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Born the oldest child of a family of migrant workers, Dr. Gallegos
worked much of his early life in the agricultural fields of Texas,
California and Colorado. Despite the demands of working in fields,
Dr. Gallegos actively pursued an education, which led to him being
graduated from Brownsville High School, followed by a college
education that earned him a Bachelor's Degree from Pan American
University and a Master's and Ph.D. from East Texas University in
Commerce, Texas.
Dr. Gallegos admits he enjoyed school and that it was easy for
him, but becoming a teacher was like many events in his life,
"just by accident". During his undergraduate days he was hired by
his former high school Principal, Homer Hanna, and began his
remarkable educational odyssey at J.T. Canales Elementary School.
In 1965 Dr. Gallegos became the coordinator for Head Start and he
opened the first school designed exclusively for migrant students,
the current campus of Castañeda Elementary. His migrant campus was
built with portable buildings and became the first school in the
district to be financed with federal funds, the first with a
fulltime nurse on staff, the first to utilize teacher aides and
the first to include a social worker. The campus began the school
year late as migrant students arrived and utilized a longer school
day with more intensive instruction.
In Dallas ISD, Dr. Gallegos aided the United Stated Federal Court
in implementing a desegregation plan, which he said, "was a very
difficult job", but was rewarding and taught him the skill of
conflict management.
Edinburg ISD then lured the Rio Grande Valley native closer to
home to a smaller school district. Elias Longoria, former Edinburg
ISD Board of Trustees President, said Dr. Gallegos "was the best
superintendent we ever had". After serving until 1982 at Edinburg,
Dr. Gallegos took his education and his experience into the
classroom at the University of Texas at Brownsville and prepared
future administrators, many of whom now fill administrative
positions within BISD.
In 1993, following another appointment as an assistant
superintendent in Dallas ISD, Dr. Gallegos became the executive
director of International Educational Services, Inc. in Los
Fresnos. Unwilling to retire, Dr. Gallegos continues in that
position at the present time and works with his son to help boys
and girls, who arrived illegally into the United States. "I'm an
educator, so we're going to teach them", he said.
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