Aldine ISD Holds Community Partners Meeting; Next Meeting on December 1

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Aldine ISD leaders met with nearly 60 community partners virtually on September 1. The meeting was the first for the 2021-2022 school year.

The community partners heard from Superintendent Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney about the new schools and initiatives the district launched this school year, such as the newcomer school La Promesa and the Aldine Young Women’s Leadership academy. She also discussed how Vines Primary and Ermel Elementary started the school year on July 9. Both are on the Additional Days School Year (ADSY) calendar.

Community partners Candis Houston, president of Aldine American Federation of Teachers, and Michael Thomas, a 2008 Nimitz High School graduate and NFL player, spoke about working with Aldine.

Houston stated the AFT is partnering with the district on more issues. The organization received a $50,000 grant to assist the AISD in recovering learning loss due to the pandemic. ATF has also been sharing information about new schools within the community. Houston shared that ATF adopted Wilson Elementary School. ATF provided the school with gift cards to boost teacher morale and gift cards to kids for various events. The organization also offered another school with two $500 grants from First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need.

Michael Thomas, in his 10th year as a football player, holds his Summer youth camp in AISD’s Thorne Stadium. Thomas added that whatever NFL resources he receives that he likes to give back to Aldine kids. Through his football camp, he provides academic scholarships to students.

Dr. Lorenzo Moore, executive director of social-emotional learning and culture, discussed launching a new mentoring program this school year to support SEL. Moore shared that the district partnered with Greater Houston Mentoring Alliance, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Mangrove. The organization will visit each Aldine area to develop partnerships and mentorships; they will train and place mentors in Aldine ISD. The requirement to be a mentor will be to agree to commit to AISD for a year. He also challenged the group. The district has many female mentors but would like to build its number of male mentors increase.

Attendees also shared how they currently work with the district or would like to partner with it.

Attendees included members from Good Reason Houston, the East Aldine Management District, EMERGE Fellowship, Literacy for Texas, Houston Food Bank, Jostens, EPI, Texas Jets, and more. District leaders who joined the meeting included Board members Connie Esperanza, Viola M. García, Rose Avalos; and Chief of Staff Sheleah Reed.

After closing the meeting, the district’s Family and Community Engagement Department staff sent the community partners a list of partnership opportunities. The next Community Partners meeting will be on Wednesday, December 1, 2021.