KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — Hays CISD Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright was left scratching his head on a Saturday in June after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new law requiring school districts to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
The law, which requires the posters to be up by September, specifies that the posters need to be at least 16 by 20 inches, but didn’t come with any new funding to pay for them.
Printing the oversized posters would not be cheap.
However, days after the law passed, Wright got a phone call from a religious group, offering to provide the posters for free.
“We will be placing them up as soon as we receive them all, so we will be complying with that law for sure,” he said.
Wright spoke with KXAN about meeting that requirement, and some of the district’s biggest challenges as it kicks off another school year.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Tom Miller: Last year, the Texas Education Agency gave Hays CISD a B rating. What does that tell you about what’s going right and what’s going wrong?
Dr. Eric Wright: We’re proud of that B rating because the assessment changed, and the cut scores changed, and it’s really pretty new. The fact that we were able to maintain the B rating means that we actually increased. Our goal every year is student growth. Every student grows. We believe that that happened, and obviously we’re shooting for that A, but we’re pleased with the B, and we’ll build upon that.
Miller: Earlier this month, the district opened up Ramage Elementary School, its 28th campus. How fast is this district growing, and are you able to keep up?
Wright: We have a 10-year facility plan. Every year we add an additional year, so we have 10 years looking forward, and so (Ramage) was part of our plan. We’re adding about 1,000 students per year here, and we build about 3,500 new homes per year. For those kids who are zoned to Hays CISD, we retain about 86% of them. With that in mind, we have to continue on that schedule to make sure that we have space for our kids.
Miller: Last year, you kicked off a new program where some employees are receiving subsidized housing. How is that going and how does that help Hays CISD?
Wright: We’ve gotten great feedback from our employees. It’s a tool to help recruit and retain employees. They’re getting discounted rates at two local apartment complexes. We’re also trying to expand that and go into single-family housing, and we’re working with a partner with Perry Homes to put about 360 units on the ground starting this year. We want to expand that and just help reduce costs so that, hopefully, it will attract more people into the teaching and education profession.
Miller: There’s this new law that requires cell phones to be off and stored away during the school day. How is the district going to enforce that, and do you think this is a good idea?
Wright: In theory, it’s a great idea because we want kids to socialize. We want kids to work together in peer tutoring for academic purposes. But kids are addicted to their phones, and so it’s going to be a major paradigm shift for them. We’re going to ask that they’re they’re silenced and put away and secured from bell to bell. We’re going to have to rethink the way that we do things. We communicate through apps to kids, for different schedule changes, for fine arts or for athletics, and so we may have to go back to old school and actually use the public address system for announcements. If our teachers see a phone, they’re going to have to take it up, which means that we have to tag it, have a chain of custody, lock it up, and then return it. A consequence is that you have to meet with the parent and the kid. I don’t want my principals and assistant principals doing nothing but dealing with phones all day. I think it will help academic performance, but I don’t think the people who implemented or passed this law really thought about the back end of it.
Miller: Another law I want to ask about has to do with the Ten Commandments. They are now required to be in classrooms. Are those going to be there when school starts?
Wright: We may not have them on the first day of school, but we did have a group that donated 1,800 posters for our classrooms. We will be placing them up as soon as we receive them all, so we will be complying with that law for sure. There’ll be some consternation, but we will be putting a sticker beside the poster or under the poster, just explaining that this is a law and signed by Governor Abbott. If constituents have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the governor’s office.
Miller: As you kick off another school year, what are your priorities?
Wright: We just want to make sure that student achievement is always at the forefront and that every single kid grows. We love pushing advanced academics. We love our career and technology education programs because they’re relevant to student pathways and future choices. We want our kids to be a part of our 100% Hays initiative, which means they are connected to a fine arts program, an athletics program, a career and technical education program. It’s so they have a smaller peer group and an adult advisor at all times to help them through any adversity or challenges that they may have.