By Allan Jamail
Jacinto City, TX. – Monday, March 29, 2021 will go down in history as one of the most important days in the City’s history. In 1944, its first school — a tiny wooden building originally named the Industrial Elementary School — which contained one office, a small kitchen, cafeteria, and several classrooms with 200 students, now has been transformed to the latest state-of-the-art school. In 1947, the city of Jacinto City was incorporated and the name of the school was changed to Jacinto City Elementary.
Two years after the May, 29, 2019 ground-breaking ceremony, the new two-story, $26+ million school, home of the Tigers (mascot), has the most latest technological advances available. It will accommodate grades Pre-K through 5th grade.
The indoor ceremony began with an invocation from Rick Blount, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jacinto City; Pledges to the flags by fifth graders Angelica Gonzalez and Allen Cardenas; GPISD Superintendant Dr. John Moore Jr. welcomed attendees; Introductions made by Executive Director Sherrhonda Johnson; Trustee and former Tiger student Noe Esparza gave a greeting from the Board of Trustees; and the entertainment was provided by the Honor Choir under the direction of music teacher Jueretta Berry. They sang “Jacinto City is the Best School in the World,” written by Jueretta Berry.
A partial list of those attending the ceremony were the GPISD Superintendant Dr. John Moore Jr., Trustees Noe Esparza, Norma Hernandez, Associate Superintendent Terri Moore, Senior Director for Facilities Planning Sonny Fletcher, Executive Director for Community Relations Sherrhonda Johnson, Coordinator of Web Services Chris Gause, Principal Dr. Rebecca “Becky” Gardea, Assistant Principal Cecilia Meza, Administrative Aide Dina Gonzales, Constable Pct. 2 Jerry Garcia, Jacinto City’s Mayor Ana Diaz, Council members Carmela Garcia, Mario Gonzales, Allen Lee, Gregg Robinson, City Manager Lon Squyres, Police Chief Joe Ayala, and Fire Chief Rebecca Mier. State Senator Carol Alvarado and State Representative Ana Hernandez were in Legislative Session and were represented by Sara Montelogo-Oyervidez and Linda Jamail respectively. President & CEO North Channel Area Chamber of Commerce Margie Buentello and representatives of VLK Architect and Comex Corporation Contractor were also in attendance. North Channel Star writer Allan Jamail — whose daughter Yvette and son Allan Jr. still go by the school’s motto, “Once a Tiger, always a Tiger” — he and his wife Linda Jamail were taken on a excellent educational tour by Classroom Interactional Competence Teacher Claudia Trevino.
GPISD’s Senior Director for Facilities Planning Sonny Fletcher said the school has a functional capacity of 750.