The Georgetown ISD board of trustees unanimously approved a motion to pursue a District of Innovation designation at its July 25 meeting. The DOI designation was created by Texas House Bill 1842, which state lawmakers passed in 2015. The bill allows school districts to adopt a local innovation plan that outlines more flexible operating models, including some exemptions from state regulations previously offered only to charter schools. Districts with a DOI designation can avoid requirements such as class size ratio, teacher certification, and some student discipline provisions. For GISD to become a DOI, it must now put together a committee to create an action plan, said Suzanne Marchman, the GISD Executive Director of School/Community Engagement and Communications. Marchman also said trustees will likely appoint a committee at the August 15 school board meeting. The committee will include teachers, district staff, parents and community representatives, she said. “The hope is to have an action plan in place sometime early spring, [possibly] early February,” Marchman said. Trustee Ronna Johnson said that becoming a DOI “has allowed [districts] to create a level playing field with other public schools in the state of Texas.” At the June school board meeting, some teachers expressed concern about how a becoming a DOI would change employee contracts, class sizes and benefits. However, Marchman said the board hopes to assure teachers that all stakeholders are working together. “When I first looked at this, there was a lot of stuff I did not want to touch. But as I dug in deeper into what is involved, and the fact that the district performance committee is actually guiding this process, [I] felt very secure," trustee Fred Barhydt said. "Everyone hopefully realizes there is no interest in changing teacher contracts and benefits." Many legal requirements apply to all Texas school districts, including DOIs, such as statutes regarding special education, open meetings, and curriculum and graduation requirements. According to the Texas Association of School Boards, innovation plans are unique to each district that pursues the designation. DOIs may choose to focus on specific areas of innovation, such as curriculum, instruction, governance, parent and community involvement, school calendar, budgeting or other ideas.

GISD trustees name new Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources

Also at the July 25 meeting, the board of trustees approved the hire of Lisa Napper to become the next assistant superintendent of human recourses for GISD. Napper comes from Leander ISD where she was the executive director of human resources.