Keenan Elementary School Announces the 2021 Spirit of Montgomery and Teacher of the Year Recipients

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Mrs. Kirby, Keenan Principal, is proud to announce that this year’s recipient of the Keenan Spirit of Montgomery Award goes to Mrs. Nikki Taylor. Mrs. Taylor has served on the staff of Keenan Elementary since its opening four years ago. She is currently serving as Keenan’s Librarian/Media Specialist. She is loved and admired by staff and students alike.

The 2021 Keenan Elementary Teacher of the Year Honor goes to Mrs. Lauren Coughlin. Mrs. Coughlin has been a valued Kindergarten Teacher at Keenan Elementary since its opening. Mrs. Coughlin has helped the youngest Keenan Lions to a very strong start on their educational path. She also serves alongside her colleagues as the Kindergarten Team Leader and is very deserving of this honor.

Montgomery HS choir program receives “Best Communities for Music Education” designation

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The Montgomery High School Music Department has earned the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.  Now in its 22nd year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, Montgomery High School representatives answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.

“It is an honor for our MHS Music Department to be recognized with this award. Involvement in Choir and Band are extremely important to developing the whole child,” Montgomery High School Choir Director Heather Orr said. “Our music programs have great kids, incredible parents, and we are fortunate to have an amazing administration. I am just thrilled about their unending support and dedication to the music programs.”

Since the passage by Congress in 2015 of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and a stated emphasis on a well-rounded education, many school districts have re-committed to music and arts education programs and found that in this time of a national pandemic, provides a valuable way to keep students engaged in school. ESSA provides designated funding for well-rounded educational opportunities through Title IV Part A Student Academic Success and Achievement grants. NAMM Foundation research has revealed that these grants are being widely used by school districts to address instructional gaps in access to music and arts education.

“This program has shown me how to go above and beyond in all that I do,” Montgomery HS Senior Lydia Wilson said. “We could easily just stop at being “great”, but we’ve always had the mindset that we can constantly do better in all that we do, so I’ve learned that and implemented it in life outside of choir.”

The MISD Minute – April 9, 2021

~ Montgomery ISD

Important Update on High School Graduation Ceremonies

I wanted to provide you with an update on high school graduation ceremonies.

The date of our graduation ceremonies are scheduled for Monday, May 24 at 7 p.m. for Lake Creek HS and Tuesday, May 25 at 7 p.m. for Montgomery HS.

After consulting with both campus principals, and taking into consideration the desire of our graduates to have flexibility in the number of guests they may invite, we have decided to adjust our plans and move forward with an outdoor graduation ceremony at the Montgomery ISD Athletics Football Stadium. 

District administration had been working with the principals and administration teams at both high schools to plan indoor graduation ceremonies at Sam Houston State University that would allow graduates to invite multiple guests. However, we were recently informed by the university that capacity at the ceremonies would be limited to 25% attendance with strict social distancing measures in place. As a result, continuing with the ceremonies at Sam Houston State University would limit guests to no more than three per graduate and restrict other graduation features like having bands in attendance. Throughout this year, seniors at both high schools expressed to me that flexible attendance and having traditional graduation ceremony features in place, like the bands, were top priorities for them.

The dates and times of our graduation ceremonies are unchanged.

Moving the graduation ceremonies to the Montgomery ISD Football Stadium will allow for much greater flexibility in the number of guests our graduates may invite. We firmly believe that although outdoors, a graduation ceremony at the MISD Athletics stadium will provide our graduates and their families with the memorable experience they deserve.

We’re excited to plan an exciting graduation ceremony for our seniors More details, including a contingency plan should weather impact the outdoor ceremony will be shared by each campus in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued flexibility.

Sincerely,

Dr. Heath Morrison

Superintendent

MISD Master Teacher Cohort Celebrates Completion

This week, the MISD Master Teacher Cohort Class of 2018 celebrated the completion of the two-year program!

The pandemic delayed a few of the activities involved, but these persistent teachers refined their skills in the areas of content, pedagogy, and technology.  The cohort sessions included in-person trainings, virtual experiences, book studies, and peer observations, and each member earned additional technology for their classroom. It was a valuable learning experience for all, and we are proud of their accomplishments!  

Congratulations to the MISD Master Teach Cohort Class of 2018!

Heather Brown, Cheryl Hartner, Katye Hight, Matthew Monk, Robin Riley, Cindy Siple, Leah Taska, Carolyn Veillon, Sarah Wieghat, Tanya Gardner, Kerrie Johnson, Melissa Nordstrom, Nicole Petillo, Kristin Stevenson, Sheradon Sullivan, and Jennifer Gerbrecht

Superintendent Shout-Out – Montgomery HS Choir Earns National Recognition

This week’s Superintendent Shout-Out goes to Heather Orr and the Montgomery HS Choir!

The MHS choir has received the “Best Communities for Music Education” recognition from the NAMM Foundation! Through this recognition, MHS earned the 2021 Support Music Music Merit Award through the Best Communities for Music Education. 

What makes this award special is that there are only 80 high schools in the nation that earned the Music Merit Award. 

You can read more about this outstanding achievement here.

Way to go, MHS Choir!

MISD Board of Trustees Candidate Forum

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I want to send a special thank you to the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce for hosting an outstanding Board of Trustees Candidate Forum on Tuesday evening at Lake Creek High School. This was an outstanding opportunity for our community to attend and hear first-hand from the individuals seeking to serve on our Board of Trustees. I’m thankful to all who participated in this event by attending in-person, submitting questions for the candidates, or watching it on Facebook Live.

You can watch the recording of the forum here.

Statewide STAAR Online Testing Issue

Thank you to our students, teachers and staff for their patience and flexibility on Monday when the Texas Education Agency’s online testing vendor experienced statewide outages. The issues experienced by TEA’s vendor did not affect students taking the STAAR on paper. Unfortunately, this was a statewide issue, and completely out of the district’s control. The TEA canceled testing on Monday while their vendor worked to resolve the issues. Campuses will keep you updated as it pertains to the re-scheduled test date.

Lion’s Book Club

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Ms. Creamer’s 6th grade students chose novels to read and discuss with book clubs. Then clubs collaborated to create a poster that displayed their knowledge and opinions of the book in creative ways. Choices for sections of the poster included the theme, character relationships and changes, and flashbacks. Students were also encouraged to include questions they still wondered about the book and connections they made between their book club book and other stories they know. Students loved the experiences they got to share with their fellow book club members.

The MISD Minute – April 1, 2021

~ Montgomery ISD

“Budget Road Show” Complete

This week, we completed our “Budget Road Show”, having now met with staff from all 10 campuses as well as the district office to discuss our work to develop the district’s 2021-22 budget recommendation to the Board of Trustees. As I stated during each of these meetings, meaningful improvements to employee pay has been – and remains – our top priority as we work to finalize a budget recommendation to the Board. I want to thank each of you who asked questions, provided input and gave comments during these discussions. Your critical feedback empowers me and my leadership team to improve how we serve you and our students. You have my full commitment of continued transparency and collaboration through the budget process.

It is our plan to bring forward to the Board of Trustees a proposed district compensation plan at the April 20 Board meeting. Putting a compensation plan forward now, rather than at the conclusion of the budget process, allows employees to have an understanding of what their compensation will look like heading into the next school year. We will provide additional information as it becomes available.

I enjoyed the opportunity to discuss are plans regarding an enhanced district compensation plan beginning in the 2021-22 school year.

As a reminder, all schools and district offices will be closed on Friday, April 2.

Have a safe and relaxing weekend!

Sincerely,

Dr. Heath Morrison

Superintendent

Wendy Graves is retiring in August

It is with a wide range of emotions to announce that, after three decades of outstanding service to Montgomery ISD, Wendy Graves is retiring in August 2021. While we are sad to be losing a valued colleague, we celebrate her many accomplishments in the district and are excited about the next step in her leadership journey.

Wendy is in her 30th year with the district, having started her career in education as a teacher at Montgomery HS. She went on to become an assistant principal at Montgomery Intermediate School before being named principal of Montgomery Elementary School, a role she served in for 10 years. Wendy has achieve countless incredible accomplishments throughout her career, but perhaps the greatest was while a principal at Montgomery Elementary School. Under her leadership, MES became the district’s first ever Blue Ribbon School – a highly prestigious and coveted national honor awarded to schools for academic excellence and closing achievement gaps. Wendy was eventually named the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary, where she has spent the previous 10 years.

Over the past year, I have learned that Wendy’s knowledge, experience, selflessness and countless contributions to our district are what make her such an incredible leader in our district. She has been a trusted member of my leadership team and I am grateful for her many contributions during my first year as superintendent.

Please join me in congratulating and thanking Wendy Graves for her service to Montgomery ISD. We wish her all the best as she enters her next chapter.

Efforts to re-open campuses

Over the last several weeks, district administration has been working with principals and campus leadership to bring back a sense of normalcy for students and families on campuses. During the March Board meeting, I announced to trustees that this work had been underway, and I’m excited to let you know that many pre-COVID activities are returning, including proms, field days, Kindergarten and 5th grade celebrations, and volunteers on campus. This school year continues to present unique, unprecedented challenges. As we work diligently to close out this school year strong, it’s important that we continue to find ways to safely restore student, family and volunteer activities in our district.

MISD Education Foundation’s Together We Grow Community Fundraiser

As a reminder, the MISD Education Foundation is holding its first community fundraiser, Together We Grow, on Saturday, April 24 from 7-11 p.m. The event will take place outdoors at the Old Community Center in Historic Montgomery. This is a casual, adult night out with live music featuring the band Rapture and a BBQ dinner catered by locally owned Jr’s.

Together We Grow is a remodeled version of the Foundation’s annual Gala. Our Foundation board members, especially Jessica Grace and Shannan Reid have worked tirelessly on behalf of our district to make this a successful fundraiser for their scholarship and teacher grant programs.

There is also a competition to award one Montgomery ISD Principal with a $2,000 grant for a campus “Hustle Project”. You can help a campus win by sharing the ticket link and encouraging people to buy campus sponsorship tickets for the “Hustle Project” they would like to receive the grant. A video of each campus “Hustle Project” can be viewed here.

I encourage all employees to show their support for the Foundation by attending this event on April 24! Tickets to the event can be purchased here.

Superintendent Shout-Out: Lake Creek HS Varsity Softball

The Lake Creek Varsity Softball team is turning heads attracting some serious statewide attention, having improved their record to 24-0 after defeating Caney Creek this past Tuesday. The Lions are currently ranked #1 in the Area, and #2 in Texas and #18 in the nation according to MaxPreps. I want to give Head Coach Michelle Rochinski and the entire team a Superintendent Shout-Out for the amazing run they have put together so far this season!

The Lions take on New Caney tonight (4/1) at 6:15 p.m. at Lake Creek HS. Get out and support the Lions as they go for 25 in a row!

The Lake Creek Varsity Softball team and all other spring sports schedules can be viewed here.

Thank You HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe!

I would like to send a special thank you to HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe and CEO Matt Davis for their generosity this week in providing every Montgomery ISD employee with a lunch from Joe’s Italian Restaurant in Conroe. On Monday and Tuesday, Matt Davis and his leadership team personally delivered the lunches to all schools and district offices! I am incredibly grateful for this kind gesture to our hard-working employees and appreciate our partnership with HCA Houston Healthcare.

Keenan Elementary Knows the Rules of Tetherball

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Bobbi Jo Wells and Melissa Grisham, Keenan’s PE teachers announced that Tetherball was coming to Keenan! These ladies have gone over rules, etiquette, and procedures with all grades (Kinder-5th) in PE. This is a new, fun game for the Keenan Lions. To actually see students using things learned in the classroom or in the gym is very inspiring. By teaching etiquette as well as rules, these educators have impacted students’ physical activity and their social-emotional growth! Students and teachers think this is awesome!!