Latest news with #Hirschi
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wichita Falls ISD partners with Third Future to boost Hirschi Middle School
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — For eight years. Hirschi Middle School, formerly Kirby, has been below an acceptable accountability rating. The Wichita Falls ISD Board of Trustees voted to enter into negotiations with a turnaround and education improvement partner. Legacy High unveils advanced new band trailer features 'We've really failed these kids,' Board of Trustees, Place 5 Representative Jim Johnson said. Johnson noted the shortfalls the board has made in trying to turn Hirschi around. The campus is at risk of being taken over by the state or closed. 'We've been doing the same thing year over year from about 2016, and the results have been kind of stagnant since then,' WFISD Superintendent Dr. Donny Lee said. The board is now taking a different approach in turning the campus around. The board turns to Third Future Schools to be the school operator for Hirschi Middle School. 'We're trying to jump ahead of this in anticipation of the 2024 Accountability Letter and partner with Third Future to get the ball rolling now, instead of waiting another calendar year and lose another year of academic instruction,' Lee said. Currently, the school is projected to receive an 'F' rating for the 2024 school year. Lee and the board said that Third Future Schools' track record speaks for itself, with the company operating several schools across Texas. 'We looked at Mendez Middle School in Austin, a very tough middle school. It went from an F to a B,' Lee said. 'We're going into this with the expectation that there's going to be some significant improvements in student outcomes where we would not do it.' While Hirschi will still be under the WFISD, Lee says Third Future Schools will have access to personnel hiring decisions. Lee said the organization will conduct interviews with staff next week. The district will offer staff the option to interview with Third Future Schools, or they will find a suitable position within the district for them. Third Future Schools will decide who will work for them as the operator of the Hirschi. The organization champions turning failing schools around in a quick timeframe. Now, only time will tell the fate of Hirschi Middle School. The WFISD will host a town hall meeting for the community regarding the partnership. It begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at the Career Education Center. The partnership is scheduled to begin in Fall 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
WFISD school board presents turnaround plan for Hirschi Middle School
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Much-needed changes are coming to a Wichita Falls middle school after several years of underperforming. READ MORE: TEA visits WFISD — Q&A with Dr. Donny Lee The Board of Trustees for the Wichita Falls Independent School District met in a regular session on Monday, April 14, 2025, at 6 p.m. Among the meeting's agenda items was the presentation of a turnaround plan for Hirschi Middle School (formerly Kirby Middle School). 'Today, the Board got to hear a turnaround action plan for Hirschi because it's one of our lower-performing schools,' Dr. Donny Lee, WFISD Superintendent, said after the meeting on Monday night. Improving WFISD's middle schools has been a topic of discussion for the school board for several months, with a particular focus on Hirschi Middle School. Dr. Lee said the turnaround plan, unanimously approved by the WFISD Board of Trustees, is a comprehensive plan to get things back on track for the Huskies. A presentation given on the plan can be found below: PREVIOUS STORY: Hirschi holds town hall after successful first semester During the school board meeting on Monday night, several community members showed up to provide feedback on the plan, bringing up concerns like behavioral issues and district attendance zones as contributing factors to Hirschi's low performance. 'If we keep feeding in kids to our school who are in a failing school, how are we going to fill those gaps?' Joyce McCurdy, a community member, asked the board during the public hearing that preceded the meeting. Dr. Lee said that underperforming elementary schools are a reason the plan for Hirschi was put together. 'If they're low performing when they get to middle school, it's going to be a realistic assumption to say that they're going to be low-performing at the middle school unless we do something drastically different,' Dr. Lee said. One place that starts is with the school's curriculum, Bluebonnet, which will create continuity for WFISD students from elementary school to middle school. That kind of continuity didn't exist for them before. 'So now there's this seamless transition of curriculum that goes from our elementary to our middle schools, and we haven't had that prior,' Dr. Lee said. READ MORE: WFISD school board discusses TEA visit According to the turnaround plan, progress will be gauged using near-daily assessments so administrators can monitor changes in the student's scores in real time. 'What we're going to be doing is looking to have measures in place at the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and end of the year, specifically for Hirschi, so that we know how they're doing all year round,' Dr. Lee said. According to Dr. Lee, Hirschi will be able to implement the new plan with the help of the TEA, Region 9, and WFISD curriculum specialists. He and the rest of the trustees are hopeful that the steps being taken can bridge the learning gap and get things back on track. 'We want our kids learning, and we want them to have one year's growth in one year's time,' Dr. Lee said. 'All of our students.'Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Paid parking signs pop up unexpectedly in downtown Ogden
OGDEN, Utah () — Visitors to downtown Ogden on Tuesday morning were met with a surprise: At least a dozen new paid parking signs greeted drivers at one of the most popular parking lots. It was no April Fool's joke. Electric Alley runs parallel to historic 25th Street and offers some of the best parking spots for those visiting the businesses downtown. Under new private ownership, some of the parking will become paid parking. However, the and other businesses are working to keep as much of it open and free to the public as possible. 'Bad,' Crystal Stultz told referring to the parking situation downtown. 'Just bad. We've always had to do loops to find parking.' Except for the lack of parking, she and Tiffanie Bowcutt enjoy visiting 25th Street and the shops that call the area home. 'We love coming to Ogden to recreate,' emphasized Bowcutt. Former Box Elder County judge makes first court appearance for child sex crimes 'It's always been a hunt [for parking] but if you but if it's paid parking, you're going to be hunting for the lowest price for the amount of time you're here,' Stultz said just minutes after the two women paid for a parking spot in a lot long known for being free to the public. 'You better hope you don't go over that time,' added Bowcut. After making a few loops around the block, the two women decided to head over to the parking lot, surprised to find signs at the entrance asking them to prepay before entry. Bowcut stated, 'If we're getting mixed signals, 'Oh it's free public, but now all of a sudden, it's paid,' that's going to be really confusing for the locals.' They weren't alone in the confusion. 'Shocked, yeah. We weren't planning on this,' Blake Hirschi, Operations Director for Slackwater, told ABC4. 'We weren't informed.' Slackwater is one of the businesses that relies on the parking lot to draw in customers. Hirschi explained that the restaurant has parking spots that belong just to the business and then has some that it shares with the hotel next door. While the hotel is the only business mentioned on most of the paid parking signs, a handful list both the hotel and Slackwater. Something Hirschi said the restaurant had no part in doing. 'We love our Ogden community,' he said. 'We're grateful to serve them every day. I really hope that we didn't have any say of anything to do we this. Our name is on the signs. I don't know if they can even legally do that.' The topic of paid parking is one that has long worried Hirschi and Slackwater. He added: 'Our neighbors over here have mentioned paid parking and the parking issues they've been going through, and I've always counseled them that it would be received poorly by the community. I think for us, especially with our guests, assuming that we're involved is going to have a negative impact.' As far as the near future, Hirschi told that he hopes the signs will be removed until they come up with a better solution. Ogden City also owns part of the lot. 'There was a little bit of confusion about what stalls here are paid and what stalls continue to be free,' stated Mike McBride with city communications. He explained that a new hotel ownership group essentially had the signs put up overnight without notifying the city beforehand. 'They're going to take these signs down for now,' McBride said. The signs don't clarify where the public can and cannot park. After working with the company's contracted towing company, they came up with a solution. For now, the signs will be taken down, then the spots owned by the hotel will be clearly marked and numbered, there will be a short educational period to allow people to learn about the new paid parking, and finally, the signs will go back up after April. Tuesday morning's confusion, McBride said, highlights one of the city's needs as the downtown area grows and develops. He explained: 'We are currently working with stakeholder groups to talk about managed parking in the downtown area, specifically.' 'What that requires is collaboration with business owners, like the hotel and surrounding businesses to make sure that we engage in a managed parking system that benefits business owners, employees, patrons, and our visitor economy. We really want this to be a system that benefits all those folks.' There are also some plans in place to increase public parking. One of those is a parking garage (part of the WonderBlock development project). It is located next to the 2nd District Court downtown. It is expected to be finished in the fall and add 800 parking spaces. McBride also told that in working with the towing company that is contracted to take care of the hotel's parking lot, people who paid for parking before the signs were removed can be reimbursed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Wichita Falls ISD board reviews academic progress reports from four schools
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — The Wichita Falls ISD Board of Trustees heard from four campuses about their academic progress just before STAAR testing began. Superintendent Dr. Donny Lee said the overall theme the board heard was 'making small incremental improvements.' United Supermarkets donates to help Texomans in need Principals from Hirschi, Southern Hills, Fain, and Booker T. Washington brought their reports to board members, showing how students have progressed since taking an assessment at the beginning of the year. The reports give board members a projection of where students will be when they take the STAAR test. 'We try to educate the whole child and try to really ensure that all of our kids are growing. Every year we focus on growth. What does that mean? That means if they were reading on the third-grade level last year, we want to read on a fourth-grade level this year. Same with math. So we want constant improvement,' Lee said. STAAR testing begins April 8 for districts across the state. Lee knows educators are entering crunch time, so he will provide the support they need before testing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
WFISD school board discusses TEA visits, mental health resources
The attached PDF's show the TAPR for Kirby Middle School, which is now Hirschi, and Booker T. Washington Elementary. WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Wichita Falls ISD board members will continue discussions on school improvements after a public hearing and board meeting on Monday, Feb. 17. During a public hearing before the regular meeting, the school board was given a presentation on how to understand the Texas Academic Performance Report that the Texas Education Agency issues for each campus. Hirschi is in year five of school improvement, while Booker T. Washington Elementary is in its second year of improvement. Kirby Middle School TAPRDownload One of the topics discussed following the TEA's visit to Hirschi is the upcoming TEA visit to Booker T. Washington. During the visit, they will discuss ways to improve the school after a TEA representative also gave critical feedback to Hirschi during their visit. The visit to Booker T. was initially set for Feb. 13, but due to illness, it had to be rescheduled to March 20. Booker T. Washington TAPRDownload Board members also discussed resources for students after the sudden closure of Rose Street Mental Health Care, including teletherapy, or t-chat, and how more sessions were being used to help students more now. T-chat services are provided by Texas Tech University and regulated through the TEA. Officials are also working to prepare counselors to offer their services to students. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
