As the new school year begins, I want to take this opportunity to address my top two priorities as superintendent of Birdville ISD. They are staff and student safety, and student achievement.

Over the past four years, BISD has been addressing safety concerns on our campuses. This includes: additional security personnel, security cameras, securing all exterior doors, and adding buzzer systems to the front doors of all elementary and middle school campuses. With the passage of the bond referendum in November 2014, additional measures are being addressed, including adding security fencing around all play areas at elementary campuses.

We make every effort to keep our students and staff safe while they are at school. Yet, it is everyone’s responsibility to help keep our children safe as they travel to and from school.

Safety education is one of the best defenses in protecting our children. Schools remain among the safest places for our children. However, we must continue our efforts to educate our children about personal safety whether they are on or off campus. Child safety issues concern us all. BISD supports your parental efforts and asks you to take the time to go over the following safety tips with your children:

• Walk to and from school in groups.
• Never accept a ride without first getting permission from parents.
• Never take shortcuts. Always stick to routes selected by parents, and stay on main roads.
• Never advertise that you are going home alone. If you wear a house key, keep it under your clothing.
• Have plans for emergency situations and practice them at home with your parent(s).
• Have your parent(s) help you make a list of safe places you can go to for help along walking routes.
• Report all suspicious behavior and “new adults or older friends” to parents.
• Never leave school with anyone before checking with school officials.

* These safety tips were taken from the Run*Yell*Tell, Ltd. anti-victimization program founded by Diana Jones, a national leader for child safety issues.

Working together, we can provide a safe environment for our children.

My second priority is to focus on student achievement. I am proud that our students showed improvement on state and national tests again this year, however, there is still room for improvement. BISD is, therefore, committed to continuous improvement as we focus on student learning.

I want to celebrate some additional academic successes from this past year. They include:

• ACT scores for 2015 were released, and BISD’s composite score of 21.5 for English, mathematics, reading and science is higher than the state composite of 20.9 and the national composite of 21.0. (SAT scores will be released later this fall.)

• The Texas Education Agency announced the 2015 district and school accountability ratings under the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests. Birdville ISD and all 31 regular education campuses earned a rating of Met Standard, and Shannon High School earned a rating of Met Alternative Standard. These are the highest ratings available in the state’s accountability system.

No matter how successful our students are, we must continue to focus on my highest priority of student and staff safety. If they do not feel safe at school, how can they learn? So as we look forward to great things happening this school year, I once again ask parents, staff and the Birdville community to be diligent in helping keep our community and schools safe.