As Goodrich ISD welcomed teachers back to school Tuesday, announcements of two prestigious awards highlighted the morning. Kimberly West was named Region 6 Staff Member of the Year and the board of trustees received Region 6 School Board of the Year.
Region 6 serves 56 school districts and gives just one of each award per year. Goodrich winning two awards speaks to the positive steps the district has taken recently, according to Superintendent Daniel Barton.
“I mean, it’s unprecedented. To have a staff member, I don’t know of anybody ever being recognized like that. But, I know for a fact the board’s never been recognized. They’ll both move on to state competition. There’s 20 regions in Texas, so they’re one of 20 now.
Region 6 Field Service Agent Steve Pierce was on hand Tuesday to present the awards. The superintendent said there are many factors that set his board apart from the rest.
“I have never seen a board that is so committed to a vision,” Barton said. “Their vision, of course, is to put Goodrich on a different playing field than it’s ever been, not just academically, but all around. They do it without personal agenda; they make decisions in the best interest of kids. They are student-centric.
“That’s what I think is special about them. They’re easy to work with. It’s like a team of eight. It just doesn’t matter whether we’re behind closed doors or not. They don’t bring personal agendas to the table.
“What I told the board in short was, ‘Guys, I’m going to nominate y’all for this, and I’m just going to be honest with you. The only way that you won’t win this is if I do a bad job in my communications as to what you have done and accomplished here.’ You’ve got to look at the end product. We’ve got a health science program, we renovated our ag building, the fiscal responsibility side, we’ve got a new athletic facility going in. We’re not going out for bonds. This is what we spend out of our fund balance.”
The board consists of President Rigoberto Reyes, Vice President Rosalie Blackstock, Secretary Thomas Finger, and members Tim Harrell, Julie Mack, Lidia Merino and Kayla Scott.
“We don’t have teacher turnover anymore. That’s really a thing of the past. We don’t struggle to find teachers. Goodrich ISD was the highest paid 1A district for starting teacher salary in the state of Texas this past year. We started at $57,400. You’re talking about a school board that when I started here, we were at like $36,000 with starting pay. Teacher recruitment and retention are the two biggest stories in education, and have been since COVID. The way to get there is that we have to be able to hire the best and then retain the best. And there’s two things that will make that happen. One of them is going to be culture. The other is going to be financial reward.
“They said, ‘OK, we’ll out-pay anybody else that’s relative in the market. As a result, we’re able to hire these really great teachers that you just can’t go find. They’re superstars. And, district teachers of the year, those kinds of things. Our halls are full of those kind of teachers, and they stay.”
Another place the district has been able to hire well is staff. That was evident Tuesday, as West received her award. She started as a paraprofessional at the district about five years ago, and helps the third grade.
“It wasn’t long into the game, we figured out this lady’s not a paraprofessional,” Barton said. “She’s a teacher. She’s not like having a para; she’s like a real teacher. I get over there and start investigating and – come to find out – she’d been in the business like 20 years being a paraprofessional at elementaries. Over the time, she basically learned to be a teacher.”
Principal Brenda Langley echoed Barton’s compliments.
“As far as her work ethic, she jumps in immediately and sees things before others see it,” Langley said. “She is there to assist in the cafeteria, the library, and anywhere she is needed across the district. Even though she’s only assigned to the elementary, she’s district-wide help always.”
