I'm not sure how much some of you know about the Superintendent situation at Nac ISD, but from the reports I've seen, the fight over the previous superintendent has not been pretty. She just resigned & they named Alton Frailey, current SFA BOR & prior Katy ISD superintendent, as the interim.

http://www.ktre.com/story/37684281/nacogdoches-isd-school-board-appoints-interim-superintendent

I think this could be huge for SFA & Nacodgoches. IMO, having a bad school district right in SFA's backyard starts to undermine our teaching college. I think closer collaboration between SFA & Nacogdoches ISD could pay dividends for both of us.

If we can use our teaching college's experience to improve our local schools, that'll do two things. First, we'll have a great success story to point to for marketing purposes when trying to recruit students who want to be teachers & for school districts who want hire teachers. Second, improving the local school district will help us as we try to recruit professors & their families to the area.

I'm hoping that Alton will use this chance to promote greater collaboration between us & Nacogdoches ISD for our teaching school.

TallTexan said:

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I'm not sure how much some of you know about the Superintendent situation at Nac ISD, but from the reports I've seen, the fight over the previous superintendent has not been pretty. She just resigned & they named Alton Frailey, current SFA BOR & prior Katy ISD superintendent, as the interim.

http://www.ktre.com/story/37684281/nacogdoches-isd-school-board-appoints-interim-superintendent

I think this could be huge for SFA & Nacodgoches. IMO, having a bad school district right in SFA's backyard starts to undermine our teaching college. I think closer collaboration between SFA & Nacogdoches ISD could pay dividends for both of us.

If we can use our teaching college's experience to improve our local schools, that'll do two things. First, we'll have a great success story to point to for marketing purposes when trying to recruit students who want to be teachers & for school districts who want hire teachers. Second, improving the local school district will help us as we try to recruit professors & their families to the area.

I'm hoping that Alton will use this chance to promote greater collaboration between us & Nacogdoches ISD for our teaching school.

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From a huge Katy ISD to Nacogdoches. That's a very good hire!

Without getting too much into it, my family has been very involved with the move to make our local district a better environment for students and teachers. The number one argument is that a good school district is a benefit to our community as a whole: families, businesses, SFA, and the city. Starting about 4 months ago a very broad based coalition has united to say we need better.

SFA does have an OK relationship with some of our schools, and the teaching students do get a chance for real class time. But, the college wants more interaction, and I believe things will start to change to that effect. Mr. Frailey is an outstanding hire for an interim superintendent. It's likely that he will be here less than 6 months in this capacity, however, he can make substantive change for our schools. Hopefully he can bridge the gap between our high schools and university, and our teacher need and SFA's excellent elementary ed department.

nacluth said:

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Without getting too much into it, my family has been very involved with the move to make our local district a better environment for students and teachers. The number one argument is that a good school district is a benefit to our community as a whole: families, businesses, SFA, and the city. Starting about 4 months ago a very broad based coalition has united to say we need better.

SFA does have an OK relationship with some of our schools, and the teaching students do get a chance for real class time. But, the college wants more interaction, and I believe things will start to change to that effect. Mr. Frailey is an outstanding hire for an interim superintendent. It's likely that he will be here less than 6 months in this capacity, however, he can make substantive change for our schools. Hopefully he can bridge the gap between our high schools and university, and our teacher need and SFA's excellent elementary ed department.

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I've got a few friends in town who keep me updated who have kids in the current school system. I'm glad to see that the coalition is building. As someone who wants to move back to Nac eventually, hopefully with a business & family in tow, the level of the local school would be a big factor.

I think SFA & Nacogdoches have a real special opportunity here. We have a chance to take a great teaching college, combine it with a semi-rural(semi-urban?) school district with a large mix of regular to lower income families with a diverse background & try to build a top notch school district with it.

If this new coalition succeeds & builds a great school district, it could be a model for the rest of the state. That'd be huge for SFA & for Nac.

I think there is a lot of potential here. Our district used to be known as a academically strong center for elementary education. 25 years ago our Academic Pentathlon teams (which are a broad based A, B, C student mix tested on broad categories) were several times tops in the state. The public school system was representative of our whole community.

Unfortunately times have changed. My two school aged daughters are currently in a dual language program that teaches half the day in English and half in Spanish. By the time the students finish fifth grade they have established fluency in both languages. This program has brought the school a National Blue Ribbon Award (the highest public school award) nomination while being the best performing school in the district. The past administration felt like it was in the best interest of the district to close the program down to free up resources while giving themselves raises that accounted for more than the realized cost savings of dismantling an award winning program.

Anyway, things have changed over the past month, and I expect them to get better. The community is involved in an unprecedented level, and we know our future rests in strong education. I hope you do move back. My return has been one of the best decisions of my life. I love our town.

Sounds like a good hire for Nac. I had heard it was another SFA alumn that had the inside track for the job...Doug Moore

I'll ask around about that name. Now to be clear, we're still going to be looking for a permanent superintendent for next year. Mr. Frailey is going to come in for the near term to help out and hopefully keep TEA from taking over the district.

Moore was just coming as a interim as well. He has been all over east Texas, but his "biggest" stay was being Super at Sealy when they ran off four straight state titles.

His SFA Hall of Fame info: 2000 Doug Moore Track 1965-68

nacluth said:

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Anyway, things have changed over the past month, and I expect them to get better. The community is involved in an unprecedented level, and we know our future rests in strong education. I hope you do move back. My return has been one of the best decisions of my life. I love our town.

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I think we will eventually, the call of the mothership is a bit too strong to resist & we're small town people at heart. But for the time being, we're having a heck of a time traveling all over the U.S for work. However, we're constantly looking at business ideas in the towns we're in that would translate well to moving back to Nac for our side projects. We'll see.