Sustainability

Our Commitment

Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD (PSJA ISD) schools and departments will unite around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the 2023-2024 school year. 

As part of these efforts, PSJA ISD will continue integrating the SDGs into its curriculum to equip students with pertinent real-world knowledge and hands-on experiences crucial to help them compete at a global level. 
 
PSJA ISD aims to emphasize sustainability at every level through a systemic approach led by a committee of district leaders from various departments including Curriculum, Human Resources, Operations, Health Services, Construction, Transportation, Child Nutrition, Police, and Communications, to name a few. 

Integration of the SDGs into the curriculum includes instruction starting as early as Pre-K 3, where students may read "The Little Red Hen" and then go plant seeds in the school's garden and then reread the story when they water the sprouting plants. These efforts are in collaboration with SOL Education Learning Group. SOL provides an in-depth instructional method that embeds 21st-Century Proficiencies/global (17 SDGs) into the state curriculum (TEKS) through a 3-tiered project-based learning system. 

PSJA ISD plans to implement ‘cross-pollination strategies,’ which may involve students learning about the Life Cycle through their Science curriculum and then making connections by going to the school's butterfly garden to witness caterpillars transform into butterflies. Then, through English Language Arts, students may be asked to develop their writing and grammar skills by writing an essay about their observations in the garden. 

Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD (PSJA ISD) schools and departments unite around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD (PSJA ISD) schools and departments will unite around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the 2023-2024 school year.  As part of these efforts, PSJA ISD will continue integrating the SDGs into its curriculum to equip students with pertinent real-world knowledge and hands-on experiences crucial to help them compete at a global level, during the 2023-2024 school year.

PSJA ISD supports the Sustainable Development Goals

PEOPLE     PLANET     PURPOSE

Working towards the betterment of our community and the world

 

Goals

Through collaborations with the PSJA Maintenance Department and partnerships with Urban Refuge, US Fish & Wildlife, and the cities of Pharr, San Juan, and Alamo numerous PSJA ISD schools currently have outdoor learning classrooms, which include butterfly or vegetable gardens and ponds.

Some also have city-school parks and trails. The district's Landscaping/Wildlife Habitat Specialist is also dedicated to help schools learn about and preserve native wildlife habitats. 

Facilities

PSJA ISD - City School Parks and Outdoor Learning Spaces

1. Dr. Long Special Needs and City/School Park - Pharr

2.  Allen & William Arnold City/School Park - Pharr

3.  Carmen Elementary City/School Park - San Juan

4.  Santos Livas Elementary City/School Park - Alamo

In Progress

• Cesar Chavez Elementary Outdoor Learning Spaces

• Cantu Elementary & Drs. Reed Mock Elementary Outdoor Learning Space

• Alamo Middle Outdoor Learning Space

Outdoor Learning Classrooms

Urban Refuge Partnership with United States Fish & Wildlife and the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge

1. McKeever Elementary School- Native habitat

2. Sorensen Elementary School- Native habitat

3. Dr. Long Elementary  School- Native habitat

4. Marcia Garza Elementary School - Butterfly Garden

5.  LBJ Middle School - Outdoor classroom & pond 

6. Trevino Elementary School - Pond, 6 Raised beds, 2 butterfly/pollinator gardens

7. Ford Elementary School - Pond

8. Clover Elementary School - Pond

9. Geraldine Palmer Elementary School- Nature Park and west side Mesquite Trails, 8 acres

10. Graciela Garcia Elementary - Pond, granite trail, 7 raised beds, 3 pollinator gardens.

11. Cesar Chavez Elementary School - 2 Ponds, 2 granite trails, 14 raised beds, 3 butterfly gardens

12. Berta Palacios Elementary School- Pond, 12 Raised beds, 2 Butterfly Gardens

13. Kelly-Pharr Elementary School- Pond, 8 Raised Beds, 2 Pollinator Gardens

14. Aida Escobar Elementary School- Pond, 9 Raised Beds, 4 Habitat Gardens, Edible Fruit Tree Forest

15. Allen & William Arnold Elementary School- Pond, 8 Raised Beds, 2 Habitat Gardens, 1 Citrus Grove 

16. Daniel Ramirez Elementary School- Pond, 4 Raised Beds, 2 Habitat Gardens

17. Amanda Garza Pena Elementary School- Granite trail, 10 raised beds, 5 Pollinator gardens, proposed outdoor learning spaces with pond 

18. Drs. Reed & Mock Elementary School- Pond, 8 Raised Beds, 3 Pollinator Gardens 

19. Augusto Guerra Elementary School- Pond, 10 Raised Beds, Mulch trail, 2 Butterfly Gardens 

20. Carmen Anaya Elementary School- 6 Raised Beds, 1 Greenhouse, proposed outdoor learning area with pond 

21. Farias Elementary School - 2 Butterfly Gardens

22. Buckner Early Head Start - 8 Raised Beds, 1 Butterfly Garden 

23. PTI House - 1 Pond, 2 Pollinator Gardens, *Staff develops and maintains Salsa Gardens

24. Buell Central DAEP - 2 Ponds, 3 Pollinator Gardens, 2 in-ground vegetable gardens

25. PSJA North Early College High School - 2 Habitat Gardens

26. PSJA Early College High School - 2 Pollinator Gardens - Native Seed Plot with Santa Ana NWR and our Ag Program

27. PSJA Southwest Early College High School - 2 Habitat Gardens, 4 courtyard raised beds

28. PSJA Memorial Early College High School - 2 Habitat Gardens

29. PSJA Thomas Jefferson Early College HS - 3 Habitat Gardens, 7 Raised Beds, proposed outdoor learning space with pond

30. PSJA Collegiate School of Health Professions - 3 Pollinator gardens, 1 water feature, proposed outdoor learning space with culinary gardens