Aldine ISD Holds Annual State of District Breakfast

Aldine ISD Superintendent Dr. Wanda Bamberg delivered her annual State of the District address to approximately 400 business and community members during a breakfast held on Feb. 7 at the Sheraton North Houston Hotel.

A number of elected officials, business and community partners as well as parents and students joined Aldine ISD Trustees and district personnel at the event.

Before Dr. Bamberg delivered her address, which centered on a look back at the 2012-13 school year and ahead to the challenges the district will face in the future, the audience was treated to an outstanding performance by a number of performing arts students from across the district.

The students performed “Together We Can in Aldine,” which provided the students with the opportunity to show off their signing, dancing, and musical skills, as well as their visual arts skills. The performance at the breakfast was a shorter version of the production the students performed at the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA)/Texas Association School Boards (TASB) in Dallas in September, where they received rave reviews, as they did at the State of the District Breakfast. The audience gave the performers a standing ovation for their outstanding performance.

The student performers were made up of members of the Aldine Dance Company, the Aldine Children’s Choir, Aldine Visual Arts, the Carver Dance Company, the MacArthur Jazz Band, the Carver High and Davis High Drama Club and the Davis High Choir. The students were under the direction of Colleen Riddle, director of elementary performing arts; José Díaz, MacArthur High School’s band director/composer; Sarita Salinas, Carver High School’s dance director/choreographer; Daryle Freeman, the Davis High School choir director; Roshunda Jones, the Carver High School drama director; Joey Doyle, program director of visual arts and elementary creative drama; and Samantha Take, the music teacher at Kujawa Elementary School.

Following the performance, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Archie Blanson introduced a number of elected officials, educational leaders, business partners and community partners before introducing Dr. Bamberg.

Prior to delivering her remarks, Dr. Bamberg saluted the student performers. “You saw some of the Nation’s Best today,” she said.

Dr. Bamberg shared with the audience that the district’s vision is the same as it has been for years, “To Produce the Nation’s Best!” She also shared demographic information with the audience. The district currently has an enrollment of 67,381 students, up 3% from last school year. She also shared the demographic makeup of the district, which is 70.8% Hispanic, 25.1% African American, 2.0% White, 1.3% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.1% Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander and 0.7% Two or more.

Dr. Bamberg also shared with the audience that last school year the state transitioned from the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) accountability test to the more rigorous STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness).

“STAAR is a good thing,” she said. “It is a very content rich and demanding test.”

She shared testing scores in math, science, social studies and end of course exams. She said there is work to be done, but that the district would “redouble our efforts” in dealing with the new accountability system.

She also touched on academic achievement attained by Aldine ISD students. Last school year, 441 AISD seniors were awarded 1,026 scholarships totaling $15.9.

Dr. Bamberg also touched on the first year of the Aldine Education Foundation. The Foundation got off to a solid start and awarded 139 scholarships and six teacher grants in its first year.

During the 2012-2013 school year, the district continued to emphasize safety as it added security cameras throughout the district, limited access to campuses, installed metal detectors at intermediate schools, middle schools and high schools, increased staff duty, instituted a dress code, placed campus based officers at all middle schools and high schools and added front door monitors at all district schools.

She also reported that the district is in sound financial shape and has a strong fund balance in excess of $250 million.

Dr. Bamberg also reported that the district has grown to more than 9,000 employees.

She also spoke of building a bridge to the middle class for Aldine students and to do that, the district will work to ready its students for college readiness, prepare them for the SAT and ACT tests (college entrance exams), and prepare them for the 21st Century workforce.

She cited MacArthur High School as one campus that has been doing a solid job of preparing its students for the workforce.

Dr. Kristin Craft, principal at MacArthur High School, provided an overview of the school’s EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) program, which has produced 87 certified paramedics, many of whom are working in Harris or Montgomery County. Dr. Craft told the audience that MacArthur is the only high school in Texas with an in-house EMT program. The one-year program is for seniors only and they must attain 220 hours of classroom instruction, receive 24 hours of internship training at a trauma center and receive 36 hours of internship training on a 911 ambulance.

At the completion of the program, students receive dual certification, and are certified as EMTs.

Dr. Craft then introduced MacArthur senior student Lisa Ríos, the battalion commander of the campus’ JROTC unit, which has 346 cadets. Lisa plans on attending the University of Texas at Austin to study neurological science and hopes to become a neurological surgeon. She thanked a number of teachers who helped prepare her for college and shared with the audience that she will be the first member of her family to attend college. Following her remarks, Lisa received a standing ovation from the audience.

Following Lisa’s remarks, Dr. Bamberg returned to the podium and announced that the district recently received a $100,000 planning grant with YES Prep from the Gates Foundation. During the 2012-13 school year, Aldine ISD and YES Prep formed a partnership. YES Prep began operating a campus program in a portion of Hoffman Middle School at the start of the 2013-14 school year. The initial class consists of 140 sixth graders.

Dr. Bamberg concluded her address discussing the challenges and the future of the district. She said the district is committed to serving all students, will continue to monitor student growth and meet the challenges of STAAR head on. She added the district will address the growth in the northeast portion of the district by building a new elementary school on Cypresswood and will build a new, state-of-the-art facility for COMPASS and GAP. She also announced the district will continue its partnership with YES Prep.

She also reminded audience members that they can follow the district via Twitter at @AldineISD.

[Show as slideshow]

1 2 3 ►