History and tradition weave throughout the history of the Yselta Independent School District as it does throughout teh El Paso/Juarez metroplex, the largest international community in the world. With 54 campuses located in Ysleta ISD's 69.9 square mile area, the 48,500 students enrolled in early childhood to 12th grade make the district the 8th largest of the Urban Big 8 school districts in Texas.

Students attending Ysleta Elementary walk in the shadows of the oldest Mission still in service in the United States, the Ysleta Mission established in 1682. And within minutes of this historic location are two other historic missions also still serving residents of the lower valley, La Purisima in Socorro and the San Elizario Mission.

El Paso's history begins in the Ysleta area when the Spanish first arrived in 1598 lead by Juan de Oñate. Historians still conjecture today that Oñate's arrival, and the subsequent celebration of establishing a community in the Ysleta area, may have historically recorded the first Thanksgiving Celebration in the United States of America.

For the past six years on the last Saturday and Sunday in April, the annual re-enactment of Don Juan de Oñate's "First Thanksgiving" has been held at El Paso's Chamizal National Park which is situated near the banks of the Rio Grande.

If history is our legacy then education is our future..... a future with new challenges. Ysleta has, under the direction of Board of Trustees, and Superintendent Anthony J. Trujillo, forged a plan that places the district in the forefront of innovation in facilities, educational technology, and curriculum revisions... all assisting students in becoming decision-makers for the 21th Century.

As a small rural district in El Paso County, Ysleta grew nominally in its early years. However the population boom of the 1950s and 60s, expanded the number of campuses and facilities. Still using many of those existing campuses, Ysleta ISD's Vision is make each campus a hub of educational and technological enrichment.

Programs, funded by a timely restructuring of its debt by the Board of Trustees, have included and annual $10 million "pay-as-you-go" construction program on 17 campuses, plans for three new campuses to begin in the1995-96 school year, and strenghtening of the curriculum by requiring all entering 1994 freshmen to take four years of math and science.

As part of the Collaborative for Educational Excellence at the University of Texas at El Paso, Ysleta ISD has lead in the establishment of site-based decision making, leadership training, and the implementation of innovative mathematics and science plans through a $15 million grant for the National Science Foundation.

Technology is the "on-ramp" to the future. Ysleta students are already on that on-ramp using, for example, the twin technolgy domes at J.M. Hanks: the $1 million partnership with Southwest Bell in creating Distance Learning Labs at Hanks, Bel Air, Riverside, and YISD administration center: sophisticated computer editing equipment in the television production classes on all high school and middle school campuses; and, modern library renovations to many elementary schools.

Yeleta ISD is on the threshold of innovation in the state. Leading the state in submitting creative curriculum waiver requests, Ysleta ISD is making its Vision a reality........

"All students who enroll in our schools will graduate from high school prepared to enter a four year college or university."