Spring Branch ISD Celebrates a Successful Academic
Year on Campus
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learning. They also developed in-person and virtual learning options to make sure every student received the same quality of academic and social-emotional education. Having once converted our kitchens into classrooms, we stand in awe of how a high school physics instructor created an interactive lab via Zoom or an elementary teacher managed to keep all of her first graders focused during a virtual “morning circle.” We’ve also learned one indelible lesson: the value of in-school learning is priceless.
Thanakorn Campbell, the mother of a 6th-grade student at Spring Forest Middle School, says the counseling staff at Spring Forest answered every one of her phone calls and emails to put her at ease before her son started the 2020-21 school year. She has continued to speak to her son's teachers and other staff members to make sure she understood the tutorials, parent workshops, and additional information that her son has brought home.
“The benefit of being in the classroom is as much academically grounded as it is social-emotional,” says Dr. Jennifer Blaine, Superintendent of the Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD). "Children at the youngest level are learning to share, to communicate, to work and play with others. For our middle schoolers, the bond with their teachers is critical, and our high school students are discussing worldly situations with their peers as they prepare for life as adults.”
Last spring SBISD hit the ground running, working with government officials who stated that teachers, from kindergarten to AP classes, would be virtual for the remainder of the 2020 academic year. As they prepared for virtual classrooms, a gargantuan task, they also began plotting a course for reopening for the 2020-21 academic year.
“I’ve heard parents say that teachers had all spring and summer to prepare for this year,” says Dr. Blaine, who entered education as an elementary teacher more than three decades ago. “But they had to take their entire curriculum and create a dual approach for in-classroom and at-home learning that equally benefitted both learning environments. Ideally, we would have had an onsite and virtual teacher for each classroom, but that was impossible. Every educator had to double plan for every moment of every school day. Even with this workload, I have not heard one single complaint from one of our teachers.”
MEET JACKIE GARCIA,
A senior at Northbrook High School
Jackie wouldn’t describe her college application process as “fun,” however, as a result of her hard work, determination, and school support, she will matriculate at Columbia University in the Fall of 2021.
As a first-generation college applicant, Jackie says she couldn’t rely on experienced parents to guide her process, but she was able to lean heavily on her support staff at Northbrook. "I had many phone calls with my counselor up to 9 p.m. to get key documents for my application. I would also talk to my advisor late at night.”
She committed the same effort to maintain her friendships and other goals in a year when gathering socially either casually or for school events was impossible.
Dr. Jennifer Blaine
Superintendent of Spring Branch Independent School District
"The sky is the limit for our kids, who have been amazing since reentering classrooms on September 8th. We have not seen the spread in the schools because the kids have followed every protocol. They understand how important it is to be with their peers, to interact with their teachers both academically and socially emotionally. As superintendent, I have never been prouder of our students, their parents, the teachers, and administrators than over this past year."
"Something I have learned socially is that you have to put in the effort for your friendships. If you really want something you are going to have to go for it and do it. I am not as afraid to ask my friends for help because we are all doing this together, if I am struggling then it is helpful to know someone else is too. I have also learned to manage my time better."
"This student-parent-teacher partnership is critical. For this year to work the parents needed to be completely on board with sending their kids back to the classroom. I inform them of all the protocols that we as a district are taking like mask-wearing, social distancing, and wellness screening. We are able to give our students a sense of normalcy in the classroom, social-emotional experiences, and communication skills, in addition to their academic work."
MEET JACKIE GARCIA,
A senior at Northbrook High School
Ms. Yepez says she has also adjusted, learning to be more patient with herself, to give herself more grace and understand what she can control, and let go of realities she cannot change in her classroom, with her students, and with her peers.
"As teachers, our priorities remain to set up a safe, welcoming environment where the students enjoy learning and want to be here," she says. "We still make it fun!"
T
his past fall, teachers in the Spring Branch Independent School District performed heroically to create healthy classrooms to welcome back students for in-person
Kinsey Yepez, M.Ed.,
a teacher at Nottingham Elementary.
Jackie intends to study biochemistry on a premed track in New York City at Columbia, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to work in medicine. Dr. Blaine says that her goal as superintendent is that every student succeeds with post-graduation success.
“In the end we want all of our kids to graduate from high school having choices, we want our kids to be prepared to do whatever they want to do from joining the military, gaining a technical certification, entering a vocation, or attending two-year or four-year college or university.”
Dr. Blaine says for kids at the lower levels the foundational years are just as important, as they lay the groundwork for future success in middle and high school.
Dr. Blaine anticipates a return to normal in the coming fall, with no mask mandate and a resumption of extra-curricular activities like clubs and sports. Whatever the fall brings, the Spring Branch Independent School District will be prepared to educate our children so that they can, in the words of Jackie Garcia, “reach for the stars and land on the moon.”
Visit the SBISD www.springbranchisd.com/enroll to learn more about the 2021-22 school year.
Inspiring minds. Shaping lives.
Thanakorn Campbell, the mother of a 6th-grade student at Spring Forest Middle School, says the counseling staff at Spring Forest answered every one of her phone calls and emails to put her at ease before her son started the 2020-21 school year. She has continued to speak to her son's teachers and other staff members to make sure she understood the tutorials, parent workshops, and additional information that her son has brought home.
“The benefit of being in the classroom is as much academically grounded as it is social-emotional,” says Dr. Jennifer Blaine, Superintendent of the Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD). "Children at the youngest level are learning to share, to communicate, to work and play with others. For our middle schoolers, the bond with their teachers is critical, and our high school students are discussing worldly situations with their peers as they prepare for life as adults.”
Last spring SBISD hit the ground running, working with government officials who stated that teachers, from kindergarten to AP classes, would be virtual for the remainder of the 2020 academic year. As they prepared for virtual classrooms, a gargantuan task, they also began plotting a course for reopening for the 2020-21 academic year.
“I’ve heard parents say that teachers had all spring and summer to prepare for this year,” says Dr. Blaine, who entered education as an elementary teacher more than three decades ago. “But they had to take their entire curriculum and create a dual approach for in-classroom and at-home learning that equally benefitted both learning environments. Ideally, we would have had an onsite and virtual teacher for each classroom, but that was impossible. Every educator had to double plan for every moment of every school day. Even with this workload, I have not heard one single complaint from one of our teachers.”
Last spring SBISD hit the ground running, working with government officials who stated that teachers, from kindergarten to AP classes, would be virtual for the remainder of the 2020 academic year. As they prepared for virtual classrooms, a gargantuan task, they also began plotting a course for reopening for the 2020-21 academic year.
“I’ve heard parents say that teachers had all spring and summer to prepare for this year,” says Dr. Blaine, who entered education as an elementary teacher more than three decades ago. “But they had to take their entire curriculum and create a dual approach for in-classroom and at-home learning that equally benefitted both learning environments. Ideally, we would have had an onsite and virtual teacher for each classroom, but that was impossible. Every educator had to double plan for every moment of every school day. Even with this workload, I have not heard one single complaint from one of our teachers.”
Jackie intends to study biochemistry on a premed track in New York City at Columbia, the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to work in medicine. Dr. Blaine says that her goal as superintendent is that every student succeeds with post-graduation success.
“In the end we want all of our kids to graduate from high school having choices, we want our kids to be prepared to do whatever they want to do from joining the military, gaining a technical certification, entering a vocation, or attending two-year or four-year college or university.”
Dr. Blaine says for kids at the lower levels the foundational years are just as important, as they lay the groundwork for future success in middle and high school.