SHEPHERD — Fighting occasional tears, Superintendent Dr. Jason Hewitt told the assembled board members that he intends to retire.
Hewitt made the announcement at the Thursday meeting of the Shepherd ISD Board of Managers, where he said he had served six years piloting the district.
Hewitt said that being in the fourth quarter of life, when sports teams win the game, it was the right choice to retire so he can spend time with new additions to his family, along with his wife, who in February announced her retirement.
Both the Hewitts have served as educators for 31 years.
Hewitt thanked the board members, administrators and staff at the meeting individually, and then complimented the teachers and students for accepting his leadership.
The retirement becomes effective Dec. 31, at which time he will move to a Superintendent Emeritus position and help the new leader during the transition.
In a separate matter, Tammie Hewitt shared recent benchmark data with the board.
“We gave the full release test. The 2025 STARR test that our kids took last year is one of our students most recently took. And we get it in its entirety,” she said.
According to the data, last year, students were at 34 percent meets standards as a district; after the recent tests taken in February, students are now at 42 percent.
“That means that the district has already shown growth. So if we were taking a start test right now, our students had already shown an 8 percent growth with time remaining for our teachers to help close those gaps,” Tammie Hewitt said.
Unfortunately, she said, Shepherd ISD experienced a 3-point drop in mathematics. However, Hewitt stresses that there is still time to make improvements.
“So I would say as a whole, we are on track as far as exactly kind of where we were at the end of my school year. So that is hopeful,” Tammie Hewitt said.
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