New EPPB leader introduced
Educators and community members welcomed Shannon Torres as the new executive director of the Education Partnership of the Permian Basin Thursday at Region 18 Education Service Center. The Education Partnership is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting student success at every level.
It works to ensure every student in the Permian Basin area has access to high-quality educational opportunities that lead to success. Collaborating with schools, businesses, and other nonprofits, EPPB is striving to build a stronger foundation in education for students all across the Permian Basin.
Torres takes over from interim executive director Adrian Carrasco and previous executive director Adrian Vega, who is now vice president of institutional advancement at Midland College.
Torres is no stranger to West Texas or to education having worked in the field for 21 years, 12 of them at Midland ISD. She was principal of Midland Freshman High School and Lee/Legacy High School and also served as an executive director of school leadership.
An Amarillo native, Torres has been on the job for a little more than a month.
"But it's been a great month of learning and getting to know all of our staff members and board members, and learning the mission and vision and really working through the initiatives we already have going, that are going well," Torres said.
Torres earned a bachelor's degree in history from Texas Tech University and a master's degree in educational leadership from West Texas A&M University in Canyon.
Having spent her whole life in education, she strongly believes that education is the gateway to success and the only way to break cycles.
"The Education Partnership of the Permian Basin fits that model, fits my passion. We are still working to improve student success. We are still working to give opportunities to students, and this is just another way to be part of education, but in a wider area," Torres said.
One of the reasons she took the Education Partnership position is the board, their passion and vision for the partnership and what they want to see. Torres said it aligns with how she feels about education, this area and "how much we just want our region to succeed."
She added that she spent her career in larger districts so it's been nice to get to know and learn about how rural school districts operate, the needs they have and finding ways to help give their students the same opportunities they would get in a big district.
Torres said the partnership has a strategic plan in place that spans from cradle to career.
"Just in the most recent work, we're working to strengthen our rural collaboratives. We have one that includes Crane, McCamey and Grandfalls. We have one that we're starting in the Big Bend area that has Alpine, Marfa and Marathon. ... We're also starting one in New Mexico with Hagerman and Lake Arthur. Those have been the focus right now, but we also have a strong focus with our early childhood initiative, where we have Shelby Smith leading that work and just working to help solve the workforce problem that we have with daycare centers, and help support them any way we can," Torres said.
She added that she will miss public education.
"What I've learned in the last month is when you're working in a school district, sometimes you feel like you're the only one working for those outcomes. What I've learned in the last month is we have a lot of people in our region that love education and love our school districts and are looking to help, so it's been great to be able to support them that way," Torres said.
Lorraine Perryman, chair of the Education Partnership and also the founder, along with Collin Sewell, said they are glad to welcome Torres.
"We were blessed to have Dr. Adrian Vega for the first seven years of our operation, who did a fabulous job and grew us from just an idea that Collin and I had based on studying the collective impact model to bring regions together to solve problems of all kinds. We have a problem right here in the Permian Basin in solving our educational needs and deficits. By working together, we can solve those more quickly, more efficiently, leverage our dollars (and) bring people together, Perryman said.
"We are delighted to do this work. It has morphed and changed and will continue to in the future. We are delighted to have Shannon to lead us into the next phase of the Education Partnership of the Permian Basin. We are blessed to have her and all of our partners in this work. I've been visiting with some folks this morning that (came) in from outside of our state and within our state to partner with us as well. It takes a village to solve a problem as large as we have, not just in Texas, but across the country, the educational deficits that we face and to bring people together and grow our future leaders, our future workforce, our future parents and that they grow their families with a foundation of literacy and value of education," she added.
Perryman said education was the key for her as a child growing up in a "trailer house with a driller for a daddy right here in the Permian Basin."
She and her family moved as many as seven times a year throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
"We were nomads in a house with wheels. My mother instilled in us the value of education and I want every child, no matter their circumstances, to be able to have the same joy in reading and education and opening up their horizons. That's what our work is. As long as we all stay focused on the faces of those children whose lives we are changing, this work will be a success," Perryman said.
Perryman said 80 people applied for the post from all over the country and they interviewed five for the job. She added that Torres was the "shining star."
Carrasco said Torres fits right in with the organization and the area.
"She's from West Texas. ... Although we had a really good national search, I think this is a great opportunity for the Education Partnership to move forward and continue the great work that it does. Shannon is the right person for this. She understands this piece, she understands our mission, and she understands where we want to go as an organization. I commend the board of directors for their pick and who they wanted to go with. This was always the choice of the board of directors, and I was so proud to be able to help them and throughout this process and the search. We're looking forward to great things," Carrasco said.
The partnership is funded through grants, partnerships with other entities "to address problems that are not being addressed elsewhere, that can only be solved through working together," Perryman said.
"We also have funding by initiating projects that have been approved by the legislature, like bringing small districts together. Bringing small districts together was approved in the last legislative session.
"We have been innovators in our area, ahead of the rest of the state in initiating those rural innovation zones. We actually have worked with the legislature to institute those programs, and that's being copied around the state and the nation. We have state money that we are the pass through to local districts for, and they have grant dollars to fund the work that we do," Perryman said.
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