EDUCATION BRIEFS
News from Cy-Fair ISD
Cy-Fair ISD considers stipends for all employees
ALLEVIATING TEACHER STRESS
BY DANICA LLOYD
to show staff they are appreciated, Henry said. District officials have also imple- mented monthly remote learning days for students, providing teachers additional planning time. Other efforts include reducing district benchmarks, minimizing staff meetings and trainings, allowing principals to hire more long-term substitute teachers and designating funds for employee appreciation initiatives, Henry said. On Nov. 9, the board unanimously approved waiving comprehensive evaluations for eligible teachers for one year to alleviate anxiety and stress amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers may decline the waiver and opt to be evaluated anyway. All first-year teachers and those with documented deficiencies will be eval- uated as normal, according to district officials. going to have to be prepared to run good defense and make certain that we’re able to maintain the level of funding that we currently have—all of the great things that we felt came out of HB 3, to see that that’s maintained and carried forward.” The district is also asking legisla- tors to consider waiving the state’s A-F accountability rating system for the 2020-21 school year. All districts and campuses in the state received a label of Not Rated for the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We all know we are in the middle of a pandemic,” Chief Academic
Chief Financial Officer Karen Smith said all employees hired by Oct. 31 who are still employed as of Nov. 30 would be eligible for the one-time stipend, which is intended to address morale and retention. Donna Lord, the president of the Cy-Fair Texas State Teachers Associ- ation, thanked district officials Nov. 9 for proposing the stipend and for establishing remote learning days. She asked the board to continue listening to employee concerns and addressing morale. “On behalf of our members, I want to take this opportunity to thank the board and senior administration for beginning to take small steps forward in recognizing the efforts made by the staff and the additional burdens being placed on the teachers this school year,” Lord said. This is not the only step taken since the start of the school year
In a year when many teachers are experiencing heavier workloads due to the pandemic, Cy-Fair ISD officials have taken the following steps to alleviate stress.
CY-FAIR ISD Cy-Fair ISD employees could see a one-time stipend on their Dec. 15 paychecks for the additional efforts they have made so far in the 2020-21 school year. At a public hear- ing Nov. 5, trustees expressed their support for the district’s $8.3 million plan to give full-time employees a $500 stipend and part-time employ- ees a $250 stipend. “I understand it’s not enough,” Superintendent Mark Henry said. “But it is an effort to say ‘thank you’ from the administration and the board of this district—[to say] we know that you’ve gone above and beyond.” The revised staff compensation plan will be presented to the board for final approval at the December board meeting, according to Leslie Francis, the assistant superintendent for communication and community relations.
Hiring additional long-term substitute teachers Minimizing district meetings and trainings Decreasing the number of district benchmarks Budgeting for all employees to receive retention stipends Waiving the requirement for most teachers to be evaluated Implementing monthly remote learning days for planning purposes
SOURCE: CY-FAIR ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Priorities for 87th Texas Legislature finalized by Cy-Fair ISD officials
Officer Linda Macias said. “There are many challenges that our students are facing—many gaps in their instruction and their education—and we believe that this needs to be waived for the 2020-21 school year.” Other priorities on the list of 22 items covered the opposition to the expansion of charter schools into high-performing school districts, increasing the state’s contribution to public school employee health insurance plans, maintaining local control over the implementation of safety and security measures, and increasing the percentage of reim- bursement for transportation costs.
BY DANICA LLOYD
Senate agreed to invest $11.6 billion in public school systems. This allowed CFISD to provide salary increases and launch full-day pre-K districtwide. CFISD Chief of Staff Teresa Hull said the district hopes to see the measures laid out in HB 3 main- tained despite state budgetary constraints due to the pandemic. “I think this is going to be a do-no- harm session,” Hull said. “We’re just
CY-FAIR ISD Cy-Fair ISD officials presented their priorities for the 87th Texas Legislature at a Nov. 5 meeting, which the board of trustees approved Nov. 9. The upcoming leg- islative session officially convenes in January, but state lawmakers began prefiling bills in early November. Following the passage of House Bill 3 in the 86th Texas Legislature in 2019, the Texas House and
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CY-FAIR EDITION • DECEMBER 2020
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