Fall 2020 and COVID-19

I have read many positive and negative reactions about the GCISD Board decision to start online classes on August 17^th and add the in-school option on September 8^th.  I read, for example, “the Board did not listen to parents as the majority wanted in-school instruction”. That could not be further from the truth. The Board listened to parents, our teachers and our health professionals. As Dr. Ryan said at the start of our special meeting on Friday, July 31st, "we want all kids in school as soon as possible". A survey was sent to parents and employees on June 10th, and 50% of parents wanted in-school instruction only (survey results: https://www.gcisd.net/our_district/august_2020/planning_survey_results). The other half wanted either a remote or a hybrid option (online and in-school combo). We started online registration on July 15^th, and parents were asked to make their selection between online and in-school instruction. On July 21^st, Tarrant County released guidelines stating that districts could not offer in-school instruction until September 28th. Before our meeting on July 31st, the percentage of parents wanting in-school instruction was 60%, but many of these parents selected that option with the assumption we will start in-school instruction on September 28th. They wanted the district to start online school first as they were concerned with the spread of COVID-19 in our community. We know this because they wrote to us letting us know. Once we offered in-school instruction starting on September 8^th, most parents registering selected remote instruction. Also, some parents that first selected the in-school option are now trying to switch to remote for the first nine weeks. The current split is 56% / 44% and it continues to close as more parents register their students. The bottom line is we have a split community on this issue.

Kids need to be in school, but we want to do it so it is safe to everyone, and keeps us in-school long term. We know the spread among young students is not as significant as with adults, but it is significant among adults, and we will have many adults in one place at each school. Also, there have been cases of outbreaks among high school students in other states and countries. In GCISD we have students living with at-risk adults that could bring the disease home. Those three weeks of online instruction give our community time for the spread of the disease to decrease. County health officials want the positive test rate to be close to 5% before we open schools, and it is currently at 10% (7-day average) on a downward trend. A rate in the single digits increases our chances to keep the disease away from our schools and limit disruption. The last thing we want to do is to open our schools and have to send kids home or completely close one or multiple buildings due to an outbreak. Possible health risks were seriously considered in our decision.

The three weeks of online school also gives the district time to receive all PPE ordered, get teachers familiar with COVID-19 guidelines and give them real experience in our new way of remote instruction, which will differ greatly from what we offered last spring. There will be a lot more live interaction and no more pass/fail grades. After September 8^th, some teachers will have to teach on dual mode (in-school and live remote), and some teachers might need to switch from in-school to remote (if they need to quarantine). We have high expectations of our remote instruction, just like we have with our iUniversity Prep online school. Our Executive Director for iUniversity Prep, Dr. Kaye Rogers, was in charge of designing the online instruction training for all our teachers. 

We all want kids in school. We know many kids and parents struggled with our online instruction during the spring. We also know socio-emotional issues arise when students are not in school, and it is difficult for some working parents to find child care for their students before we open our schools. This was not an easy decision, and we considered all the factors I just mentioned, including the many emails and texts from parents favoring either online or in-school instruction.

Our new remote instruction will be much better, more interactive and engaging for our students than in the spring. If you feel your student struggles during the first 3 weeks of the school year, please contact your teacher or principal. We are committed to assist you during those first three weeks as we transition from remote to in-school instructions (for the parents and students that selected that option). Please leave your comments or questions below this post, or send me an email to jorge.rodriguez@gcisd.net.

GCISD Welcomes New Board Member

Doug Noell was the only resident that filed for the GCISD Board of Trustees Place 6 before the deadline, and will become our newest Board member, replacing current Board President Leon Leal, who is retiring after nine years of service. Doug's 3-year term will start on May 19th.

Doug grew up in Dallas and attended Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets and the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. Doug completed a degree in Economics and worked in the insurance and IT industries.

Doug and his wife Courtney have lived in Grapevine for the last 15 years.

Welcome aboard, Doug!

New changes at GCISD

There are several exciting changes in our district as we start the new school year in a couple of months. First, we are opening our STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Academy at Cannon Elementary for any student that resides within GCISD limits (not just Cannon area residents). The STEM program is integrated within the Cannon curriculum for all students attending the school. We are also continuing our two-way bilingual program at Cannon, which offers the opportunity to English speakers to learn Spanish within their regular core courses. We offer similar two-way language programs at Silver Lake and Timberline Elementary schools.

I would also like to welcome June Ritchlin to the Timberline Elementary family. Mrs. Ritchlin will be the new principal at Timberline, after a few years successfully leading Colleyville Elementary.  We are looking forward to Mrs. Ritchlin's work at this school, as we continue to improve our STAAR scores, prepare our students as they move into Cross Timbers Middle School and continue the implementation of the Franklin-Covey's Leader in Me program.

GCISD is starting their first magnet school, the Aspire Academy, for grades 1 through 4 at Glenhope Elementary. The students attending this academy were chosen based on IQ test scores, interviews and past work in their Gifted and Talented classes. The academy will expand to 5th grade in 2014 and to 6th grade at Cross Timbers Middle School in 2015.

Finally, this year we are expanding the Exito Hispano program to our two high schools. Exito Hispano is a parent engagement program focused on increasing Hispanic parent participation in our secondary schools. The program started at Cross Timbers Middle School in 2011, and was implemented at Grapevine Middle School last year. Once per month, we invite Hispanic parents to our schools to discuss topics like STAAR, GCISD goals and strategy, bullying prevention programs, Family Access system, curriculum, Career and Technology courses and College Night.

2012 GCISD Board Election Results

Congratulations to Becky St John and Kimberley Barber Davis for their victories in the 2012 GCISD School Board election! Mrs. St John was re-elected with 55% of the vote (1,553 votes), while Mrs. Davis was elected with 64% of the vote (1,830 votes). Mrs. Davis will take over Charlie Warner's seat on the Board, as Mr. Warner decided not to run for re-election. I am looking forward to working with both of them as we implement our new LEAD 2021 strategy.

GCISD middle school curriculum changes postponed to 2013-14

In order to better inform parents about the middle school curriculum changes approved in the January 2012 School Board meeting, GCISD adjusted the timeline to eliminate the on-level course track and create the new College Readiness course offering. Instead of starting with new 6th graders in the 2012-13 school year, GCISD will implement the changes for both 6th and 7th graders during the 2013-14 school year. There will be no changes to the GT/Accelerated course tracks. As originally proposed, current middle school students will not be affected by the new program of studies. All students currently in middle school will continue to have the on-level, pre-AP and GT/Accelerated options.

These changes were approved in order to better prepare all our students for their post-high school education. The key is to prepare all students for all the options available, including trade schools, community colleges and universities. A well rounded and challenging public school education benefits all kids, even if they decide not to pursue a bachelor's degree. The issue we currently have is that many students taking on-level courses were not pursuing any degree after high school. We have to do a better job preparing and encouraging all students to continue their education once they leave the GCISD.

I received comments from parents that were concerned about pushing this curriculum change as quickly as we first envisioned. I also received feedback from elementary school parents stating their lack of trust in our ability to effectively differentiate class content at our middle schools with a more diverse student body inside the College Readiness courses.  On the other hand, our middle schools principals were very confident in their ability to implement this change for the next school year because current pre-AP classes already have a very diverse student body.

In addition to the benefit for middle school students, eliminating the on-level track will also have a positive effect in our elementary schools. As we align the middle school goals with our elementary schools, it is critical that we strengthen our elementary school curriculum. Improving the learning experience at the elementary level will prepare our students for a more challenging College Readiness course track at middle school. Instead of working the elementary school changes first to then implement changes at the middle schools in a few years, as suggested by some parents, we wanted to impact incoming 6th graders in order to accelerate meeting our college readiness goal proposed in our new LEAD 2021 district strategy.

As a member of the School Board, I understood the challenges this change would bring to our district. However, I have full confidence in the ability of Dr. Robin Ryan and his staff to implement this plan. In order to fulfill our mission to be the best school district in the state, we have to change the way we prepare our students. Close to 25% of our students do not pursue any degree after graduating from our district. That needs to change, and strengthening our middle school curriculum is an important step to improving those numbers.

For more information about the middle school curriculum changes, please visit this link

GCISD eliminates on-level course track at the middle schools

On January 23rd, 2012, the GCISD School Board approved the elimination of the on-level ("regular") course track for all middle schools. Currently, middle school students can select between Gifted & Talented/Accelerated, Pre-AP and on-level course tracks when selecting classes in Language Arts, Social Studies, Math and Science. Starting with students entering the 6th grade in August 2012, there will only be two options, Gifted & Talented/Accelerated and the new "College Readiness" track.  Some members of the community have expressed a concern that the new "College Readiness" track will be a "watered down" version of the Pre-AP track, in order to accommodate students that would previously have taken the "on-level" track.  However, this is not the intention of the new "College Readiness" track.   As in the case of the current Pre-AP track, the new "College Readiness" track includes a curriculum that will prepare students for future AP courses at the high school level.  In order to guarantee that all students are college ready by the time they graduate from high school (a goal of our new LEAD 2021 district strategy), the students that would normally have taken on-level classes will be placed in college readiness courses. 

As an aside, current middle school students will not be affected by this change (they will still have the 3-course track options for the rest of this year and for their subsequent years in middle school).

One concern about this change is how we are going to ensure that on-level students going into the 6th grade will be ready for a more challenging curriculum within the "College Readiness" track. Rick Westfall, GCISD's Chief Learning Officer, mentioned during this month's Board Meeting that GCISD will review and improve the curriculum at the elementary schools in order to support the new 2-track approach at the middle schools.  As this change affects current 5th graders going into 6th grade, GCISD will also offer assistance outside the classroom at the middle school level in order to ensure these students can perform at the college readiness level. This is no different than the assistance that is currently offered at all our middle schools for students that need additional help.

The key strategic goal of LEAD 2021 is to ensure that all students have a "personalized learning plan that leads to college and career readiness." GCISD intends to change the K-12 curriculum in order to establish college readiness as our minimum education standard. Eliminating the on-level track at our middle schools is a change that will lead us towards that goal.

If you have any comments or questions about this matter, please post them below or send an email to jorge@jorgerodriguez.org.

Exito Hispano at Cross Timbers Middle School

In order for GCISD to reach its goal of being the best school system in the state, and to prepare all our students for the challenges of College and other post-graduation education opportunities, we need to significantly improve the performance of our Hispanic students at our secondary schools. With that in mind, the Cross Timbers Middle School has launched a new program called "Exito Hispano at CTMS", which focuses on increasing Hispanic parents' involvement in the education of their kids.

Our first presentation took place on September 7th. During the meeting, we discuss the achievement gap between the general population and our Hispanic students, and the high ratio of in-school-suspensions (ISS) among that group. We also discussed the parent contract that all of us signed at the beginning of the school year, and how important it is to follow the commitments stated in that document: make sure students arrive on time to school, support CTMS in its discipline efforts, establish a set time for homework at home, motivate students and be available to answer questions to school personnel, stay aware of student performance and provide time for kids to read.

We discussed the risks of continuing the status quo, including the possible decline of our education system, and with that, the negative effect that could have in our great cities of Grapevine and Colleyville. With the Hispanic students being the fastest growing group in our district (and state), it is critical that we act now. Even if we continue to improve our efforts at the schools to satisfy the needs of these students, we will not succeed without a strong partnership with their parents.

We also had meetings during the months of October, November and December, where we discussed the issue of student discipline, the GCISD Family Access tool (to review student grades online) and the course paths (regular, pre-AP, GT/AP) at the middle and high school levels. During all our meetings, we encouraged parents to come to the school if there is an issue with their students, either academic or behavioral.

We are planning monthly meetings in 2012, were we will discuss topics of interest, including the Career Tech options at our high schools, importance of a College education, College admission and financial aid, etc. We will also expand the program to include both high schools and Grapevine Middle School.