April 22nd

The Supt Dish           

                                                              April 22, 2016

Springtime is my favorite season of the year. Flowers begin to bloom, birds are chirping, the lawn is green, and the weather is very comfortable. It is also a time when I usually tune in to the Masters’ Golf Tournament held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Even if you are not a golf enthusiast, you may want to watch this tournament just to view the beauty of the course with the dogwoods, magnolias and azaleas in full bloom.

Going in to this year’s tournament, Jordan Spieth, a native Texan, was the defending champion. As I watched the tournament, Jordan led the first three days and through the first nine holes on the last day. Leading by five strokes with nine holes to play, Jordan had a major collapse playing through the legendary “Amen Corner” including hitting his ball in the water twice on one hole. One had to feel sorry to see such a nice young man suffer through an embarrassing four-hole stretch with the world watching. When asked by a reporter what happened, Jordan replied “it hurt.”

I use this illustration because in our business as educators, we witness many times a student “hurts” when they are not successful. Sometimes a student hurts after an extra-curricular activity when they do not perform successfully. Sometimes a student “hurts” when they thought they did well on a test, but did not. When we see the hurt in these students, we are in a position to work with them so they can perform better the next time they compete or take an exam. The relationships we form with students have a tremendous impact on our students.

Jordan Spieth fell on that Sunday afternoon at Augusta National. Like all professional athletes, he surrounds himself with good people, family and friends, who will assist him in “bouncing back”.  He relies on those close to him to encourage and support him in his quest to be the best. Our students rely on us to continue to teach, mentor, and support them in their quest for knowledge and to be the best. Through your relationships, our students can “bounce back” quickly after facing adversity.

We are having a great year at Goliad ISD. With GHS currently in 2^nd place for the UIL’s prestigious Lone Star Cup, our students continue to perform at a high level. Our One Act Play has advanced to State! Danielle Garza is advancing to State in tennis for the second consecutive year! We have several students and teams advancing in district and area competition. Our students continue to benefit from your leadership and mentoring. May the spring continue to bring memorable experiences for all. 

April 1, 2016

The Supt Dish                 

                                                                    April 1, 2016

It is a busy time of the year this spring as it is every spring. Students and staff are involved in several extra-curricular activities from track, baseball, softball, tennis, and golf to FFA, One Act Play, UIL Academics and upcoming field trips. We are very proud of how our students are performing at these activities. This is also the time of year in which we begin administering state assessments.

I would like to commend students and staff for their perseverance during the recent STAAR and EOC exams this week. In particular, our students and teachers who were involved with the English I EOC administered on Tuesday. These students and teachers experienced several technology glitches in which the students lost all their answers, some more than once. This was very frustrating and I commend you for your perseverance.

I was quite pleased to see our new commissioner of education, Mike Morath, respond to what was a state-wide problem through the new assessment vendor, Educational Testing Service (ETS). Commissioner Morath, who is a former Dallas ISD school board member, stated that these technical issues where “unacceptable and undermine the hard work of our students and teachers.”  I commend the commissioner for his quick response. Whatever the problem was, we are glad that our students taking the EOC English II exam did not experience many “glitches.”

As we continue to move forward and plan for next year, we have several professional development activities that some of our administrators will be attending in the next several weeks. These include “Digital Learning Design-Transforming Our Schools” with Alan November and “Embracing Transformational Leadership.” Our leadership team looks forward to bringing back several strategies to assist in 2016-17.

Thank you students and staff for working tirelessly in the pursuit of excellence. You continue to overcome daily challenges through teamwork and a willingness to succeed. Educator Angela Maiers (AngelaMaiers.com) once said, “When we dwell in possibility, we help others to do the same. This helps them dream, hope, and plan for a brighter future.”