2nd Six Weeks Completed!

We have completed the second six weeks. My how time does fly. Before we turn around it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas.

Student report cards should be coming home today. If you have any concerns, please make arrangements to visit with your child's teacher now. The sooner we can address the concerns the better. We want to work together in order to help your child succeed.

The Thanksgiving Break will be November 23-27. I hope that you will be able to spend time with friends and loved ones during this time. I also hope you are able to spend some time in reflection upon the things for which we can all be thankful. The Christmas Break will be December 21-January 4. We will also have Early Release days on December 17 and 18.

We are working hard to develop a learning environment that will meet the needs of today's learner. Students today do learn differently than when even you or I were in school. Harleton ISD has a vision of creating a Personalized Learning environment where we will meet the needs of every student through the blending of traditional brick and mortar schools with the new virtual schooling that is available today. I hope you will join us as much as possible to gain a better understanding of this vision and what we are doing to help prepare students to be successful in an ever-changing world.

Our district has developed a Steering Committee, made up of members of the community, to study our facilities and make a recommendation to the School Board about how the community and taxpayers would like us to proceed with some of the needs of our district. We currently have an enrollment of 788 students in our district,  and this number is up from 723 at the end of the previous school year. The growth we are seeing is from new residents of our district, and I believe, based upon the data, that we will continue to see growth in our district.

As always, I want to thank you for allowing us to be a part of your child's life. We welcome your questions or concerns (or praise), and we hope to meet your expectations. Please contact me if I can be any service.

Off to a Great Start!

We are off to a great start at Harleton ISD! I appreciate everyone making the little extra effort to make sure that things started smoothly.

We are beginning the year with a lot of new students to the district. We have had about 50 new students move into the district since the end of last year. Please be patient with us as we make arrangements for these new students. We may have to order a few more textbooks or chairs in some of the classrooms, but we will make sure that every child gets what they need to be successful.

There are a lot of activities taking place around the district during the next few weeks. We invite you all to join us. You are always welcome!

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your child's life. We are honored and grateful!

The Beginning of a New School Year!

There's always a feeling of excitement that I feel when we are about to start another school year. I guess it's because of the renewed feelings of hope and purpose that is evident when we have a new start. Anyway, I'm really excited about the coming school year.

We have several new employees at Harleton ISD that I believe are going to be great additions to our school district. Each of them brings new ideas and strategies to help us as we strive to become the premiere school district in East Texas. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish this year. I expect great things!

We have a new Athletic Director/Head Football Coach this year. Coach Terry Ward joined our district at the beginning of the summer. Coach Ward brings a lot of enthusiasm and successful coaching strategies to all of our athletic programs. I believe Coach Ward will be a great addition to our district, and I hope that you will join me in welcoming him and his family to our district and community.

School will begin for students on August 24. We looking forward to seeing the students on this day, and we are going to work hard to ensure that we help each and every student reach his/her fullest potentials.

We appreciate you entrusted us with your most precious resource. Please know that we consider you partners in the endeavor to educate your children. Don't hesitate to let us know if we can be of service in any way. Also, remember that we are on Facebook and Twitter to help keep you informed about the activities of the district. You may also gather information from our Skyward portal. This will help to keep you informed of your child's progress throughout the school year.

Thank you again for allowing us to be a part of your child's lives. We are looking forward to making 2015-2016 the best year ever!

So long 2014-2015...

What a great year at Harleton ISD! The school year of 2014-2015 was filled with successes for our district, both academically and athletically. I am very proud of all involved in making this one of the best years ever!

I congratulate our student athletes on their successful seasons in almost all areas. Our softball and baseball teams were able to compete in the state championship tournament, and performed very well. I am very proud of their hard work, as well as, that of the coaches that worked with these young men and women.

During the summer months we will be busy getting ready for a new school year. There are many maintenance projects that have to be completed during this time, and we will also be working to plan for improvements in all areas of our district. Although we've had a lot of success, we are not resting on our laurels. We seek to continuously improve the quality and content of the instruction that we offer our students, and to increase the opportunities that our students have to reach their potentials.

Please, contact our offices if you have questions or suggestions for improvement. I thank you for allowing us to be a part of your child's life.

Struggles for Small Schools

In education there are many advantages of having small schools. Our staff and students have great opportunities to form strong relationships that lead to a safe and secure environment that is conducive to learning. Students in smaller schools have varied opportunities to be involved in many activities and aspects of the school experience. But, small schools also have some struggles that are not faced by larger districts.

Often, the state's legislature passes laws and introduces bills that are tailored to larger districts. They sometimes fail to realize that smaller schools do not always have the same resources that are available to larger districts. This is not wrong, it's just the facts. As an example, I would like to share with you some struggles of a small school stemming from the Accountability requirements imposed by the state. This list was composed by Allen Garner from Central ISD.

• Significant cost at $75 per hour for professional service provider (PSP)

• The progress index is an unfair indicator of campus success for a

campus with only one tested grade level. This is not a fair playing field when other campuses have multiple grade levels.

• The measure of student progress for 4th grade math students in

comparison to their 3rd grade STAAR is difficult, when the TEKS have changed this year. We are trying to pull from a 4th grade

released test, with the new TEKS taught this year, and compare to a 3rd grade STAAR with old TEKS.

• Short time between notification that our campus is Improvement

Required and beginning of school year-Staff development is planned at the beginning of summer. This puts a burden on schools to plan staff development during the year to target the areas of the Targeted Improvement Plan. This infringes upon much needed classroom instruction time when teachers are pulled out for the required staff development.

• One year is not long enough to fully meet the mandates of

developing, communicating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the Targeted Improvement Plan. There was one training date, which was informative, but also raised numerous questions about the process. Principals are trying to get school started, and the time required to do this process effectively is not manageable. This process requires EXTENSIVE Needs Assessment, Data Analysis, planning and meetings with the Campus Improvement Team (who are also teachers), and the deadlines for reports are not realistic expectations for administrators trying to effectively lead a campus. To continue the leadership necessary during the day, countless hours are spent at night and on weekends to do this.

• Small districts do not have resources available for campus level

Curriculum/ Instructional Specialists who are the ones in larger districts assigned to disaggregation of data, monitoring the curriculum and instruction, writing of curriculum, assessments and organizing and providing staff development as needed. Once again, this falls on the campus principals.

• The state has no written curriculum available, so campuses are

responsible for teachers writing curriculum, trying to ensure the

resources are effectively aligned to the TEKS, (which no longer work when the TEKS change) on limited funds available.

• Developing higher level thinking, using technology and the training required, is hard to do when the state does not provide the sufficient funding for this. Most small schools have to write grants to acquire the needed technology to be competitive.

• The systems in place, such as the Kindergarten Readiness System,

always have issues of submission of data. There is, once again, gaps in the communication process.

• The constant changes in the testing of Special Education and

students with dyslexia are not communicated in a timely manner to campuses, in order for students to be tested fairly. Administrators and teachers are not kept informed by the state of changes in a sufficient amount of time, and the training provided by TEA is never adequate.

As I stated before, we love our small schools, but every district, no matter size or location, has its own unique challenges. I just want to make you aware of how we have to weigh all things when legislation is passed. We want to do the very best job possible in educating our children, and we will work hard to overcome any obstacles that stand in our way. As always, if you would like to speak about this or any other issues, please don't hesitate to contact me.