PfISD names elementary school after longtime educator Jessica Carpenter
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas - The Pflugerville Independent School District has voted to name the district's newest elementary school after longtime educator Jessica Carpenter. The PfISD Board of Trustees approved the name in a unanimous vote last week.
Special education inclusion and English as a Second Language educator Jessica Carpenter devoted 20 years to education, with more than 16 of those in PfISD at Brookhollow Elementary, according to PfISD.
Carpenter passed away in September after a four-year battle with cancer.
“She was wholly and fully dedicated to this profession: in teaching children and driving for inclusion no matter what the needs of the students might be,” said her widower, Aaron Carpenter. “She lived to teach. That is all she wanted to do.”
During the month of September, Pflugerville ISD gathered nominations for Elementary No. 22 and Middle School No. 7, collecting 628 total recommendations. Of the nominations for Elementary 22, Carpenter’s name was the most requested, with more than 115 submissions.
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Carpenter also won the backing of the board's Facility Naming Committee, before the school board on Thursday unanimously voted in favor of the name, according to a press release from the school district.
“In these weeks since her passing, I have received so many kind and detailed letters from parents, former students and her colleagues related to the impact Jessica had on the community,” said Mr. Carpenter. “In these letters, so many of these people remarked they had voted for Mrs. Carpenter’s name to be put in for inclusion for naming of this school.”
Elementary No. 22 is currently under construction adjacent to Weiss High School and is slated for a fall 2021 completion. Veteran PfISD administrator Reese Weirich has been named principal. PfISD Middle School No. 7 is expected to be named at an upcoming district board meeting.