Message from the School Board President:
Dear ,
In this season of giving thanks and coming together, the connections between our schools and this community continue to give us all so much to be grateful for.
I stood in amazement at the large crowd of Belton ISD students and staff huddled together in the freezing rain alongside community members for the annual H-E-B Thanksgiving Food Rally. A tremendous thanks to the sponsors, Belton H-E-B and Belton FFA, for their partnership of over 20 years to hold this food rally to provide holiday meals for local food banks in our area. It was such a sight to see, over 90 teams of Belton ISD students, staff and community members charging into the store at 6 a.m. ready to fill their baskets with food from a printed list of grocery items the fastest.
Congratulations to the winning team from Southwest Elementary who completed their run in under 15 minutes. This is such a wonderful event for our Big Red Community to come together and help organizations like Helping Hands Ministry and Belton Church of Christ who collected the food donations at the race’s conclusion. And a big thank you to Brad Hobbs, Belton High School agriculture teacher and FFA sponsor, who co-organizes this event every year, and always works so hard to make it memorable for our kids, staff and the community.
I’m also thankful to my fellow board members for their dedication and determination throughout the superintendent search process. We all went through a gamut of emotions at the departure of our superintendent this August, but the board was able to come together, stay focused and make the decision to hire Thompson & Horton, LLP, to lead the search for our next leader. With David Thompson and Dr. Mike Moses at the helm, I know the ship is sailing straight, and we’re going to get exactly where we need to be. And a major part of that involves the Big Red Community.
The Board recognizes the role that our community plays in identifying how the next superintendent can continue to lead Belton ISD into the future, building upon our successes and using our strengths. My fellow board members and I are so appreciative to the dozens of residents who participated in focus groups facilitated by Thompson & Horton. We were well represented in the community, and I’m thankful folks had the opportunity to speak their minds candidly. And I also appreciate the more than 150 respondents to our online community survey. To all who participated in these information gathering efforts, please know that your voices have been and will continue to be heard by the Board throughout this superintendent search process.
The next steps in the proposed timeline are: candidate application deadline on December 2; the first round of interviews between January 6-8, 2020; the second round of interviews between January 21-22, 2020; naming of finalist(s) on January 27, 2020; the board considers contract on February 17, 2020; and the new superintendent begins their service in March.
Thank you for your continued support, and I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with joy.
Sincerely,
Suzanne M. McDonald
President, Board of Trustees