CISD Recognizes Elementary Academic UIL Participants

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The Crockett Independent School District Board of Trustees met in a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Jan. 23 and the conclave was highlighted by the recognition of the Crockett Elementary District Academic UIL Champions.

After the meeting was called to order by Board President Lela Wheeler, CISD Superintendent Terry Myers informed the board and audience members they were present to celebrate something that had not been accomplished in a very long time.

“A group of Crockett Elementary UIL students have won the UIL academic competition. Not only did we win with the elementary, we also won with the junior high. I believe that is the third year in a row we have won the junior high,” the superintendent said.

Myers extended his congratulations to the students and stressed his belief that CISD students worked just as hard, were just as smart and were just as deserving of a quality education as any other group of students in the nation.

After he concluded his remarks, Myers turned the recognition part of the meeting over to Rachel Gallaway, the elementary school’s RTI/Solutions Coordinator and UIL Elementary Coordinator.

“I would like to thank Mr. Myers and the school board members for making this possible. There is a lot that goes into this. This journey began in September when we started practicing. The kids put in a lot of hour practicing before school, during school and after school,” she said.

Gallaway said the district competition was held on Nov. 30 and Dec. 2 and showcased the students’ talent with competitive entries in: art; music memory; social studies; listening; number sense; dictionary; chess; maps, graphs and charts; writing; spelling; and oral reading.

“I am very proud of them,” Gallaway said. “We walked away from there with 10 first-place team plaques, seven second-place team awards and three third-place team awards. In addition to that, we have 15 first-place individual medals. I am very proud of them.”

She added the students picked up: nine individual second-place medals; 13 third-place individual medals; 11 fourth-individual medals; 10 fifth-place individual medals and nine sixth-place individual medals.

“Not only did they showcase their talents – y’all would have been so proud of them – they were also the best dressed and very well behaved. I am proud to present to you the 2016-2017 UIL Academic District Champions,” she said.

Following the recognition of the various UIL coaches and UIL award winners, Gallaway turned the floor back to Myers who moved the meeting into the actionable item portion of the agenda.

Following the approval of several items, the board retired into executive session to deliberate the superintendent’s evaluation and contract.

When the trustees emerged from behind closed doors, approximately 90 minutes later, Board Vice President Trey Young made a motion to extend Myers’ contract through the 2019-2020 school year with a four percent salary increase.

Once the motion was seconded, Young remarked on the CISD superintendent’s tenure in the district.

“I would like to say, we – as a board – really do appreciate Mr. Myers and the job he is doing. I know that it has made our jobs as board members very enjoyable compared to what we have had,” Young said. “On the financial end of it, we are at a point where we feel we can reward him financially, just as we did for the entire district last year.”

The motion passed unanimously.

Prior to the executive session, the superintendent asked the trustees to consider issues relating to the May 6 election. The trustees gave their approval to the election order and to a joint agreement with the City of Crockett. The two CISD board positions up for election in May are in Districts Two and Five.

Once the election matters had been disposed of, an agenda item pertaining to changes to the CISD motto and district goals was brought forward.

The CISD motto, established in December of 2012 had been “Your future starts here.” On Monday evening, it was changed to “Every child – every time.”

The district goals, also established in the 2012-2013 school year, were:

• Challenge and encourage all students to meet the minimum score for satisfactory performance on state assessments.
• Provide resources to assure the success of all population groups.
• Plan for recruitment, retention and training of highly qualified teachers and paraprofessionals.
• Maintain a safe and drug free environment.
• Provide opportunities for parent and community involvement.

The district goals approved in the 2016-2017 school year now state:

• Challenge and encourage all students to excel academically.
• Provide resources to assure the success of all population groups.
• Plan for recruitment, retention and training of highly qualified administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals and other staff.
• Maintain a safe and drug free environment.
• Provide opportunities for parent and community involvement.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].