Fagen shares goals at district meeting
New Humble ISD superintendent Elizabeth Fagen faced a gathering of about 50 parents, teachers and students July 21 at one of three town hall meetings sponsored by the district. Fagen, 42, assumed her new role July 5.
“The one thing that is really important to me as a leader, is to really, deeply understand the students, the staff, the parents, the community and the individual schools, because I don’t think you can lead from a place without that deep understanding and without that knowledge,” said the new superintendent.
Fagen shared her teaching and administrative history that began in an Iowa biology classroom, and continued through the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona, and the Douglas County School District in Colorado.
Learning environment
The crowd focused its questions on the learning environment, teacher evaluations and testing.
“I want to support teachers and really find new ways to teach students,” Fagen said.
One audience member, who did not share his name, asked about the controversy in Douglas County where Fagen was serving as superintendent before coming to Humble ISD.
Fagen described the controversy as complicated, and with a lot of moving parts that included parents, the board of trustees and other entities.
Much of the negativity centered around some controversial initiatives included a new teacherevaluation system and market-based pay salary structure, according to me-
dia reports in the Douglas County News-Press and educational nonprofit Chalkbeat.org
Douglas ISD also is involved in legal challenges surrounding its attempt to create a voucher system. Parent’s petition
This ignited a petition among parents in June.
A group of parents said Fagen wasn’t properly vetted.
Vanessa Fuentes, who is a member of the grassroots group, started the petition the day after the school board voted to name Fagen as the lone finalist.
“I learned she was the lone finalist late Tuesday and I started doing research,” she said.
“As soon as I Googled her, nothing great came up. “Nothing positive.” A petition was launched, but it failed to sway the board of trustees to change their mind about their selection. Deserves a chance
Cindy Maren, the parent of a fifth-grade student, who’d heard about the petition but didn’t sign it, said she has confidence in Fagen’s ability to lead.
“I think she will do very well here,” she said.
“She has children who will be attending school here, too.
“She deserves a chance to show us what she can do for all of our kids,” she said.
For more information on the new superintendent or on the upcoming school year, go to http://humbleisd.net/