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Cowboys continue making the grade


Posted Date: 05/02/2018

Cowboys continue making the grade

TILDEN – Whether it is in the areas of finance or student performance, the McMullen County Independent School District continues to rank high.

Superintendent Jason Jones said after the Jan. 18 board of trustees meeting that the district scored a 100 on the 2016-17 Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST) report. According to the Texas Education agency, a passing score is 60.

“The FIRST Rating was a perfect score!  This is attributed to the hard work of our Business Manager, Krystal Huschke, who is exceptional at what she does,” Jones said.

The full report, which is available online, judges the district on 15 indicators. McMullen County ISD received an unmodified – clean – opinion on its last audit and that there are no material weaknesses in its financial record keeping.

A public hearing was held for FIRST, and a second one was held for the 2016-17 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR), for which the district was given a rating of “met standard” after having met 100 percent of all system safeguards.

In all four performance indexes – student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps and postsecondary readiness – McMullen County ISD scored well above the state’s target scores.

“MCISD performed very well on our student accountable measures for 2016-17 school year,” Jones said.  I would attribute this to the hard work by our students, staff and principals.  As always, we will continue to focus on improving in all areas.”

In other business, the board has taken the first steps in the review of the district’s technology plan, which will chart McMullen ISD’s course for the next five to seven years with the goal of preparing students for the future.

“We want to ensure that our student computer labs are current, update our student devices with current industry standards and provide optimal instructional tools for teachers in the classroom,” Jones said.  “This plan will give us a solid baseline for the next few years and we will continue to closely monitor student needs as this plan is adopted and implemented.”

Board members Walt Franklin, Warren Wheeler, Michael Gunter, Joe Varastegui Jr., Mart Harris, Chris Turner and Karen Wheeler also were recognized for their service as part of School Board Appreciation Month.