It is an honor to be the lone finalist for the position of superintendent for Goose Creek CISD. I want to thank the members of the Board of Trustees for their vote of confidence in me. I also want to express my appreciation to our Goose Creek CISD staff as well as to this community for the support I have received, not only since being named acting superintendent August 7th, 2014, but also from the time I accepted the position as deputy superintendent nearly two years ago.

My wife Monica and I are Goose Creek CISD employees, parents of a junior school student in this district and members of the Goose Creek community. Decisions affecting this district are important to me in numerous ways, and I appreciate the input I receive, especially from those of you who have lived in the area for many years and are familiar with the district and the rich history of the Baytown area.

Please continue to introduce yourselves to me and to express your opinions, either at meetings or even informally when you see me out in the district or community. If at any time we reach a point where we may agree to disagree, it will be with my utmost respect for your position and likely be regarding a difference in perspective.

I believe that we are all in this together, and we all have the same goal of ensuring that Goose Creek CISD is providing a quality education for our students, preparing them for life after graduation.

I want to remind you that our STAAR testing begins next month. As I visit our schools, I see that our students and our faculty and staff members are working diligently to prepare for these tests, using creative activities and strategies. I also see that, despite all the stress of state-mandated testing, learning is still fun for our students as evidenced by their smiling faces. To visibly see the elementary students’ confidence grow when they go up to the Promethean Board and use that technology to enhance their learning is nothing short of amazing.

On February 5th, elementary school students celebrated being 100 days smarter by creating projects and wearing clothes symbolizing the 100th day of the 2014-2015 school year. At the junior schools, students are exploring their career interests to enable them to select endorsements for their high school graduation plans as mandated by House Bill 5. At the high schools, I watch students increase their knowledge of technology with their iPads through a continuing initiative piloted last year. In the inaugural year, we are still working out the kinks, but the value added through this is evident as they prepare for their world beyond high school.

Again, I am both humbled and honored by the opportunity to serve in this position. Good things are happening in our district, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to see many of them first-hand. I encourage you to attend district and school events so that you may share in the successes of our students and staff.