FBISD opens elementary, upgrades technology
Pamela Brown, the principal of Fort Bend Independent School District’s newest school, Carolyn and Vernon Madden Elementary, exuded energy and enthusiasm as she hurried down the hallways of nearby Oakland Elementary, where she was working while waiting for Madden to open to the staff.
Entering an Oakland classroom, she perched on a childsized school chair at one of the desks and gushed about her new school, which cost $20.6 million to build.
“It’s got beautiful windows. It’s just amazing,” Brown said. “The contractor picked bright primary covers for every grade level, like second grade is red and kindergarten is yellow! It’s bright and cheery. It just makes me happy when I’m in there.”
Set to open on Aug. 24 in the Aliana community on the Grand Parkway north of U.S. 59, Madden is but one of the changes coming to Fort Bend ISD this school year.
District teachers are getting a salary increase, the student attendance policy has been altered and a technology upgrade aims to provide every high school classroom with wireless Internet this year.
Building a community
Madden is Fort Bend ISD’s 46th elementary school. In response to rapid population growth, four more elementaries will open by fall of 2017 in the district of more than 70,000 students.
Brown, who has been in education for more than 20 years, was most recently the principal at Fort Bend ISD’s Dra-
bek Elementary. She has been building the Madden community since her announcement as principal in January, organizing dinners and pool parties for the teachers and visiting future Madden pupils in their current schools: Pecan Grove, Holley, Jordan and Oakland.
Madden has a Twitter account up and running (“Communication is key!” Brown said), that has photos of the school and its teachers. Brown said her goal for the year is to inspire her diverse student body toward excellence in a high-tech, safe environment that feels like home.
Madden will have a pre-K program for students who qualify due to economic status, limited English-language proficiency, or a military parent. Madden will also have an extended day program, which is staffed by Fort Bend ISD and provides before and after school care.
Meanwhile, construction has started for Anne Sullivan Elementary, which is scheduled to open next fall. Elementary schools 48, 49 and 50 are in the design phase.
This fall, Fort Bend trustees will approve new education specifications, said district board president Grayle James, that dictate what the Fort Bend ISD school of the future should look like and why. These specifications will include energy conservation, natural light and multiuse and technology-friendly spaces, James said.
Even before formal approval of these specifications, designers and contractors have applied aspects of the concepts to Madden.
The district is in the midst of a three-year technology upgrade on its campuses, resulting from approval of a 2014 bond. Consequently, every Fort Bend ISD high school classroom will have wireless Internet access by December. The district is also reviewing its special education, gifted and talented and English as a second language programs, Superintendent Charles Dupre said.
An update of the special education program review will be shared with trustees in January, and any changes will take effect in the 2016-17 school year. This year, district teachers will get an average salary increase of 2.1 percent.
Attendance policy shift
This year, Fort Bend ISD parents and students should expect an altered attendance policy. Fort Bend ISD has updated the procedures and processes of its existing policy, in accordance with House Bill 2398, which was signed into law last spring and which decriminalized truancy in Texas. The updates are also in response to community complaints over aspects of the district’s policy last spring.
The changes, effective Aug. 24, are intended to make the policy more student-centered and consistent across the district, said Dawn Carlson, the district’s director of student affairs.
The role of assistant principal at each school will expand to include developing and documenting attendance plans developed with students who have multiple unexcused absences, along with their parents and a counselor or social worker as needed, Carlson said.
After 10 unexcused absences in a school year, the district has limited discretion in referring a student to a Fort Bend County civil court. The new state legislation exempts students who are pregnant, in foster care, homeless, or their household’s primary wage earner. The county has until January to announce its plan for handling truancy cases under the new law.
“Unfortunately, when you talk about truancy, it has a lot of negative connotations,” James said. “But the reality is we want to help students attend school.”