DISTRICT EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL

Minutes

March 26, 2024

Kevyn Austin, DEIC Co-Chair of the District Education Improvement Council (DEIC) called the meeting to order at 4:15 p.m. and welcomed everyone. She briefly went over the agenda that will be discussed.

Dr. Melissa Desimone, Executive Director for Research, Assessment & Accountability  presented the Northwest ISD 2022-2023 Texas Academic Performance Report. The TAPR is PIEMS and student assessment data compiled by TEA for each school district.  It includes a range of information such as student performance and demographics, school and district staff, and district program data.  STAAR performance is heavily featured in the TAPR.  A higher percentage of students scored Approaches level or higher than the state and Region 11 on all content areas for the 2022-2023 school year.  NISD outperformed the state and Region 11 in growth comparing the new 2023 STAAR to the former 2022 STAAR.  NISD Bilingual/EB Students are outperforming Region 11. The TAPR also highlights CCMR performance.  This report is a great resource for last year's enrollment and staffing demographics.  The freshman class of 2023 was NISD's largest grade level.  NISD’s staff has almost tripled in the last 15 years.  Both Bilingual/ESL and Special Education students have also grown.  The TAPR also includes the district's PIEMS Financial Standards Reports that include district and campus expenditures, revenues, disbursements, tax rates and fund balances. Northwest ISD earned the “Accredited'' status from TEA.  The complete presentation from Dr. Desimone has been linked below.  

Kim Barker, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources presented to the committee next.  She began by saying the springtime is when they start talking about changes to compensation and benefits.  One of the district's highest priorities is to provide competitive teacher salaries and they are making a conscious effort to make changes to our compensation plan, especially for those 5-10-15-20 year milestones.  We are expected to see changes announced by the end of April.  Benefits work hand-and-hand with the TRS system.  We will most likely see a rate increase for next year due to the area we are in.  Ms. Barker then opened up the floor for questions from the committee members.

Tim Mcclure, Assistant Superintendent for Facilities updated the council on the ongoing growth and construction within our district.  Currently we have 31,118 students enrolled.  Current construction projects include Northwest High school renovations, Pike Middle School replacement, Perrin Elementary and the new NISD Administration Building.   There have been slight adjustments made to the 2023 Bond timeline. Please see Mr. Mcclure’s full report linked below.  

Dr. Michael Griffin, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction gave a brief update on our Staff Listening Sessions.  As a part of our district's strategic goal #2, “Value teachers and staff by providing opportunities for feedback.” All campus listening sessions are complete, department listening sessions are coming soon.  To date, district leadership have compiled  50 pages of feedback from the campuses.  Dr. Foust emailed the staff on March 8th with an initial campus listening session update.  Quick wins from the listening sessions have included childcare for staff on March 18th & 19th professional development days, the creation of a Professional Learning Advisory Committee, with representation from each campus, Special Education Para laptops, and a newly formed School Finance Ambassadors, with representatives from each campus.  Please see Dr. Griffin's full report linked below.  

Dr. Mark Foust, Superintendent of Northwest ISD provided an overview of the Superintendent Evaluation Instrument.  He provided examples of evaluation questions and high standards he holds for himself.  Goals mentioned in Dr. Foust report were all students reading on grade level by 3rd grade and to be in the top 25% of math achievement in the United States.   Increasing our College and Career readiness is always a priority.  Once changes have been made he will then present to the board for approval.  This process is completed yearly.  

Dr. Griffin provided closing remarks and opened the floor to any questions.
Co-Chair Amberley Tanner wished everyone a happy three day weekend and  thanked everyone for their time and adjourned the meeting at 5:27 p.m.