RLISD means business, despite changes at TEA

The Texas Education Agency announced in early December that they would be pausing the A-F rating system for the 2020-2021 school year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Students will still be required to take the State Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) test, which is designed to gauge what they have learned throughout the year and their ability to use that knowledge. 

A number of districts across the state have come forward with praise for the break, but for area schools, it’s life as normal as students return to the classroom this week.

“It’s been a tough year, I’m not gonna lie,” Rosebud-Lott Independent School District Superintendent Dr. James Rosebrock said to the Rosebud News. “This was the fairest thing to do.”

He says that accountability scores haven’t been of a high concern for the district in past years, but that he believes pausing the system is better than the carryover of past scores.

“It won’t give us updated data,” he said. “I do hope we’re able to determine what we would have gotten.”

The educator is adamant that staff will continue to teach with the same vigor as before and that one can only hope students will continue their paths to greatness.

RLISD has faced the same challenges as most other districts, such as remote instruction, learning gaps, and attendance, but they have been lucky thus far in the way of COVID-19. There have only been two students that have tested positive for the virus, as well as one staff member. 

“Now, we’ve had students put under quarantine because of their households and those concerns,” Rosebrock elaborated further. “But there has been zero spread within the school campuses themselves.”

There have been no school closures thus far, though a single third grade class was sent home to quarantine for 14 days out of precaution.

“I’m really proud of our staff and our board for all they have done this year,” the superintendent enamored. “There’s been no complaints, they’re working hard, and they’re diligent with the protocol changes.”

This is Rosebrock’s first year at RLISD, though he has been an educator for about 30 years. He took the reigns from Dr. Steve Brownlee, who retired in May.

“I do believe we’ve further straightened the ship,” Rosebrock stated. “It’s picking up and full speed ahead.”