All About ACE
News from the Spring ISD Advisory Committee on Education
2023-2024 Issue 5
Advisory Committee on Education Convened to Discuss Critical Topics
The district's Advisory Committee on Education (ACE) met on Wednesday, Feb. 21 to discuss important agenda items, including the Spring ISD Focus Areas for the 2023-2024 school year, the most recent Spring ISD Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR), and Professional Learning opportunities for Spring ISD employees. Dr. Lupita Hinojosa, Superintendent of Schools, began the meeting with introductions of new and returning members. Each member of the committee was able to share their name and their work location/affiliation to the committee. As a new member, Mr. Javon Blair joined the committee. Mr. Blair is a Spring ISD alumni (Westfield HS) and graduate from Jackson State University. Dr. Hinojosa continued by explaining to the committee that it is important that everyone knows who is in the room and who they are working with. Having alumni in the room who have graduated and gone on to do great things shows the work that Spring ISD is doing as teachers and advisors, to prepare young people for success.
Dr. Hinojosa shared with the committee that Spring ISD recently recognized both the elementary and secondary principals of the year. The elementary principal of the year is Ms. Cecily Parker, principal of Jenkins Elementary School and the secondary principal of the year is Ms. Cecelia Brumsey, principal of Roberson Middle School. She continued by giving a shout out to the Spring ISD PK program, as it continues to grow. Spring ISD now offers full day and free PK as long as the students are 4 years old as of Sept. 1. If the student lives in the Spring ISD zone, they can go to free PK. It is through that program that Spring ISD is growing future leaders. Spring ISD is still short students, with a goal of getting back to 35,000 students in the district. Dr. Hinojosa put an emphasis on growing students from PK, as well as enrollment being extremely important.
As it relates to the budget, Dr. Hinojosa shared that Spring ISD is facing a $25 million deficit and encouraged the committee to vote in the primaries. The primary elections are March 5. There are $32.7 billion that hasn't been touched or allocated. Public schools have not received an increase in funding since 2019 and she informed the committee that there are candidates running for positions that are indeed focused on public education. It is imperative that public educators have representatives at the state level who understands public education. Dr. Hinojosa answered questions centered around what the committee could do as citizens and the timeline for the lawsuit that Spring ISD joined. "Get out and vote" was her message to the committee. Those are the people deciding budgets for 2025. The goal is to elect representatives who support public education. That way, when they are writing bills, they are writing them to support public education. She continued by informing the committee that there are 5 state representatives that have a part of Spring ISD. As it relates to the timeline of the lawsuit, Dr. Hinojosa explained that it has to do with the state A-F ratings. The court has done an injunction and until TEA submits their writing and there is a trial, there is no decision. The current ratings cannot be made public. She ended this segment but letting the committee know that a major next step is to prepare students for STAAR. The Spring ISD Middle of the Year (MOY) data is a predictor as to how students will do on STAAR and this data can be used to further prepare students moving forward.
Texas Accountability Performance Reports (TAPR)
Dr. Matt Pariseau, Chief of Innovation & Student Success, joined the meeting to provide an overview of the most recent Spring ISD TAPR. He began by letting the committee know that every year the report gets released and Spring ISD does a public hearing and adds the report to the district website. He continued by saying that one of the values of the report is to see how Spring ISD is doing compared to the state.
Dr. Pariseau mentioned to the committee that Spring ISD has a larger Economically Disadvantaged population than both the Region and the State. The A-F accountability system looks at the meets level, which indicates students being on grade level. As a district, Spring ISD does look at the approaches level, but it doesn't apply for accountability ratings. Spring ISD continues to see an increase in the data over the past year, which is evident that Spring ISD is closing the achievement gaps and making a difference. The district is offering more dual credit and advanced level courses than they have ever offered in the past and they are offering e-sports in the Fall of 2024 through a partnership with Lone Star Fallbrook. Most of the students in Spring ISD are graduating with distinguished level of achievement (85%), which is higher than both the Region and the State.
When looking at employees related to the budget deficit, Spring ISD is looking to ensure that everyone has a job within the district. The district values people, not titles, and the goal is to keep people as the district continues to look at areas to cut funds. As it relates to central office positions, Spring ISD is about half compared to the Region and the State. The belief is to ensure that the district is pushing supports to the campuses as much as possible. He continued to inform the committee that the district has a much larger percentage of new teachers. When school districts have teachers that are tenured, it is seen that higher academic achievement occurs. He charged the committee with reaching out to their peers to support students and the overall population in Spring ISD. He ended this segment by letting the committee know that they can look deeper into the TAPR, however, the committee members would have access to his presentation following the meeting.
Professional Learning
Mr. Beltran joined the conversation by elaborating on remote opportunities for participants. He mentioned that every session is different and not repeated. There are multiple sessions from a number of departments. He explained to the committee that the Professional Learning department is cautious of the participants' time as he reviewed the most recent data from previous sessions. The Fall learning Fair included 155 attendees and 61 sessions. Everyone for the most part was pleased with the offerings, with the data showing that 99% of the attendees found "relevance of the messaging/information for their position" effective or very effective. For the Spring Learning Fair, Spring ISD already had 290 registered attendees at the time of the presentation. The Professional Learning department has visited every school so that everyone could know about the learning fair, expressing how serious the department is about the learning. The Spring Learning Fair included 19 sessions aligned to the employee passport and multiple departments were assigned to present, including SPED, HR, CTE, and Athletics. The Spring Learning Fair was also set to include a workshop for teachers to discuss questions that cover 20% of the STAAR.
As it relates to mentor support it Spring ISD, the Professional Learning department offers in person and virtual sessions. Many of the mentors in Spring ISD are responsible for supporting the District of Innovation (DOI) teachers. As the mentors gather to meet, the sessions are set up to allow them to learn from each. The sessions include but are not limited to, T-TESS, best practices, timing, how to support DOI teachers, and more! Onboarding takes place every Monday and Tuesday and allows DOI teachers to walk through model classrooms. New teachers have the opportunity to talk, take pictures, and more. Dr. Lewis extended an invitation to the committee, inviting them to the TeachUp Learning Center at any time to view the model classrooms.
The Professional Learning department provides weekly campus support by spending 3 days consecutive a week on campuses. This allows the team to get to learn the teachers and know the students by name. This support equates to 60% of their time directly supporting teachers and campuses. All of the campus support provided is individualized for the campus/teacher and principals have the opportunity to reach out to Dr. Lewis if specific support is needed. The Professional Learning team ended this segment by reminding the committee that there are many professional learning sessions offered that are in person and remote. In addition, If administrators are unable to attend the Assistant Principal meetings, they are sent a recap of the meeting.
If you have any questions regarding Professional Learning in Spring ISD, please contact Dr. Monique Lewis at mlewis5@springisd.org. Follow the Professional Learning department on X @SISD_TheForce.
Make Your Voice Heard! Talk to Your ACE Representative
Every campus in the district has at least one ACE representative elected by the staff to serve in an advisory role to the Superintendent. Central office representatives are also elected to serve, as well as community members who are appointed by the Superintendent to serve on the ACE as another integral voice.
Over the next month, your ACE representatives will share meeting highlights such as those found in this newsletter. Be on the lookout for updates to be shared at your next faculty meeting (campuses) and or staff special call-meeting (district office). If you want to ensure your views are heard, reach out to your ACE representative. Click HERE to learn who represents you.
2023-2024 ACE Meeting Dates
Mark your calendar for the remaining ACE meetings of the 2023-2024 school year. Contact your representative and look for updates on key district decisions over the coming months.
The next ACE meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 27th @ 5:00 p.m.