In an effort to become a District of Innovation before the end of 2016, the Eanes ISD board of trustees is scheduled to adopt the district’s DOI plan at aboard meeting Dec. 13. Wednesday will be the final day for parents in the district to review EISD's DOI plan online and to submit comments to the board of trustees before they move to adopt it.
Assistant Superintendent Jeff Arnett, representing the DOI committee, updated the board of trustees Oct. 18 on the plan, which was renamed by the committee as the Plan For Innovation and Local Control.
“[Becoming a DOI] gives us the latitude to be more creative in how we might approach the programs that are currently in place and those that are presented in our strategic plan,” Arnett said.
EISD’s Plan For Innovation and Local Control presents five areas in which exemptions to the Texas Education Code could aid the district.
Class sizes
The TEC requires that districts maintain class sizes of 22 students or less in kindergarten through fourth grade, and a waiver must be completed if a class exceeds that number. With the exemption, EISD would continue to achieve the required student-to-teacher ratio but would be given flexibility if the ratio was exceeded during the school year, negating the need to apply for a state waiver.
“The emphasis is making sure we’re still accountable and notify parents when we feel like we need to make an exception,” Arnett said.
The district is not considering changing the recommended ratios and, in a case in which the ratio is exceeded, it would be brought to the board for review, Superintendent Tom Leonard said.
School start dates
Currently, the TEC does not allow school districts to begin a new school year any earlier than the fourth Monday in August. The plan states that this exemption would give EISD the added flexibility to determine its start date on an annual basis, as long as class did not begin before the second Monday in August.
Teacher certification
Although the TEC requires all teachers to be properly certified, an exemption through the plan would allow EISD to use non-certified professionals or teachers from different subject areas when a certified educator is not available.
“Our intent is that this would be used on a very rare basis,” Leonard said.
Arnett said this exemption would be reserved for unique programs, and the school principal must get consent from the board of trustees and give notice to parents if a non-certified educator would be utilized.
“If by chance we find ourselves unable to find someone who is certified in a particular area, [this] would give us the flexibility to bring a candidate to the board that could deliver exceptional instruction in the area,” he said.
Instructional minutes
The TEC requires districts to provide students with 75,600 instructional minutes per year and 420 minutes per day of classroom learning time.
EISD’s plan states an exemption would allow the district to approach classroom time “more creatively,” and the flexibility could better meet students’ needs.
It notes that time could be used to support staff members who participate in professional learning communities to improve their craft during instructional hours as well as accommodate for in-class parent- teacher conferences at the elementary level that could impact instructional minutes through the year.
Staff appraisal system
Instead of following a statewide evaluation system for school staff and administration, an exemption would allow EISD to utilize the growth and appraisal program it already has in place. The plan states that the district’s current appraisal system is better aligned with the district’s goals.
“We’re [already] well underway with the growth and appraisal program we’ve proposed, so this simple affirms the work that is being done,” Arnett said.
