MISD police officers have been busy! There are many events going on now and through the end of the school year. MISD police officers are only a phone call away. Now comes the CELEBRATION!!! Officer Romeo Loera was chosen for the MVP of Montgomery Award. Officer Loera has been a valuable member of the Montgomery ISD Police Department since 2019. Prior to joining the MISDPD, Officer Loera was an officer for Humble ISD for nine years. Officer Loera became a police officer in 2001. We celebrate Officer Loera and his commitment to serve and protect our schools and community. A week long opportunity to celebrate Officer Loera and all the police officers that keep us safe is coming up! National Police Week is May 9-14!
After months of hard work during a challenging school year, Montgomery High School engineering students proudly displayed their engineering skills as part of the fourth annual Montgomery ISD Engineering Design and Development Expo Night.
The event, held on Friday, April 30, was the culmination of nearly four years of learning engineering theory as well as hands-on work designing and building.
Participating students are enrolled in the Montgomery High School Engineering Design and Development course, which is the capstone course in the Project Lead the Way program. The research course provides students with an avenue to develop secondary-level knowledge and skills in math, science and technology. Throughout their senior year in the Engineering Design and Development course, students work in teams to identify and develop a solution to an open-ended technical problem using their engineering design process skills. After designing, building and testing, the student teams present and defend their solution to an outside panel.
“This event brings to fruition all of the hard work our students have accomplished over the last four years in our engineering pathway,” MHS Project Lead the Way Instructor Russell Reid said. “We have moved away from theory and now they have produced tangible products designed to serve as a solution to a real world challenge.”
The Engineering Design and Development course is designed to allow students maximum flexibility in how they structure their time while completing their work. The project workload required a great amount of responsibility on the part of the student with some outside-the-classroom, research-based coursework. For example, students contacted outside professionals and obtained resources from around the United States to help complete their projects.
“An added benefit of this program is the development of valuable soft skills,” Reid said. “Throughout the design process students work with community mentors and engineering experts working not only on the actual design honing creative and problem-solving abilities, but also refining organizational, communication and interpersonal skills.”
Students participating in this year’s expo were Lain Morris, Daniel Chang, Kalani Hayden, Bradan Graham, Dustin Dillon, Ethan Reid, Samuel Cook, Robert Ackerly, Matt Rickman and Blaine Pavlock.
An overview of each project is below:
“Solo Spotter” – A safety device to aid a weightlifter while bench pressing without the support of a weightlifting spotter. (Daniel Chang, Matthew Rickman, Bradan Graham)
“Aegis Wear” – A belt buckle designed with built in GPS tracking and emergency alarm to protect and track the user. (Kalani Hayden, Robert Ackerly)
“Gamers Gauntlet” – Dual purpose gaming/graphic artist glove. The glove allows the user to switch between playing video games and working with artist tablets. (Blaine Pavlock, Lain Morrison)
“VaBox” – A unique design Shop-Vac that separates metal from waste. It has a built-in magnetic base that is easily removed for recycling. (Ethan Reid, Dustin Dillon, Samuel Cook)
Earlier this week, we announced the appointment of Carrie Fitzpatrick as our new Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education. I am excited about the leadership Carrie will bring to this role and confident that she will build upon the outstanding work in our district.
I’m also excited to welcome four additional talented leaders to Team MISD! We have identified four outstanding candidates to lead technology and digital learning, human capital, 504 and Dyslexia services and career and technical education.
A little bit about each of them is below.
Amanda Davis-Summerville – Director of Technology and Digital Learning
Amanda Davis-Summerville is joining us as Director of Technology and Digital Learning to provide strategic oversight of districtwide IT activities, continued development of instructional technology programs, and further enhance customer service to campuses.
Amanda brings 12 years of combined experience in the field of information and educational technology and teaching. She has a diverse background in both classroom and district level systems administration and service delivery, with extensive experience in systems analysis, instructional, and enterprise computing, as well as copyright compliance, curriculum evaluation and instructional design. Amanda will be responsible for the Information Technology department as well as setting guidelines and coordination of services for infrastructure and instructional technology service delivery across all the campuses within the district.
Previously, Amanda served as an Educational Technologist and Systems Administrator for Houston Independent School District, where she had a direct role in systems and service delivery as well as responsibility for identifying and developing educational tools, curriculum and classroom technologies.
Amanda has Masters of Education in Educational Technology from Texas A&M University and a bachelors degree in business administration from Tarleton State University and is a certified educator in the State of Texas.
Amanda will begin the role on May 3.
Alayna Siemonsma – Coordinator, 504 and Dyslexia Services
Alayna Siemonsma is joining us as Coordinator of 504 and Dyslexia Services. She is a native South Dakotan who began her 24-year teaching career as an elementary educator serving students in Wyoming, Arizona, and South Dakota. In 2015, her family relocated to Conroe where she continued teaching in an intermediate school setting as a 5th grade ELA/SS teacher and most recently as a teacher of students with Dyslexia and/or Dysgraphia. She is an active and founding member of the Texas National Board Coalition for Teaching and is a member of Texas Association for Literacy Education.
Alayna is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher in the area of Early and Middle Childhood/Literacy: Reading-Language Arts who holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming, a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction and Reading Specialist from Northern Arizona University, and a Principal Certification from Lamar University. Alayna was honored with the Milken Educator Award and has had the opportunity to connect and collaborate with educators from all over the country through the exceptional work of the Milken Foundation and National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.
Amy Vance – Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE)
Amy Vance has been named as our new Director of CTE. Amy is joining us from Waxahachie ISD, where she has spent the previous four years as District CTE Program Access Coordinator. In this role she was responsible for growing student, parent and community stakeholder involvement in the district’s CTE programs. Amy previously served as a teacher in Chapel Hill ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD and Mount Vernon ISD.
Throughout her work in CTE, she served as a department head and in many campus and district leadership roles. Amy has a passion for and success in growing the number of student obtaining industry certifications. She will be an asset in our efforts to build meaningful business partnerships throughout our community that will grow and enhance our CTE programs and provide practicum and internship opportunities for our students.
There has been significant interest and desire across the district expand and enhance CTE programs and we are excited for the vision and leadership Amy will bring to this new position. Amy is highly trained and experienced in CTE and I am thrilled to be adding her knowledge and expertise to our team.
Amy is a currently a candidate for a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Stephen F. Austin University, holds a Master of Educational Leadership from Stephen F. Austin University, a Master of Agricultural Education from Texas A&M University-Commerce, and a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Development.
Denise Miner – Executive Director of Human Capital
Denise Miner has been named Executive Director of Human Capital. In this role, Denise will oversee all aspects of the Human Resources Department, including recruiting, hiring, evaluating retaining staff and enhancing professional development opportunities across the district.
Denise has over two decades of experience in education, including several years of experience in school district human resources. She joins us from Cypress Fairbanks ISD, where she has served the previous three years as Assistant Director of Human Resources. Prior to this, Denise was the Director of Personnel and Technology in the :Lake Havasu Unified School District in Arizona. Denise has also served as a high school principal, assistant principal and teacher. She holds a bachelors degree in Arts from Prescott College and a Master of Arts in Elementary Education from Grand Canyon University.
Denise will begin the role on May 10.
I am excited about the skills and expertise each of these talented individuals will bring to Montgomery ISD as we continue our work to become the Premier School District in Texas!
Sincerely,
Dr. Heath Morrison
MISD Counselors of the Year Announced
For the first time, MISD staff has voted on district counselors of the year! The votes have been counted, and you selected the following amazing individuals as our District Counselors of the Year!
Deanna Peterson – Elementary Counselor of the Year
Barbara Gagliano – Junior High School Counselor of the Year
Laureen Thompson – High School Counselor of the Year
Kerri Gilchriest – All-Level School Counselor of the Year
Our winners will be submitted to Region 6 where they will be considered for regional recognition against their regional peers. At Region 6, our nominees will be judged on school counseling innovations and further development of programs to support the career, social/emotional and academic development of all students. Other criteria include leadership, advocacy and collaboration in their work in addition to promoting equity and access to opportunities and rigorous educational experiences for all students to maximize student achievement.
I am thankful for the incredible counselors we have in Montgomery ISD!
Montgomery Junior High Takes First in District UIL
Montgomery Junior High School has won first place in District Academic UIL!
The Bears took the top spot among seven other schools in the region! The District Academic UIL competition requires a significant amount of time and effort, both from students and coaches. I am incredibly proud of the MJH UIL students and coaches for being the District Champions this year! Go Bears!
Montgomery ES Destination Imagination invited to Globals!
Montgomery Elementary School’s Destination Imagination Team has received an invitation participate in the global DI tournament! This is the first time Montgomery Elementary School has had a team advance to this level! Way to go, Bearcats!
Superintendent Shout-Out – Child Nutrition Department
This week’s Supetintendent Shout-Out goes to our dedicated, hard working Child Nutrition team! The Child Nutrition Department recently received their second inspection from the Montgomery County Health Department (MCDH), with all 10 campuses receiving a 100 score!
MCHD inspects a minimum of 47 different items in each kitchen. Receiving a 100 for all campuses shows the dedication for food safety and sanitation our Child Nutrition have for students and staff of Montgomery ISD.
Thank you for your service and dedication to Montgomery ISD!
First or Second COVID-19 vaccine doses available on Monday
The Montgomery County Public Health District is offering free first or second COVID-19 vaccine doses on Monday, May 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Woodforest Stadium. You can register for an appointment at http://www.mcphd-tx.org/. Information on COVID-19 vaccines is shared as a courtesy to employees. They are not required as a condition of employment.
Montgomery Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Heath Morrison has named Montgomery Elementary School Principal Carrie Fitzpatrick as the district’s new Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education.
In her new position, Fitzpatrick will join the superintendent’s Senior Leadership Team and support the district’s six elementary campuses while growing, mentoring and monitoring campus leadership by focusing on improving student outcomes and school performance and enhancing the educational experience and learning environments across the district.
“Carrie is an extraordinarily talented and transformative leader in our district,” Morrison said. “I am thrilled to welcome her to this important role and excited to see the amazing impact her leadership and high standard of excellence will have on student achievement across Montgomery ISD.”
Fitzpatrick holds 23 years of experience in public education, having served as Principal of Montgomery Elementary School for the previous four years. Before joining Montgomery ISD, she spent 13 years as a principal in the Conroe Independent School District. Fitzpatrick began her career in education as a teacher in 1998.
“It has been a privilege and an honor to serve the Montgomery Elementary School Community as their principal,” Fitzpatrick said. “I will dearly miss my Bearcat family, but I could not be more excited for the incredible opportunity to continue serving Montgomery ISD in this leadership role.”
Fitzpatrick will assume the role of Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education from Wendy Graves, who is retiring from the district in August. Graves served a total of 30 years in Montgomery ISD, where she spent the previous 10 years as the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education and 10 years as principal of Montgomery Elementary School. Fitzpatrick will begin her new role following the end of the current school year.
Fitzpatrick holds a Bachelor of Science in Academic Studies and Master of Education Administration from Sam Houston State University.
Montgomery ISD will immediately begin a broad search process to identify the next Montgomery Elementary School Principal.
The final meeting in the MISD Strategic Plan Town Hall series will take place on Tuesday, April 27 from 6-7:30 pm at Montgomery Jr. High School. Following an introduction by Superintendent Dr. Heath Morrison, attendees will have the opportunity to attend a breakout session covering a topic addressed in the MISD Board of Trustees’ five adopted district goals.
MISD is developing a three-year Strategic Plan in alignment with the MISD Board of Trustees’ five adopted district goals:
Academic Achievement
School Safety
Finance & Operations
Human Capital
Communications & Customer Service
The Strategic Plan is being developed by a district Task Force comprised of parents, MISD staff, students and other district stakeholders. The final Strategic Plan will consist of measurable key performance indicators surrounding the board’s district goals and will contain district initiatives and strategies intended to meet targets in the performance indicators. The final strategic plan will be adopted by the Board of Trustees in June and take effect at the start of the 2021-22 school year.
If you would like to provide your input regarding the areas addressed in the district’s goals, please join us for this important discussion!
You can participate in a breakout session remotely via one of the following links:
The families of Lone Star Elementary have always rallied to support our campus, but they took it next level in order to help Dr. Bartlett win! This past Saturday night the MISD Education Foundation hosted it’s first community fundraiser, Together We Grow. At the end of the night, one campus principal would be awarded a $2000 grant, this would be determined by the campus Hustle team that sold the most tickets. In the weeks leading up to the event staff, parents and even the students worked relentlessly and creatively to sell Hustle tickets. Much to everyone’s surprise, at the end of the night the foundation awarded a secondary and a primary campus grant, Lone Star won! Dr. Bartlett will use that grant to purchase a book vending machine so that every student can benefit. Thank you to all of our wonderful families that helped make this possible.
The Lake Creek High School robotics team 2854Y will soon take their talents to a global stage as qualifiers for the VEX Robotics World Championship. The team received the invitation to compete at the conclusion of the VEX Robotics Texas State competition and a year of virtual and in-person competitions.
“Lake Creek’s robotics teams began the school year with one goal in mind, return to the VEX Robotics World Championship,” Lake Creek Robotics Teacher Eric Moons said. “After each of these tournaments, teams would refine their robot and code to improve their world rankings.”
The competition consists of a challenge to build a robot for a game designed by the VEX Robotics Game Design Committee which allows students to use the engineering process to design, build and code competitive robots. The teams then compete in matchups with random teams at each tournament.
Competitors spend hours immersed in design, game theory along with pre and post-game analysis of their performance and their competitors in order to position themselves to be a dominant team in their competitive field.
“Being great at what they do is not the most impressive part to me,” Moons said. “Their willingness to share design ideas, strategies, tools and parts with random teams they compete with or against to help improve the robotics community and make the competition stronger, is what really sets them apart.”
The VEX Robotics World Championship will take place over the course of a week starting on Sunday, May 16th and running through Saturday, May 22nd.
This week the MISD Board of Trustees approved a compensation plan containing raises for the 2021-22 school year for all Montgomery ISD employees. I want to thank the many employees who reached out with kind comments and to express their gratitude about the board’s actions. While we intend to do more for our employees in future years, the work behind this compensation plan has truly been a journey, beginning with the 2% raises approved by the board in October.
When looking at making additional salary increases across the district, we needed several items to make informed decisions, including data and your input. Since October, we conducted an internal study of how our salaries compare to neighboring districts, engaged a third party to review how we staff campuses and district offices and provide options to become more efficient, brought in all campus principals to assist in our decision-making, visited with staff at all 10 campuses and the district office and held two budget Town Hall meetings. Having the necessary data to make decisions and receiving feedback from employees were extremely important to us as we developed this compensation plan.
On top of the 2% raises approved in October, we’re excited to have had the opportunity to put forward a proposed compensation plan with an additional $3,300 for teachers (about a 5% raise), and an additional 3% pay raise for all other district employees. While there still work to be done to make Montgomery ISD salaries in the region, we hope this shows our commitment to prioritizing staff compensation in our budgeting.
I wanted to point out a few additional important points about the compensation plan.
First, the compensation plan adopted by the board takes effect upon the start of your 2021-22 school year contract or beginning of the next fiscal year, depending on your contract length and type of employment. What this means is that you will begin to see the raises and increased stipends reflected in your paycheck at the start of your 2021-22 duty schedule, depending on the number of work days in your contract. For at-will employees, the raises will begin at the start of your work schedule beginning in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Second, we have received some questions regarding the adjusted teacher hiring schedule. The hiring schedule salaries have been increased to become more competitive in the region. The teacher hiring schedule was also extended from 22 years to 30 years. I wanted to clarify a few items on this. First, with the adopted raises, a current Montgomery ISD teacher’s salary is designed to be – at a minimum – higher than what is reflected in the new salary schedule. The hiring schedule salaries reflect what a teacher entering Montgomery ISD would be compensated. For example, a teacher with two years of experience, entering Montgomery ISD during their fifth year of teaching would now have a starting salary of $55,875. This figure was increased from the $52,242 outlined in the previous 2020-21 hiring schedule. Current fifth year Montgomery ISD teachers received the 2% raise in October and will have also received the additional $3,300, bringing their salary to start their sixth year of teaching in Montgomery ISD above the $55,875 listed in the teacher hiring schedule.
Next, I want to be clear that while the teacher hiring schedule has been extended to 30 years, employees with 30+ years of experience still receive the $3,300 raise, and any salary increases approved each year by the board. Again, the hiring schedule reflects the salary of an individual entering the district for the first time, not existing Montgomery ISD employees, whose salaries will be – at a minimum – higher than what is outlined in the updated teacher hiring schedule. It’s also important to note that, while uncommon, a 30+ year teacher entering Montgomery ISD would receive a higher salary than what is listed at the 30-year mark in the hiring schedule. A 30-year range is common across many school district teacher hiring schedules.
Finally, I want to point our that professional, administrative, and auxiliary salary scales were all increased in the newly-adopted compensation plan. Many of you have inquired about raises being based on the midpoint of your salary. With the increased midpoints, the adopted raises for employees will actually be greater than they would have otherwise been without this adjustment. An adjustment to the salary scales is not something that has occurred when raises were approved in the past. Increasing the salary scales is an important component of making all district salaries more competitive.
Again, highlights of the Montgomery ISD 2021-22 Compensation Plan include the following:
Current MISD teachers receive a $3,300 pay raise (about 5%), for a total increase of approximately 7% over 18 months when factoring in the 2% raise provided in October – for a total raise of $4,055.
All other district employees receive a 3% pay raise, for a total of 5% over 18 months when factoring in the 2% raise provided in October.
The teacher salary schedule has been extended from 22 to 30 years.
Salary scales have been increased (Minimum, Midpoint, Maximum). Raises are calculated based on the increased salary midpoint.
Stipends reduced in summer 2020 have been restored to their previous amount.
In the coming weeks, employees will receive a letter containing their projected salary for the 2021-22 school year. The Human Resources and Finance teams are working diligently to produce individualized letters to all employees. This is an enormous effort being put forward, and I want to express my sincere gratitude for their hard work on behalf of all district staff!
It was truly a pleasure to recognize our outstanding assistant principals during the Board of Trustees meeting this week. Our district is blessed to have this amazing group of leaders who play a key role in providing all students with a high-quality education. They work so hard each day to keep our campuses running efficiently and effectively, attend after-school and extracurricular events and always go the “above and beyond” – especially this year – to serve the needs of students and families.
Here’s a short video featuring Oak Hills JH principal Tim Williams and Montgomery HS Principal Dr. Andria Schur expressing their gratitude for our assistant principals!
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The final meeting in our MISD Strategic Plan Town Hall series will take place next Tuesday, April 27 from 6-7:30 pm at Montgomery Jr. High School.
As you may know, we are developing a three-year Strategic Plan in alignment with the MISD Board of Trustees’ five adopted district goals:
Academic Achievement
School Safety
Finance & Operations
Human Capital
Communications & Customer Service
The Strategic Plan is being developed by a district Task Force comprised of parents, MISD staff, students and other district stakeholders. The final Strategic Plan will consist of measurable key performance indicators surrounding the board’s district goals and will contain district initiatives and strategies intended to meet targets in the performance indicators. The final strategic plan will be adopted by the Board of Trustees in June and take effect at the start of the 2021-22 school year.
If you would like to provide your input regarding the areas addressed in the district’s goals, please join us for this important discussion!
Lake Creek HS VEX Robotics Team advances to global competition!
There was some great news over at Lake Creek HS this week that I want to “shout out”! This week, the Lake Creek HS VEX Robotics Team advanced to the global competition!
Lake Creek’s robotics teams began the school year with one goal in mind, return to the VEX Robotics World Championship. Throughout the year, students competed in virtual and in-person tournaments, and after each of these tournaments, teams would refine their robot and code to improve their world rankings. On Monday, team 2854Y, which is comprised of Garrett Denley, Niko Howell, Aiden Suarez, Colin Nerren, Colton Bailes, and Colton Jenkinson, accomplished their goal, and received their invitation to “Worlds”!
The VEX Robotics World Championship will take place over the course of a week starting on Sunday May 16th and running through Saturday May 22nd. Team 2854Y has been one of the top performing robotics teams across the globe throughout the whole season and has received much praise from other teams and coaches on the design of their robot.
Final Rankings:
World – 144th
United States – 101st
Texas – 7th
Gulf Coast Region – 4th
Way to go, Team 2854Y!
Pictured from left to right: Garrett Denley, Aiden Suarez, Niko Howell
Early Voting underway for MISD Board of Trustees May 1 Election
Early voting for the MISD Board of Trustees election kicked off this week! Two seats on the MISD Board are up for election on May 1.
Running for Board of Trustees Position 4:
Trey Kirby
Christina Sato
Jay Grimes
Running for Board of Trustees Position 5:
Linda Porten
Early voting dates and times are:
Monday, April 19 – Saturday, April 24 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Monday, April 26 – Tuesday, April 27 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
For a list of early voting locations, visit the Montgomery County Elections website at www.elections.mctx.org.
MISD Education Foundation’s ‘Together we Grow’ is Saturday!
I’m looking forward to seeing you all at the Montgomery ISD Education Foundation’s inaugural Together We Grow community fundraiser tomorrow evening, April 24 at 7 p.m.!
Together We Grow promises to be a wonderful evening, all in support of the Montgomery ISD Education Foundation, which is essential to our work as a district. The Foundation provides students with college scholarships and funds innovative, forward-thinking classroom and campus projects and provides teachers with tools needed to enhance their ability to educate our students.
I want to thank all, especially MISD parents and Foundation board members Jessica Grace and Shannan Reid who worked “overtime” to make Together We Grow a reality. We’ll see you all on Saturday!
MJH first took the stage this year with One Act Play’s performance of “A Toby Show” by Aurrand Haris and advanced to district at Zone. While there, Lane Fields stole the show when he received Best Performer! Other Zone awards included:
All Star Cast- Owen Brown and Regina Chapa Espinosa
Honorable Mention- Adella Morton
All Star Tech- Kaya Daigle
At District, the accolades continued when the Bears earned District Champ status, and Regina Chapa Espinosa won Best Performer! Fellow cast members also took home titles including:
All Star Cast- Lane Fields, Owen Brown
Honorable Mention- Adella Morton, Gavin Cox
All Star Tech- Peyton Lawson
Rounding out the season, these fabulous performers had a special performance at the Crighton Theatre. And, Bear Production Director, Mrs. Lumpkin, was named MJH Teacher of the Year! Please help us give a round of applause to these talented up-and-coming actors, stage crew, and their director.
The Lake Conroe Area Republican Women hold an essay contest each year for local 5th grade students. The title of the essay is “My American Hero”. This year, Keenan students took home top honors.
Anna Bowers was the 1st place winner for Keenan Elementary American Hero Essay, sponsored by the Montgomery County Republican Women. She wrote about her dad, Buster Bowers, a loved member of the community who died suddenly last year. It was a moving tribute and very well written.
Alaina Sydnor was Keenan’s 2nd place winner with her essay describing Bethany Hamilton. Alaina wrote movingly about how Bethany’s perseverance and faith when she lost an arm in a shark attack were inspiring to her. Nathan Newton also placed 3rd with his inspiring essay.
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The MISD Premier Blog 