John Kelly, Ph. D.

When attending the BHS play “The Titanic Musical” on a recent Saturday, I was astonished and almost overcome by the talent of our student actors/musicians – as well as the power of the actual music and dialogue.  It was hard for me to imagine a school that had a higher level of talent or accomplishment than what I saw.  And somewhat uniquely, we had three of our own teachers acting and singing in the play!  And our student orchestra was conducted by one of our students!  All of it speaks to the power of teachers (K-12) to bring greatness out of willing students.  Beth Tilton is our high school theatre arts teacher and is hailed as an outstanding asset to BHS.   Yet this is just one glimpse at the marvelous things our people do for our students.   Most hard work is behind the scenes and not on a stage for all to see. 

Just before writing this column, I had the pleasure of traveling to Mr. Paul Yoder’s high school class to present him an award as the 2006/07 Boerne ISD Teacher of the Year.  It so happened that we walked into his student council classroom.  As soon as the students realized why we were there, they burst into spontaneous applause and joyful expressions of excitement.  In addition to this man’s accomplishments as an English teacher, his recognition by his fellow teachers as the campus teacher of the year, and his work as a sponsor of the BHS Student Council, he was one of the singing and acting leads in the play I described above!  

On a more mundane level, I’d like to share some information on various issues in Boerne ISD: 

1.  Testing:  I hope you will join me in expressing concern with regard to legislators now touting the replacement of TAKS testing with end-of-course exams.  I am not opposed to end of course exams per say.  The main problem is this: When Texas adds or revises a test, they spend years in “field testing” possible future questions and formats thereby placing an added testing burden on our schools.  Texas is already over-testing its students – and a conversion to a new system would likely require that we maintain all of our current TAKS testing plus administer new batteries of field testing.  If you agree, please help get the word out to our representatives that any change in the testing requirements should lessen, not increase the current number of tests given to Texas children over the next few years. 

2.  Teacher salaries:  After the State and the school board combined to give teachers the largest raise in BISD history  (averaging 11 percent) – and one that is the second highest raise in the San Antonio area, BISD is more competitive with regard to teacher salaries.  I just received a report indicating that BISD now matches the average Texas teacher salary in 2006/07.  Yet our salaries do not match the larger, or richer, school districts in San Antonio – with whom we compete for teaching talent.  Teacher salaries are the single largest expenditure in school district budgets - each $1,000 raise requires $500,000 in BISD new funds. But there is no more important predictor of a child’s success than the excellence of the classroom teacher.   Future teacher salaries depend on the following intertwined variables:  state legislative action, property value increases, Robin Hood payments, and growth in student enrollment. 

3.  Bus purchases:  At the February board meeting, we’ll recommend the district purchase a number of additional buses.  Although our enrollment increase this year was less than 3 percent, the percentage of students who ride the buses has increased dramatically this year.  It’s difficult to predict next year’s number of bus riders but houses continue to spring up around Boerne and we already need additional buses now.  Our new bus routing system picks up elementary and secondary students on separate runs thereby decreasing the overall number of buses needed.  We did not predict that the change would also spark more total bus riders than ever before but since bus travel is the safest way of getting students to and from school we’re not complaining.  A recent bus/auto accident underscored this important point. 

4.  Construction:  We remain ahead of schedule and on budget as we build the new Champion High School.   The overall design for the renovation of the current high school has made several cycles through committees and will be presented to the Board in February. 

5.  School calendar:  I haven’t yet heard from TEA but am confident they will approve our waiver request in which we ask not to make up the third instructional day missed during the recent ice age.  We’ve been getting out the word that we do indeed have school on Feb. 9 and April 27 – and not on Memorial Day, or May 28.   A citizen and teacher committee of 40-plus people is now working on next year’s calendar.   According to new state law, school may not begin any earlier than August 27, 2007.  

These more mundane issues of testing, salaries, buses, facilities, and school calendars combine with many other factors to help our teachers, staff, and students shine on life’s stage!