is Born in Marietta, Georgia and he spoke better English then most of the kids in school. I finally found out, since majority of the kids are Hispanic, they all speak Spanish in school. My son was constantly bullied by kids and used homophobic slur toward him. I asked the school to take action, but they did nothing. I Had to personally talked to father of the boy who was bulling my son to stop. Now My son go to Winder Elementary. He absolutely loves his new school. he is not struggling at school. And this year he became the spelling bee champion for barrow county and placed 4th on regional spelling bee.