Fr. Jim Fischler now has 262 pupils at his own parish church in Del Rio!!


This information is taken according to that developed by Mr. Bill Sontag, Feature Writer for South Texas Live! magazine, August, 2008, in his take - no - prisoner's article, "Stop The TAKS, Stop The Dropouts!"

"Fr. Jim Fischler, Sacred Heart parish priest [as well as Dean of the Uvalde Catholic Deanery] came to Del Rio as priest in 2000.

Then our school's enrollment was 220, and now it's 262, and we have a waiting list for kindergarten through sixth grade.

"But most students are rising to those grades from within the school, not registering from other [Del Rio] schools.

We don't accept transfers for seventh or eighth grade, because we like to think of Sacred Heart as a whole life experience, Fischler said."


Comstock ISD now has 205 pupils!!

This snippet is taken from Mr. Sontag's "What's behind THE COMSTOCK CHOICE for kid's schooling?" Same magazine and date.

"- Comstock, Texas

"[Comstock ISD Superintendent] Buddy Wolfenbarger is keenly aware of all the speculation swirling around a manufactured drama of schoolchildren leaving Del Rio schools, spending an hour on big yellow buses every day to go to classes in Comstock Independent School District. and back home again.

"[W]hat appeals to parents and kids alike is the feeling here of safety, respect and high standards of behavior -- historically nurtured characteristics of rural and ranching culture in this corner of West Texas and beyond.

" What is more surprising to to casual obervers is that only 42 percent of schoolchildren enrolled in the Comstock School are from Comstock and the rolling, caliche ranchlands of this Val Verde County school district.

"From Del Rio and subdivisions encroaching toward Lake Amistad come 120 Del Rio students, blending in each morning with 85 Comstock friends and classmates."

And you can be sure that Comstock ISD Superintendent Buddy Wolfenbarger sets us all straight regarding allegations of so - called "white flight" from Del Rio's out - of - control public schools.

Indeed, as he himself says:

"Our student population here is about 52 percent Hispanic and 48 percent Anglo, and by state law we pretty much hav eto keep it that way, or risk losing state funding."

Nor is that all, for as Mr. Sontag assures us:

"Wolfenbarger is an affable administrator who clearly loves his job, his associates and his students, but the no - nonsense Comstock approach to education is aptly summarized in a sign atop his office bookshelf:

No crying or caterwauling whatsoever! "