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Dear Parents,
Lewisville Independent School District (LISD) is recognized across the state of Texas as a district where all students have limitless opportunities to thrive. From the daily classroom instruction students receive to the countless extra-curricular activities in which students may choose to be involved, LISD is comprised of world-class educators dedicated to the success of each student.
Nearly 54,000 students walk the halls of LISD, each of them with individual talents, hopes and dreams. In LISD, we help every student find a path toward a future they create, and prepare them for life beyond the halls of our schools.
Perhaps the greatest strength of our school district, however, lies in the tremendous support LISD enjoys from the parents of our students, and community members throughout our district. Part of how we evaluate how well our schools live up to the district’s commitment to our students, parents and the communities we serve is based on your feedback to our community engagement survey.
That’s why I’m asking you to participate in a brief survey, which will be available beginning March 14. The survey asks for your thoughts on how well our schools are performing in a number of important topic areas.
Your responses are confidential and anonymous, and your candid feedback is critical to our efforts toward the continuous improvement of the educational environment in LISD.
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey, and for your continued support of our schools.
To take the survey, please visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LISDHB5.
Best Regards,
Kevin Rogers, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Lewisville Independent School District
Why We Conduct This Survey Annually
House Bill 5 (HB 5), passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013, made substantial changes to the state’s curriculum and graduation requirements, assessment program, and accountability system. The community engagement requirement is an opportunity for districts to showcase areas of excellence and success as well as recognize areas in need of improvement and set future goals valued in the community. Survey results will be utilized to calculate Lewisville ISD (LISD)’s HB5 rating and shared with the community at a future LISD Board meeting.
Estimados padres,
El Distrito Escolar Independiente de Lewisville (LISD) es reconocido a través del estado de Texas como un distrito donde todos los estudiantes tienen oportunidades ilimitadas para prosperar. Desde la instrucción diaria del salón de clases, los estudiantes reciben innumerables actividades extra-curriculares en las cuales los estudiantes pueden elegir participar, LISD está compuesto por educadores de clase mundial dedicados al éxito de cada estudiante.
Cerca de 54,000 estudiantes caminan los pasillos de LISD, cada uno de ellos con talentos individuales, esperanzas y sueños. En LISD, ayudamos a cada estudiante a encontrar un camino hacia el futuro que ellos crean y los preparamos para la vida más allá de los pasillos de nuestras escuelas.
Quizás, la fortaleza más grande de nuestro distrito escolar radica realmente en el enorme apoyo que LISD disfruta por parte de los padres de nuestros estudiantes y los miembros de la comunidad a través de nuestro distrito. Parte de como evaluamos cuán bien nuestras escuelas llevan el compromiso del distrito para nuestros estudiantes, los padres y las comunidades que servimos, está basado en sus comentarios en nuestra encuesta de compromiso con la comunidad.
Es por esta razón que les pido participar en una breve encuesta, la cual estará disponible desde el 14 de marzo. La encuesta pregunta cuáles son sus pensamientos sobre cuán bien nuestras escuelas están funcionando en un número de áreas de temas importantes.
Sus respuestas son confidenciales y anónimas, y sus comentarios sinceros son fundamentales para nuestros esfuerzos hacia el continuo mejoramiento del ambiente educativo en LISD.
Gracias por tomar el tiempo para completar esta encuesta y por su continuo apoyo a nuestras escuelas.
Para tomar la encuesta, por favor visite: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LISDHB5.
Atentamente,
Kevin Rogers, Ed.D.
Superintendente de las escuelas
Distrito Independiente Escolar de Lewisville
¿Por qué hacemos esta encuesta anualmente?
El Proyecto de Ley HB 5, aprobado por la Legislatura de Texas en 2013, hizo cambios sustanciales al currículo del estado y a los requisitos de graduación, programas de evaluación y el sistema de responsabilidad educativa. La participación comunitaria es una oportunidad para que los distritos muestren las áreas de excelencia y éxito, así como reconocer las áreas que necesitan mejoras y establecer metas futuras valoradas en la comunidad. Los resultados de la encuesta serán utilizados para calcular el índice del Proyecto de Ley HB5 de Lewisville ISD (LISD) y compartidos con la comunidad en una futura reunión de la Junta de LISD.
PTA Advocates,
Today is momentous for our nation’s students, families, educators, PTAs and schools as President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law. This landmark legislation reauthorizes the long overdue Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind (ESEA/NCLB).
This new law brings much needed improvements to K-12 education, provides greater flexibility to states to meet the needs of all students and acknowledges the essential role of family engagement in student achievement.
We would like to take this time to thank National PTA’s officers, board of directors, past national presidents, state presidents, legislation committee members and federal legislative chairs for their tremendous leadership and advocacy efforts to get us to this historic day.
We also applaud the National PTA Government Affairs staff—Elizabeth Rorick, Jacki Ball, Joshua Westfall and Lindsay Kubatzky—for keeping our membership informed and engaged so we could advocate at critical points throughout this process.
The bipartisan, bicameral passage of this bill and its enactment into law was a long-time coming—and it was essential that PTA get it right. And we have, thanks to all of you.
None of this would have been possible without our past governance and every single member who sent emails, made phone calls, posted on social media and conducted in-person meetings over the last eight years urging a comprehensive, bipartisan reauthorization of ESEA/NCLB with robust family engagement provisions.
We have demonstrated our influence together and the power of our collective voice. This is a success for students, families and PTA. You should be proud of the contributions you made to get this bill signed into law. This is a recognition of our value as stakeholders and key advocates.
The responsibility for implementation and accountability now lies with state and local education authorities. We will continue to call on you to make sure implementation is successful at the state and local levels for our nation’s children. During this next phase, we will be even more reliant on the clear, collective, and most importantly, unique parent voice.
As consumers of our public education system we cannot afford to be complacent in this next step of educational advancement and innovation. We must keep in sharp focus that our primary motivation is to make a difference and speak with a unified voice for every child. Every Child. One Voice.
There are moments when we need to stop and celebrate and this is one of them. Congratulations and thank you for all your advocacy efforts!
We look forward to working with all of you as we continue to use our collective voice and maximize our impact in service to our nation’s students and families.
Sincerely,
| Laura Bay President National PTA |
Nathan R. Monell, CAE Executive Director National PTA |
vote on saturday
it’s your right & duty
Vouchers Bills To Be Voted On In Senate Education Committee Tuesday, April 7
Write Your Senator or Call Your Senator
and Oppose Senate Bills 4, 276 and 642
BACKGROUND: Voucher bills have been debated in Texas since the mid ’90s. Texas PTA supports educational choices within public schools, while opposing voucher systems, tuition credits, and taxpayer savings grants for nonpublic school tuition and other education-related expenses.
Voucher programs use public money to fund private schools that are not accountable to taxpayers, nor are they required to teach the state’s curriculum or participate in the state’s assessment program.
School choice already exists in Texas, with transfers from one public school to another, magnet schools, and charter schools. Texas PTA supports expansion of public school choice.
SB 4 by Sen. Larry Taylor – would create Education Tuition Grants administered by TEA Commissioner. Grants are awarded to be used to pay the costs of attending private school. Grants will pay tuition costs at private school in an amount that is the lesser of tuition paid or 75% of state ADA per student. A participating private school could not be required to comply with any state law or rule regarding the school’s educational program. A taxable entity could apply for a franchise tax credit for money contributed.
SB 276 by Campbell – creates a “taxpayer savings grant program” that would reimburse a parent or legal guardian for all or part of the cost of private school tuition for their student. 60% of state ADA per student is granted. Businesses contributing to the program receive a tax credit.
SB 642 by Bettencourt – would allow a business to receive a tax credit for contributions to that would be used to partially fund the cost of private school tuition for eligible students. The bill would establish a maximum scholarship amount an organization could award a student using money contributed by an entity that receives a tax credit in return.
We urge you to write your senator or call you senator to oppose these bills that would take needed taxpayer dollars away from public schools and send them to private schools that are unaccountable to the state.
Here are the nominees for the 2015-2016 Marcus HS PSTA board. The election will take place on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 @ 9:30a at the final Membership Meeting of the year. You may run from the floor if you are interested in any of these positions. Big thanks to the nominating committee (Melanie, Andrea, & Gina)!
- President – Lorna Gibson
- VP 1 – Ways & Means – open (update 3/25)
- VP 2 – Membership – Kelly Thien
- VP 3 – Publicity – open
- Secretary – Andrea Dickson
- Treasurer – Monika Brink
Election: Tuesday, April 21, 2015 @ 9:30a in Marcus 9 Library Classroom (9209)
Alert: Call Your Senator and Urge Him or Her to Support SB 149!
SB 149 by Sen. Kel Seliger is a critical bill that was the sole focus of the Senate Education Committee hearing on Thursday, February 19.
It is urgent that this bill pass as soon as possible in order to benefit the students in the class of 2015 who have passed all of their courses but failed one or more EOC exams. SB 149 would allow school districts and charter schools to create individual graduation committees for students to determine whether a student qualifies to graduate despite failing to pass one or more EOCs.
SB 149 would allow school districts and charter schools to create individual graduation committees for students to determine whether a student qualifies to graduate despite failing to pass one or more EOCs. The committee is modeled after Grade Placement Committees in grades 5 and 8.
For this Action Alert – call your State Senator!
This great country has the privilege of choosing our representatives. Do your civic duty and vote!
Learn more about the September 30th gubernatorial debate from this recap.
The debate included questions on Standardized Testing & Education Funding.
Tonight
Why watch? Learn about the candidates – who they are – what they stand for. What do they think of testing? How about public school funding?
The one-hour live debate is a co-production with NBC 5/KXAS-TV, Telemundo 39/KXTX-TV, and The Dallas Morning News. It will be broadcast on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. CT on television, radio and online.
Learn more about the debate. It is critical that we educate ourselves on what’s important to us and vote.
TEXAS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
RON SIMMONS – DISTRICT 65
Education Town Hall
When: Monday, September 15, 2014 from 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Where: MCL Grand Theater (100 N. Charles St. Lewisville, TX 75057)
Featured Panelists
Dr. Stephen Waddell, Superintendent of Lewisville ISD
Dr. Bobby Burns. Superintendent of Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD
Dr. Paula Walker, Executive Director of Special Education for Lewisville ISD
Dr. Larry Taylor, Head of School of Prestonwood Christian Academy
Jeremy Newman, Director of Public Policy for Texas Home School Coalition
Kyle Queal, Vice President of Academics at Responsive Education Solutions
This event is open to the public – doors open at 6:00 PM. Light refreshments will be
provided. RSVP’s and questions for the speaker panel are requested at Ebony.Daughtry@house.state.tx.us or by calling (972) 492-2080.
Hosted by the Office of State Representative Ron Simmons, this town hall meeting will include a panel of experts on education issues who will answer questions submitted by the audience.
