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Board Begins to Explore "District of Innovation" Designation
At this month's school board meeting, trustees adopted a resolution to explore the option of designating Belton ISD as a "district of innovation." Created during the 2015 legislative session, the designation provides a process for school districts to seek exemptions from certain sections of the Texas Education Code.
While Belton ISD is just beginning to explore the additional flexibility that could result from being designated as a district of innovation, other school districts have already used the process to address their school start date, instruction time, site-based decision making, and more. In general, districts of innovation have greater freedom to exercise local control in the decision-making process.
The district of innovation designation was introduced to Belton ISD's Districtwide Educational Educational Improvement Council earlier this week. The next step in exploring the designation will be a public hearing at the school board meeting on October 17. If the board decides to move forward with the process, at that meeting, they will also appoint a committee to develop an innovation plan.
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National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association All-American
For the second consecutive year, Belton High School (BHS) student athlete Noah Henry has been selected by NISCA for their All America list of 100-meter backstroke swimmers. Henry is one of just three student athletes from BHS to ever be recognized as an all-American, and he is the first to receive the honor in multiple years.
Selection for the NISCA All America list is based on time standards, and coaches submit swimmers whose times are better than the standard. The swimmers with the top 100 times in each event make the list. In 2015-2016, Henry had the 34th fastest time in the 100-meter backstroke and the second fastest time among sophomores.
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School Nutrition Department Receives Fuel Up to Play 60 Grant
Trustees recognized the school nutrition department for being the recipient of a $5,000 Fuel Up to Play 60 grant from Dairy Max. The grant, which was awarded through a competitive process, was used to purchase custom designed coolers for the food truck, which will keep milk cold for meal service.
This is the second grant that the school nutrition department has received for the food truck. The Belton Educational Enrichment Foundation also made a contribution in support of the food truck.
District officials have pointed to the food truck as an economical way to add an additional serving line at secondary campuses. They also anticipate that the truck will increase the number of students opting for the school lunch instead of bringing one.
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Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) National Training Seminar Student Summit
The BHS Student to Student (S2S) team was one of just 17 nationwide to be selected to participate in a student summit, which was held in conjunction with MCEC's National Training Seminar in June. The summit took place in Washington, DC, and attendees learned about ways to promote college, career, and life readiness skills on their campuses.
The teams were selected through a competitive process which included preparing a 60-second video clip illustrating how their campus promotes college and career readiness. A point system tracked each team's participation in social media challenges, newsletter updates, active communication with MCEC, program survey completion, sustainment webinar participation, and Month of the Military Child event planning.
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Superintendent's Report
Enrollment Update
As of September 15, there were 11,092 students enrolled in Belton ISD. That includes
5,297 elementary students,
2,554 middle schools students and
3,241 high school students.
A first look at the district's demographics shows a few small changes from last school year: a decrease in the percentage of English Learners (6.4% compared to 7.2% last year), an increase in the percentage of economically disadvantaged students (48.2% compared to 46% last year), and a slight increase in the percentage of military-connected students (7.9% compared to 7.6% last year).
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Collaboration
The District Improvement Plan includes a commitment to creating inclusive learning environments for all students. As a part of that commitment, the district has partnered with the ADL, and earlier this month, approximately 100 administrators, instructional coaches and counselors participated in the ADL "World of Difference" Institute.
In addition, elementary principals had the opportunity to hear an overview of the "No Place for Hate" program and to learn how they can receive the designation for their campus.
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