FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2003
CONTACT: Kay Hendricks, ACCD Coordinator of Communication
210.208.8006

Alamo Community College District Names Zarate to District 5 Trustee Post

At a special board meeting on Thursday, August 14, 2003, the Alamo Community College District (ACCD) Board of Trustees appointed Roberto Zarate to fill the vacant District 5 position on the board. Zarate was selected from a field of five candidates who were interviewed by the board. He will serve until May 2004, when an election will be held to select a District 5 trustee for a new six-year term.

Zarate is currently the principal at Mary Hull Elementary School in the Northside School District (NISD), a position he has held for 14 years. Under Zarate's guidance, Hull Elementary has been honored as a Texas Recognized School, a Commended Title I School, a Texas Blue Ribbon School and a National Blue Ribbon School. It also received the Hispanic Magazine Exemplary School Award in 1999.

Zarate previously served as principal at John Glenn Elementary and as a social studies supervisor for the NISD. His 33-year career in education also has included positions as director of curriculum and staff development for the Edgewood ISD, an education specialist for the LAU Desegregation Center of the Intercultural Development Research Association, administrative assistant to the superintendent for the Edcouch-Elsa ISD and teaching eighth grade history in the Crystal City ISD. He is a lifetime member of the Texas and national PTA, and was recognized by the National Association of Elementary and Secondary Principals as a Blue Ribbon Principal. He also received the Yellow Rose of Texas Outstanding Educator Award.

Zarate brings considerable experience in community service to the ACCD. He has served on the board of directors of the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, the Community Guidance Center, the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, the Alamo Area Rape Crisis Center, the Taft High School Band Boosters, the Harvard Principal's Center Advisory Board and the city of San Antonio Commission on Literacy.

Zarate holds a masters from San Diego State University in California and a bachelor's from Howard Payne College in Brownwood, Texas. He and his wife Jane Ann are the parents of a daughter and three sons.