It wasn’t her birthday, but ECISD Executive Director of Talent Development Ashley Osborne got a special surprise Thursday with the delivery of an American flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol.
Osborne said it was spurred by the Talent Development team that she leads at ECISD who asked U.S. Rep. August Pfluger’s office for the recognition.
“… My team actually reached out to Mr. Pfluger’s office. It’s my understanding that they have to request a flag be flown and give justification for why this person would deserve to have a flag flown over the Capitol, so I guess Mr. Pfluger’s office reviews those requests and he makes the request to either the state or the U.S. Capitol,” Osborne said.
“It was my understanding that initially my team was pursuing having the flag flown over the Texas Capitol and then Mr. Pfluger actually had a U.S. flag flown over the Capitol on my behalf. So whenever they presented it to me yesterday (Dec. 15), I was in complete shock. I was not expecting that at all. … I was just so honored and thrilled and grateful to my team for believing that” she deserved to have a flag flown in her honor, Osborne said.
After the photos of her with the flag were posted on Twitter, Pfluger commented on one of the tweets to thank Osborne for her service at ECISD.
“So I thought that was pretty special as well,” Osborne said.
She received two certificates, one from Pfluger’s office and one from the Architect of the Capitol that certifies that the flag was flown on Osborne’s behalf above the U.S. Capitol.
In part, the certificate from the Architect of the Capitol says, “Her dedication to students and teachers in public schools is remarkable and deserves recognition. ECISD’s Talent Development is proud of her appointment to TEA’s Teacher Vacancy Task Force.”
The flag came through the U.S. Postal Service.
“… It wasn’t folded properly and my team, they put a lot of work into it and so like I said, they just made me feel really special because they watched YouTube videos and made sure the flag was well taken care of and folded properly into the case that it’s in now and then had the certificates framed for me as well,” Osborne said.
In a text message, Pfluger talked about the importance of educators’ impact on the lives of students.
“As a father to three girls, I can personally speak to the influence that teachers and educators have on the lives of our youth. Ashley Osborne has demonstrated incredible service to our children, community, and the entire State of Texas. Her appointment to the Texas Education Agency Task Force is a testament to her leadership and impact,” Pfluger said in a text message.
She added that she’s gratified that her team thought enough of her as their leader to do this.
There are 15 people on the Talent Development team, including herself.
“The Talent Development Department is part of the Human Capital Division and Human Resources is the other arm of the Human Capital Division. I will say, too, our Human Capital work here in ECISD has been receiving recognition in the state, as well as the nation, because we’re thinking differently about how we recruit, grow, develop and retain staff. We’re helping to inform some of the recommendations coming from the state. I sit on the Teacher Vacancy Task Force and I am a co-lead for the Talent Pipeline Working Group,” she said.
Recommendations from the Teacher Vacancy Task Force will be released in February.
“Those recommendations will inform policymaking. It will inform the legislature. It will inform our own state agency. It will inform the State Board of Educator Certification, districts, campuses and so the recommendations coming out of the Teacher Vacancy Task Force will really address all levels to help mitigate the challenges that we’re currently seeing in teacher vacancies and teacher retention,” Osborne said.
She noted that Superintendent Scott Muri was recently named vice chairman of SBEC.
“… A lot of that is due to the work that we’ve done here in ECISD and that we’ve been fortunate enough to try innovative approaches to developing our talent,” Osborne said.
In 2019, she said, 18 percent of ECISD’s teaching positions were vacant.
“… We really didn’t have a choice but to innovate because if we remained the same and operated in the same fashion, we were going to continue to get those same results. And our kids deserve better. It’s been a journey, but it’s been a lot of fun. We believe we’re making a difference for the kids of ECISD, and now with informing some of the state-level work, we’re hoping to be able to inform and benefit the kids of the state of Texas,” Osborne said.
