LBJ Welcomes Principal Sheila Henry

I'm at the LBJ High School reception for the new principal, Sheila Henry. It is a wonderful turnout for support. Board member Cheryl Bradley is here, and having a good time with students, staff, and community members! This is Ms. Henry with Mr. Robert Dubois, a community member and advocate.

It Was a Virtual Get-Together

The AISD team got together yesterday — all 12,000 of us! But we did it using technology. Our Virtual School Hall Meeting, a staff convocation was "attended" by all employees viewing it live on AISD-TV and on our website, with a small audience joining me in the Austin High School Preas Theatre. We also had live video of staff viewing from four remote sites — Akins and Austin high schools, Gorzycki Middle School, and Overton Elementary School.

This format saved us all time, energy, and gasoline over the convocation last year at the Travis County Expo Center, and, while there is value in getting together in person, this virtual format represents our intensified austerity in dealing with budget challenges.

I like sports, especially football, so I have a favorite quote from legendary coach Vince Lombardi — "What makes a team work is individual commitment to a group effort." So true. Every AISD staff member — teachers, bus drivers, counselors, principals, secretaries, custodians, librarians ... everyone — is part of the team. All our jobs are critical to ensuring that each student graduates ready for college, career, and life in a global economy.

Although we work in more than a 120 locations all over Austin, our team has a unified game plan, and I discussed its priorities:

• Meeting the needs of our English Language Learners. Do you that that's about 30 percent of our students?
• Putting into action our plan to help struggling students, especially those in East Austin schools; and tracking the academic success of students who transfer out of those schools.
• Developing and refining our signature programs including Early College at Reagan and LBJ; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) at Eastside Memorial; and Fine Arts at McCallum.
• Putting the districtwide Facilities Master Plan on the table so we can address inefficiencies and inequities that have plagued AISD for years.
• Addressing our Special Education challenges so we can meet federal Annual Yearly Progress measures.
• Focusing on the whole child through fitness and health, athletics, fine arts, and technology instruction.
• Improving daily attendance.
• Creating a budget pathway to teacher pay parity.

This plan is major work, but every one of us has important contributions to make. I'm confident that, as a team with "individual commitment to a group effort," we can be effective in this new school year.

I'll close this post with a great big "THANKS" to everyone who made the Virtual School Hall Meeting a success. Austin High principal Lucio Calzada, and staff Renee Fairchild and Billy Dragoo; the AHS Drumline directed by Brian Frock; Reagan High School Cheerleaders and their advisors Jennifer Hargis and Emily Edwards; AISD Police Officer David Powers; Channel 22 Director Oscar Palomo; Web Manager Camille Lochet; OPCR staff Janis Guerrero, Pat Dabbert, and Andy Welch; and the Technology crew — Dave Sanders, Tim Carrington, David Brockmeier, Scott Robuck, Josie Hughes, Marc Thrall, and Diane Gustafson. Y'all did great!

Many thanks to Timy Baranoff and the For the Children volunteers!

Here is my photo of Timy Baranoff at the For the Children event on Saturday. Thanks to all the volunteers!