SHES Students of Month

I was on the committee that campaigned for and assisted in the passing of the bond which built our Elementary School-Summit Hill.

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Pre-K: Jax Vincent, Luis Garcia Kindergarten: Gary Gil, Keylee Huck First grade: Christian Mickelson, Ruby Harvey Second grade: Anders Bjorn, Sindy Morales

Job posting for Howe City Administrator

The current long-time administrator for the City of Howe, Grayson County, TX is retiring September 2021. The City is accepting resumés for this position beginning April 2, 2021. Resumés will be accepted until June 30, 2021 or until the position is filled whichever comes first.

The City is a General Law Type “A” city with a population of approximately 3,000, a budget of $3.8 million and 18 employees.

Salary range $70,000 to $80,000 DOQ with negotiated vehicle allowance. City offers vacation, sick leave, and retirement in TMRS. Residency within the corporate limits of the city of Howe within nine (9) months of date of employment is required.

Preferred method of submittal: email resumés to: jshephard@cityofhowe.org USPS Address: City of Howe Attn: City Administrator Joe Shephard P.O. Box 518 Howe, TX 75459 (903) 532-5571

How much time will you/can you give to board service?

CHARLES HALEY: As much as needed to make sure I am prepared for and can contribute to resolving any issues related to Howe ISD and its community.

JOSH VINCENT: I am fortunate that I can give any amount of time needed to my board service.

CRYSTAL LAWSON: I am blessed in that I work for a company that allows for flexible scheduling and some work from home options as well. This will allow me to balance both my career as well as school board service. School board service is not something that I plan to “squeeze” into my schedule, it is something that I plan to dedicate my time and efforts to.

JANIE FINNEY: Since I have retired twice from Howe ISD and have some freedom at work, I can give as much time as needed to fulfill any duties that I am asked to perform. We make time to do what we love, and I love my involvement with the school district.

BRAD MURPHY: I will spend as much time as needed to assist the board/other board members in making decisions.

What do you see as the current challenges facing public education in our state? In our country?

CHARLES HALEY: The impact of Covid has been pretty tough on all school districts. It will be a challenge to get back to normal operations within the school system and with extracurricular school activities, but I believe with the Howe School District staff and school board we can get there.

One issue we will be dealing with are students that may have fallen behind during these extenuating circumstances. We must focus on getting students involved and feeling safe to be at school and make sure they know the staff is here to help them. With that, we need to ensure the staff has the proper tools to continue help those students and also the tools to continue to achieve Howe ISD goals.

JOSH VINCENT: In our state I think it will always be a funding issue, it always seems like promises are made as far as allotted moneys for schools but not always kept and that makes it especially hard for coming up with a school budget year to year.

In our country I think one of the many challenges facing education is the fact that they are trying to make it legal for boys to compete in girls’ sports. It is already hard enough for kids these days with all the pressure put on them and then to add this confusion to their lives is very aggravating. Not only hard on the kids but puts the coaches and faculty in a difficult situation also. It is my hope that something can be done at the state level to prevent this.

The challenge facing both our state and country is the fact that kids lost so much in school learning over the past year due to covid and trying to get caught back up from not having quality in class learning.

CRYSTAL LAWSON: Some of the current challenges facing public education in our state is the resources necessary to make our teacher successful. Do they have the materials they need for their classes? Do they have the “textbooks” and curriculum that they need? (I have textbooks in “” because I understand that as we have moved to a more digital platform, some classes do not have virtual or physical “textbooks” anymore) Do the teachers have access to additional training, seminars, and networks that are necessary for them to stay up to date on materials and methods?

Some challenges facing public education in our country is that we are facing a new “normal” still. COVID19 has changed the landscape of education. While we are blessed to be back in school physically, nationally there are still schools that will complete this year virtually. We as a nation are facing issues with attendance, comprehension of materials, access to materials, access to the technology to do their schoolwork, and more. There are other major issues with our education system nationally, things such as (Continued on page 9)