Welcome to The Journey
Spring Branch ISD Launches Learner’s Journey
A Journey to Be Different
As the morning sun spilled through glass walls high above Spring Branch, the Learner’s Journey began. A string quartet from the Memorial High School Orchestra provided soft sounds as friends and neighbors, colleagues and associates mingled on the unfinished 10th floor of CityCentre Five, the newest office building in the ever popular CityCentre mixed-use development.
Some 300 community members and stakeholders were there early Tuesday, Sept. 27, for yet another part of the event – the public launch of Spring Branch ISD’s new Strategic Plan – The Learner’s Journey – developed throughout the fall, winter and spring of the 2015-16 school year and unanimously adopted by Trustees in April.
The choice of space in a high-rise office building was both deliberate and symbolic, with imagery alluded to several times throughout Superintendent Dr. Scott Muri’s keynote address.
“Who are we?” Muri asked guests. “Look out the windows. We’re businesses, industry, non-profits, faith centers, engaged parents. You see a community … and we’re on a journey. And this morning we’re Spring Branch ISD. Welcome to our journey.”
Spring Branch ISD is about core values – Every Child, Collective Greatness, Collaborative Spirit, Limitless Curiosity, and Moral Compass – Muri said, and believes in a “high quality education for each and every child that comes through our doors.”
“To be better, we have to be different,” he said. “Today, we launch The Learner’s Journey.”
The district is also now a District of Innovation, a designation that will allow some measure of local control so that “we can be decision-makers on our own journey,” said Muri.
A Focus on Achieving Spring Branch T-2-4
The Learner’s Journey is the pathway through SBISD’s Strategic plan, comprising four major areas of work: Resilient Foundation, Learning Ecosystems, Extraordinary People and Customized Supports.
And the destination? While a Learner’s Journey is never complete, the Strategic Plan is designed to reach the district’s singular goal of T-2-4 – doubling the number of SBISD graduates who successfully complete military training, obtain a technical certificate or complete a two- or four-year degree.
“Our students should not only attend (post-secondary education), but succeed,” said Muri.
Ten organizational opportunities were identified by Muri during his “Look, Listen and Learn” tour conducted during his first 90 days on the job in the summer and fall of 2015, opportunities that were further refined into the four major strands of the Strategic Plan.
- Resilient Foundation – Creating a strong organizational base. Staff was reorganized over the summer to better align with the work ahead. Professional Learning Communities (PLC) are being created to bring principals and teachers together to talk about children.
- Learning Ecosystem – Thinking differently about how we educate children. Virtual learning labs in SBISD high schools have proved so popular that they’re already being expanded. “Tiny innovations” – ideas that start small then scale large – are happening in classrooms across the district.
- Extraordinary People – Investing in employees. SBISD is creating personalized professional development for employees. The district is also creating an “opportunity culture” where employees can “spread their wings” and take on new challenges, Muri said.
- Customized Supports – “We do not do this alone,” said Muri. “It takes Spring Branch (the community) to make this successful.” The district has launched Xtra Credit, a program that allows local businesses, with a small donation to the Spring Branch Education Foundation, to offer SBISD employees discounts and other perks.
We are proud. We are brave. We are learners.
Building on the message from this year’s employee convocation, Muri exhorted the Spring Branch community to be proud, be brave, be a learner.
Be Proud. “When you look out these windows, don’t take it for granted. (Spring Branch) is a special place. And be proud of your school district. It believes in Every Child.”
Be Brave. “We’re on a journey. We do not do this work alone so we ask that you be brave with us … as we travel along this journey we ask you to be brave.”
Be a Learner. “We are always learning. We’ll trip and we’ll fall. But I promise you this – we’ll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and get back to work.
Westchester Academy of International Studies freshmen and twin sisters Leila and Niloufar Madanizdadeh tag-teamed slam poetry about how the journey – more so than the destination – is what is remembered. Spring Woods High School freshman Imani Davenport’s powerful rendition of “Rise Up” sent guests off with an uplifting message of what might happen when we do better for children.
Muri recognized the Spring Branch Education Foundation, who for the second consecutive year presented gifts to the district of more than $1 million.
And in a surprise announcement, Muri revealed that the Houston Endowment has approved a $450,000 grant to SBISD to move at an “accelerated pace” along the Learner’s Journey.
“Truly,” Muri said, “the village in Spring Branch is alive and well.”
by Rusty Graham