Here's what you need to know from Tuesday's Georgetown ISD board of trustees meeting:
Community-based accountability system
After several discussions upon the Jan. 6 release of the Texas Education Agency's preliminary
A-F rating system grades, action was taken to implement a community-based accountability system for GISD.
The accountability system will allow for GISD to set its own standards and monitor its progress while still complying with state regulations.
Superintendent Fred Brent said the system will be more specialized to GISD's needs.
“We believe it will be a higher level of accountability [for GISD] than the state system,” Brent said.
Educational consultant Denise Collier and testing expert John Tanner presented and will help implement the system, which will reflect community values, is driven by the GISD mission and is aligned with the GISD strategic plan.
The timeline set for the implementation of the new system is spring 2017-2018.
Wagner Middle School transition
Sixth- and seventh-grade students set to attend Wagner Middle School in the fall will begin the upcoming 2017-18 school year at the Williams Elementary School campus, according to the district.
Heavy rains in the early construction phases delayed the completion of the new Wagner building.
Williams students and staff will be moving to the newly constructed Purl Elementary School facility upon completion of this current school year.
All of the same instructional and extracurricular opportunities available at GISD's other middle school campuses will be available at Wagner.
Executive Director of Facilities and Construction David Biesheuvel said the athletic area of the campus is expected to be ready in August, and the school facility will be move-in ready in mid- to late October.
High school schedule changes
An information item concerning changes in high school class schedules was also presented to the board. The changes will allow for a modified block schedule that would allow for first- and eighth-period classes to meet every day for 50-60 minutes. Periods 3-7 would still operate on an A/B day schedule meeting every other day for 90 minutes.
Bryan Hallmark, assistant superintendent of operations and school leadership, said these changes would allow for more customized learning as well as increased career and technology education involvement.
Attendance zones approved
Hallmark also presented the final district attendance zone plan, which was unanimously approved by the board.
An updated plan will go live on the district's
website Wednesday with information concerning rezoning and grandfathering.
The district will also be unveiling an interactive map to track the new feeder school patterns.
District of innovation status official
After unanimous approval from the board of trustees, GISD is officially a
district of innovation, or DOI.
After adopting a resolution to explore a DOI designation in May, the plan was finalized tonight following approval from the district advisory group Feb. 8.
The GISD DOI plan will go into effect for the 2017-18 school year and will be reviewed each year.
District calendar OK'd
The 2017-18 district calendar was approved by the board of trustees and will allow for school to start Aug. 17 and end May 31 for the upcoming school year.
New hires approved
The board approved the hires of three new GISD employees:
- Coming from Leander ISD, Malinda Golden was hired to become the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning
- Lannon Heflin, who is coming from Round Rock ISD, will be the chief technology and innovation officer, a position new to GISD
- Denisse M. Baldwin, who currently serves as the assistant principal of Mitchell Elementary School, will become the Purl principal
