Our Story
It is the mission of TAAE to create a supportive network committed to providing a quality education for all students in Alternative Education. This network provides for sharing techniques, methods, and pertinent information.
Texas Association for Alternative Education - TAAE
The Texas Association for Alternative Education is an association for alternative educators and related-field professionals. The Association is comprised of teachers, counselors, Texas Youth Commission workers, probation officers, school-of-choice alternative education campuses, disciplinary alternative education campuses, alternative programs, charter schools, juvenile justice alternative programs, and administrators who believe in the worth of every student’s education.
TAAE Goals
The Goals of TAAE are:
● To unite professionals dedicated to providing and promoting quality education for students in alternative education
into a state association.
● To support comprehensive training programs for educators engaged in the field of alternative education.
● To collaborate with agencies that support the goals of alternative education.
● To involve educators in the legislative and governmental processes to promote and advance the purposes of the profession.
● To promote the Educator's Code of Ethics.
Association History of TAAE
The first TAAE meeting where we invited people from all over the Dallas metroplex was a dinner meeting that we held in one of t the portable buildings at KEYS in the old HEB grocery store. We met in the makeshift home economics room.
Mr. Maurice Rawlings suggested to Betty Coon, his assistant at the time, that we begin networking meetings to possibly consider beginning an organization which could educate and network ideas in alternative education. It was at Maurice Rawling’s suggestion that we hosted the dinner meeting described above. The TAAE meetings were held in those first few years with a modest attendance, but steadily grew in popularity and functional necessity. The first meetings were held in the following cities with their approximate attendance for the first 9 years: Harvey Hotel, Irving (125); Harvey Hotel, Irving (200), Harvey Hotel, Irving (250-275); Holiday Inn, San Angelo (350); Holiday Inn, McAllen (400); Doubletree, Austin (?); Hilton Convention Center, Arlington (700); Doubletree, Red Lion, Austin (900); Westin Galleria, Houston (1012+).
The Past Presidents of TAAE in those early years were: Brice Jackson (1990-1991);
Betty Duncan Coon (1991-1993); Sandy Bell (1993-1995); Gaylon Garrison (1995-1997);
David Manning (1997-1999); David Jackson (1999).
In 1984 IDRA (Intracultural Development Research Association) out of San Antonio published an article that announced that the state of Texas was losing approximately 33% of its students as dropouts, with minority populations being disproportionately higher. The state agencies and school districts became alarmed with this data. At about the same time HB 72 began requiring tracking and services for at risk students. A wave of alternative schools for at risk students was started about that time. Two of the predecessors to this movement were the Valley View Learning Center in CFB and the MEGA School in Irving. They served as mentors to all alternative schools in Texas. The unique thing about alternative education was that as each school was started, it built on what had gone before, molding its school design to the uniqueness of the community being served.
In 1995 the passage of Senate Bill 1 required in-school services for disruptive students, as opposed to expulsion. This has resulted in an alternative education being two tracks: the disciplinary alternative education program (discipline management centers) and the choice programs for at risk students.
Legislatively, through Senate Bill 1, TAAE and alternative education programs throughout Texas now have dedicated funding and a state supported curriculum. Reality almost overnight of some long held dreams. By the legislative process our alternative educated children have become a major piece of legislation in Texas which recognizes the job our dedicated teachers had been doing many years prior to SB 1.
Our TAAE membership today is over 200 and growing, and we will soon celebrate our 10th Anniversary in the same hotel the association annual meetings began in, in Dallas. Today you will find many original supporters of TAAE’s beliefs still in the schools and still willing and dedicated to do what is needed. That says something for the alternative education profession.