Liberty ISD adopts improvement plan, FLB makes contribution
First Liberty Bank makes a $100,000 donation toward a new baseball/ softball indoor practice facility. The Vindicator | Geovanni DeHoyos
First Liberty Bank donated $10,000 for a new welding pavilion at Liberty High School. The Vindicator | Geovanni DeHoyos
LIBERTY - With population growth in Liberty ISD comes concerns about whether the district can efficiently have an environment where the students can thrive. The board of trustees addressed these concerns by adopting their annual District Improvement Plan.
A committee of citizens was formed to collaborate with the school board to address the district’s needs, allowing its students to progress in their studies efficiently.
“It’s a road map from point A to point B,” said Liberty ISD Superintendent Dusty McGee. “Any piece of funding, anything we spend, should be connected to something in the District Improvement plan.”
Each district in the state must submit a plan each year with priorities for education within the school system.
The committee believes that students born speaking another language need more help to access their full potential in their education. Plans to streamline education is to invest in English Second Language ( ESL) teachers in secondary schools.
The committ ee wants to establish an honor society to increase participation in the district’s fi ne arts programs.
“ Recognition usually brings more participation,” said McGee, “ so the more we can recognize and celebrate, maybe we can increase membership at the lower levels.”
Even with the honor society addition, the board states that growth wouldn’t be seen till years aft er implementation.
The boa rd al so stressed adding college and career options and new district electives. The district already provides dual credit classes and is open to the idea of becoming or creating an early college high school.
“ We will continue our efforts promoting Lee College,” stated McGee, “and making sure students are aware they can take those college classes early.”
New electives, such as coding, language classes, and entrepreneurship, have been added to the district. These new electives will help distribute students to avoid large classes.
The well- being and health of special needs students were addressed, and the board announced they would provide a team of specialists to help support the teachers within those classes.
The board suggests that the district should make some changes to some of the testing across the district to ensure better testing across the board from grades Pre K- 12.
In other business, the board accepted two generous donations from First Liberty Bank towards constructing an indoor softball-baseball training facility and a welding pavilion. The separate contributions total $110,000 and guarantee naming rights to go towards FLB for both the welding and sports facility.
A lso, dur ing the board meeting, it was announced that the Chief Financial Officer, Ginger Ramer, was stepping down, and her role will be temporarily attended to by the district Superintendent, Dusty McGee.