WYLIE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – The Wylie ISD teacher who had been placed on leave for allegedly “liking” a racist Twitter post is resigning and retiring from the school district.  On Twitter Friday, Wylie ISD announced the teacher provided Superintendent David Vinson with a letter saying she is resigning and retiring from the school district effective at the end of the 2019-20 school year. view article

Justin Smith has been hired as the new Carthage High School principal beginning for the 2020-21 school year.  The school board unanimously approved Smith’s hiring Monday. He will replace Jason Harris, who left the district to become an assistant superintendent in Atlanta ISD.  “We are very excited to hire Mr. Smith as our new high school principal,” Superintendent John Wink said. “He is a very positive and energetic leader, who will no doubt bring a lot of wonderful things to Carthage High School and to our community.” view article

CYPRESS, Texas – Kathryn Haynes knew that the classroom was her calling as she was given one of the most prestigious awards in Texas education.  Haynes, an engineering teacher at Cypress Park High School, was nominated by the Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, a state-accredited program that helps individuals with a bachelor’s degree become certified teachers, according to Cy-Fair ISD in a press release. She was nomitated by Cypress Park High’s principal and Texas Teachers’ adviser, Chris Heckler. view article

Aledo ISD has named Joshua Jenkins as the new McAnally Intermediate School principal and Mercedes Mayer as the director of communications.  Jenkins is currently an assistant principal at Western Hills High School at Fort Worth ISD. Jenkins has served as an educator and administrator in Fort Worth for the past eleven years.   Jenkins began his educational career as a math teacher in 2009 at Fort Worth ISD, where he was later honored as Teacher of the Year in 2012. He has served as a district Instructional Specialist and a middle school and high school Assistant Principal in Fort Worth ISD for the last eight years.  “We are looking forward to Mr. Jenkins bringing his instructional leadership experience and expertise to Aledo,” Aledo ISD Superintendent Dr. Susan Bohn said. “We are excited to have him join our team to support the students, staff, and school community at McAnally.” view article

Teachers of 2020, congratulations on a job well done. Most K-12 ceremonies are called “graduation,” which means “step.” College ceremonies, by contrast, are known as “commencement,” or “beginning.” As college ends, a new chapter starts. A chapter like none that has come before will soon begin, not only for professional teachers of Texas like me, but for the millions of parents who have been supervising their children’s education from home when schools were closed. view article

Lake Creek High School’s first principal Phil Eaton stood triumphantly at the podium Thursday morning as he reflected on the legacy sitting before him.  Safely distanced, with family and friends sitting in the stands of the Montgomery Independent School District’s football stadium, were 221 seniors donned in Navy Blue and Las Vegas gold.  Addressing the two-year old high school’s first-ever graduating class, Eaton began the inaugural ceremony by talking about the novel coronavirus pandemic that nearly claimed his life. view article

Melanie Rutter was eating dinner with her family when she found out she was among the top five contenders for FISD’s elementary teacher of the year.  Their iPad was propped up, streaming the district’s Facebook Live event, a virtual adaptation for what would usually have been an in-person celebration.  “And then a week later, they announced the winners,” Rutter said, “and again it was around dinnertime and we were all sitting around, and we were just going ‘he just said my name!’ It was amazing.” view article

A Sabine ISD employee no longer works for the district after he left a racist comment on a Facebook post about Black Lives Matter protests.  Billy Holcomb commented, “This is exactly why they get treated the way they do during encounters with authorities! No one to blame but themselves, sorry but true!” on a KETK post on a story about violence in Minneapolis after George Floyd, a black man, died in police custody. view article

Houston ISD administrators are cutting back their employee pay raise recommendation by $16.6 million heading into 2020-21, citing uncertainty about the district’s financial outlook amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.  A month after declaring that they planned to spend $26.2 million on salary increases for the upcoming school year, HISD administrators this week said they now propose to boost salaries by $9.6 million. Teachers and other campus-based staff would receive “step” increases — typically about $300 to $1,000, depending on years of experience — and police officers would get raises totaling about $3.5 million amid a restructuring of salaries.   (09) view article

Montgomery ISD’s year-round employees will return to school buildings June 8, MISD Interim Superintendent Ann Dixon said at a June 1 board of trustees meeting.  We’re going to kind of use [Group 1] as a test run,” Dixon said.  Group 1 includes athletics, such as the summer strength training program and reopening the aquatic center, Dixon said.  “Those kids are ready to get trained and get in competition,” she said. “Our kids have revamped their garages and bedrooms and everything else to try and stay in shape.” view article

Killeen ISD Superintendent Dr. John Craft named Pam Disher Principal of Maude Moore Wood Elementary School.  Devoted to elementary education and Killeen ISD, Disher enters her 26th year with the dis Htrict.    She has served as a teacher at Harker Heights and Nolanville Elementary schools before moving into leadership as the Assistant Principal at Clifton Park and Montague Village Elementary Schools. District Administration quickly recognized her ability to establish a foundation of support that teachers and students alike embraced and was named Principal of Duncan Elementary School in 2011. She served until the campus was decommissioned in 2017. view article

Austin, TX (June 1, 2020)—Texas PTA today announced the recipients for the 2020 Outstanding Educator of the Year Awards. Among several awardees at the elementary, secondary, and district level – we are happy to share that Mr. Dana Vinson from Frenship High School is this year’s Secondary Teacher of the Year. view article

HARLINGEN — She’s the best of the best in the Lone Star State.  Irma Davis, principal at Dishman Elementary School, is in the news again. This time, she’s been recognized as the 2020 NAESP National Distinguished Principal for Texas. NAESP stands for National Association of Elementary School Principals.  As always, Davis gave quick references to the teachers and staff at Dishman. view article

Dustin Toth needed a mascot suit. Getting one was his first task as the principal of Prosper ISD’s second high school, which opens for classes in August. Rock Hill High School’s mascot, the Blue Hawk, hasn’t been used anywhere else in the country, he said. The process of procuring the mascot costume was somewhat involved, even comprising a custom sketch.  “We used a hawk outline, but then we kind of modified what a hawk looks like,” Toth said. “And then the color was different. It's a specific blue color. You had to pick out the fur for it. You had to pick out what the casting was going to look like for the body and everything. I mean, it was a whole process.” view article

Houston will not need to furlough roughly 3,000 city employees nor cancel its police cadet classes in the upcoming budget year, Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin announced during a city council budget committee meeting Tuesday.  Instead, the city will use federal coronavirus relief funds to help bridge its projected $169 million shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1. view article

Pasadena ISD officials have asked about 1,300 district employees to return additional pay they received during COVID-19 school closures as a result of a “major clerical error,” leading at least one staff member to file a lawsuit to keep what he was given.  Rather than give hourly employees working essential jobs during school closures the time-and-a-half pay Superintendent DeeAnn Powell originally promised in March, Pasadena ISD officials said the district inadvertently paid them two and a half times their regular pay. view article

Alice Independent School District recently held the annual Appreciation Banquet to honor their employees. This year the banquet was not the usual gala. Because of coronavirus (COVID-19) the district went virtual.  During the virtual banquet, Nelda Ramon of Saenz Elementary was honored as the district’s Elementary Teacher of the Year and Alice High School’s George Beltran was recognized as the district’s Secondary Teacher of the Year. view article

Although Alvin ISD teachers haven’t physically been in their classrooms since March, their hard work has not gone unnoticed.  That’s why it was important for Alvin ISD to hold their annual Employee Recognition Ceremony virtually this year.  “Even though we cannot all be together to recognize our amazing teachers, staff members, and retirees, we wanted to still be able to honor them for their hard work and dedication to the District,” shared Carol Nelson, Alvin ISD Superintendent.  “Earlier this week, we got the opportunity to go around to the homes of the Teachers and Rookie Teachers of the Years and the campuses where the Paraprofessionals and Department Employees of the Year are working, to surprise them with their plaques and yard signs. It was great to get their surprised reaction even in these unprecedented times.” view article

Amy Sirizzotti will open the 2020-21 academic year as the new principal at Clemens High School.  Sirizzotti has been with the district since 2016 and served as associate principal at Clemens since 2018. She succeeds Melissa Sosa, who is retiring June 30 after 26 years in education, the past 20 with the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District and the past nine as Clemens principal. view article

The Allen ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve the district’s compensation plan for the 2020-21 school year at its May meeting, including a teacher pay increase.  The approval also includes a 1.5% increase to the midpoint for all eligible  district employees. Salary for starting teachers without experience is now $55,250. view article

Some Waco teachers could be close to earning 6-figure salaries as soon as next year, with a funding boost from a school finance reform package the state Legislature approved last year.  Both the Waco Independent School District and its in-district partner that operates five schools, Transformation Waco, plan to take part in the state’s teacher incentive allotment, a new funding source benefiting high-performing teachers in economically disadvantaged and rural areas. view article

The Allen ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve the district’s compensation plan for the 2020-21 school year at its May meeting, including a teacher pay increase. The approval also includes a 1.5% increase to the midpoint for all eligible  The Allen ISD Board of Trustees voted to approve the district’s compensation plan for the 2020-21 school year at its May meeting, including a teacher pay increase. view article

Karla Massey’s journey began far from McKinney; it was her childhood dream of becoming an educator that would lead her from Honduras to the United States and, years later, to McKinney ISD where she will now serve as the new principal of Caldwell Elementary.   Along the journey, Massey has accumulated 27 years of experience in education – 15 as a campus administrator. The MISD Board of Trustees approved Massey’s hire Tuesday night. view article

Teachers of 2020, congratulations on a job well done. Most K-12 ceremonies are called “graduation,” which means “step.” College ceremonies, by contrast, are known as “commencement,” or “beginning.” As college ends, a new chapter starts. A chapter like none that has come before will soon begin, not only for professional teachers of Texas like me, but for the millions of parents who have been supervising their children’s education from home when schools were closed.  All we can be certain of is that next year will not look like this year. It certainly won’t look like last fall, with classrooms full of kids learning and eating and playing together. It won’t look like the rapid unplanned shutdown of this spring, either. We don’t really know yet what fall classes will be like, but we can be sure that more change is coming. view article

Jennifer Capra will become the new principal of Community School and Jennifer Stewart will be the new principal of Jackson Intermediate. view article

In the late 1970s, the San Antonio Independent School District put a young first grade teacher named Shelley Potter in a school with boarded-up windows and no air conditioning.  No one knew what they had set in motion. view article

When she started with the District in 1985, Cedar Hill had one grocery store, one pharmacy and one post office. W.S. Permenter (the namesake of Permenter Middle School) was the CHISD Superintendent.  Gressett, the CHISD Child Nutrition Administrative Secretary, was honored that CHISD  Superintendent Dr. Gerald Hudson and CHISD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Dr. Violet Dean went out of their way to present her service pin, in a way that adhered to safety and social distancing. view article

Lewisville ISD will be faced with several decisions in the coming weeks as it prepares its budget for the 2020-21 school year.  During a work session last week, Superintendent Kevin Rogers updated the Board of Trustees on early projections for the coming year.  Based on preliminary numbers the district is projected to have a deficit of $15 million to $21 million in 2020-21, though Rogers said that number is a conservative estimate, is likely to go down in the weeks ahead and that the district usually erases the deficit by the end of the school year. view article

TYLER, Texas (News Release) - Tyler ISD is in the process of implementing a Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) program to provide state-funded incentive pay to high-performing teachers. House Bill 3 (HB 3), passed by the 86th Texas Legislature in June of 2019, established the optional TIA program with a stated goal of a six-figure salary for teachers who prioritize teaching in high needs areas and rural district campuses. Tyler ISD joins many districts across the state, including Dallas ISD and Austin ISD, in providing a TIA structure. view article

Facing budget shortfalls, the Eanes ISD board of trustees could take a fiscally conservative approach in recommending salary adjustments. The board of trustees discussed potential adjustments during a May 26 board meeting.  Though a final decision was not reached, trustees are leaning toward freezing salaries or providing a 1% increase for the 2020-21 school year.   view article

As physicians, epidemiologists, and health care workers lead the fight against a global pandemic, the Texas Medical Association (TMA) named nine Texas science teachers winners of its 2020 Ernest and Sarah Butler Awards for Excellence in Science Teaching.  One of the winners was local Cynthia Hopkins from Kaffie Middle School, here in Corpus Christi.  This program year marks the 30th anniversary of the awards, designed to motivate teachers to inspire future doctors and scientists. view article

During its virtual monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 26, the Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees appointed two new principals: Stephanie McElroy at Bear Creek Elementary and Shannon Smith at Shafer Elementary. McElroy began teaching in 1998 in Katy ISD. She started in fifth grade reading. McElroy moved to Sealy Independent School District in 2006 as a high school assistant principal at Selman Intermediate School. Not long after, she was promoted to principal. view article

At the regular May 26 meeting, the Katy ISD board of trustees unanimously approved new department staff positions for the 2020-21 school year.  Upon the administration’s recommendation, a total of 29 new staffing units will be added across nine district departments for the next school year, per documentation from the meeting’s agenda packet.  Maria DiPetta, KISD's media relations and multimedia manger, confirmed via email that these 29 staffing units equal 29 new individual hires.   view article

Southeast Texas educator Amanda Jenkins has been named as the new principal at the Edwards-Johnson Memorial Silsbee Middle School, the district announced in a statement.  Jenkins will take the role of principal after more than 20 years of education experience, starting in Port Arthur ISD as a third grade teacher. view article

Houston ISD’s new top cop is a veteran of Texas law enforcement — but with a Brooklyn accent.  Pedro Lopez, with 29 years with Houston Police Department, was sworn in Tuesday as police chief of HISD, the state’s largest school district. Come the next school year, he will lead about 180 officers to oversee the district’s 209,000 students returning to some form of classes amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. view article