by Nicole Bradford
Pearland ISD is among eight school districts selected for a training initiative designed to amplify the voice of public schools at the state level.
“If there’s any time that public schools need to have their voice amplified, it’s now,” Superintendent Larry Berger told the board during the announcement.
The Raise Your Hand Texas Trustee Advocate Program gives school boards and superintendents the tools to find, use, and amplify their voices.
Through the Raise Your Hand initiative, districts are trained in a program known as “listening circles,” which are used to gain feedback locally.
“It could be teachers, parents, students,” Berger said, “you ask questions, and then you just listen.”
Two listening circles have been held thus far with a district educational committee. Concerns brought up included student mental health, teacher recognition and support, addressing student behavior and discipline.
The Trustee Advocates Program is issue-based and non-partisan. In addition to Pearland, districts selected for the program’s second year were Corsicana ISD, Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD, Tomball ISD, Plano ISD, Port Aransas ISD, Prosper ISD, and Temple ISD.
“Public school board trustees and school superintendents bring a unique and important voice to the table in public education policy debates at the Texas Capitol,” Dr. Libby Cohen, senior director of advocacy for Raise Your Hand Texas, said in a statement. “These local leaders can offer invaluable firsthand experience and on the ground insight, helping shape meaningful, sustainable policy that benefits the students, teachers, and the public-school community.”
