TO: Northwest ISD Students, Parents/Caregivers, and Staff
FROM: Ryder Warren, Superintendent
SUBJECT: Superintendent Update
NISD students, staff, and families – I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. After our 2020-2021 school year, many of us definitely needed time to recharge, and I can report to you that we’ve had a productive summer thus far. School may still be out for summer, but our staff members are hard at work preparing for the new year. This has been a particularly positive week for us as we kicked off the 2021-2022 school year with our Leadership Academy for campus leadership teams. It’s exciting to see the energy and enthusiasm they have to get our students back and to start the new year.
From professional development sessions to adding the final touches at our newest elementary school – Berkshire Elementary – we are working across the district to get ready for the best school year yet! The best way you can help us prepare for the new school year is by registering your child. If you haven’t already done so, please register your child at www.nisdtx.org/register as soon as possible –
and encourage your families and friends to do the same.
Having an accurate count of students helps us balance classroom sizes, determine our bus routes, finalize class schedules, and more. The more students who register early, the better we can plan and the fewer adjustments (and impact to other students and families) we’ll have to make once school starts.
Staff aren’t the only ones who have been working hard this summer. Our NISD Board of Trustees approved a balanced budget in June. Considering Northwest ISD’s tremendous student enrollment growth and a $15 million cut in projected state funding, this was quite an accomplishment – albeit a challenging one. I appreciate all of the work that went into making our operating budget an efficient tool that will continue to lead us to excellence in everything we do.
As always, your support is appreciated, and I thank you for being our partner in your child’s education. In Northwest ISD, we always strive to meet the needs of every child. This year is no different, but we also know the challenges of living in our COVID-19 world impacted some of our students academically. Our priority is meeting every child where they are and ensuring that they are academically back on track post-COVID. We have our work cut out for us, but by working together – with you and your child – we can accomplish this.
Finally, we have been getting some calls from concerned parents and caregivers about the news most of us are following regarding a COVID spike and the new COVID variants. There have been questions about how we would handle any new COVID challenges. Please know I really can’t predict week to week regarding all of our plans for the new school year – our world is still changing that quickly. However, it is still our intent to go through our 2021-2022 school year with both normal and COVID-specific safety procedures in place. We are going to continue much of the sanitation protocols we began last year to fight against COVID. However, school districts (by Governor Abbott’s last executive order) may no longer require masks, so I will communicate with our families and our staff that masks will be optional this year and that we are still recommending immunizations against COVID, but both of those are solely recommendations.
Our teachers and staff – including myself – are excited about the coming school year. Please enjoy the rest of your summer and know that we are looking forward to starting the new school year with your child on August 18.
Ryder Warren, Superintendent
Northwest Independent School District
