OISD teachers rally for new school year

“Rural Texas teaches about 20 percent of the kids in Texas, and we do the best job,” Olney Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Greg Roach told teachers during a breakfast meeting a week before classes began on Aug. 16.

OISD starts the new school year with about 30 new staff members, including teachers, aides, and maintenance personnel - the most turnover in at least a decade, Dr. Roach said. During the breakfast assembly at the cafeteria, the group prayed for help making OISD and its students shine in the coming year.

“We’ve got a lot of new staff members and I am eternally grateful that you have chosen to jump on board with us. I hope you have a good experience - this is a good place to be,” Dr. Roach said.

Olney Elementary School Principal Dr. Matt Caffey, Olney Junior High Principal Ed Berngen, and Olney High School Principal Brianne Brock introduced new staff members to warm applause, and the red-clad teachers settled in to hear messages from Dr. Roach and OISD Board President Summer Branum. Later in the day, they would go over school security measures and prepare their classrooms for students.

Dr. Roach urged the teachers to aim for excellence in “everything we do – everything” and to turn to OISD administrators to get resources to do their jobs.

“In my heart, I believe that how well that first-grader learns those colors impacts our varsity football team. I believe our high school basketball team has an impact on our STAAR scores. I believe there are so many interworking parts in this thing that everything can have a positive or negative impact on everything else we do. It’s a fact. I have watched it for years,” he said. “I expect for us to put out the effort to be an ‘A’ with everything we do. We need to be open and honest, respectful and courteous in our communications with everyone - with our parents, with our colleagues.”

Mrs. Branum, who also heads the Olney Parent-Teacher Organization, urged teachers to incorporate parent input into their classrooms. She pointed out that barriers to involving parents include overcoming campus security requirements such as background checks for parents, parents who work full time, and “cultural clashes and discomfort with strangers.”

“The tendency is for parents to not be plugged into their kids’ education unless the district … the schools and the campuses are taking a proactive approach to getting ahead of relationship problems between parents and schools,” she said. “If we build relationships with families everybody learns more about the other person and that creates an opportunity for understanding where there could otherwise be conflict.”

Buy-in from the community has other rewards, she said. “If parents are out there saying positive things about the school the whole community is going to be aware of it. It just trickles out and they will help you with financial support.”