EDUCATION by Linda A. Thornton
Liberty Hill: Thinking BIG for Education
IMAGE CREDIT: LIBERTYHILLISDBOND.COM
DESPITE THE BUCOLIC FEEL OF THE CITY OF LIBERTY HILL, WE HAVE AN ISD THAT CONSISTENTLY REFLECTS EXCEPTIONAL LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT. WITH A 476% POPULATION GROWTH RATE SINCE 2020, AND THANKS TO IMPASSIONED COLLABORATION WITHIN OUR CITY AND COMMUNITY, THE DISTRICT HAS TWICE FACILITATED SOLUTIONS FOR SUCCESSFULLY MANAGING THE GROWTH OF STUDENT ENROLLMENT. Presciently, in 2020, the ISD took proactive steps to establish a long-range planning committee. The committee was reconvened in 2022 with 90 parents, teachers, students, committee members, and support staff tasked with creating a system of checks and balances and developing a prioritization framework. Their objective was to assess the area's demographics and facilities, collect data, and present an analysis of the needs. The group began by creating subcommittees to focus on academics, enrichment/athletics/fine arts, community/culture, facilities/transportation, security and safety, fi-
nance, and technology. In addition, the committee hired an outside consulting firm to produce a traffic impact analysis report and it surprised no one that each school had a unique set of issues that required specific solutions. Given the parameters, size of the committee, and scale of the group’s mission, the difficulty level of formulating succinct plans cannot be overestimated. However, the committee’s recommendations, unanimously accepted by the LHISD board of trustees in 2021 and again in 2023 demonstrate their remarkable achievement.
“ T H E E D U C AT I O N A L O P P O R T U N I T I E S O U R S T U D E N T S W I L L H AV E C A N N OT H A P P E N W I T H O U T CO L L A B O R AT I O N B E T W E E N A S C H O O L D I S T R I C T A N D I T S CO M M U N I T Y.” ~ SUPERINTENDENT STEVE SNELL
10
J U N E 2023 LIBER T Y HILL D IGES T