By Tessa Benavides-Cooper
Photography by Brian Diggs
On any given day, one can find San Antonio ISD superintendent, Dr. Jaime Aquino, in his element – no, not at Central Office – on one of the district’s more than 90 campuses located within San Antonio’s urban core. San Antonio ISD, the City’s founding school district, has served students for over 100 years.
Today San Antonio ISD serves more than 47,000 students in a space as diverse as San Antonio itself – a setting that speaks to who Aquino is at his core.
“I want to embody those values of love for humanity. I will come to a school and I will treat a custodian, a parent, and the principal or a student the same way.” Aquino said. “I see a human being who, just like me, wants to be embraced and loved.”
Aquino, a native of the Dominican Republic, began his tenure at San Antonio ISD right before the start of the 2022-23 academic year. In a short timeframe, his example of authentic and representational leadership has made lasting impacts on the school district and the city of San Antonio.
I will come to a school and I will treat a custodian, a parent, and the principal or a student the same way. I see a human being who, just like me, wants to be embraced and loved. Dr. Jaime Aquino, SUPERINTENDENt, San Antonio ISD
I will come to a school and I will treat a custodian, a parent, and the principal or a student the same way. I see a human being who, just like me, wants to be embraced and loved.
“I’ve always said that I am San Antonio ISD. I look like my students, I share their stories, their struggles,” Aquino said. “I can relate to a second language learner because I am one myself. I can relate with the immigrant community because I know the struggles of leaving your homeland and coming to another country. I can also relate with our people of color.”
The district posted a TikTok last May that shared a touching moment between Aquino and two San Antonio ISD students also from the Dominican Republic demonstrating that representation truly matters in the significance of having a district led by a Latino, immigrant, English as a second language learner. One of the students describes feeling “amazed” when they found out their superintendent es un dominicano – just like her family.
“It makes a huge difference that people can see me and our students can see me and know that despite all the obstacles, as some people will consider, obstacles or challenges of who I am, they can become me or better than me,” Aquino said. “We are not doomed to life as a second-class citizen because we are a person of color, immigrant, we have an accent when we speak English, we are part of the LGBTQ community. For me, it has been a gift of a lifetime to be able to lead as my authentic self in the city of San Antonio.”
Dr. Aquino speaking at the 2022 Charles Butt Scholar Symposium
We are not doomed to life as a second-class citizen because we are a person of color, immigrant, we have an accent when we speak English, we are part of the LGBTQ community. For me, it has been a gift of a lifetime to be able to lead as my authentic self in the city of San Antonio. Dr. Jaime Aquino, SUPERINTENDENt, San Antonio ISD
We are not doomed to life as a second-class citizen because we are a person of color, immigrant, we have an accent when we speak English, we are part of the LGBTQ community. For me, it has been a gift of a lifetime to be able to lead as my authentic self in the city of San Antonio.
The students of San Antonio ISD are a constant driver of Aquino’s leadership. He opens many meetings telling of the Masai, a tribe in Africa, whose traditional greeting to each other is “Casserian Engeri” which means, “And how are the children?”
Aquino challenges others around him to think of their work in terms of answering this question with “the children are well” and he applies this to meaning many different groups of children: the children in San Antonio ISD; the children in San Antonio; the children in Texas; the children in the United States; and, even all of the children across the world.
In San Antonio ISD, Aquino has challenged the entire district to find the answer to “and how are the children in San Antonio ISD?” through a strategic management plan called Always Learning. The process of developing Always Learning is unprecedented, according to Aquino, because of the intentional and inclusive process used to develop it. The goal at the end was to end up with a plan that guides the San Antonio ISD Board of Trustees and district leadership to commit to a set of outcomes that reflects the wants and needs of students, faculty, staff, families, and the community.
“It’s not my vision, it’s the community’s vision. What are their hopes and dreams? We capture it in Always Learning,” Aquino said. “We call it Always Learning intentionally, because like our kids that they’re always learning, the district needs to be able to always evolve to better serve our students.”
The plan’s creation began with a survey given to every district employee and a plan to ensure 100 percent of the surveys were returned. That information was used to create the first draft of Always Learning that was then given back to employees for review and then presented at a variety of engagements with students, families, and the community. The final approved draft also received feedback from a Student Advisory Committee formed by Aquino. Aquino continues to meet on a regular basis with the Student Advisory Committee and now the San Antonio ISD Children’s Cabinet, a cross section of educators, community and business leaders, parents and students helping to oversee the work under Always Learning.
Leading a thriving school district is no easy feat. Aquino also has to ensure equity within the urban core facing challenges of gentrification, neighborhoods being abandoned, and other neighborhoods that are overcrowded. A teacher at heart, Aquino sees his role as a reflection of his authentic self.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be the superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District,” Aquino said. “I know it might sound like a cliche, but I really am living the American dream, I truly am. I am a testament that the American dream is alive and well, but I’m also a testament of what the power of education can do in transforming one’s life.”
And his biggest dream?
“The thing that has resonated with me in the 36 years, my journey as an educator and urban educator is that I’ve had the best professors that anyone could have, and those are the children that I’ve had the privilege to serve,” Aquino said. “They have made me a better teacher, a better human being. That’s why I always say, we need to find a way to listen to the voices of our children. If our politicians and everybody in society would just live for ‘what is the impact on our children or listened to their voices? What a better world we would have for everyone.”
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