When Patriot Mobile PAC trustees took over GCISD a year ago, they promptly started misleading the community.
WHAT’S TRUE? Click to watch the video for yourself in under 2 minutes! Or read on…
In the video:
NOT SO FAST: A Trustee who was endorsed by Patriot Mobile in 2022 states that the district training would provide “lots and lots of clarity for our teachers” on the new policy.
WE KNOW BETTER: The Patriot Mobile Trustee said she was “glad to hear [Advanced Placement (AP) classes] aren’t threatened in any way.”
Nope! GCISD cut the Director of Advanced Academics and AP Coordinator positions. They cut AP Mandarin, AP Latin, AP European History; high-level math students are teaching themselves; CHHS GT classes were eliminated or had 1 offering only; AP teachers are quitting & retiring; and 18 books are still banned from advanced secondary courses. All these changes are huge threats to the quality of GCISD‘s reputation. [ Watch: College Impact Panel ]
SAY WHAT NOW?: Next, in the same public meeting, Trustee Becky St. John asks for clarification on the instructional policy, wondering if a teacher could speak about breaking news during a US History, World History, or Government class?
At 25 seconds into the video, the response from district staff is NO. “That may be the course, but it may not be where they are in their Scope and Sequence.” The new policy is drastically limiting teachers to whatever is scripted in the boxed lesson plan for that day. It seems like a social studies teacher would be risking their job if they mentioned the day’s headlines.
GCISD deserves better than what Patriot Mobile PAC is offering!
Before the Board of Trustees meeting on April 24, Trustee Jorge Rodriguez requested several items to be added to the agenda. Board President Casey Ford did not add them. You can listen here to the meeting, when Rodriguez asks Ford why they are not on the agenda.
Click above to hear the voice of GCISD Board Member Jorge Rodriguez.
Below are the eight questions that Trustee Jorge Rodriguez asked Board President Casey Ford to add to the public meeting agenda on April 24, 2023. Ford did not add these items to the Boardâs agenda, nor did Ford explain why.
Despite Rodriguez’ request for transparency from Ford, the public still does not know the following:
Update on the lawsuit by James Whitfield against Trustee Tammy Nakamura and GCISD (with specific request that the districtâs counsel, Brackett & Ellis, be present at the meeting to answer questions)
The agreement reached in the lawsuit by Mitchell Ryan against GCISD and Jorge Rodriguez as the Board President including an update on the contents of the agreement reached by Casey Ford and his attorney Tim Davis with Mitchell Ryan and Mitchell Ryanâs attorney (along with a specific request that Brackett & Ellis also be present to answer questions)
Report on instructional materials and new books â including a list of books to be approved by the school board and, if any books had been removed from the libraries and the reason for removal.
The two-way dual language program â to continue the discussion from the March 2023 meeting along with a vote from the school board on whether to continue or eliminate the two-way dual language program.
Personnel Report â an update on the job openings and resignations (along with a comparison to the numbers of resignations from last year).
High school schedules â block scheduling versus an 8-period day (continuing discussion from March 2023 meeting and getting answers to questions that were not answered during March 2023 meeting)
Advanced Academics â a GCISD district comparison to surrounding districts.
GCISD evaluation for the previous year (2022) and the districtâs 2023 goals.
Weâre sorry in advance for how long this is, but here are eight new points to consider.
Itâs time for the board majority to be transparent about their goals.
If they believe the public wants to rewind to the 80s and 90s and get a basic education just so they can limit costs, they should say that.
If they think parents should be responsible for paying for extracurriculars and not taxpayers, they should say that.
If they want to support privatization through vouchers and charter schools, they should say that.
If they want to run students away from GCISD so they can consolidate campuses to give a property tax cut to people who already got what they needed out of GCISD, they should say that.
Why are they not saying that? Because our community supports GCISD and we know how important it is to our cities and property values to restore the reputation of GCISD and voters would never knowingly elect trustees who admitted to these truths.
8 truths about GCISD you need to know before you vote May 6
1. Academic Decline: The decline in GCISDâs recent student STAAR scores is largely due to the changing nature of education throughout the world during an unprecedented pandemic and was not an exclusively GCISD issue. The State did not give school districts autonomy in managing their own districts and disallowed any extension of online or hybrid learning. We know from colleges that hybrid in-person/remote learning would have allowed students in quarantine to keep up from home and still be counted present. GCISD had the technology available for interested students, but instead, those students had to miss weeks of instruction.
In addition, demographic information from TEA shows huge shifts in GCISDâs enrolled students in dyslexia, special education, gifted & talented over the past 10 years. Our Title I enrollment decreased, while our Economically Disadvantaged students remained about the same percentage. GCISD now receives less federal money to serve our students with some of the greatest needs. The added pressures of the pandemic only compounded that impact.
2. Programs: Itâs false of our New School Board Majority to say âit doesnât cost more to challenge our studentsâ. Differentiated learning does require specialized and tiered rigor (on-level, advanced, accelerated, STEM, ASPIRE), which in turn require more class sections and likely more teachers. GCISDâs ability to meet all levels of learners combined with our variety of interest areas is attractive to home buyers, because parents know students are most challenged when they are in an environment for which they are uniquely suited. But the New School Board Majority is now standardizing GCISDâs education offerings and focusing just on core content and test scores.
Follow up question:
Is the NSBM planning to max out class size? That leads to reducing and constraining flexibility in the schedule, which leads to less specialized programs, less variables to support and ultimately less opportunities for students to excel in their differentiated strengths.
An example of this reduced flexibility by our New School Board Majority: Despite claims that nothing is at risk of being cut, this week the high school principals announced that they were eliminating Block Scheduling, which gives kids an academic advantage in college admissions. Parents got an email without the Board of Trustees offering discussion or explanation. What will be cut next? ASPIRE? STEM at Colleyville Heritage? Will CHHS get back GT sections of AP classes? Answer: We donât know whatâs next on the chopping block â but we do know itâs not acceptable to assume all kids in the same grade can learn on the same level in all subjects. We should not expect our teachers to appropriately challenge a packed room of students on varying levels, just so the New School Board Majority can report they are streamlining costs. Our New School Board Majority gloats that theyâre getting back to basics, and that itâs just common budgeting sense to have all kids on the same instructional level and learn at the same pace. Except we all know kids arenât cookie cutter, and GCISD knows it, too! Or has, in the past.
2021-22 Staff Information (TAPR) GRAPEVINE-COLLEYVILLE ISD (220906) – TARRANT COUNTY
For reference, this chart from TEA shows how our district supports several programs, meeting the needs of all different kinds of learners.
3. Block Schedule: A âStraight Eightâ school day of eight 45-minute periods that meet daily offers the same number of instructional minutes as a Block Schedule of 90-minute periods that meet every other day. GCISD has tried Straight Eight before and switched back to Block Schedule within two years. The drawbacks to the Straight Eight schedule are many.
First, teachersâ daily planning periods will not perfectly align with other teachers in their academic subject or department. Itâs possible two Algebra teachers in the same building wonât ever meet unless itâs during their personal time.
Second, the only way to âoffer moreâ through a Straight Eight schedule is to extend the double-blocked courses (Athletics, Fine Arts or Career & Technical Education) into before or after school time. Would GCISD compensate teachers for that time that is usually built into the school day?
Third, changing to Straight Eight requires a review of all students who have extended time on assignments or tests with 504 plans or IEPs (8% of district or 1,152 students). How do they fit in their extracurriculars and their class work, and have the right support (including paraprofessionals) to be successful? There simply will not be enough classroom time to allow those students to finish, which will cause more before and after school time for those students, as well. Typically, those students have been supported by paraprofessionals, a staffing category GCISD underpays and is at most risk for remaining unfilled. If a student whose IEP allows them extra time, will they have enough time before and after school to finish work in multiple classes each day? We are concerned the Straight Eight plan could keep our students with 504 plans out of extracurriculars entirely.
4. Curriculum: Weâll say it slowly: GCISD. Has. Always. Had. A. Curriculum. The district has maintained a written curriculum for its core content areas for a long time. Itâs false to mix up âcurriculum,â âlesson plans,â and âteaching resources.â GCISD has always had a curriculum. It was just different for different student programs and levels.
The district has adopted comprehensive instructional materials for every content area on the schedule set forth by the state. Our old curriculum from 10 years ago used a print textbook and followed it in order, regardless of how well it addressed the standards or demonstrated a logical progression of learning. For about 2 years, GCISD has used the TEKS Resource System from the State of Texas, which weaves the stateâs teaching guide into GCISDâs curriculum documents. GCISD has renewed its contract for the TEKS instructional materials in math, science, social studies, and English. The ânew reading curriculumâ that the New School Board Majority recently purchased is not curriculum; it is materials (books) used by some populations of students.
5. Finances: Letâs start with the New School Board Majorityâs decision –â26 high school teachers that leave will not be replaced.â What if those teachers have a special skill set? Will we force a teacher without appropriate background to teach that class?
If you have attended past school board meetings you have witnessed Human Resources reports where staffing studies are discussed. So, the fact is this was NOT the first study. The facts we should be hearing about are if the latest audit took into account the unique nature of GCISD and our special programs. There is no evidence to support this.
Follow up questions:
Did it account for the highly skilled staff that support these programs? Itâs unclear if the audit results were even helpful. To âabsorbâ 26 teaching positions and say elsewhere that class sizes will be lowered without losing academic offerings is insulting, and definitely not factual.
How many teachers can we find to teach Multivariable Calculus to high schoolers? (Currently, zero; those students are teaching themselves.) What about AP Research and AP Seminar?
How many teachers are licensed to work with our special needs students?
Before the attack on public schools brought on by partisan politics during the pandemic, our teacher retention rate was exceptional, and every opening attracted tons of applicants. What we are experiencing now is not normal. In a quest to appease their anti-public school supporters, the New School Board Majority announced a (fake) balanced budget, implemented a tax cut, continued to tie the hands of teachers, administration, and support staff and make their lives more difficult when they could have been focusing purely on learning gaps.
The nature of public school finances and budgeting doesn’t support a “fluid” budget. When you have set costs, you can’t pretend like they don’t exist and then modify them monthly.
If you know Gas costs $400 a month for your family, you can’t budget $50 and call it balanced when you know you have to add to it every month! Why do you think our longtime Chief Financial Officer left? Did she know the task being asked of her was impossible? Was she being asked to present a budget that violated her duty to the district?
6. Teacher Attrition & Teacher Pay: Since our school district was taken over by the New School Board Majority in May 2022, we have seen a dramatic increase in turnover. So much so that it is now being considered “normal!” The turnover in positions in â20-â21 and â21-â22 is not the same as we saw pre-takeover. WFAA reported that resignations/retirements were 40% higher this year. It is indicative of a shift in culture in GCISD.
Regarding pay, past School Boards ALSO voted to approve multiple teacher pay raises and attempted to close gaps in pay relative to other districts.
More follow-up questions:
Is the New School Board Majority committed to adding $5 million to the budget annually? Or are they calling for a balanced budget that requires cutting teaching positions in addition to the administrative positions and support personnel that have already been cut?
Have we asked our teachers if a 4% raise is worth the toxic environment that the new board majority has created? Is it worth losing block scheduling? Losing Programs of Choice? Losing our bench of administrative staff and paraprofessionals? Being forced to teach multiple students on varying levels in the same class? Being forced to accept teaching classes outside of their expertise or resign?
7. Strategic Plan: Of course GCISD has a strategic plan. A plan that developed award-winning programs, and created an award-winning work environment. A plan that prioritizes public education for all learners.
LEAD 2021 and LEAD 2.0 involved dozens of community volunteers, parents, teachers and students and led to Dr. Ryan getting 2018 Superintendent of the Year, our Board getting Board of the Year, the development of STEM, AVID, ASPIRE, iUniversity Prep, Collegiate Academy, TECC Center, tuition based pre-K programs, and 1:1 device rollout. Those programs improved standings in Advanced Placement, Dual Credit, and Lone Star Cup, increased identification of students with dyslexia, etc. and allowed students to excel in areas that are most important to them. That was not by accident!
The âTop 100 Places to Work in DFWâ award was a very important indicator of how happy employees were in GCISD and is now being falsely called a âfake award that the district paid for!â The only thing the Dallas Morning News charges for is a detailed copy of the survey results, upon request, after the winners were announced. Read the details from the Dallas Morning News. GCISD used the free survey but did not pay to see the survey results. It is completely misleading for a GCISD Trustee to say in a public meeting that it was an award we paid for, when in fact, GCISD is no longer a recipient of the award due to tanked ratings submitted by the 1800 employees who took the workplace culture survey.
Speaking of strategy, it doesnât seem strategic of the State of Texas or of the GCISD New School Board Majority to underfund our schools and court private schools to take over. State-level decisions contribute to local funding. We need pro-public education trustees to influence our State Legislators. It doesnât seem innovative for the New School Board Majority to spend a year writing and implementing a new Board policy requiring Board approval (really) to reorder a lost library book. It doesnât seem strategic or thoughtful that the New School Board Majority didnât mention it was cutting Programs of Choice and eliminating block scheduling at their board meeting less than 48 hours prior.
8. Innovation: It is not innovative for a trustee to further divide the community by referring to âmy sideâ and make the speaker rounds bragging about the destruction of GCISD and how the board majority has purposely not advocated for the entire GCISD population as a whole. It is not innovative to give everyone the same standard education by eliminating programs students find meaningful. That is the factory school model we fought to replace over a decade ago when faced with declining enrollment. Our Special Programs saved us from having to close campuses. Our Special Programs brought new families into GCISD. If we allow trustees to get elected who are pushing us backwards, our students will never be prepared for the jobs of tomorrow. It is not innovative to force our students into daily âspeed datingâ running through eight 45-minute classes a day.
Follow up questions:
If itâs true that bussing will still be offered, how will those kids get to one campus and back without missing half of class? Interestingly, it might have been more innovative to actually consider a 4-day a week schedule, or a hybrid schedule like colleges offer. Seeking input from stakeholders on the dozens of options in between block scheduling and 8-period days would have at least demonstrated innovation through community involvement.
Itâs also not innovative to falsely claim not to cut important Special Programs but then make changes that so severely harm them they eventually lose support.
Follow up questions:
When students decide they canât realistically change campus under the 45-minute class schedule, will they then eliminate bussing for lack of interest?
When kids have to pick between extracurriculars and extra electives, will they start removing classes with low participation? And add another fact, currently, our district is maxed out in our ability to seat kids in CTE classes.
When the board majority claims they are looking to âbenefit everyoneâ does that include people that learn, look, or think differently from them? Their track record to date proves that isnât the case.
Elect candidates who put excellence over extremism
If youâve read this far, you are probably tired. We are so, so, so tired of spending our time rebutting the stretttttchhhhhedddd facts shared by the New School Board Majority and those that have run for previous elections backed by the same extremists. But we are doing this to get out the truth. We can take back GCISD in the May 6th school board election if we help our neighbors see the truth and choose candidates who will stand up against the extremist New School Board Majority. We must band together and elect candidates who are committed to Excellence, Independence, and Respect in GCISD.
“We recognize the librarians, booksellers, authors, publishers, and allies standing tall in the face of an unprecedented attack on the freedom to read.
“There has been no shortage of extraordinary stories from the book world in 2022. But no story this year has been more extraordinary than the ongoing, unprecedented surge in book bans and censorship efforts being pushed by right-wing groups in communities across the nation.”
Our hearts are full. Our community has UNITED over the love of books and over $10,000 in books will be donated to support local readers! Sadly, our excitement was dampened by the reality of GCISDâs excessively complicated new policies governing all book donations, including to teachers for use at school and in classroom libraries. Book fair organizers worked tirelessly to find a way to get the donated books to students through GCISD, uncovering a policy so incredibly cumbersome that it is completely impractical, and not as parent-choice focused as some claim.
When we realized how large the donation would be, our distribution goal was to maximize impact and minimize the burden on teachers or librarians. Book fair volunteers worked all week leading up to the board meeting to find a simple process. We landed on donating Scholastic book credits so librarians and teachers could order books from a GCISD approved list, seemingly the least complicated way to get your donations to students. Obviously, it was not that simple. It turned out that the district would not accept Scholastic book credits, seemingly because Scholastic is no longer an approved vendor. The only option was for us to do the shopping and donate physical books, but book donations are subject to the same burdensome acquisition policy governing libraries and classrooms. So we dug into the policy. And donât forget that even after all of this:
Any parent can challenge a book and, âAny material removed shall not be eligible for consideration to be added again for at least ten years.â
The District Librarian (a position currently vacant) or District Designee (who has a primary job other than this!) would have to read $10,000 worth of books in order to recommend or decline each book to the school board. They would have to then post the list on the district website for a 30 day parental review period, and make the books available for direct review upon request. Board members can request individual copies up to 15 days prior to the board review. The librarian has to acquire them, but canât buy them, because they havenât been approved! After the waiting period, the board would vote on any books pulled for individual consideration. Finally, the district would post a list online of approved and declined books, and the approved books could finally be acquired.
After all of that, librarians still have to decide where in GCISD to shelve the books based on reading level and content. They have to determine the books that are appropriate for the subject area and for the age, ability level, learning styles, interests, and social and emotional development of the students for whom they are selected; ensure they enrich the curriculum; meet high standards of quality; help students gain awareness of our pluralistic society; motivate students to examine their own attitudes and behaviors viewed as a whole and not excluded because of isolated passages; promote literacy; balance cost with need; incorporate accurate and authentic factual content; align with TEKS to the extent possible to develop civil knowledge; present founding documents in an objective, neutral, comprehensive and unbiased manner appropriately for grade level; and earn favorable reviews in standard reviewing sources.
It didnât take long to confirm our original suspicion that if United for GCISD donated $10,000 in physical books it would have put an unfair burden on librarians due to the lack of clarity in the policy at all levels. In the end, we simply could not use our communityâs generous donations to test a system that could take months to process, if at all. For full details, view the GCISD board policies online.
How can parents have choice over what their students read, if the book they need isnât on the shelf?
United for GCISD volunteers speak at Nov 14, 2022 GCISD School Board Meeting
We spoke at the November board meeting to ask again that the board reconsider this burdensome anti-literacy policy and stop removing books from the shelves. We suggested instead an opt-out policy like McKinney ISD passed, accomplishing the same goal with far fewer adverse consequences.
Join us as we continue to fight censorship and support literacy by putting excellence, respect, and independence back in GCISD.
Follow @UnitedforGCISD for more updates on the distribution of our communityâs generous donations after our online United for GCISD Community Book Fair ends Nov. 18! Choose our original host location âGrapevine Convention Centerâ in the drop-down menu. Sales will still benefit local kids who rely on community support to have books at home and all book purchases over $25 ship free!
District Librarian or other Designee can recommend to the board, certifying that they have read it.
No recommendations made directly to the Board by District campuses, departments, employees, students, or members of the public shall be considered for acquisition.
To ensure parental engagement, the District shall post online on the Districtâs website, on a readily available page, the selection process of library materials for parental review along with a list of all current library materials, and the content of all materials shall be available for direct review during reasonable hours as specified by the District.
If any Board member questions or desires further information on any proposed new acquisition, whether title or author, he or she shall contact the Superintendent at least 15 days before consideration by the Board. The Superintendent or designee shall then contact the District-level library supervisor to obtain copies of professional reviews of any library material in question. Until approved by the Board, the District may not acquire any proposed New Acquisitions, even for the purpose of Board review.
The order for library materials in its entirety, including any materials in question by individual Board members, shall be presented to the Board following a 30-day review period.
Upon request by a Board member, specific books shall be pulled from the recommended list for individual consideration. The Board shall consider and vote on the recommended list along with any books pulled for individual consideration.
A list of all library materials recommended for acquisition shall be posted on the Districtâs website. Following the Board vote, all library materials approved for acquisition shall be added to the Districtâs website list of library materials. Materials individually considered by the Board or rejected for acquisition shall be clearly indicated on the list.
A librarian, or designee, must then consider how the books:
Enrich and support the curriculum consistent with the general educational goals of the state and District, the aims and objectives of individual schools and specific courses, and the District and campus improvement plans.
Are appropriate for the subject area and for the age, ability level, learning styles, interests, and social and emotional development of the students for whom they are selected.
Meet high standards for artistic quality, literary style, authenticity, educational significance, factual content, physical format, presentation, readability, and technical quality.
Are designed to help students gain an awareness of our pluralistic society.
Are designed to provide information that will motivate students and staff to examine their own attitudes and behavior; to understand their duties, responsibilities, rights, and privileges as citizens participating in our society; and to make informed choices in their daily lives.
Are viewed as a whole and are not excluded because of isolated passages or illustrations, language, and the like, being taken out of context.
Promote literacy.
Balance cost with need.
For nonfiction resources, a librarian, or designee, must incorporate accurate and authentic factual content from authoritative sources.
Earn favorable reviews in standard reviewing sources and/or favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel.
To the extent possible, while ensuring instruction in the TEKS are designed to develop each studentâs civil knowledge, including:
An understanding of (i) the fundamental moral, political, and intellectual foundations of the American experiment in self-government: (ii) the history, qualities, traditions, and features of civic engagement in the United States; (iii) the structure, function, and processes of government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; and (iv) the founding documents of the United States.
The ability to (i) analyze and determine the reliability of information sources; (ii) formulate and articulate reasoned positions; (iii) understand the manner in which lo- cal, state, and federal government works and operates through the use of simulations and models of govern- mental and democratic processes; (iv) actively listen and engage in civil discourse, including discourse with those with different viewpoints, and (v) participate as a citizen in a constitutional democracy by voting; and
An appreciation of (i) the importance and responsibility of participating in civic life; (ii) a commitment to the United States and its form of government; and (iii) a commitment to free speech and civil discourse.
19. When providing instruction regarding the founding documents of the United States, these shall be presented appropriately for the grade level, and in an objective, neutral, comprehensive and unbiased manner that respects the entirety of the document. The founding documents of the United States include the Declaration of Independence; the United States Constitution; the Federalist Papers, including the Essays 10 and 51; excerpts from Alexis de Tocquevilleâs Democracy in America; the transcript of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate: the writings of the founding fathers of the United States; Frederick Douglassâs speeches âThe Meaning of July Fourth for the Negroâ and âWhat the Black Man Wantsâ; and Martin Luther King Jr.âs speech âI have a Dreamâ.
In addition to the above criteria, fiction, narrative nonfiction (memoirs and biographies), and graphic novels must each meet the following selection criteria, with the District determining that such materials:
Are integral or supplemental to the instructional program.
Support the Districtâs literacy initiatives.
Reflect the interests and needs of the students and faculty.
Are appropriate for the reading levels and understanding of students.
Are included because of their literary or artistic value and merit.
If narrative nonfiction, present information with the greatest degree of accuracy and clarity.
20. Librarians must then check each studentâs opt-in form, which some families still donât have or know that they have, to see if the student is allowed to check out the book.
And finally, after 20 steps to acquire a book (accept a book donation and put it into a school library), a student can select a book from the books that remain on the shelves and take it home to discuss with family.
Here is an excerpt from their post from November 12, 2022:
Keller ISD Community, we come to you as a group of parents and educators in the community deeply concerned about items on the upcoming school board meeting agenda. The meeting is this Monday, November 14th.
… We need the community to show up to the meeting on Monday evening. The meeting starts at 6 pm in the Administration Building (Rock Building). If you’d like to speak, you need to show up no later than 5:45. We expect there to be a very large turnout.
