Navasota ISD discusses FIRST rating
*Editor’s note – NISD Board Members, Valerie Jefferson and Tim Harris were absent from the meeting.
Navasota Independent School District held a special hearing to discuss the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) and the possibility of NISD becoming a recognized District of Innovation (DOI).
During the meeting, Navasota ISD Superintendent Dr. Stu Musick stated the district received a rating of “C” (meets standard achievement) which reflects data from the 2020-2021 school year. Musick said the district generally has an “A” rating. “I have shared with y’all [NISD Board of Trustees] before, it was an absolute perfect storm of scenarios,” explained Musick. “We had already committed and invested not only some fund balance money, but also some bond investment earning money to facility projects.” Musick said, that is when COVID-19 hit and impacted those investments.
Enrollment for the 2019-2020 school year is compared to enrollment numbers from 2018-2019 school year (pre-Covid). NISD had 196 fewer students enrolled in the district in 2020-2021 than the previous year. Musick said that decline had the most impact on the FIRST rating.
More information about FIRST ratings is available at tea.texas.gov.
District of Innovation
Navasota Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Learning, Dr. Tracy Stone, presented a plan of action for the district to pursue a DOI distinction. A portion of the process includes holding the public hearing.
To be considered for a DOI distinction, districts must have a district academic accountability rating of “C” (acceptable) or above. Navasota ISD has an accountability rating of “B.”
DOI distinctions allow more flexibility to districts including educator certification, teacher, contracts, calendar adjustments such as first and last day of school, class size and purchasing and contract requirements.
NISD School Board member, Jennifer Ramirez, questioned certification requirements for teachers. Her concern is what minimal requirements must be met to be hired as a teacher in the district.
Derek Bowman, Director of Personnel and Administrative Services, said flexibility in teacher certification would allow the district to not necessarily hire an uncertified teacher but could benefit the district by allowing a teacher that excels at a lower grade level to possibly teach at a higher grade level even though they may not have the higher level of certification.
In regular session, the board approved to move forward with the DOI distinction and establish a committee. Currently the DOI committee will include the district administration team, campus principals and campus assistant principals. Musick stated once school resumes after the holiday break, the district will look to add campus teachers and staff, community members and parents to the committee.
Intruder Detection Audit
High Point Elementary School and Navasota Junior High School were 100% compliant during their Intruder Detection Audit.
Significant Disproportionality Notifications
Navasota ISD was reported to be in compliance in 96 of the 98 indicators compared to state averages.
The two areas out of the compliance range compared to state averages are:
• The number of out of school suspensions for special education students.
• The number of white, autistic students in the district.
“The second one - there’s not much, if anything we can do about that,” explained Musick. “We are, and will continue, to work on improving the first one.”
Fund Balance
Navasota school board member, Paul Malek, announced $2.926 million is being placed into fund balance.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the NISD Board of Trustees is scheduled Monday, Jan. 23, in the Navasota High School Library beginning at 7 p.m.