Skinner Elementary
School History

Since 1925

Skinner Elementary School

Lucille B. Skinner

Built in 1925 and formerly known as First Ward, Skinner Elementary, one of BISD's (Brownsville Independent School District's) oldest schools, is located on Brownsville's west side stretching over two full blocks.

The main building, located on 411 West St. Charles, currently contains the main office,  first grade and offices for the nurse, and facilitator.  Located within this same block is the second grade wing, located on Fourth street.

The second part of the Skinner Elementary campus is located on West St. Francis and contains a newly constructed building which includes the library, parent's center, and kindergarten classes.  The cafeteria, music room, third and fourth grade wing are also located in this block.  The 7-foot concrete wall surrounding the back of the campus is the remnants of the baseball park, "El Parque 36," the home of a semi-pro baseball team known as "Los Charros."

Presently, the Skinner "Dragon" staff serves over 800+ students from grades Pre-K to 5 consisting of:  1 area administrator, two administrators, 1 facilitator, 1 counselors, 1 nurse, 1 librarian and clerk, 1 music teacher, 1 computer lab assistant, 1 teacher/technology assistant, 2 physical education teachers and assistants, 57 dedicated classroom teachers, 25 paraprofessionals, 7 food service employees, and 5 custodians.  The Skinner staff also includes special services and special program teachers, food service employees, paraprofessionals, and custodians.

One of the most outstanding features of this proud campus, are the six Technology Centers. Kinder, 1st, 2nd, 3rd. 4th and 5th Grade levels have their own Center. Here, students explore the wonders of Cyberspace, as well as, the subjects they study in the classroom.

Skinner Elementary special services and programs, which consist of reading, writing, math, technology, Accelerated Reader (AR), and STARS Reading & Math offer students (K-5) an array of reinforcement activities both during and after school.

"Project Sol (1999-2000+)," a progressive enrollment of kindergarten students through grade 5 and "Dual Language (2003+)," a school-wide program, addresses the language needs of students living in the Lower Rio Grande Valley area.  Skinner "Dragon" students learn to communicate effectively in both the English and Spanish language.

The Skinner Elementary library, fully automated in the spring of 1994, was previously located off of St. Charles street in the main building.  For the 2004-05 school year, a newly constructed library, located off of St. Francis, will contain a computer lab, a regular library for grades 3-5 and a children's library for Pre-K to 2.  The library collection now contains over 12,000 easy, fiction, and non-fiction titles in both the English and Spanish language.

Skinner Elementary School staff, teachers, students, and parents continually strive to provide all students a safe, secure, and effective learning environment conducive to the achievement of a high-quality education.

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