The first day of school is August 20, just five weeks from today. The activity level on campuses and in extracurricular activities will begin to pick up from here moving forward. For example, cross country teams have started practicing and full band practices will begin next week. Volleyball and football practices will follow at the beginning of August.
This year Belton ISD is projected to grow by 433 students, which would put the District enrollment at 11,963. It is possible that total enrollment could surpass 12,000 by the end of October.
Student registration dates and times, by campus, are on the District's website
HERE along with Open House/Meet the Teacher information. Freshman Focus for both high schools will be held on August 7.
New Teachers Orientation also begins August 7 and will feature a special welcome lunch hosted at South Belton Middle School. All teachers will be back the next day, on August 8. Convocation will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the Bell County Expo.
Pre-K Registration
Students are more successful in school when they have Pre-Kindergarten as a foundation for learning. With that in mind, some additional steps have been taken this year to ensure that qualifying students are registered for Pre-K.
Beginning next week, Pizza & Pre-K Informational events will be held at Leon Heights, Miller Heights, and Southwest Elementary. Then on July 30 & 31 the Belton Early Childhood School will be hosting on-site registration.
Administrative Retreat
The Belton ISD Administrative Retreat will be held August 1-3.
Over the course of the three day retreat, administrators are going to take a unique approach to safety and security using an innovation and design thinking process.
Google is sponsoring the first two days of training. They will be providing facilitators from the O'Briant Group, an Atlanta based firm, to guide discussion on this important topic and teach a process to come up with ideas for school improvement with a focus on District culture and users - parents, students, and community members.
On Day 2, Maureen Molak is a featured guest speaker. Maureen is the mother of David, a young man who committed suicide due to cyberbullying, and whose story resulted in legislation about cyberbullying known as "David's Law."
On Day 3, Alissa Parker will speak during breakfast. Alissa is the mother of Emilie Parker, one of the 20 children who died tragically in the Sandy Hook school shootings in 2012. This presentation is being sponsored by the Central Texas Council of Government's Emergency Services Program, and local peace officers will be joining Belton ISD for the event.
Following Alissa's session, Belton Police Chief Gene Ellis and his staff will provide training to school leaders on the CRASE program - Citizens Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE).
All of the information and activities of the retreat will be connected to the book, "The Power of Moments" and the District's theme for the year, "Creating Moments that Matter."
In addition, the team will be focused on building leadership competencies for design thinking using the ideas from a book called, "Design Thinking for School Leaders: Five Roles and Mindsets that Ignite Positive Change."
This will be a meaningful event for the administrative team and will launch into a great school year focused on meeting the needs of Belton ISD students.