Board Communications May 2023

BOARD COMMUNICATIONS MEMORANDUM DR. BOBBIE TREVINO, SUPERINTENDENT | May 2023 Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment & Accountability | Human Resources & Leadership Development Business & Finance | Innovation & Technology | Operations & Support Services | Compliance & School Safety Superintendent’s Performance objectives # 1: Enhance, communicate and implement safety protocols

# 3 Align District Curriculum to State and Federal Standards

# 2 Increase student performance in Reading and Math

# 4 Increase student enrollment and attendance

SUPERINTENDENT’S COMMENTS: Wow! I can’t believe that it is the end of the school year. I am so very proud of all the work that happened this year, as we worked collaboratively to design, create and refine our district systems to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all students. The team of individuals that support the superintendent’s office are to be commended for their open and genuine commitment to excellence. All of that work culminated in the completion of the district 5 year Strategic Plan. In addition, the High School Graduation ceremony was awesome! I feel so blessed and privileged to have been a part of the ceremony and to have had the opportunity to congratulate each individual student. It has truly been a great year and the excitement of what’s to come is already brewing in the air. We have an amazing district, with wonderful teachers and employees and amazing students that bring a wealth of knowledge and talent that contributes to making our district shine.

I thank the board for their continued support and confidence, as I pledge to continue the work of Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders! GO HAWKS GO! STRATEGIC GOAL #1

The District will increase opportunities for all students to be college, career, and military ready by providing high quality instruction and individualized learning for all special populations.

May…the culmination of an academic year, the continuation of summer learning for students and teachers, and the beginning of planning for another AMAZING academic year. May began with the completion of our state assessments. Again, I cannot put into words the commitment our students and teachers exemplified during the assessment window. Our academic school year came to an end with our campuses hosting celebrations for an year’s growth of academic success, with the ultimate, grand celebration…our ZHS Graduation Ceremony. For the first time ever, TEA released Early Raw Scores that left us somewhat in “the zone of uncertainty.” However, based on those very preliminary results, we have been able to identify areas of growth and areas in need of improvement. As students were dismissed for Summer Vacation, administrators, teachers and staff continued with a week of Professional Development.

This week was focused on closing of the year and preparing for summer school, as well as the new academic year.

The PEIMS Department held early registration for all returning students on May 9th at Zapata High School. The Federal Programs, Health Services and Finance Departments came together to support the

PEIMS Department in providing parents and guardians a “one stop” registration. This effort provided parents hands-on support on the on-line registration system.

STRATEGIC GOAL #2

The District will promote a positive culture and climate that embraces the social and emotional needs of all students that reflect the District’s Core Values.

Entering the last six weeks of the school year, the Superintendent's Leadership Team targeted the attendance recovery plan that affected nearly half of the district’s enrollment. This initiative was undertaken after careful review of student attendance and the impact that it is having on students, the classroom and overall on the Average Daily Attendance rate (ADA). Our concern is twofold as not only is the district's funding directly related to the ADA, but also, research is clear about the impact truancy has on student learning, socialization and school safety. The Attendance Recovery Plan identified students in three tiers, orange: (Students with attendance between ~87% and 89%); yellow: (Students with attendance between 75% and 86%); and red: (Students with attendance below 75%). The plan provided notice to students and their parents that the requirements to be met, depending on which tier they fell under, would include (1) After School Tutorials starting May 1 and ending May 24 (15 days), (2) Saturday Academies on May 6, May 13 (2 days), (3) Zero absences from the date of this notice, (4) Must attend Summer School and maintain 90% attendance, (5) Must complete a project and (6) (Seniors) Possible Summer Graduation.

The district’s legal counsel provided a board workshop/training on “Navigating the legal landscape, critical race theory, Title IX, Sexual Identity and Book banning in schools”. This training provided our board of trustees a thorough review of current issues affecting districts across the State and a review of the district’s current policies.

School Safety continues to be a priority for Zapata County ISD to ensure a safe and secure learning environment for students and staff. During the month of May, K-9 Units from both CBP and Sheriff’s Office visited our secondary schools on multiple occasions to help deter the bringing of vapes/drugs into school and metal detectors were also utilized on May 5th & 12th. On May 10th, the Laredo Police Department provided a safety presentation for all our juniors and seniors prior to prom and the Sheriff's Office brought a drunk driving simulator to support the LPD presentation as well.

Intruder Audits by the state continued in our district having Zapata South Elementary visited on May 4th and was found to be in compliance. Our District’s School Safety and Security Committee held it’s spring meeting on May 22nd and were given an update on the following: the district’s emergency operations plan, the reunification plan, completion of all mandatory emergency drills, weekly exterior door sweeps, intruder audits, NGS Anti-Shatter Film installation, and Silent Panic Alert Buttons.

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. Every year during the month of May, NAMI joins the national movement to raise awareness about mental health. Together, we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public and advocate for policies that support the millions of people in the U.S. affected by mental illness. Zapata County ISD has increased resources like never before to support the mental health and social emotional learning of all students. The counseling team consists of 3 elementary school counselors, 4 high school school counselors, 2 middle school school counselors, 1 at-risk school counselors, 2 special education school

counselors and 2 licensed chemical dependency counselors. Supporting our counselors in referrals of highly at-risk students, is an Pillar At-Risk Intervention Specialist, whose role is to coordinate between each school counselor and Pillar’s clinicians and phycologists. To date, the counseling team has referred over 60 very special cases to Pillar - an option ZCISD simply never had in the past.

This month we also celebrated TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK, and had multiple opportunities to share our gratitude with our 300+ classroom teachers. These professionals are incredibly determined, committed and dedicated to our students, families and our community. Campuses nominated the following individuals as their Teacher and Instructional Assistant of the Year:

ABE TOY Priscilla Garcia IAOY Ester Garcia

ZNE TOY Isela Dominguez IAOY Claudia Paredes

ZSE TOY Kristina Serna IAOY Juanita Lopez

VES TOY Roxanna Dominguez IAOY Renee Maya

ZMS

ZHS TOY Selina Mata IAOY Mari Elizarde

TOY Ana Del Bosque IAOY Jorge Gutierrez

On May 30, the district hosted the 2023 Employee Recognition Banquet which honored 8 retirees. Honored guests were: Imelda Flores 27 - Years of Services Zapata High School Teacher

Irinea Martinez 26 - Years of Services Service and Operations Custodian

Rosa Maria Elizondo 13 - Years of Services Service and Operations

Dr. Diana Brandon 28 - Years of Services Benavides Elementary Principal

Cynthia Morales 33 - Years of Services Villarreal Elementary Campus Secretary

Margarita Villarreal 33- Years of Services Villarreal Elementary Instructional Assistant

Esther Gallegos 23 - Years of Services Zapata Middle School Teacher

Derly Buruato 27 - Years of Services Service and Operations Maintenance Worker

STRATEGIC GOAL #3

The District will manage a prudent budget that reflects sound business and fiscal practices that support District goals and educational services.

On May 19, the District began the final phase of the Strategic Planning Process, Create and Lead Days. This phase involved 5 intense days of planning and creating the Strategic Plan’s Goals, Specific Results and Recommended Actions for each goal’s

specific result. The team developed the District’s Vision as the initiative’s final task, ZCISD: Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders.

Technology Services: Physical installation of new cameras has been completed at the following locations: ● Central Office ● Arturo L. Benavides Elementary ● Fidel & Andrea Villarreal Elementary Zapata South Elementary is 90% complete and installation has begun at Zapata Middle School.

Estimated completion for the remaining ZMS cameras and ZHS is June. At this time, the campuses that have completed physical installation of the cameras are undergoing layout configuration for each camera.

The management software for the surveillance system has been upgraded on new installed management servers. Each campus now has their own recording server feeding into a centralized management system. This has increased the retention of video feed to 30 days. Training on the new system for Administrators and ZCISD Police Department will be held this summer.

New access points have been installed at the JROTC building and the wifi network is ready for use. Additional equipment such as projectors and screens had been scheduled for installation. A new switch and cabling is scheduled to be installed at the building to provide the ability to connect physically to the internet via hardwire/ethernet cable.

The iPad deployment is well underway. The project timeline has been set and the workflow has begun. Productive meetings have been held with the Apple Deployment Team to program the configuration in our Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution enabling the system to be ready for provisioning. Stakeholder meetings with all pK, Kinder, and 1st Grade teachers have been held to discuss the deployment. Feedback was received on the preferred configuration of apps for each grade level and professional development needs.

Approximately 98% of thinkpad laptops issued out to the ZHS dual credit college students have been returned. The laptops will undergo maintenance this summer including disinfection, re-imaging, and re-installation of needed software.

They are scheduled to be ready for use by the 23-24 dual credit students in the fall.

Currently the technology department is working diligently on the process for re-deploying chromebooks for summer school use. All chromebook carts have been collected. Chromebooks are being inspected. Broken chromebooks are being evaluated for repair. The remaining chromebooks are being re-assigned based on summer school class ratios to ensure devices for all summer school students are available and ready for use.

During the month of June, all staff are completing the last round of required cybersecurity training. Employees are being trained via KnowBe4, an online solution for training. As of this posting 293 employees have completed the training.

Services and Operations: The construction projects are moving along smoothly. Below you find the completion status of the projects: ● ZHS Agriculture Canopy additional concrete slabs – End of June 2023 ● ZHS Fieldhouse Addition End of July 2023 , Picture 1 ● 18+ Center Renovation Mid of July 2023, Pictures 2 & 3 ● Dance Studio (Alt. No.2) End of July 2023, Picture 4 ● Cafeteria Canopies (ZMS & ZHS) End of June 2023, Picture 5 & 6 ● ESSER DAEP Center (Phase 1 & 2) August 1, 2023 ● ESSER HVAC Replacements August 2024

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 3

Picture 6

We continue with disinfecting our schools 3 times a week and dressing rooms being done daily. The services and Operations department continues to complete daily work orders in the areas of Maintenance, Transportation and HVAC district wide.

Child Nutrition: ● CNP-Luncheon with the Seniors (Celebration for Seniors) ● Taste Testing at Zapata High School (Introduction of new items for 2023-2024 Menu) ● Completion of Menu Planning for 2023-2024 SY ● End of Year Luncheon with all CNP Staff ● Summer Staff Training ● End of Year Meeting with all campus Managers ● Completion of Summer Planning/Application/Site locations/Staffing/Menu/Orders ● Promoting of Summer Seamless Program ● Submitted Opening orders for the 2023-2024 SY Finance: The end of May marked the Sine Die of the 88th Legislative Session. In respect to school finance, notable bills that would generate additional revenue did not make it out of committee. The biennium showed hopeful opportunities for property relief and increased funding that would have to wait for the Special Session in the month of June.

The Finance department joined in at the May 9th registration at ZHS to disburse uniforms for those families that qualified. Parents were given 3 polos per qualified student and they were excited to be ready for the upcoming school year.

To close up the year, Finance trainings were provided to District sponsors for class clubs, dance and cheer clubs, and athletics, to name a few. Sponsors were engaged and ready to implement new District procedures dealing with cash management and disbursements.