Welcome back to another great school year in Humble ISD. We have been very busy this summer working on construction projects like the new, exciting North Bend Elementary School and hiring fantastic family members, I mean staff members. I am so proud of the incredible, quality folks who are excited to be part of Humble ISD!
This is going to be a great year because we have attracted and retained so many wonderful staff members. I know that high quality staff is the difference. There is nothing more important to our students and our community. This is why even when the legislature did not provide significant increases before we were required to set our FY 2024 budget (despite having a $30 billion surplus) we moved forward with a 3% increase for all staff, and fought
to remain a pay leader for teachers in our state and in the Houston area. This is also why we have our own self-funded insurance program that provides high quality health insurance and free clinics at some of the lowest premiums anywhere. We aspire to attract and retain the most intelligent, creative, hardworking, and student-centered staff anywhere, and we know that offering them excellent compensation, professional development, and respecting their expertise are key to our success.
This summer about 85 of our middle and high school teachers were introduced to Prisms. Our hope was that 36 of these teachers would be willing to pilot the use of Prisms virtual reality to help students deeply understand and use mathematical and scientific concepts. It is not often that I preview new instructional materials and am truly impressed. I literally cannot remember the last time. However, Prisms is different! After visiting with Anurupa Ganguly, an MIT graduate
who founded Prisms, and seeing Prisms for myself, I believe Prisms will create the possibility that students can learn important concepts deeply via firsthand experiences and teachers will be able to coach them as they work their way through real world problems using important mathematical and scientific concepts. It is really incredible.
So like I mentioned, we were hoping for 36 teachers across the district to pilot Prisms with their
students and after spending a day with Anurupa and Prisms, our teachers were impacted just like me! All of them wanted to be part of the pilot. They were searching for grants just in case they were not picked for the 36 spots. The enthusiasm was incredible! After reading all of the applications for the 36 spots, our Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Ann Johnson, called me and explained that she wanted to add more spots to the pilot and I was thrilled to agree. Too often teachers have to fundraise and write grants to do innovative and engaging learning strategies with students. In Humble ISD, we are committed to supporting innovative teachers who know their students well and desire to implement modern, best practices. Our Education Foundation awards over $324,000 in innovative teacher grants every year and we are happy to add items like this to our annual budget in support of our students and staff. Humble ISD offers instructional opportunities and learning environments that I have never seen anywhere else, and I am very proud of the work our teachers, instructional coaches, and many others are doing.
We also know that safety is top of mind for all students, staff, families, and our community. If we desire to attract and retain the best staff, they need to feel safe, and while we don’t discuss a lot of what we are doing in school safety, I want you to know that we continue to improve every single year. For example, this year we are adding more police officers who will be dedicated to our elementary schools. They will also support evening events and our address affidavit process. We are also adding flock cameras to some of our campuses. These cameras will let
our police department know if someone has entered our campus who is wanted or has a stolen vehicle or similar alert. Our police department is innovative too – teaching teachers how to use ballistic shields and being certified in mental health are just two of many examples of how they are setting the bar, just like our teachers.
Finally, I hope you have seen some of our new playgrounds and obstacle courses. We know that Humble ISD is an integral part of the local economy. We know that we have a huge impact on home values and attracting people to our community who frequent our local businesses. We also know that time spent together with those we love and exercise, fresh air, and sunshine are good for our physical and mental health and happiness. This is why we are in the process of adding playgrounds and obstacle courses to all of our elementary, middle, and high schools. We want to be part of creating and maintaining community assets that raise the value of your home, provide students and families with healthy and happy places to spend free time, and maintain the family-like atmosphere of our once little and not big community.
We are excited for you and your family to explore all that Humble ISD has to offer.