GCISD Board of Trustees Election

The GCISD Board of Trustees election is on Saturday, May 8th. Early voting starts on Monday, April 26th. The early voting locations are: Grapevine Community Activities Center, Colleyville City Hall, Euless Public Library, Bedford Public Library, Southlake Town Hall and the Tarrant County Elections Center in Ft. Worth.

The Election Day voting locations can be found using the Tarrant County Elections Center voters registration look-up application.

The GCISD Board Voters Guide from the League of Women Voters can be found here.

Profile of the new GCISD superintendent

Last month our superintendent search firm held three focus groups to gather feedback from our community on the professional profile they wanted to see in the new superintendent. We had over 60 participants in the three sessions.

One of the main characteristics our community wanted to see was a superintendent with a good understanding of the Texas school finance system. Also, they wanted someone with a track record of success working in a district with a diverse student body. The participants wanted someone that can represent and promote our district within and outside our community. An excellent communicator is another important trait for our new superintendent. Our new superintendent should be accessible, with the ability to listen and work with parents.

Other desired characteristics were: an inspirational leader with a high level of integrity, a strong motivator and an innovative instructional leader. The community wanted someone that is not afraid of making tough decisions, and preferred an educator with a doctorate degree.

If there is anything else you want to add to this excellent profile put together by our community, please post your comments below.

2010 GCISD Board Candidate Forums

We will have two GCISD Board candidate forums next week. The first one is on Monday, April 19th, at Stacey's Furniture in Grapevine. This forum is sponsored by the Colleyville-Grapevine-Southlake (CGS) Democrats, and it starts at 7PM. The forum will also include candidates for the Colleyville Mayoral and Grapevine City Council races.

Our second forum is sponsored by the GCISD Council of PTAs and will be held on Tuesday, April 20th at the Colleyville Heritage High School Library. The forum will start at 6:30PM.

These forums will give you the opportunity to hear the Board candidate viewpoints on important issues the affect our School District.

The GCISD Board election will be held on May 8th. Early voting starts on April 26th.

Texas High Schools Rankings by "Children at Risk"

Children at Risk, a non-profit organization based in Houston, published their 2010 ranking of the best public schools in Texas. According to their website, Children at Risk is an organization that works to improve the quality of life of children across our state through strategic research, public policy analysis, education, collaboration and advocacy.

The factors Children at Risk considered when ranking the high schools were: the percentage of students achieving TAKS Commended Performance standards in Mathematics, English Language Arts, Social Studies and Science, the percentage of ACT/SAT test-takers,  mean SAT and ACT test scores, enrollment in advanced courses, completion of the Recommended High School Program, participation and performance on AP/IB exams, graduation rate and attendance rate. The percentage of economically disadvantage kids was also taking into consideration when ranking the schools.

Our GCISD High Schools ranked very high in this list, with CHHS ranking #34 in the state (#12 in DFW) and GHS ranking #46 (#15 in DFW). Over 1000 high schools were included in the ranking.

Children at Risk also published individual ranking lists for elementary and middle schools. The complete lists of schools is posted on their website.