It’s official – Mineola elementary campus acceptable

By Phil Major
publisher@wood.cm
Posted 9/23/21

Thanks to a small and little-publicized section of a new state law, Mineola ISD is able to move past the “F” grade received by its elementary campus the last time school campuses were rated by the state.

Superintendent Cody Mize announced the great news at the Monday school board meeting.

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It’s official – Mineola elementary campus acceptable

Posted

Thanks to a small and little-publicized section of a new state law, Mineola ISD is able to move past the “F” grade received by its elementary campus the last time school campuses were rated by the state.

Superintendent Cody Mize announced the great news at the Monday school board meeting.

He said a provision in Senate Bill 1365 allows districts who met certain stringent criteria to earn new ratings, even though the state opted not to rate districts last year or this year due to the pandemic challenges.

The district had already determined that, if districts had been rated, MISD would have received an overall “A” using the state criteria.

With the provision from SB 1365 in place, Mineola Elementary earned the acceptable rating, putting that “F” grade in the rear view mirror.

Mize praised the administrators, teachers and support staff.

Of course none of it could have been achieved without the students.

Mize noted that one of the criteria was to have at least 95% of students take the state tests.

Mineola hit the 99% mark.

Elementary Principal Brittanty Thompson said, “This is truly the teachers. They worked endlessly with the students,” adding that they are an “awesome team.”

Mize said he is still working to get exact numbers, but around 1,000 school campuses across the state were “in the same boat,” and fewer than 100 were able to get their ratings raised due to efforts last year.

Another piece of state legislation that the district has been waiting on has been approved to fund remote learning.

Mize explained that the district has an asynchronous learning system in place, and under the new law, the district can seek funding reimbursement going back to the start of school.