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Superintendent's Message
Dear Council of PTA members,
It is my hope everyone returns from Spring Break rested and refreshed, ready to perform at the top of their game for the last months of the school year.
We announced the hiring of six new principals this month. Shawn Perry will take over at the KEYS School and Laurie Weeks will take over at Ashley Elementary. Jim Kazanski, who has been principal at KEYS, and his wife, Kathy Kazanski, who has been principal of Ashley, are both retiring. Pam Orr will open Comstock Elementary, Dana Solomon will open Phillips Elementary, Courtney Murphy will open Nichols Elementary, and Kristin Hebert will open Vandeventer Middle School. We will announce the assistant principals in April. All of these new principals are veterans of Frisco ISD with many years of experience.
We have also announced the seventh high school will be named Independence High School. And, as we say goodbye to Laura Ellison, a 14-year veteran of the Board of Trustees, we have named the district’s employee childcare facility the Ellison Center in her honor.
I am pleased to report the Board of Trustees approved a motion (as part of the consent agenda) to accept the deferral option that allows districts to defer implementation of a required end-of-course (EOC) assessment to count as 15 percent of a student’s final course grade. The deferral will only affect the 2011-2012 school year. FISD has notified TEA of its decision to defer implementation. It is our hope this reduces confusion and will allow us time to transition into the new testing without causing problems for new high school students taking STAAR tests for the first time.
The board also signed a resolution in February voicing its call for examination of the state’s accountability system and the current standardized testing program. The resolution calls for development of a system that truly measures a student’s learning. As a high-performing district, Frisco ISD has long supported a new vision for education – one that is fair, accurate, and that does not increase standardized testing.
Many of you are also aware FISD is a plaintiff in the Texas School Coalition school finance lawsuit represented by the firm Haynes and Boone. The lawsuit targets adequacy – school districts are not being provided the resources needed to meet the standards the State has identified as the measure of a constitutionally adequate education. In addition, the lawsuit targets local control – the State’s actions have left school districts without meaningful discretion to control their local property tax rates, which violates the constitutional prohibition against a statewide property tax. At least 60 school districts are represented in the Coalition lawsuit. About half of the state’s school districts have joined one of four lawsuits filed to address the school finance system, and all are expected to work together for the school children of Texas.
It is the opinion of your school board and those of us who have spent our lives in education, that we speak to the issues of state funding and testing. As parents and educators, I ask you to join me in contacting our state legislators, without delay. Education must be a priority if Texas is to continue to attract families and economic growth.
As PTA members, you are a vital advocate for education. I urge you all to contact our state lawmakers and express your concern over these issues.
Sincerely,
Rick Reedy, Superintendent of Schools
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