Head of the class — San Benito CISD’s Angela Gerusa Leal Elementary made history, boosting not only the best scores in the campus’s history but the best scores in the district this year. Below, campus Principal Diane Jacquez is shown displaying a placard hailing AGL’s accolades. (Courtesy photos/AGL)
By ALBERT VILLEGAS
Special to the NEWS
Angela Gerusa Leal Elementary School was one of several San Benito CISD schools to earn an “A” campus rating and a 92 score, according to the Texas Education Agency, which released the results a few weeks ago.
The 92 score, however, singled out Leal Elementary because in the process, it achieved the highest score of any other SBCISD campus.
Leal Elementary also earned the following awards: Academic Achievement in Math, Academic Achievement in Science, Top 25% Academic Growth, Top 25% Comparative Closing the Gap, and Postsecondary Readiness.
It’s all welcome news as the school begins its 14th year of operation.
For its sixth-year Principal, Diane Jacquez, she is still marveling at the feat that her students and staff accomplished, and everyone she feels has been associated with the school, even the relatives/guardians of the students, many of whom are directly involved in school affairs on a daily or weekly basis.
Leal Elementary is “one family, one dream,” Jacquez said. The phrase may appear as just words on school reading material, or on its website and social media platforms.
However, when it comes to real-life interaction, only those closely linked to the school truly understand.
“It’s beyond amazing because the students we serve here are considered a special population, meaning we serve a lot of bilingual students,” Jacquez said as she sat behind her office desk with a school radio near her that blared out activities in both English and Spanish.
“It’s difficult because of the language barrier with the students and their families, but I’m so grateful for the community we serve because they are very humble, and they want their children to learn,” she remarked.
The school is named after Angela Gerusa Leal, who passed away on June 6, 2011, at age 88. She was a pioneer, being the first Hispanic female school administrator at SBCISD.
The school that bears her name has always been located along FM 732, about two miles beyond the famous Freddy Fender water tower that is located along Interstate 69 for thousands of motorists to view.
What goes on here for “country” students who hail from the Bent Tree area, Lago, and some of the Rice Tract areas, and the Resaca Del Monte subdivision, is truly educational-based.
“We are in the business of educating our students and preparing them as they begin the next phase in their lives,” Jacquez said.
The school has two administrators, six support staff members, seven educational aides, and 23 teachers.
According to data from the 2024-25 school year, Leal ES had 356 students.
“Since I began my tenure here, I’ve always told my staff and teachers, let’s focus on what we can control from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and not worry about what we can’t because it will only bring us down,” Jacquez said. “I say this often to them, when the students walk into this campus … they’re the richest kids in the world. Why, because we provide anything and everything for them.”
Besides academics, staff focus on the children’s well-being and enriching their lives, she said.
“We always tell them we love them,” Jacquez adds.
The tests administered to Leal Elementary and other campuses were in April 2025.
The school performed excellently to earn this state accountability rating of “A” based on three domains: student achievement, school progress, and closing the gaps, Jacquez said.
Scores are tallied from 0 to 100 to align with letter grades. The school scored 76 in student achievement, 92 in school progress, and 92 in closing performance gaps,” Jacquez said. “It scored 92 overall in post-secondary readiness, which is a broad term that refers to student preparedness to undertake multiple pathways after graduation, or specifically their preparedness for college education.”
Last year, SBCISD began to rezone these students to Riverside Middle School.
Jacquez is awaiting word from SBCISD to receive an invite so the San Benito CISD Board of Trustees can recognize the school’s achievements during a regular meeting.
