Teacher of the Year and Spirit of Montgomery Award Winners

The final campus votes are in! I am excited to announce the Teacher of the Year and Spirit of Montgomery Winners!

I could not be more thankful for the incredible leadership each of our Teacher of the Year and Spirit of Montgomery award winners has provided to their campuses during this challenging school year. I always say that true leaders rise to the top during the most difficult of times. In a year like no other, which has presented unprecedented challenges and has required innovative, bold problem solving, these leaders have stepped up to the call to serve our students and families. Each represents the values, characteristics and qualities that makes Team Montgomery ISD such an amazing and special group of public servants.

The full list of 2021 Teacher of the Year and Spirit of Montgomery winners is below:

Montgomery ISD Teachers of the Year

• Keenan ES – Lauren Coughlin
• Lincoln ES – Patty Barfield
• Lone Star ES – Stacy Ritchie
• Montgomery ES – Kelli Kojis
• Madeley Ranch ES – Emily Larson
• Stewart Creek ES – Marianne Elias
• Montgomery Jr. HS – Tamara Lumpkin
• Oak Hills Jr. HS – Wendy Jebousek
• Lake Creek HS – Alison Rice
• Montgomery HS – Deborah Vierkant

Spirit of Montgomery Winners

• Keenan ES – Nikki Taylor
• Lincoln ES – Dana Kuciemba
• Lone Star ES – Monica Lemke
• Montgomery ES – Niki Manceaux
• Madeley Ranch ES – Kristi Miller
• Stewart Creek ES – Linda Bailey
• Montgomery Jr. HS – Courtney Buckner
• Oak Hills Jr. HS – April James
• Lake Creek HS – Stacy Brown
• Montgomery HS – Sandra Farris

Please join me in congratulating and thanking our 2020-21 Teacher of the Year and Spirit of Montgomery award winners!

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Dr. Heath Morrison

Superintendent

Montgomery ISD

MISD Board of Trustees Monthly Meeting

The Montgomery ISD Board of Trustees will meet for their regular monthly board meeting next Tuesday, April 20 at 6 p.m. in the Board Room of the District ESC. I’m excited to share that on Tuesday, we will be presenting to the Board for their consideration an updated district compensation plan containing across-the-board teacher and staff raises for the 2021-22 school year.

In October 2020 after the Board adopted a 2% raise for all district employees, I committed to you that we would work diligently to seek ways to provide additional salary increases for the 2021-22 school year. Our proposed compensation plan will include additional across-the-board salary increases and other adjustments that I believe will represent a significant step in the right direction in terms of making Montgomery ISD salaries more competitive in the region. We will share additional information about the 2021-22 compensation plan at the Board meeting and communicate more details after it is considered by trustees.

Second Round of COVID-19 vaccinations at the District ESC

If you received the first round of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at the District ESC on Monday, March 22, you may schedule an appointment for your second round on Friday, April 30 between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the District ESC. Any individual who received the first round of the vaccine should have received an email from the Montgomery County Health District this week with instructions on how to sign up for an appointment on April 30. If you did not receive your email, please check your “spam” folder. Per the CDC, second doses can be administered 24 days and up to 42 days after the first dose. As always, this is being provided as a courtesy to employees. The COVID-19 vaccine is not required.

Superintendent Shout-Out – MHS Senior Reid Turner and Laurie Zuehkle

I want to give a special shout-out this week to MHS Senior Reid Turner and College & Career Coordinator Laurie Zuehlke.

For the past year, Reid and Ms. Zuehkle have represented MHS and MISD as the Texas Association of Student Councils (TASC) President School! This weekend, during a state and caucus convention that will include over 2,000 students from across the country, Reid will give one final speech before “passing the gavel” on to a new leader.

I am so proud of Reid for representing MHS and MISD in this capacity. Reid served on my MHS Student Advisory Council and has a bright and successful future ahead! I also want to thank Ms. Zuehlke for her leadership, guidance and dedication to cultivating the next generation of leaders. Next year, Ms. Zuehlke will be serving the TASC District 7 (Houston Area) as the District Coordinator and will be on the State Board of Directors as the Past President school.   

Strategic Plan Town Hall Meeting – April 27 at Montgomery Jr. HS

This is a reminder that the third and final Strategic Plan Town Hall meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 27 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Montgomery Jr. HS.

Over the past several months, a strategic plan for our district has been under development by five task force committees containing stakeholders from all over the district. Each task force is focused on one of the Board’s adopted goals: Academic Achievement; School Safety, Finance & Operations; Human Capital; and Communications & Customer Service. Each task force has held a number of meetings, conducted SWOT analyses and has developed proposed district initiatives and strategies intended to make marked improvements in areas addressed by the board’s goals.

The district Strategic Plan will ultimately consist of a set of key performance indicators intended to measure the district’s growth in areas addressed by the board’s five goals. District initiatives and strategies designed to meet the key performance indicators will be included as part of the Strategic Plan.

I’m proud of the public input that has gone into the development of the Strategic Plan, and I hope anyone who has an interest in one of the topics covered by the board’s adopted district goals will attend on April 27. A draft Strategic Plan will be presented to the Board in May and trustees will adopt the Strategic Plan along with the 2021-22 district budget in June.

National Administrative Professionals Day is April 21

Wednesday, April 21 is National Administrative Professionals Day! Our administrative staff across Montgomery ISD play a vital role in our work to serve and educate the over 9,000 students in our district. I am grateful for their dedication to our district and students – we could not operate successfully as a school district without their service. Please join me in recognizing and thanking our amazing administrative professionals next week!

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

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.

“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.