By Nathan Straus
nstraus@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Jacksonville Independent School District officials had plenty to be thankful for Monday as they learned the district ranks above both the state and the region for highly qualified teachers. The information came as part of the afternoon’s District Education Improvement Council.
Tina Stewart, the district’s director of state and federal programs, said JISD now has a 100 percent highly qualified teacher rate, which is above the state’s average of 99.19 percent and the region’s average of 98.61 percent.
“You can’t get any better than that,” she said of the JISD rate.
According to Stewart, the news means every one of the teachers is fully certified and has met all requirements. It was also revealed during the meeting the school has made its district and campus plans available on the school’s Web site at www.jisd.org.
Five campuses awarded gold performance acknowledgments from the Texas Education Agency were honored once more during the meeting. Those honored were Jacksonville Middle School, West Side Elementary, East Side Elementary, Joe Wright Elementary and Nichols Intermediate School.
Before closing the council, the school’s calendar committee was formed. The names of those in the committee were not released, but Stewart said there is a representative from each campus in the committee, as well as a parent and community representative.
“We will meet several times over the next month to month and a half,” Stewart said.
She expects to release a calendar soon.
District goals for JISD were also discussed. These include:
• JISD will have an Exemplary rating by 2012.
• JISD will have 100 percent of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers and 100 percent highly qualified staff will be maintained.
• The district will meet the needs of all students by providing a safe, orderly, drug-free environment.
• Prepare students for life beyond high school, meet No Child Left Behind standards and strive for Exemplary district rating in the Texas Accountability System by annually improving student achievement and other indicators on each campus.
• The educational needs of students will be met by strengthening parent involvement on all JISD campuses.
