Ector County ISD was at the human capital table once more Wednesday in Austin as Pease Elementary School teacher Sonia Martin testified before the House.
During his media call Wednesday, Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri said Martin, a first-grade bilingual teacher, was invited by the House to testify on behalf of educators in ECISD and across the state.
Other teachers from ECISD have testified and executives have gone before the legislature armed with recommendations to attract, recruit and retain teachers.
“She is literally at this moment delivering testimony talking about the importance in our state legislature of investing in teachers across the state, talking about the human capital work that we do within Ector County ISD. She’s sharing her personal story of how she became a teacher and then hoping to influence our state legislature to invest more deeply, more heavily, more effectively in teachers across the state of Texas,” Muri said.
The district has also scheduled its annual Leadership University next week.
Muri said it is a time when all leaders, directors, principals assistant superintendents and executive directors from all over the district gather together.
They will spend three days developing their leadership skills and talking about the preparations they are making for the ’23-24 school year.
Registration for the ’23-24 school year starts July 19.
“We have a brand new system for all of our parents to access and we’re excited to do that. This system will make school registration for both returning families and new families much easier and so parents should be able to do all of this in the palm of your hand. Literally, your cell phone will be the primary mechanism that you can use to register and enroll your children. You may also visit any one of the 45 schools in ECISD to register your children,” Muri said.
Everyone is encouraged to register as soon as they can so the district can make “appropriate arrangements” and ensure that teachers are in place for the first day of school.
The district conducted some early registration with prekindergarten students and got a “healthy number” of 3- and 4-year-old families.
“Already we’ve seen that in the spring,” Muri said. “That will continue on July 19. We have waiting lists at many of our pre-k campuses. Our goal is to make sure that every single pre-k child has a seat, regardless of where they happen to be located so very happy with our pre-k numbers right now.”
He added that the YMCA provides pre-k instruction in partnership with ECISD to 3-year-old students.
“This summer, they have expanded their program so they can actually hold more students. We’re excited about that. We needed more room for 3-year-old kids and the YMCA has stepped up and is accommodating those needs,” Muri said.
Families can enroll their 3-year-olds at the YMCA and 3- and 4-year-olds throughout ECISD.
A couple of controversies popped up regarding truancy court and Teen Court.
For truancy, money was going to city attorney office rather than the municipal court.
“All that I know is it was brought to our attention by the city attorney’s office,” Muri said. “The city attorney had some concerns on the city side once we sent dollars to the city as to where those dollars were being allocated. … The city put a pause on receiving any more money from ECISD until the city really figures out how to appropriately support the truancy court.”
“I was unaware of what the city council decided last night, but I was aware that there were some concerns about how the city was using these funds.
“We were made aware by the city attorney that there was a concern, so our legal team has worked with the city. But, again, it’s up to the city to address the issue so we paused our payments until the city has addressed that issue. That’s really at the guidance of the city. They need to correct whatever the error happens to be, and then when the error is corrected … we can talk about what the next steps are,” Muri said.
There have been allegations from the Odessa Accountability project about Teen Court Coordinator Rebecca Grisham. There was a meeting of the board Wednesday at the ECISD Police Department, but media was not allowed to attend.
Muri met Wednesday with ECISD Board member Tammy Hawkins. He said they have scheduled a 6 p.m. July 24 workshop about the bond.
“That will be the first time that the board among themselves talks about the bond referendum. The board on or before Aug. 21 must decide whether to call an election and so that decision is purely up to the board members … That dialogue will begin on the 24th of July and it will continue into August,” Muri said.
Trustees will have two meetings in August.
Muri said the information campaign won’t start unless or until the board calls an election for November 2023.
