Good Day, Pearland ISD Community!

The 1st weeks of school bring celebration and frustration. We celebrate our students returning to campuses and the possibilities and potential that await. We become frustrated with traffic, transportation, and paperwork. As the District, we share in the celebrations and are working to mitigate the frustrations.

Your students might have come home and talked about school orientations or instructions that focus on our Back to Basics approach. I want to clarify some misconceptions about what Back to Basics means for Pearland ISD.

Back to Basics is best described as a return to fundamentals for our staff and students. We do not want to forget the lessons learned during the pandemic. We want to take what we learned and spiral it into our foundational procedures and best practices.

The fundamental focus is building a positive culture that understands that connections must happen before content can be delivered. We must support positive communication, relationships, and meaning. We will take an all-learner approach of intentional collaboration that uses data-driven decisions to provide just-in-time remediation as we scaffold new skill instruction. We will protect the classroom by reviewing and aligning people and processes to limit time away from education and preparation. We will reteach and model behavior, attendance, and communication expectations for students and adults. Back to Basics aims to ensure we have a solid foundation for future success.

We are not going back to the basics as in minimum standards and resources. Back to the Basics focuses on best practices in education to achieve above-expected results through quality instruction, character development, shared accountability, and community support.

“Sometimes the best way to learn is to return to the fundamentals” – John C. Maxwell.

Larry Berger

Proud Superintendent of Pearland ISD

Pearland ISD is committed to providing a safe and orderly environment by enforcing safety and security measures and training at all levels focused on prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery.

I encourage all parents to visit our school safety information page https://www.pearlandisd.org/Page/31282.

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes the same village to protect the child. Together we keep our schools safe.

Look for coming opportunities to volunteer at campuses and events to help us stay safe.

Under the authority of Texas Education Code, §37.207, schools are required to respond to a survey issued by TxSSC to certify a list of items that have been completed by September 1, 2022.

Pearland ISD has completed the following new requirements to ensure school safety measures:

· Held School Safety and Security Committee meeting to review Emergency Operations Plan and Active Threat Plan and address any campus safety needs.
· Ensured the School Behavioral Threat Assessment Teams were trained and reviewed procedures for each campus.
· Ensured that staff and substitutes were trained on specific district and campus safety procedures and that all drills were scheduled before the start of the school year.
· Conducted exterior and interior door audits and reviewed access control procedures.

Our campuses will perform weekly safety checks and report any findings that need to be addressed with our maintenance teams or safety department.

We expect TEA auditors to visit our campuses throughout the year and perform third-party safety audits and intruder inspections. We will hold after-audit meetings with TEA to ensure we are supporting processes to prevent incidents.

See Something Say Something

We understand that school can be very frustrating for both parents and students. All the forms, processes, and information that parents have to decipher and submit. The classroom rules, homework, and school expectations students have to learn. All can create frustration and hard feelings.

Frustration is not our goal. We want to be of support and work to solve problems.

Social media is an excellent way to vent, but it does not solve problems.

Please call the school or the district if issues are causing you frustration. Talk to the teacher or campus principal. They are often the best person to address your concern.

If your concern is not being addressed, please email me (bergerl@pearlandisd.org), and I will assist in the process by connecting you to those at the campus or ESC which can help explain information or provide a solution to your issue.

With our school year in full swing, we just wanted to send out a few quick reminders:

• Dress For Success: We expect that students dress appropriately for school. Details regarding our dress code can be found here https://www.pearlandisd.org/dresscode
• Cell Phones: We want to encourage our students to unplug and interact face-to-face. Cell phones and earbuds need to be put away during instruction.
• Be WHERE You Are Supposed To Be WHEN You are Supposed To Be: Timeliness is crucial to learning and school operations
  
• Wear Your ID: If your campus issues a student ID, it must be worn daily.
• Engage in the Process: Find a club, organization, or group to join. If you don't know how to find one- ask a teacher or the front office.

COVID is a word we want to forget, but the virus is still with us, and we are learning to live with it. Pearland ISD is following our health protocols and would like to remind everyone how we work to stay healthy: https://www.pearlandisd.org/covid19healthprotocols

Please report positive cases to the school nurse or through the provided online portal.

Website: https://www.pearlandisd.org/pearland
Phone: 281-485-3203
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pearlandisd
Twitter: @pearlandISD