The Spring ISD board of trustees reviewed the annual report of the district's educational performance and the Texas Academic Performance Report on Thursday night as well as accepted several grants that will help students, staff and their families affected by Hurricane Harvey.
Here are some of the key points hit at the meeting, which was postponed from Tuesday night due to the winter weather that closed schools for two days this week.
1. The
School Quality Survey is available through Feb. 2. Parents and employees can visit
www.springisd.org/schoolquality to participate. Students in grades 6 through 12 can visit
this link and use their student IDs to take the survey.
2. Lauren Topek, SISD chief of curriculum, instruction and assessment, reviewed the district's
2017 educational performance and TAPR, which is
provided annually by the Texas Education Agency to track student performance. Highlights of the report included data on student performance on standardized tests and graduation rates. The report also included a list of violent or criminal incidents reported during the two most recent academic years. While the total number of reported incidents grew from 1,128 to 3,061 from 2015-16 to 2016-17, school officials pointed out that the increases were due to improved reporting and classification of incidents, which had previously been unreported.
3. Topek also introduced several changes to the middle and high school
Education Planning Guides, including new dual-credit classes in chemistry, engineering and physics. Deleted courses include French V—because no students are currently registered for French IV—and a language and culture class for which no state textbooks are available. The board unanimously approved the planning guides.
4. The board also accepted several grants relating to
Hurricane Harvey recovery among district students and families. The first is a $12,000 grant from the American Association of School Administrators and Joint Powers Alliance and The Simmons Foundation. A second grant, for $336,900, is from the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund managed by the Greater Houston Community Foundation. The grant will benefit students in grades 6-12, staff and their families for basic needs. The board will hire a case manager to help administer the grant.
