Board Brief from Feb. 16
Arlington ISD’s Board of Trustees meeting on Feb. 16, 2023, is in the books, and here are a few of the highlights. The words “fun” and “board meeting” aren’t often put in the same sentence, but they went together last night. That’s because of the amazing students and community partner who were a part of this meeting.
It all kicked off with an incredible performance of the song “Afterburn” by the Bailey Junior High Symphonic Orchestra, under the direction of Michelle Schuster and Collin Tate – both Arlington ISD products themselves. Bailey’s orchestra is top-notch and had 21 students earn a spot in the Region 5 All-Region Orchestra this year.
Then the board honored EECU with its Community Engaged for Excellence Award of Appreciation. EECU has been a big partner for many years now and sponsors the Arlington ISD Teachers and Department Employees of the Month Award Program and the Kiwanis Woodrow Counts Teacher-of-the-Year Award. Thank you, EECU.
Then the board started honoring and celebrating high school students who were named National Merit Semifinalists or received National Hispanic Recognition, National African American Recognition and National Indigenous Recognition. This was just the start, because there are so many students this year that it’s taking two board meetings to honor everyone. The board honored students from Arlington College and Career, Arlington Collegiate, Bowie, Sam Houston and Seguin high schools at this meeting, and they will honor the rest at the next board meeting on March 2.
The meeting did include some business, as well. Dr. Michael Hill, Arlington ISD’s assistant superintendent of administration, gave a presentation about policy updates recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards – or TASB. TASB routinely updates legal policies according to changes in the law and recommends updates to local policies as well. This particular update – Policy Update 120 – contains 24 legal policy revisions and four local policy recommendations. District administration also recommended an additional five local policies for consideration. The recommendations are meant to help better align the district’s local policies with new laws. The board then voted to approve these policy updates.
Finally, Dr. Natalie Lopez, Arlington ISD assistant superintendent of research and accountability, presented on the district’s plan to improve literacy and math proficiency and performance objectives as outlined in the District Improvement Plan required by House Bill 3. This presentation provided a progress update on outcomes of the middle-of-year reading and math screeners for grades pre-K through ninth.
Those are just a few of the highlights from the meeting. If you would like more details on any of these, or any of the items not covered here, please click here to watch the entire meeting.