Strategically Planning for the Future

Dear Team MISD,

Thank you to all who attended our first Strategic Plan Town Hall meeting at Montgomery High School on Thursday evening. The excitement behind the work to develop our Strategic Plan is a testament to this community’s desire to elevate and position our school district as the “Premier” district in Texas. The Strategic Plan will serve as a roadmap to how we get to “Premier”.

The feedback from the Town Hall meeting has been very positive. During the breakout session portion of the meeting, there was active listening and authentic conversations occurring throughout the five groups. It was exciting to see a diverse group of stakeholders come together to discuss how we can further improve our district through the Strategic Plan.

Development of the Strategic Plan is being led by a Task Force of district leaders in conjunction with district parents, staff, students and community members. The plan will align with the MISD Board of Trustees’ adopted goals for the district. The five district goals, which were finalized in October 2020, are as follow:

• Goal 1: Academic Achievement: MISD will provide a challenging curriculum, assess individual student achievement and support efforts to ensure excellent academic performance.
• Goal 2: School Safety: MISD will vigorously enforce policies and procedures that promote a safe and orderly environment.
• Goal 3: Operations and Finance: MISD will responsibly manage the use of financial and operational resources in order to sustain equitable funding to support academic excellence and to provide safe, efficient operations of the district.
• Goal 4: Human Capital: MISD will recruit, support, develop and retain highly qualified and effective personnel.
• Goal 5: Communications and Customer Service: MISD will provide proactive and frequent engagement with employees, parents, and community to ensure effective communication, superior customer service, and a strong culture within the district.

I entered Montgomery ISD as Superintendent with an intentional commitment to listen and learn from students, parents, staff and community stakeholders. That’s why it’s important to me that all who want to participate in the development of the strategic plan are provided the opportunity to have a voice. We plan to host two more Strategic Plan Town Hall meetings before it’s adopted by the Board in May.

Please mark your calendars for our next Strategic Plan Town Hall meeting on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. at Lake Creek High School.

With appreciation,

Dr. Heath Morrison

MISD Budget Town Hall Meeting – Tuesday Feb. 9

On Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 6:00 p.m., we will host a Budget Town Hall meeting in the Board Auditorium of the MISD Education Support Center. This Town Hall will provide an overview of the district’s annual budget and our process for the 2021-22 school year.

As we work on a budget for 2021-22, and beyond, we are committed to complete transparency in how we develop and ultimately approve a district budget. As I have shared previously, continuing to focus on employee compensation is one of my top priorities.

Additionally, it’s important that our budget process is in alignment with the development of our Strategic Plan. I encourage all who are interested to remain engaged and informed as we work on our 2021-22 district budget. Please join us and share your thoughts and priorities for the district’s budget.

COVID Rapid Testing Initiative

Our voluntary COVID Rapid Testing program has been a success and has received extremely positive feedback. We’re pleased to continue to offer this cost and time saving benefit to staff and families. To date, we have provided nearly 200 rapid tests – at no charge – to students and staff. This program would not be successful without the dedication of our outstanding school nurses. I want to thank our Director of Special Programs Dr. Amy Busby and all of our dedicated nurses who have made this testing initiative possible.

As a reminder, the voluntary tests are available for employees on campus and by appointment at the District’s Education Support Center. Testing for students is only available by appointment at the District ESC.

You can learn more about the voluntary COVID Rapid Testing program and schedule an appointment for a test on our website by clicking here.

A Retirement Reception for the “Grand Bear”

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A special thanks go out to all who attended Bobby Morris’ retirement reception on Tuesday at MHS. Bobby leaves an impressive legacy in MISD, having worked in the district for over 22 years. He joined MISD as Principal of Montgomery High School in 1998 and went on to join district administration in 2009 as Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services and eventually our Chief Operating Officer in 2015. Bobby’s accomplishments throughout his remarkable career have had a positive impact on thousands of students and their families.

Coming into MISD, Bobby became a trusted voice for me. Bobby’s input and wisdom were always in the best interest of our district, and I learned so much from him in a short period of time. Bobby will be forever missed in the MISD family. His impact on our students, families, and this community will be felt for many years ahead.

At the reception, I especially enjoyed the MHS Madrigals performance singing the MHS Alma Mater.

A Farewell and Congratulations to Teresa Tipton

It is with excitement, but also great regret, that I announce Teresa Tipton has accepted a career advancement opportunity and will be departing MISD in February.

Teresa has spent the last 13 years as a dedicated member of our Finance Department, where she served as the district’s Benefits, Leave and Worker’s Compensation Specialist. Many recognize Teresa for her strong dedication to Team MISD. Those who worked closely with her would tell you that Teresa always had a genuine passion to serve MISD staff and improving our district. What makes Teresa special is not only her vast knowledge in all areas of employee benefits and leave, but also her ability to provide the employees of MISD outstanding customer service.

While she was not seeking another opportunity, Teresa’s hard work in MISD positioned herself as a sought after candidate for an Account Executive role with FBS.  FBS is our Third Party Administrator that assists us with creation, compliance and maintenance of all health and supplemental employee benefits.

Teresa’s departure is a huge loss for us, but she will always be a member of the Montgomery Family. Please join me in thanking Teresa for her contributions to our district and wishing her the best as she moves into the next stage of her career.

Dear Team MISD,

It was a busy week in Montgomery ISD!

On Tuesday, the MISD Board of Trustees met for their January meeting. Highlights of the meeting include the adoption of the 2021-22 academic calendar, a district legislative platform, and approval of a comprehensive facilities assessment on district buildings. Trustees also approved a Board Resolution to ensure that employees who were scheduled to work on the inclement weather closure day on Jan. 11 are compensated. I’ll cover a few of these topics in greater detail in this week’s MISD Minute.

It was important for the board to approve a comprehensive facilities assessment on Tuesday. In order for our district to maintain the high quality campuses, buildings and facilities that our community expects, a third-party assessment of our buildings is needed to ensure we keep our facilities safe and welcoming places for learning.

In addition to these important actions taken by our Board, trustees also voted to extend my contract as Superintendent for one year, through August 2025. I’m incredibly grateful for the confidence our Board is showing in the direction our district is headed by taking this action. I did not request any change to the terms of my existing contract, as I remain laser-focused in our budget process on increasing employee compensation throughout the district.

Please see the remainder of this week’s MISD Minute for updates on things happening around the district!

Sincerely,

Dr. Heath Morrison

School Board Recognition Month

Throughout the month of January, which is School Board Recognition Month, we have been thanking and honoring our Board of Trustees for their service to our community and district. This year’s theme for School Board Recognition month across Texas is “Navigating to Success.” I want to thank all of you who have joined us in recognizing the service of our board and thanking them for leadership in navigating us through this unprecedented school year.

During Tuesday’s Board meeting, we showed the above video, which contains a special message to our trustees from students across the district. Again, please join me in showing your appreciation for our seven elected school board members!

Strategic Plan Town Hall Meeting

We are in the process of developing a three-year Strategic Plan for the district based on the Board’s five adopted goals:

• Goal 1: Academics
• Goal 2: Safety
• Goal 3: Operations and Finance
• Goal 4: Human Capital
• Goal 5: Communications and Customer Service

From the onset of this process, I have said that I want this Strategic Plan to truly be the community’s plan. With that in mind, we want to gather as much input, from as many stakeholders as possible. Over the next three months, we will hold three Strategic Plan Town Hall meetings. We encourage any interested employees to attend and share their perspectives on how we can further improve our district through the Strategic Plan. We want all employees to have the opportunity to provide input on the direction of MISD.

Please join us for our first Strategic Plan Town Hall meeting next Thursday, Jan. 28 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Montgomery HS.

If you’re unable to attend, there will be an option to participate remotely. We’ll share details on remote participation next week.

Academic Calendar

At Tuesday’s Board meeting, trustees adopted the 2021-22 academic calendar.

I want to thank the members of the District Advisory Committee (DAC) for leading this process and making the final calendar recommendation to our Board. Also, thanks to all parents, staff and community members who provided input on the DAC’s proposed academic calendars through our district survey that was open from mid-December through early January. Over 3,500 district stakeholders provided input, with 57% of respondents preferring the calendar option that was adopted by the board.

During the board’s vote on the calendar on Tuesday evening, I was thankful when Trustee Laurie Turner publicly recognized and commended the clarity and transparency of the calendar recommendation process. Our goal is to always provide as much information as we possibly can, in a clear and transparent manner.

Once again, I want to remind everyone that instructional minutes in the adopted calendar may be subject to administrative adjustment based on the future state requirements relating to remote learning, COVID-19 conditions, weather-related closures and considering the needs of teachers and students.

You can see the 2021-22 academic calendar here.

MISD Legislative Platform

I’m excited to share that for the first time in the history of our district, our Board of Trustees has adopted a Legislative Platform as state lawmakers enter the 87th Texas Legislative Session.

This action taken by our trustees is an example of work that gets us to being The Premier School District in Texas, and I’m proud that our Board will be working to ensure that the voice of Montgomery ISD will be heard in the legislative process.

Each legislative session, state lawmakers consider hundreds of bills relating to public education. Our board wants to ensure that the needs of our students and teachers are considered as Texas lawmakers make changes to public education.

The 2021 MISD Legislative Platform addresses the following items, which we are calling the “Five Pillars” of the platform:

School Finance

State lawmakers made incredible strides towards improving how Texas public schools are funded through the passage of House Bill 3 in 2019. We’re asking that lawmakers not derail this momentum by implementing funding cuts to our schools in addressing the budget issues imposed on our state’s economy by COVID. Further, we’re asking that lawmakers explore ideas that would support a more sustainable school finance system that lowers the burden on property taxes to fund schools.

State Assessment and Accountability

Earlier this year, the Texas Education Agency announced that all schools and districts will receive a “Not Rated” designation under state accountability this year. Given the challenges associated with the pandemic, we’re thankful for this decision. While STAAR scores will not count this year for state accountability purposes, we believe it’s still important to administer the test this spring in order to get a baseline understanding of where our students are academically, so we can appropriately address any learning loss due to the pandemic.

We’re also asking lawmakers to continue to focus on how state accountability is measured to ensure that instructional practice is aligned, but not driven by state assessments.

COVID-19 Support

We’re asking for continued support from the state as we work through the challenges associated with COVID-19 in meeting the needs of all children. The TEA’s Operation Connectivity program has provided tremendous support to our district, and we would like to see this program remain in place in the long-term as we potentially move forward with remote options for certain students.

Local Control

As a district with the “District of Innovation” designation with the Texas Education Agency, we’re afforded additional flexibilities in local decision-making in areas like school start date and filling high demand teacher vacancies with industry professionals. We’re asking that these local flexibilities remain in place, and that our elected school boards are further empowered to make decisions that best meet the needs of their communities.

School Safety

Keeping our students and staff safe is always our top priority. Therefore, any legislative platform our district develops should include school safety. We’re asking for support in securing buildings and creating safe school environments, and requesting support as we work to meet the mental health needs of students. Securing campuses and addressing the socio-emotional needs of students are both critical components to ensuring schools are safe places where effective academic instruction can occur.

So, what’s next? Well, over the next several weeks state lawmakers will meet and debate legislation at the State Capitol in Austin. They will hear thousands of bills, with many having large implications on school district operations, teacher pay, classroom instruction and curriculum and ultimately, student achievement. You can track legislation being considered at the Capitol here.

You can read the full MISD Legislative Platform here.