SISD discusses new goals

Spring break may be just around the corner, but the Sealy Independent School District Board of Trustees was hard at work Wednesday looking at ways to improve the district during the coming years.

Superintendent Pamela Morris outlined possible board goals and visions, but no action was taken on any items. The board looked at five different areas of district operations including instruction and technology, school and community relations, facilities, maintenance and transportation, salary and benefits and extracurricular activities.

Instruction and technology

Instruction and technology focused on improving the curriculum and providing students and teachers with the tools they need to thrive academically in a safe environment.

An all-day pre-school would allow students to start learning more at an early age. Since the district's pre-K is for students of low-income families, Morris also suggested allowing district employees who do not qualify for the free program to pay to have their child enrolled.

In order to improve on the curriculum it offers, the district might focus on implementing C-Scope, a curriculum geared toward college readiness and TAKS readiness, and developing academies within the high school, where students could work on an associate's degree starting in ninth grade.

In order to learn, students need computers, but sending students to a computer lab to do class work could be replaced with computers being sent to the class, instead. The board discussed purchasing computers on wheels (COWS), or carts with several Internet-accessible computers and printers on them that could be checked out by teachers based on their teaching needs.

"As technology increases, we're going to have to look at going wireless," Morris said.

Providing staff in needed areas would also play a key role in ensuring academic effectiveness.

"We need to start looking at students' needs and maybe we don't need that PE coach, but we need another biology teacher," Morris said.

Due to positive feedback, the district will continue to build on the staff training it has been offering.

School and

community

relations

The board looked at ways to get parents and the community involved more in the education of Sealy's students.

One way to increase awareness of what is going on in the district would be to include a newsletter in The Sealy News. The board also discussed offering free subscriptions to parents of low-income families and posting the newsletter online at the Sealy ISD Web site.

In the future, the district could be relying more on its Web site to distribute information than on paper and could also rely more on the electronic delivery of information to let parents know about district happenings and events in their student's life. If the district decides to go the way of paperless communication, hard copies of school handbooks, the code of conduct or other notices would be provided to parents upon request.

The monthly informational sessions Morris hosts with community members and parents, called key communicators and chats with the superintendent, would continue to be a part of the district's outreach.

"We just have to keep asking (them to come) and keep reaching out," she said.

To get more senior citizens and retired district employees involved in the district, a free pass, called a Gold Card, could be offered to them. The pass would allow them to attend athletic events, plays or concerts for free. In addition, the board discussed offering this group the chance to eat lunch at the school for free once a week.

"It's to get them involved, to get them here and to let them see what's going on," Morris said.

Another way the district promotes community awareness is through Morris' column in the newspaper every other week. Readers could notice a change in what she writes about.

"I want to move from programmatic things like what's going on in Sealy ISD to more philosophic topics," she said.

Facilities,

maintenance and transportation

In coming years, Sealy ISD could have to accommodate increasing numbers of students. Having adequate facilities is a major concern.

The board started off discussion of this issue by looking at the elementary school.

Options discussed include having a campus with grades pre-K through five, possibly building a new campus, and having two schools in the current elementary school, with students in grades pre-K through three going to one of the two.

One challenge the elementary is facing is having too many different sections in one grade, which translates into grade-level teachers finding it difficult to meet at the same time, to discuss students' progress and other grade-level business.

Morris said she learned through research that "scores are much better where you're vertically aligned with those kids until they go to junior high."

Building a central administration office was another facilities issue, since the current office may need to be converted into classrooms to accommodate student population growth.

The board looked at improving and upgrading athletic facilities, including the field house with a locker room and shower house by the football field at the junior high. The building needs to be fixed up so students can use it, Morris said. Along with being old and dirty, the showers do not work. With Staph infection a concern among school districts nationwide, replacing or renovating the building is also a health issue and was placed on a list of possible priorities.

"It definitely needs a lot of work," Morris said.

Along with major improvements, the board also discussed minor improvements and the need for efficiency in the maintenance department.

"Our facilities may be older, but they can be cleaned and well maintained," Morris said. "They do not need to look their age."

Along with facilities, the district also regularly updates the vehicles it allows staff and administrators to use to go on business trips or to educational events, such as taking students to debate tournaments.

With gas prices high, the district looked at replacing one of its older Suburbans with a smaller, gas-efficient car.

Salary and

benefits

Attracting and retaining qualifies personnel is a concern for any district, but with teacher salaries increasing at other schools in the area, SISD seeks to remain competitive, while offering students the best education possible.

One way board members discussed doing this is by offering teachers in high-need areas such as physics and high-level math, stipends.

"There's a lot of school districts doing it and with the four-by-four (plan) those subjects are critical," Morris said.

Salaries for all teachers were up for discussion as well, with the district focused on offering livable, competitive wages.

Along with pay, board members also looked at increasing the benefits offered to administrators and staff, such as a daycare for children of district employees.

"It means a lot to mothers, parents, fathers, when you know your child is being taken care of," Morris said.

The district could do a survey to determine the need and desire for the daycare services. Like the all-day pre-K, the daycare would help children start learning at an early age.

Extracurricular activities

An important part of any child's education is the extracurricular activities they are involved in, and board members discussed ways to add to the district's current programs.

Students may see the addition of a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program at Sealy High School, although the district would not be able to choose which arm of the service the program trains students for.

In fine arts, the University Interscholastic League (UIL) added a Mariachi band to the list of competitive areas available to students. Sealy may offer this in the future.

The addition of a Mariachi band is a step forward for the state in ensuring that students are offered a wide range of cultural activities to participate in, but the area of fine arts should be something educators across the state and in Sealy constantly strive to improve.

"I still think we have a long way to go, even in our fine arts," Morris said.

She would like to see the high school add an Advanced Placement (AP) art class, challenging art students and allowing them to gain college credit after succeeding on the subject's AP test.

"We have some really talented artists and we need to beef that up," she said.

Athletics is also an area the district would like to see improvements in.

"We're always looking for ways to improve there," Morris said.

The board meeting was the first budget workshop for the upcoming school year. No action was taken but subsequent budget workshops will take place.

The school boards next meeting will be March 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the Sealy Junior High School library.

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