The Pilot Point ISD school board received a positive update on its District Improvement Plan for quarter one at the Dec. 11 meeting.
Coordinator of Federal Programs and Instructional Support Jaren Mercer walked through the district’s list of goals, punctuating each with and update on the work that’s gone toward them individually.
“Goal number one was for the 2024-25 school year that the district will earn a standards rating B or higher, which is at least 85% of students at approaches, meets or masters on STAAR and 95% college, career or military ready,” Mercer said.
Progress he cited included increased professional learning opportunities for teachers and various district-wide protocols for analyzing test data and better preparing students for testing.
“Goal number two is for 75% of exempt and non-exempt employees to be retained with the intent of returning for the 2025-26 school year,” Mercer said.
As above, progress here was teacher facing.
“The progress we are making on that has been implementing and adopting a Bearcat Initiative for our new to the district teachers,” Mercer said. “We have implemented a Bearcats Shout Out program that gives the community an opportunity to provide kudos to our teachers and staff every nine weeks. We’ve distributed the district fall survey to gather baseline data as well.”
He said the district had also worked to support leadership training with administrators, a teacher academy and a stipend for mentor teachers “Goal number three is for by July 1 of 2024, Pilot Point will develop a comprehensive plan that optimizes funding to enhance district facilities and educational quality while operating within the annual budget,” Mercer said.
He cited allocation of money for the 202425 year to address needs such as critical technology updates and a TASB salary study.
“We’ve also explored grant opportunities to secure additional resources where possible, ... and we have established systems for monitoring and evaluating land implementation,” he said. “For goal four, by May 22, 2025, the district will increase engagement and satisfaction levels among students, staff, parents and the community by 7% through the implementation of regular and effective communication initiatives as measured by the district survey both fall and spring administrations.”
In working toward goal four, Mercer cited the Pilot Point Press, a quarterly newsletter, the bulletin board, which is a summary of board meetings for stakeholders, a back-to-school guide, a fall survey and a boost in social media presence.
“Weekly posts showcase district and campus events,” Mercer said. “I thought this one was really big: since August of 2023, our reach has grown by 107%, our interactions have increased by 270%, and our link clicks have increased by 526%, so we’ve definitely been really effective in growing our reach.”
District Superintendent Dr. Shannon Fuller said there is more to come moving forward.
“As you guys know we are also in progress of creating a scorecard for five years, so we’re in the process of aligning that with our district improvement plan,” Fuller said. “It’s all eventually going to be one thing, though we’re kind of working in two systems right now, and we’re in the process of aligning that. We’re hoping to have our finished district scorecard to bring you in the third quarter.”
