Posted 12:18 am Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tyler ISD Considering Hiring Student Services Director, Principal
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
Tyler ISD could hire a director of student services and a new principal for Mattie Jones Elementary School at its meeting Thursday night.
Staff Writer
Tyler ISD could hire a director of student services and a new principal for Mattie Jones Elementary School at its meeting Thursday night.
The regular meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Dr. Jack L. Davidson Conference Center at the Jim Plyler Instructional Complex, 807 W. Glenwood. Trustees meet at 6 p.m. in closed session.
The positions of director of student services and principal of Jones will be discussed during closed session. Any action to hire candidates for the two positions will happen in open session.
The board voted to accept the retirement of Michael Berrier, principal of Jones for 23 years, at its last regular meeting.
TISD Superintendent Dr. Randy Reid said that in looking to fill the Jones position, the district followed the same procedures it did in recently filling two other principal positions. That process includes having the school develop a profile to apply to a pool of candidates, several rounds of interviews and sending the narrowed pool of candidates before a community committee, which, in turn, provides feedback to the administration about the candidates.
The director of student services is a new position to TISD. That person, Reid said, will be “the first line of communication with the community and the schools for non-instructional issues that come out of the schools — discipline issues, safety issues, student transportation issues.”
The position, among other things, will also free up the directors of secondary and elementary education to spend their time working on instruction with the schools, Reid said.
Both positions will officially start July 1, although the transition will likely begin before that.
CURRICULUM ITEMS
Also on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting is the approval of several curriculum items, including the purchase of Destination Reading software in Spanish.
The software will be available to students at the 11 elementary bilingual schools. It will cost more than $49,000. The money to pay for the program would come from district Title III funds.
“A child that is a second language learner for English will be better suited by getting a strong grasp of their own language first before they try to tackle English,” Reid said. “What we want to do is simultaneously, while we’re teaching them English, help them become as strong a reader in Spanish as they possibly can because that will make it translate faster.”
The board will also consider approving Math Solutions staff development for teachers.
Reid said math scores around the state are struggling and TISD is no exception.
TISD’s TAKS math scores are below state average in fifth and eighth grades. There is also a continued lack of certified math teachers.
The board will consider Thursday approving a contract for $44,000 with Math Solutions to provide staff development to teachers in fifth through eighth grades during one week in June. The administration is also recommending providing teachers a $300 stipend to attend the week-long institute.
The money for the staff development and stipends would come from the superintendent’s discretionary fund, according to district agenda information.
“What we’re trying to do is give our teachers as many tools as possible,” the superintendent said. “This Math Solutions is a comprehensive kind of boot camp of math teaching skills that we’re trying to get as many of our teachers through as possible this summer.”
TISD trustees will also consider approval of expanding the Project Lead the Way program for John Tyler High and Boulter Middle schools.
Project Lead the Way is a not-for-profit organization that promotes pre-engineering courses for middle and high school students.
The proposal before the board Thursday is to expand the current program and increase the number of staff teaching courses so that John Tyler, which currently has two existing PLTW courses, would receive two extra courses.
At Boulter, which is a feeder school to John Tyler, it is recommended to replace Boulter’s current construction technology course with PLTW’s Gateway to Technology course to promote the sequence of courses in the program. Training of the current teacher at Boulter in the new course is also recommended in the proposal.
“We’re excited about it. This is an expansion of the program, and I think it will be a really good move for us,” Reid said. “I think it’s really important we get more kids exposed to these kinds of programs at a younger age to hopefully whet their appetite for the math and science areas.”
The expansion will cost more than $55,000 and be paid for by the Career and Technical Education Department.
OTHER ITEMS
The board will also consider approval of: the 2007-08 amended budget gifts and donations; Board Policy DBB (Local) and FFAC (Local); HVAC renovations at Caldwell Elementary Arts Academy; roof replacement at Caldwell Gym and Caldwell Auditorium; roofing quotes for Clarkston Cafeteria, Hogg Gym, Hubbard, Moore Gym, Owens, Plyler Complex B and five portables at John Tyler, Robert E. Lee and Boulter; digital projector purchase; and purchase of materials for C-Scope Math and Science.
The board will also hear a monthly financial executive summary, the School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) Annual report and reports on the science laboratory grant program and the budget for the 2008-09 school year.
