Robert E. Lee is our neighboorhood school. For quite some time, the standard line issued to parents moving into our neighborhood has been "it's a great neighborhood, but you can't use Lee." We are changing that. There is no reason that Lee cannot turn into the school that Stonewall Jackson is, and that Lakewood Elementary is becoming. It takes involvement, and that is what this website intends to foster and facilitate.
There has been talk for couple of years about rezoning Stonewall and sending some of its kids to Lee. Stonewall parents have fought any rezoning, and rightly so. Lee must become a place that parents want to send their kids. How will this happen? Through our collective effort.
We do not want to diminish any work that has gone on at Lee in the past. But, how can we expect the committed staff at Lee to create a great neighborhood school without the support of the neighborhood?
Lee is on the brink of something special. The turnaround has begun.
The factors that will make Lee exeptional.
1) The commitment of parents currently on the sidelines in a wait and see attitude.
2) The recasting of Lee as a competitive school to give us needed students and involved parents.
3) Principal and staff engaging in hard, proactive work with our support.
4) The beautification of the Lee campus.
According to the DISD, Stonewall is currently at 110% to 124% capacity. Lee is at 40% capacity. Making the hard decision of boundary change is pro-active, but may not be necessary. It would increase the pool of students and involved parents from our neighborhood and will encourage current in-zone parents to join in the ascension. However, we must get the school right first or simultaneously. We should become involved with our School Board Trustee Jack Lowe and our Area Superintendent Emilio Castro to determine the best direction of Lee's future.
Furthermore, block captains should be designated to canvas their respective block gathering data on how many children 11 years and younger are in residence and where those children go to school, or are intended to go to school. We should pay particular attention to the parents of children under five in order to recruit healthy kindergarten classes of neighborhood children.
We should prepare literature to furnish to prospective parents, telling them what our school is doing for us and what we are doing for our school. Parents need something in hand to sell them on their school.
We must volunteer at Lee: to teach, to read, to beautify.
Superintendent Hinojosa is setting a high bar and calling for increased accountability of our principals. What do we and Lee need to do in order to make our neighborhood school the school of choice?
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Lee is changing
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