The first nine weeks of the 2021-2022 school year have been a time of reflection. We reflect on the gains our district has made over such a short period of time while preparing for any hurdles we may face in the weeks and months ahead. We began our year with a return to in-person convocation. With safety protocols in place, the employees gathered together to usher in the new era in Goose Creek CISD.

Planning for the upcoming school year is an on-going process and the plans our leaders and educators make must be fluid, in order to meet the ever-changing needs of our students. We knew as a district many of our students, like others across the country, suffered with learning loss due to the pandemic. After receiving the data from last school year, we realized it was urgent to revise our plan and include protocols that would not only close those learning loss gaps, but prepare students to be successful once they leave the K-12 system. The first step in that process was to hire a pool of highly qualified tutors to assist our students in critical need testing areas, such as math and science. Many of these tutors are GCCISD retirees that did not hesitate to return to the district to help our students. The tutoring program has been extremely successful and we are continuing to hire more tutors to ensure every student has the assistance they need.

Our next step focused on recruitment and retention. Our Human Resources department has done an amazing job in recruiting the best and brightest to “The Goose.” Unfortunately, we began the year with a teacher shortage. The department recognized this need and immediately sprang into action. They brought forth proposals to the Board during the October 2021 meeting and with the Board’s unanimous approval, two major incentives were implemented. First-a $2,500 hiring incentive for fully-certified Texas teachers (retroactive September 13th-January 31, 2022) that I have no doubt will assist us in filling these critical-needed positions that remain from the first day of school. The Board also approved an increase of $20 /day for daily substitutes and an extra $10/day for those that teach on Monday and Friday. That’s definitely one way to start the year off right!

It is important that our district continues to keep our community engaged and informed on everything we have to offer and our Community Engagement department has done just that. We debuted the new website in September and followed with the free mobile app a month later. These tools will assist us in ensuring we meet the needs of our growing community.

Our citizens play a very important role in the success of our district. It is because of their investment in us that we are able to provide our students and staff with the best facilities in the state of Texas. The district held groundbreaking ceremonies for the Early Learning and Robotics Academies in early August. They, along with San Jacinto and Pumphrey Elementary Schools, are set to open in Fall 2022. We also opened the doors to the new E.F. Green Junior School on the first day of class and held the dedication/ribbon cutting a few weeks later. Stuart Career Technical High School is preparing for the grand opening of several academies by the end of the year. I am excited and eager to see how our students will react to our new facilities!

Our band and football programs are performing extremely well this season and we want to personally thank the community for their continuous support of our extracurricular programs. Our students perform better when they have the support of their family and friends and we can’t thank you enough for that. Let us continue this show of raving community support for all district programs as we start wrapping up the fall semester and transition to a very active spring semester.

We know that challenges may lay ahead, but as Goose Creek GIANTS, we know that we can conquer them; one step at a time.

Thank you for being such a huge part of our identity as a school district! Let’s go, GIANTS!