Alice ISD honors staff for Teacher Appreciation Week recognition

Alice ISD paused its principals meeting on Wednesday, May 6, to recognize 10 staff members whose work shapes daily life at Schallert Elementary, Noonan Elementary, Dubose Elementary and Alice High School. The district tied the recognition to Teacher Appreciation Week, which ran nationally from May 4 through May 8, with National Teacher Day on May 5 and National Black Teacher Appreciation Day on May 7.

Honorees included Elda Salazar-Saenz, Joyce Mesa and Maria Lopez from Schallert; Betty Stout, Cassandra Puga and Pamela Gonzalez from Noonan; Patricia Gray from Dubose; and Gloria Torres, Caitlin Garza and Rubi Torres from Alice High School. The list reflected the range of roles that keep a campus steady, from the front office to the hallways and the daily routines families rely on when they drop off or pick up students.

At Alice High School, that support reaches a large student body. The campus serves grades 9 through 12 at 1 Coyote Trail in Alice, Texas, and enrolled about 1,290 students in the 2024-2025 school year. Its mission is to prepare, empower and produce lifelong learners, a goal that depends on more than classroom instruction alone.

The recognition also came as Alice ISD drew wider attention for its work across the district. The district was named the 2026 H-E-B Excellence in Education Small School District winner, and H-E-B said its 2026 awards distributed $480,000 in cash awards and grants across six teachers, two counselors, two principals, one early childhood facility, one public school board and two school districts. In that context, the local honors underscored how much school success depends on a network of staff whose names are often best known to students, parents and coworkers.

For Jim Wells County families, the May 6 recognition pointed to the people who keep campuses functioning beyond the classroom bell. The principals meeting put Schallert, Noonan, Dubose and Alice High School staff in the spotlight and made clear that the district sees student success as a shared effort, built day by day by the employees who keep schools open, orderly and ready to serve.