Superintendent of Schools

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The next steps for SAISD - April 5, 2021

04/05/2021

Dear SAISD Staff:

Our Bond 2016 projects are completed or are wrapping up, and it’s time to begin unveiling the work that’s been done to transform campuses into 21st-century learning environments!

We are hosting a series of community meetings this month to showcase our updated high schools, beginning with Edison High School and the Fox Tech campus this week. We are inviting families – and students of all grade levels – to tour the facilities to see the work done so far and to learn what else is coming under Bond 2020.

We also will be gathering community input on how best to use federal relief funds to benefit students next school year. We’ll begin conversations about leveraging the instructional calendar to address learning loss, providing more resources toward the mental health and social-emotional well-being of our students, and planning for more in-person instruction. We want to hear from parents how they feel about these initiatives so that we best meet their children’s needs.

In addition to the high school tours and family feedback, we have great achievements to share with our parents and students. We are outfitting six flagship classrooms throughout the District at varying grade levels. These spaces serve as models of what students can expect from their own classrooms once Bond 2020 is completed. Images and videos of these model classrooms will be available for viewing.

At each high school venue, the principals of all the schools in that feeder pattern will be on hand to share their campus and program highlights. We have great schools in every neighborhood, and we believe our families will be just as enthusiastic as we are to see and hear for themselves the great things that are happening, despite the pandemic.

These events will be just as safe as our school days, as we continue to follow social distancing and masking protocols. To safely hold these meetings, we are limiting in-person capacity, and therefore, are requiring advance registration. However, we also will livestream the tours and presentations, so that everyone who wants a preview of the campuses will enjoy the opportunity to do so.

The event series will culminate with the District’s annual State of the District address, hosted by the SAISD Foundation and the San Antonio and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, on April 27. The information shared with families throughout the month will also be shared with our community’s business leaders – but we wanted our internal audience to benefit from hearing it first.

In Board news, we have important initiatives coming up at tonight’s meeting as well as next week’s meeting. Tonight, as part of our budget priorities presentation, we will begin a discussion with our Trustees about the initiatives we have planned in support of student recovery. This will include a conversation about the additional intercession days in next year’s instructional calendar.

And next week, we will take to the Board our Living Wage initiative as we continue talks about staff compensation. Six years ago, our minimum hourly wage was $10 an hour, and it became a Board and District priority to increase this compensation. Since then we increased it to $12, then $13 and $13.25, and again to $15 – making us one of the first school districts in the nation to reach this minimum hourly wage. I am proud to report that on April 12, we are recommending another increase to $16 per hour.

I hope you tune in to the virtual Board meetings to hear these discussions, and also to help us recognize several students for some amazing accomplishments.

We will be honoring Sam Houston High School senior Levolea Wallace as SAISD’s first Trinity Tower Scholarship recipient, Bonham Academy second-grader Kingsley Hernandez for his winning entry in the Texas Cavaliers River Parade Art Contest, and three high school students on their successful advancement at the Texas Music Educators Association All-State auditions. These students were Fabien Chavez from Lanier, Emiliano Herrera from Burbank, and Caroline Evangelista from Young Women’s Leadership Academy.

And, of course, this week is National Library Week! Please reach out to a school librarian today and thank them for all that they do for our students.

Sincerely,
Pedro