The Supt Dish
Dave Plymale, Superintendent
As
summer comes to a close, we prepare to open another school year, excited to
welcome our staff and students. All
staff will be back on August 9th when we have our Rally Day to
celebrate the start of 2017-18 while students return on August 16th.
As
many of you know, one of my hobbies is golf. My father introduced me to the
game when I was 9 years old. Probably no comparison between golf and life is
more appropriate than the idea that it is necessary to persevere under trial.
If
you have played golf for any length of time, you know trouble is just one
stroke away. It could be your fault or it could be a bad break. On the
"your fault" side, it could be a tee shot hit out of bounds, a bad
iron shot from a perfect distance, or a missed three-foot putt. On the
"bad break" side, it could be your ball landing in a divot, a perfect
3-wood plugging in the soggy fringe, or a 10-foot putt hitting a spike mark and
just missing the hole. Some days are tougher than others.
Jordan
Spieth's victorious Sunday performance in The Open Championship recently
was the perfect example of persevering under trials. Spieth produced a flurry
of excellence after yet another bad shot threatened to undo him on the
thirteenth hole. With our legislature in a special session this summer, we are
enduring what may or may not happen with our elected officials in the Senate
and House. However, we, too, will persevere.
GISD
had two school district trustees go to Austin July 24th meeting with
Senator Kolkhorst, Representative Morrison, and Marian Wallace, Education
Policy Advisor for Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Our trustees, Brandon Huber and Destry Gruetzmacher, represented GISD
well in telling our story and what the legislature needs to do to ease our
local taxpayers burden with funding issues of our public schools. We are also
very proud of our retired teachers and staff members that attended a rally for
public education at the Capitol July 17th.
With
12 days left in the Special Session, we are “on the back 9 with very few holes
left to play”. We need to, and our legislature needs to
finish as Jordan Spieth did at The Open.
You can help by contacting our legislators and let them know that we want
a school finance solution and until there is one, we need some relief with the
loss of ASATR. Some of our neighboring school districts need relief with the
elimination of the small school penalty. And our retired teachers need relief
with their health insurance and retirement.
Regardless
of what happens over the next 12 days at the Capitol, we will welcome our
students with smiling faces, excited to begin the school year. We will continue
to provide our students with quality and engaging lessons, preparing them for
life’s challenges. For I know our teachers and staff have the perseverance to
meet any challenge just as Jordan Spieth did!
Contact
Information:
Marian
Wallace, Lt. Dan Patrick’s Education Policy Advisor, marian.wallace@ltgov.texas.gov (512) 463-6054
MacGregor
Stephenson, Chief of Staff for Representative Geanie Morrison, MacGregor.Stephenson@house.texas.gov (512) 463-0456
Ben
Barkley, Education Policy Advisor for Senator Lois Kolkhorst, Benjamin.Barkley@senate.texas.gov (512) 463-0118
