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November 2021 Board Meeting Video and Recap

November 2021 Board of Trustees Meeting Video and Recap
Posted on 11/17/2021
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The Montgomery ISD Board of Trustees met for their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, November 16. You can view the full meeting here and read the recap below.

Special Recognition of Montgomery ISD Substitutes 

National Substitute Educator Appreciation Day is Friday, November 19.

Great substitute educators are needed for any school to be successful, especially as our district has navigated through the challenges of this past year and a half.

During the November monthly board meeting, the Montgomery ISD Board of Trustees recognized our valued substitute educators as well as the district’s Absence Management Coordinator, Carol Reissig, who has worked to train and coordinate substitutes in Montgomery ISD since 1996 and manages almost 300 individuals in the districts pool of substitute educators. This year alone she has trained 125 new MISD substitute educators and has 28 more scheduled for training after the Thanksgiving holiday.  

In addition to recognizing Mrs. Reissig, it was important to recognize those who serve as substitute educators in Montgomery ISD. The Board of Trustees expressed their gratitude for the support this year as many community members have come forward to be trained and step in as substitute educators during a time when it was challenging to fully staff schools due to a rise of COVID-19 cases at the beginning of the school year. The district invited the substitutes who have accepted the most assignments (Top 10 most assignments) this school year to thank them publicly for their service to Montgomery ISD.

Montgomery ISD Recognizes Life-Saving Efforts of MISD Staff, EMS and Montgomery PD

On Thursday, October 7, during a routine band practice, Montgomery High School student Michael Rodriguez experienced a health-related emergency and was unresponsive for a short period of time. The immediate actions taken by the head trainer at Montgomery High School and first responders who quickly arrived on the scene to provide medical attention to Michael were heroic and Montgomery ISD took the opportunity to recognize their swift actions and thank them publicly.  

Head MHS Trainer Megan Ruble was first to respond and used life-saving measures until emergency responders arrived on the scene. EMS workers Reed Edelman, Samuel Hancock, Cain Pool, and Cameron Seulean then took over the scene and worked tirelessly to get Michael ready for transport to the local hospital, where he was put on a ventilator and treated. The work of Montgomery police officer Albert Chambers, who was one of the first to respond, was also recognized. To all the students, staff and trained professionals that answered the call of duty that day, Montgomery ISD says thank you.

Board Approves New SIS and ERP Systems for Montgomery ISD

Montgomery ISD Director of Technology and Digital Learning Amanda Davis presented the district’s recommendation to change our Student Information Systems (SIS) and Enterprise (ERP) System to Skyward and the board approved her recommendation. After months of research and surveying staff and district stakeholders, it has been made clear that our current system does not meet the needs of our growing district. As the district continues to grow, It is imperative to have effective an SIS, where the district can have a s system in place that allows for a comprehensive view of each student’s progress as well as a well-functioning ERP suite that provides all employees with what is needed to operate successfully. Both systems are necessary building blocks for a robust digital learning culture with an emphasis on usability, mobility and scalability.  

With this meaningful change to district operations comes a well-developed implementation plan, including designated times for staff training before its launch in the 2022-2023 school year. Individuals will be selected in December to be a part of the district’s implementation plan and will guide the entire process. District staff such as counselors, front office staff, administrators, and campus TIMs will begin attending webinars and some in-person training beginning February of 2022. Learning modules will be assigned to all staff in May and June in preparation for our July 1, 2022, go-live date. Teachers, paraprofessionals, and campus/district support staff will attend training in the latter part of July and early August, with a trade-out day for PD built into the 2022-23 school year. Continuing education webinars for both the Student and Enterprise systems will be scheduled throughout the 2022-2023 school year to support the district’s transition. 

Skyward offers the scalability Montgomery ISD needs for its rapidly growing student population, ease of use for our staff and parents and will provide a comprehensive view of our entire organization from staffing to student progress. District leaders are confident that this important change will ensure the needs of our Montgomery ISD community are met.  

K-12 Insight Presents Districtwide Survey Results

In September of this school year, the district partnered with K-12 Insight, a national education support firm to develop surveys that addressed academics, student support, school leadership, family involvement, safety and behavior and school operations with parents, staff and secondary students. Parent and staff surveys were open from September 21- October 5 and surveys for secondary students were open from September 21-October 8.  

At the November 16 Board meeting, a representative from K-12 Insight presented the findings of the survey to the Board of Trustees. In K-12 Insight’s executive summary of the survey, it was shared that 39% of parents, 51% of staff and 56% of secondary students participated. Each of these are above the participation rates typically experienced in school district surveys across the state and nation. K-12 Insight indicated that the parent participation rate of 39% is extraordinarily high compared to other district surveys and that the community should be applauded for this level of engagement with the district.

Participants in the survey provided high marks for Montgomery ISD with regard to overall school quality, with 93% of parents, 88% of campus-based staff members and 75% of secondary students rating their school as excellent or good. It was also shared that participants gave some of the highest favorable responses (strongly agree or agree) to items in the Academic Support, Student Support, and Safety & Behavior dimensions.  

K-12 Insight shared the highest-ranking items and areas for most growth for each participant group as well as satisfaction rates of parents and staff for each department including Child Nutrition, Communications, Curriculum & Instruction, Finance, Human Resources, Maintenance, Police Department, Specialized Learning, Technology and Transportation.

Results were also shared in the area of employee experience and work environment, with questions asked to all staff survey participants in which 94% of employees shared that they are proud to work in Montgomery ISD.  

Survey results have been evaluated by each department and have been shared with all campus administrators as well. The district will use this important feedback as both baseline data for measuring key performance indicators in the Pathway to Premier Strategic Plan, as well as recognizing areas that need improvement. The district is thankful to all who participated and gave genuine and constructive feedback to Montgomery ISD.  

All survey results can be found on Montgomery ISD’s Transparency Page and the results for each individual campus can be found on the campus’ web page, under the News tab. 

 

 

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