










































Title


 

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"Special Education for Exceptional Children": The History of the Special Education Program 
at the Science Academy of South Texas 1957-2003 

 
Anna Rudolph Canter 

The University of Texas at Austin 
 

The Science Academy of South Texas, one of four 
magnet schools in The South Texas Independent School 
District (STISD), opened in 1989 specifically to bring 
educational opportunities in mathematics and science to 
students in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. STISD is 
the only all-magnet school district in the state of Texas and 
The Science Academy is the only mathematics and science 
magnet school in the Rio Grande Valley. STISD serves a tri-
county area—Hidalgo, Willacy, and Cameron counties, 
which include Brownsville, McAllen, Harlingen, and the 
small towns in-between. Unlike many magnet schools, The 
Science Academy was created not to desegregate the school 
districts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (the Valley), but, 
rather, to offer students in the Valley educational 
opportunities and curricular offerings not found in their home 
schools.  

STISD was created originally to give special 
education students in the Valley a place to receive training 
and an education. Consequently, STISD's goal always has 
been to provide unique educational opportunities to all 
students, regardless of abilities or disabilities. The district 
began educating special education students as its primary 
goal, and that history continued with the opening of each 
school in the district, including the Science Academy. 

The precursor to STISD, the Rio Grande 
Independent Rehabilitation District (RGIRD), was initiated 
in 1964 by a small group of Valley citizens to provide special 
education programs for Valley children who previously were 
unable to be educated in the public schools.1 In order to 
continue to help serve students, the RGIRD joined with the 
Rio Grande Association for the Mentally Retarded and 
established a diagnostic and evaluation center as well as a 
residential day school. The District bought the South Texas 
Habilitation Center in Hidalgo County and updated its 
buildings to house a residential program and a training 
program for its students.2  

Opening for its first school year in 1957, The South 
Texas Habilitation Center was a regional training school for 
retarded young people between the ages of sixteen and thirty. 
Vocational training in homemaking, agriculture, and 
industrial shop was offered to its students. The center was 
created as a pilot training program "to provide vocational 
training to retarded young people to enable them to return to 
their own communities whenever possible, to take their 
places as useful, adjusted members of society, and to be 
either partially or fully self-supporting."3  
 The school continued to grow as more students were 
recommended to the program, and by 1966 a residential-day 
complex was created at the Edinburg school.4 By 1968, 
Harlingen also had a residential day complex.5 As time 
progressed and federal and state mandates required that 
handicapped students be educated in the "least restrictive 

environment" (LRE) possible, the student population in the 
district changed from a mildly handicapped population to a 
more severely handicapped population.6 As these laws were 
put into effect, the two segregated campuses in Edinburg and 
San Benito, which offered educational services exclusively to 
handicapped students, were beginning to see fewer and fewer 
referrals from the surrounding school districts. The students 
that were referred to the district by the home districts 
changed in that more severely disabled students comprised 
the most frequently referred case for which the home district 
sought help.  

As these changes occurred, STISD switched its 
focus of education for handicapped and special needs 
students to a focus of educational opportunity for all students 
with the creation of the South Texas High School for Health 
Professions in 1984 and The Science Academy in 1989. In a 
"Five Year Vision Plan" created by STISD in 1991, the 
district explained its goals for special education students and 
the LRE. 

 
The goal for which we reach as well as its inherent 
importance to the handicapped student we serve must be 
kept clearly in mind: 
 

The basic intent of LRE, and apparently the 
commitment of STISD, is to explore ways in which the 
meaningful interactions between students with 
disabilities and their peers can be developed, 
maintained, and enhanced….In addition, integration 
efforts should enhance the interaction between a 
student and the people who live in his/her local 
community (example: neighborhood school concept). 
Finally, integration efforts should allow for the IEP 
(Individual Education Plan) team to successfully 
arrange regular classroom, non-classroom, 
extracurricular and community activities which 
promote the competence and integration of each 
student. It is noted that integration in this sense has 
both placement and curriculum implications.7 

 
STISD viewed itself as a "leader of public schools" which 
through its work with the educational community identified 
educational needs within the Valley and then created clear, 
simple goals to address those needs.8 One of the needs that 
the Valley school districts identified was help in providing 
educational programs to its special education students. 
Before LRE, Valley districts did not want to create special 
programs for their special education students. Principal Ed 
Argueta explained: 
 

They didn’t have the programs, they didn’t have the 
teachers, they didn’t have the ability, they didn’t know 



 

2 

the law, they didn’t know the regulations. And South 
Texas ISD was created with that in mind initially, and 
we were the resident experts of how to deal with these 
students, and we had the facilities. Now the 
government says you have to have a very good reason 
why you cannot serve these students within your home 
district. So districts now find it very hard to get rid of a 
student from their district. They have to really have 
somebody that has unique needs that the district can 
say, “There’s no way that I can meet these needs."9 

 
Once LRE mandates were established, the school districts 
were required to have the facilities and programs to 
accommodate the needs of every student regardless of 
handicap. As a result, local school districts turned to STISD 
for help in creating such programs. STISD formed an 
Itinerant Team in order to help districts meet the needs of 
their special education students. 
 

Helping Other Districts Meet Students' Needs: 
The Itinerant Team and Satellite Units 

In 1989, the STISD school board established an 
Itinerant Team to help other Valley school districts comply 
with LRE regulations. This team of special education 
professionals were contracted out to other districts 
throughout the Valley to provide psychological and 
instructional services. "The team promotes education in the 
least restrictive environment and provides special education 
programs to handicapped students who cannot be served by 
their district without additional help."10 During the 1990-91 
and 1991-92 school years, twenty-seven of the twenty-eight 
districts in the Valley contracted the Itinerant Team's 
services. At the time, the Itinerant Team was limited to 
psychological assessments, behavior management training, 
counseling, deaf infant and parent training services, and staff 
development training.11 STISD's goal in helping the Valley 
school districts was to "develop a more proactive and 
positive attitude towards special education services and least 
restrictive environment concepts for all children."12  

Another way that STISD helped Valley schools 
educate their special education students was through the 
establishment of the Satellite Units. In 1991, superintendents 
from all over the Valley met and discussed pressing needs for 
the districts. Out of those discussions emerged the need to 
work with emotionally disturbed (ED) students in their home 
districts. Because these students were severely ED, they 
could not be integrated into the regular education program; 
LRE required that the home districts meet the needs of these 
students. So, inter-district agreements were initiated between 
STISD and other Valley school districts.13 
 Superintendent Schraer approached Glenda 
Quintanilla to have her supervise the Satellite Units. 
Quintanilla, a special education teacher, joined the faculty of 
Med High in 1989 and moved to the Science Academy when 
it opened its new facility in 1992.14 At the time the Satellite 
Unit supervision was to be a two week commitment, but that 
two weeks turned into the 1992-1993 school year. In addition 
to her duties at Science Academy, Quintanilla was 
responsible for setting up the Satellite units. She hired 

assistants for the program to help work in each unit. At the 
time the satellite units began, Raymondville, Lyford, La 
Feria, and Mercedes had STISD units on their campuses.15 
Because they were unable to find another supervisor, 
Quintanilla continued in this role until the end of the year. 
The satellite units became a successful program and a 
principal and a supervisor were hired to run the program full-
time for the 1993-94 school year. Quintanilla thoroughly 
enjoyed her time working with the Satellite units.  
 

I traveled to the districts. I was on the phone 
constantly, whatever they needed, the teachers needed, 
we would get. We had the students; they were served 
at their home district with our teachers, our materials, 
our buildings. Whatever they needed, we took to them. 
The districts said we need help with their ED students, 
so South Texas came to the rescue, AGAIN. (Her 
emphasis.) 16 

 
The Satellite Units' success continued through the 

1992-1993 school year when Port Isabel, Rio Hondo, and 
Mission began using the services.17 By the 1996-1997 school 
year, however, declining enrollment forced STISD to 
consolidate two units. Five more satellite units were closed 
by the spring of 1997. By 2002, two units continued to be 
open.18  

 
Dwindling Enrollment Leads to Changes 
The Satellite Unit program was not the only one that 

had to make major changes during this time. As a result of 
LRE and dwindling referrals to the schools in Edinburg and 
San Benito, STISD dissolved the Edinburg school, renovated 
the existing facilities. and opened the Teacher Academy in 
1991. The San Benito school remained a special education-
focused school until its focus was changed to South Texas 
Academy of Medical Technology (Med Tech) in 2003. The 
students who attended Edinburg's self-contained special 
education programs remained at Teacher Academy, while the 
other special education populations were distributed between 
Med High and Science Academy.19 By the Fall of 1993, the 
new group of special education students were officially 
Science Academy students.20 

 
Science Academy's Special Education Students 

Even though a group of special education students 
were new to the Science Academy in 1993, special education 
students had always been part of the school. When the new 
facility opened in 1992, a Special Education wing was 
designed and built specifically for the special education 
faculty and students. In fact, the first Science Academy 
yearbook, The Catalyst, includes a page devoted to the 
special education faculty and students. A story about the 
special education program is included with pictures of seven 
special education students and a picture of the four staff 
members. 

 
Ever wonder what goes on in the classes beyond the 
double doors in the first hall? The four rooms are 
occupied by the Special Education classes. We are all 



 

3 

acquainted with the familiar faces of Frankie and 
Annabell, but what do their classes consist of?21 

 
Quintanilla's first students at Med High and then 

Science Academy were emotionally disturbed (ED) and 
learning disabled (LD) students. The special education 
department consisted of the self-contained program and a 
pull-out program for emotionally disturbed (ED) and learning 
disabled (LD) students. These students were mainstreamed 
into four courses at Science Academy and spent the 
remainder of their day with a specialized staff member. "The 
objective of the special education program is to try and 
mainstream the students so that they may learn to cope with a 
regular education setting."22 

 
The Self-Contained Special Education Program: On the 

Job Training 
Quintanilla's program for the self-contained special 

education students at Med High/Science Academy was 
community based education, also called on-the-job training 
(OJT). For OJT, students had two training sites within the 
community where they would work before and after lunch. 
Students were transported to and from school on STISD 
buses, and Quintanilla organized and supervised the students. 
Two of the other staff members accompanied students to the 
job sites. 

 
When I started at Med High, all I had were kids out in 
the community. I had them full time. They were mine 
from the minute they stepped off the bus until they got 
on the bus in the afternoon. We did a lot of OJT on 
campus, at the library, at the main office. We had 
students working at central office, and they were 
working and getting paid. I had a couple of students 
that would get a monthly check. I had students training 
at the cafeteria, on the custodial staff, I had them 
everywhere on campus. We did that for a while, and 
then we ventured out into the community when we got 
brave, and I figured they were ready to go out and start 
working in the community.23 

 
Even though some students were paid by the training sites, a 
salary was not a program requirement. In 1989, the OJT 
program for Med High and Science Academy had thirteen 
students enrolled, and eight were placed in training sites 
within the community: Alegro's Flower Shop, Mercedes 
Upholstery, Farmer's Market, Montoya's Service Station, and 
a few others. Six other students worked around campus and 
in STISD offices.24 During the 1992-93 school year, training 
sites included the Cortez Coffee Shop, New Creations Car 
Wash, and the City of Weslaco.25 Even though the special 
education population has continued to dwindle over time, 
OJT still continues to the present. During the 2002-2003 
school year, OJT had two students in the program, one 
working at Wal-Mart and the other at a local restaurant. 
 

 
 

Vocational Courses for Self-Contained Special 
Education Students 

When OJT began, students were separated from the 
general education courses that the Science Academy offered. 
However as time progressed and the student population 
changed, the Special Education department had to adapt to 
the different needs of its students. As a result, vocational 
courses and inclusion courses for the self-contained special 
education students were begun. In the early 1990s, vocational 
instruction was offered for special education students in 
trades and industry, horticulture, and home economics. The 
goal of the community-based instruction program was "to 
help handicapped students develop independence in their 
daily lives, and Vocational adjustment classes provide 
students with either vocational, job training or full or part-
time employment."26  

 
Vocational Inclusion Courses 

One of the programs that was implemented at 
Science Academy was the inclusion program between 
Manuel Vega's vocational students and the students in Dale 
Coalson's technology courses. Vega taught in the special 
education department and mainly worked with ED and LD 
students who were unable to be mainstreamed into regular 
education courses; Vega's courses consisted of Life Skills 
and Industrial Trades courses, emphasizing 
construction/building. When Coalson and Vega realized that 
there were overlaps in content in their respective courses, 
they decided that some of Vega's students would attend 
Coalson's courses. 

 
Our philosophy was this: when you can plug 
curriculum into these kids, do it. When it's not 
appropriate, pull them out. Let's say I was teaching 
Introduction to Drafting, and Vega had four kids who 
were able to listen in on that, they had the skills, they 
sat in my class with the rest of the kids, they did the 
assignments, they had an aide who came with them 
and helped assist in modifications. When we got to 
the point where the regular ed kids started going right 
past them, we pulled them out. They didn't just sit 
there; we worked as long as we could get something 
out of that instructional lesson, then we stopped. And 
then we'd find another avenue, and put them back in. 
And in between there, they had their own instruction 
that they were doing. It was a fantastic inclusion 
program.27 

 
Another way that the special education inclusion 

students would work with the regular education students was 
through the production laboratory at Science Academy.  
 From the faculty's visits at Rice University through 
the Rice summer program, teachers and staff visited many of 
the engineering and design laboratories at Rice. They found 
that the engineering graduate students who had a budget for 
their projects would hire machinists to actually build the 
graduate students' plans and designs. The technology teachers 
took this idea back to Science Academy.  
 



 

4 

We said, we'll do that in high school. And for a while, 
we had that working. We taught special ed students [in 
the technology courses], and we got a lot of 
recognition for that. Usually these two don't meet. We 
had [regular education] kids who could design 
wonderful things, and then would go work with the 
Industrial trades kids, and they, some of them were 
from really terrible homes, had some really serious 
problems, but they can build. And you get these two 
people talking across the table where they would never 
meet in a high school.28 

 
Unfortunately, the population of special education students at 
Science Academy dropped substantially as the other school 
districts in the Valley began to implement their own special 
education programs as a result of LRE.  
 Another educational result of the special education 
inclusion courses occurred when the special education 
students became "teachers" in the regular education 
technology courses. The special education students, as a 
result of their courses with Vega, were very good at using 
power tools; Coalson's students, however, were not as adept. 
Vega's students taught the general education students about 
tools and tool safety because in many instances, the special 
education students knew more about the tools than the 
teachers.  
 

Vega's kids would teach my kids safety. They would 
bone up, "you're going to teach the band saw." They'd 
learn every single tiny part, because they wanted to 
impress those girls that they knew their band saws. It 
worked. It was a cool program.29 

 
Unfortunately, these inclusion programs for self-

contained special education students were discontinued in the 
late 1990s as the special education enrollment declined. 
Instead of completely abandoning the vocational courses, 
however, the Architectural Science program evolved from 
the inclusion course that Coalson and Vega had created. 
Instead of Vega's students taking part in Coalson's courses 
and teaching tools to the regular education students, the 
special education students used their knowledge and 
expertise of carpentry and tools and began work with Habitat 
for Humanity. 30 At present, two vocational courses exist for 
the special education department: General Mechanics (auto 
repair) and Architectural Science.  

 
The Science Academy Print Shop: The Gutenberg Press 

The success of Vega's and Coalson's inclusion 
program prompted discussions among Mark Schroll, one of 
the technology teachers, Quintanilla, Coalson, and Principal 
Jeff Hembree as to what other types of programs could be 
created for the special education students that would provide 
direct involvement with general education Science Academy 
students. With the blessing of the other teachers, Schroll 
proposed that a Science Academy print shop be created 
where general education students would have a formal 
method for obtaining copies and transparencies for school 
projects and presentations. The Print Shop would be used as 

a training facility and work-site for the Community Based 
instruction program.  

 
The general idea is to extend the "real world" aspect of 
the students' training by offering printing services to the 
students and faculty of the Science Academy. It is to be 
emphasized that the services offered by the formation of 
the print shop are only an extension of a class activity 
and are not the primary function of the print shop.31 

 
The print shop, which became known as The Gutenberg 
Press, became an essential part of life at Science Academy. 
As general education students' needs arose for bound copies 
of presentations and other related services, The Gutenberg 
Press adapted to meet those needs. With the help of 
Quintanilla and other special education staff members, the 
special education students created transparencies, printed and 
bound books, hole punched, collated, stuffed envelopes, and 
almost everything else that a basic print shop did. "We were 
a mini Kinko's and it worked well. We did a lot for the 
students, we did a lot for the administration building, all the 
applications that are sent out to colleges and universities, we 
printed, stuffed, and labeled. My students did that."32 The 
Gutenberg Press was such an important part of life at Science 
Academy that the yearbook The Catalyst has a page devoted 
to the Press for each of the years that the program ran.  
 By the 2000 school year, the population change in 
the Special Education program along with the readily 
available mass-market print shops near the Mercedes campus 
and the rest of the Valley forced the school's print shop to 
close. Quintanilla's focus then turned full-time to meeting the 
needs of the special education students who were enrolled in 
general education courses but needed extra help or 
modifications. Out of this need, the Content Mastery Center 
was created. Quintanilla became a contact teacher for 
mainstreamed special education students and ran the Content 
Mastery Center.  
 

Special Education Programs for ED and LD Students 
In addition to organizing the OJT program for 

Science Academy, Quintanilla is also responsible for running 
the other special education programs for the mainstreamed 
students who receive special education services. Each special 
education student at Science Academy has specific needs that 
must be met in order for him/her to be successful despite 
his/her disability. Most students who are mainstreamed into 
the regular education courses at Science Academy are 
considered LD students, which includes dyslexic students, 
students with auditory impairments, speech impairments, 
mobility impairments, and other learning disabilities. ED 
students also make up some of the mainstreamed special 
education students. All mainstreamed special education 
students have a contact teacher, a special education teacher 
who keeps in contact with the students' teachers and parents. 
Quintanilla and Josie Garcia are the main faculty in the 
special education department and as a result, are contact 
teachers for the special education students. As contact 
teachers, Quintanilla and Garcia monitor students by 
periodically checking in with a student's teachers to find out 



 

5 

about the student's progress as well as sending individualized 
reports home to parents. These individualized reports help to 
keep students, parents, and teachers aware of each student's 
progress as well as providing an opportunity each time for 
students to receive specific help if they need it. Another way 
that the mainstreamed students can receive help is through 
the Content Mastery Center at Science Academy. 

 
Content Mastery 

The Content Mastery Center (CMC), housed in 
Quintanilla's classroom, is where mainstreamed special 
education students get help from Quintanilla and her staff of 
aides. 

[Mainstreamed special education students] are 100% 
mainstreamed, in the regular program, doing what 
your "average intelligence student" is doing, but with 
disabilities. In other words, Josie is regular but I have 
learning problems. I'm still sitting next to her in the 
same class, doing everything she is doing. I just need 
extra help, and that's when they come to us. I have 
two assistants, and we all help them. We help them 
finish those projects, learn the vocabulary, if they 
need extra time to find the definitions, or get on the 
internet, if they are working on something that 
requires internet assistance.33 

 
All special education students have an Individual Education 
Plan (IEP) that lists the various modifications each student is 
required to have. Teachers have copies of the modifications 
and know if a student needs extra time working on a project 
or test, or other modifications which may require a student 
visiting the CMC classroom. 
 Quintanilla and Garcia are responsible also for 
training the Science Academy staff in the areas of special 
education. Various topics of training sessions include how to 
modify lessons and assignments and how to work with 
emotionally disturbed students. If a teacher needs help 
modifying an examination or assignments, Garcia and 
Quintanilla are available. "The most important thing is that 
the teachers need to know that we are a resource."34 
 In some cases, special education students have 
transitioned out of the special education department. These 
students learned how to modify and adapt to the regular 
education classroom so well that they do not need support 
services such as CMC. However, Quintanilla continues to 
monitor these students. During the 2002-2003 school year, 
she had three students who received no other services from 
special education other than her three-week progress check-
ups. Quintanilla continued checking in with these students so 
that if a problem ever arose, she and Garcia would be able to 
help students get back on track and excel in their academics. 
Higher Learning Opportunities for All 
 Most important for Quintanilla and Garcia is their 
belief that even if a student has a learning disability, "that 
doesn't mean that you are dumb. It means that you just need a 
little extra help."35 As a result, all students in the special 
education department are encouraged to attend college—as 
are all students at Science Academy—whether it be a local 
community college or university, or, in the case of the self-

contained special education students, the Texas State 
Technical College (TSTC). The self-contained students' 
program is directly linked to the program at TSTC; if a 
student finishes learning his/her trade at Science Academy, 
they have the opportunity to continue their training at TSTC. 
Many of the skills that the students learn at Science Academy 
are also taught at TSTC, which allows students an easier 
transition into their new learning environment.36 
 Quintanilla and Garcia believe another of their 
responsibilities for their students is to give students the 
knowledge of how to find services if they need help—they 
want their students to learn to be as independent as possible 
even with their disability or learning disability. In order to 
help facilitate a smoother transition to college for students. 
Garcia arranged for the various agencies such as the Texas 
Rehabilitation Commission to visit with students and inform 
them on the types of services and assistance for which they 
are eligible. In March of 2002, Garcia took her students to 
the office of Support Services at TSTC and to the Learning 
Center at The University of Texas-Pan American to show 
students where they can go for help and to acquaint them 
with the types of support services that are available to them 
at those campuses. 
 

Helping Other Districts 
 The strength of the special education department at 
Science Academy is their personal touch—from monitoring 
students who have transitioned out of the program to 
encouraging each and every special education student to 
pursue higher learning. "We accommodate a lot, and maybe 
because we are a magnet school, we have more of a personal 
touch. That is what makes it unique. You are not a number. 
Anywhere else, you are a number. Any other district, you are 
a number. Not here. Here the students are not numbered; they 
have names and faces."37 

The desire to help students is not unique to the 
Science Academy; it is the fundamental goal of STISD, just 
as it was for the Rehabilitation District begun in the 1960s. 
All students deserve to have the opportunity to learn. Even to 
this day, if a district in the Valley cannot accommodate the 
needs of one of their special education students or need help, 
they call on STISD.  

 
I don't think South Texas ISD has ever said NO [her 
emphasis]to a need. But if Mercedes ISD calls and 
says, "[Superintendent] Guerra, we need something, 
we can't provide it," even if we don't have it, we will 
create it. We will help that student. We will find a 
way to do it. They'll get the resources, they'll get the 
teacher, whatever is needed. And I have seen that in 
the thirteen years I have been here. We won't say no 
to our other districts. That has been our mission. We 
are here, we are a magnet school, we are here to serve 
the needs of the students, and we have always done it. 
It has never been a question that we are not going to 
do it. We have always helped.38 

 
 The dedication to helping students is not limited to 
helping special education students, as was the original goal of 



 

6 

                                                

STISD. Instead, STISD and Science Academy strives to help 
each and every student it serves, regardless of a student's 
special needs. 

Bibliography 
 

Archival Material 
Mercedes, Texas 
 Biblioteca las Americas Archive 

Science Academy of South Texas Archive 
South Texas Independent School District Archive
 Yearbooks: 
South Texas High School for Health Professions 
 The Journal: Split Personality, 1990. 
 The Journal: The Secret’s Out, 1991. 
 The Journal: Revolutions, 1992. 
Science Academy of South Texas 
 The Catalyst, vol. 1, 1993. 
 The Catalyst, vol. 2, 1994. 
 The Catalyst: Diversity, vol. 3, 1995. 
 The Catalyst: Sci-Language, vol. 4, 1996. 
 The Catalyst: Revolution, vol. 5, 1997. 
 The Catalyst: Off the Wall, vol. 6, 1998. 
 The Catalyst: Explosive Times, vol. 7, 1999. 
 The Catalyst: Now is the Time, vol. 8, 2000. 
 The Catalyst: Renaissance, vol. 9, 2001. 
 

Oral History Interviews 
Argueta, Edward. Principal, Science Academy. Taped 

interview with author, May 27, 2002, Science 
Academy Main Office, Mercedes, Texas. 

Coalson, Dale. Technology teacher, Science Academy. 
Taped interviews with author, November 2, 2000 and 
May 9, 2002, Science Academy, Mercedes, Texas. 

Quintanilla, Glenda and Josie Garcia. Special Education 
teachers, Science Academy. Taped group interview 
with author, December 20, 2002, Science Academy, 
Mercedes, Texas. 

Schroll, Mark. Technology Teacher, Science Academy. 
Taped interviews with author, November 2, 2000, May 
29, 2002, and December 18, 2002, Science Academy, 
Mercedes, Texas. 

 
 

                                                                                   

1 Memorandum: "Report on Thirty-Year Celebration 
Committee."  
2 School Board Minutes, April 27, 1966, in STISD 
Archive. 
3 "South Texas Habilitation Center, Edinburg Texas, 
Scrapbook 1957-1958," in Biblioteca las Americas 
Archive. 
4 School Board Minutes, September 14, 1966, in STISD 
Archive. 
5 School Board Minutes, July 10, 1968, in STISD 
Archive. 
6 "Capital Improvement Plan—STISD, 1985-1989," in 
"Capital Improvement Plan" in STISD Archives. 
7 "STISD: Five Year Vision 1990" in "Five Year Plan" 
in STISD Archives.  

 
8 Ibid.  
9 Argueta interview. 
10 "STISD Performance Report 1990-91," p. 8. 
11 "STISD: Five Year Vision 1990." 
12 Ibid.  
13 Ibid. 
14 Glenda Quintanilla and Josie Garcia (Special 
Education teachers, Science Academy) Taped interview 
with author, December 20, 2002, Science Academy, 
Mercedes, Texas. 
15 "STISD 1991-1992 Performance Report" p. 11, in 
"1991-1992 Performance Report" file in STISD 
archives. 
16 Quintanilla interview. 
17 Ibid. 
18 Boardworks, April 22, 1997, in "Boardworks File" in 
STISD Archives.  
19 In 1993, because of lack of interest in the school's 
focus, it changed from a teacher academy to the South 
Texas Business, Education and Technology Academy 
(BETA). The school is the only magnet school in 
STISD that offers education at the 7th and 8th grade 
levels as well as 9th-12th. 
20 Science Academy Campus Report, August 17, 1993, 
in August 1993 School Board Minutes, STISD 
Archives. 
21 "Special Education," The Catalyst vol. 1, (1993) p. 
32, in Biblioteca las Americas Archive. 
22 Ibid. 
23 Quintanilla interview. 
24 Science Academy Campus Report, November 10, 
1989, in November 1989 School Board Minutes, 
STISD Archives. 
25 "Special Education," The Catalyst (vol 1). 
26 "STISD 1990-1991 Performance Report," p. 7.; 
"STISD 1991-1992 Performance Report," p. 8, in 
"1991-1992 Performance Report" file in STISD 
Archives.  
27 Coalson interview, May 9, 2002. 
28 Schroll interview, May 29, 2002. 
29 Coalson interview, May 9, 2002.  
30 Ibid. 
31 "The Print Shop Proposal (revised)," n.d., in Science 
Academy Administration Files, 1994-1995 box, 
Science Academy Archives. 
32 Quintanilla interview. 
33 Ibid. 
34 Ibid. 
35 Ibid. 
36 Ibid. 
37 Ibid. 
38 Ibid. 


	"Special Education for Exceptional Children": The History of the Special Education Program
	at the Science Academy of South Texas 1957-2003
	Dwindling Enrollment Leads to Changes

	Science Academy's Special Education Students
	The Self-Contained Special Education Program: On the Job Training
	Vocational Inclusion Courses
	Another way that the special education inclusion students would work with the regular education students was through the production laboratory at Science Academy. 
	The Science Academy Print Shop: The Gutenberg Press

	Content Mastery
	Higher Learning Opportunities for All

	Archival Material
	Oral History Interviews

