Plano ISD Superintendent of Schools Brian Binggeli said he knew from a young age that education was key to success. Before coming to Plano in July, Binggeli was superintendent of Brevard Public Schools in Viera, Florida for five years. He has a doctorate from Virginia Tech in educational leadership and policy studies and began his professional career as a teacher in Elyria, Ohio, in 1981. Binggeli has worked in public education for about 34 years. He said parents and families can support their children by instilling the value of education in them at an early age.“My brother and I learned at a very early age—we either had to do well in school or you had to deal with mom,” Binggeli said. “Now we also learned very quickly that it was a lot easier to do well in school.”

What can the district do to accommodate for growth?

The state demographer presents current statistics regarding growth in population in the region to the PISD board of trustees. PISD works closely with government leaders in the city to find schools in areas that might see more enrollment or decline in enrollment or stagnation.

In 2008 Plano, ISD had issued a $490 million bond referendum for renovations and infrastructural improvement that has lasted until this year. We have been committed to infrastructure renewal in Plano schools the right way.

During challenging budget times there are some districts that defer infrastructure improvement for           a later time. In the short term, you can get away with that. In the long term, it’s a horribly inefficient way to work. It puts debt on your children and [the] Plano community has not done that—nor has the school district. That is utterly commendable.

Now, almost eight years after the previous bond program, we will be taking a look at recommending a new bond initiative.

How does PISD foster diversity, especially for those students who speak limited English?

There is a nationwide opportunity gap, especially for students in low income and minority households.

We are partnering with an organization called Equal Opportunity Schools where they come into the schools and do a deep dive research [study] in identifying the factors that create the opportunity gaps and how we, as a school community, can eliminate them. This gives us a deeper look into how children who should be in Advanced Placement coursework are not finding their way there. We have a Diversity Advisory Committee, but issues like fostering diversity should be tackled by our community. It is important for the district to take a comprehensive approach to solving that opportunity gap.  I have been talking to principals in different schools who are finding ways to communicate with families and parents.

PISD is dedicated not only toward children’s education but also adult literacy. For non-English speakers, there are translation services and workshops through which they can get more involved.

What are your thoughts on standardized testing?

My feeling is that there is nothing inherently wrong with having a test that might help give us information about a student’s acquisition of knowledge. I think it becomes a challenge or a problem when it becomes the only measure. It should be one of the metrics of a multimetric process of evaluating students’ acquisition of knowledge.

I don’t have a problem with standardized testing being used as one of the things that we use as part of a very multimetric approach to examining the success of a student, of a school and of a school district. We want to help students acquire 21st century skills—communicating effectively, collaborating and solving complicated problems—by bringing a variety of sources of information together. Community service is also a part of being a versatile student.

Things that are easy to measure aren’t always the most important, and sometimes things that are vital aren’t always easy to measure.