TRUSTEES AT WORK

Brian Hamilton, Board President

Ah, Spring! My favorite time of year. With Spring comes another sports season (See you at the Little League fields!), Fiesta, and a renewed excitement around the remainder of the school year ahead. Our students and educators begin to focus on graduation and making summer plans. Anticipation builds for what the future holds. And, from my perspective, the future of Alamo Heights ISD has never looked brighter.

First, congratulations to our two-time defending National Champion Varsity Cheer Team and our newly-minted National Champion Junior Varsity Cheer Team! These students put forth an extraordinary amount of time and energy to perfect their craft. Their recognitions are truly earned. I especially wish to congratulate our seniors on the varsity team. They graduate Alamo Heights at the top of their game and have set the bar high for all future Alamo Heights Cheer Teams and our student athletes as a whole. Go Mules!

I believe our students, each and every one, are champions in large part because of our amazing educators and the positive examples they set for their students every day. The Board of Trustees had the honor of recognizing our 2023 District Teacher of the Year. This educator is chosen after each campus goes through a collaborative process to select an educator from their campus that best exemplifies the Profile of a Learner in his or her classroom. Congratulations to the five educators chosen this school year, and special recognition to Benjamin Keenan, English Language Arts teacher and department chair at Alamo Heights High School, for being our 2023 AHISD Teacher of the Year!

I also had the honor of joining in the recognition of a past educator, Harry B. Orem, at the Alamo Heights School Foundation’s Reunite at Heights. If you have not yet had a chance to attend this event, I urge you to do so next year. In addition to Mr. Orem, the Foundation recognized distinguished alumni Jody Grant (Class of ’56), Hoppy Price (Class of ’72), Marisol Deluna (Class of ’85), and the distinguished lifetime service of Barbara and Alan Dreeban. To be in The Oaks with so many AHISD alumni and hear their stories of what OUR school district has meant and continues to mean to them was special. Events like Reunite at Heights show that AHISD truly is the heart of our community. Thank you to the Foundation and those students, parents, and educators who made the event happen.

After receiving recommendations from District personnel, students, and community members based on assessing District facilities for over a year, the Board of Trustees called this past February for a $371 million bond package to complete the transformation of our campuses that began in 2017. The projects that are the subject of Bond 2023 represent the second and final phase of the Master Plan for Facilities that the District developed in 2016, with Bond 2017 being the first phase. The Bond 2023 projects prioritize safety and security initiatives, optimize the use of district land, allow the district to be better community partners with additional parking and improved traffic flow, and update learning spaces at all campuses for today’s students and their curricular and extracurricular program needs. I encourage you to get out and vote on Election Day, May 6, 2023.

Finally, it has been an honor to serve you, our community, and our students as Board President this past school year. I wish to thank my fellow board member Ryan Anderson for his six years of service as a member of our Board. His term will conclude next month. Ryan served our District during difficult and uncertain times, and did so well. The Board welcomes Ty Edwards as he takes Ryan’s place in May, and we look forward to working with Ty to continuously improve all aspects of our students’ educational experience.

As always, MULES UP!