KATY MAGAZINE NEWS
November 14, 2018
Jennifer Lynn Greenway
This week at the Katy ISD School Board Meeting, many changes were announced including a new acting superintendent.
(Picture provided by Katy ISD...Greg Gregorski)
Acting Superintendent
During Katy ISD’s meeting on Monday, the board of trustees voted to appoint Deputy Superintendent Ken Gregorski as acting superintendent effective December 1, until a permanent district leader is identified. Superintendent Lance Hindt will continue to work closely with Mr. Gregorski and the Board until his retirement this January.
Mr. Gregorski has 26 years of experience in public education, which includes roles as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent.
The Katy ISD Board of Trustees continues to review and discuss options for its superintendent search. This is the most important decision a school board makes and no definitive timetable has been set for the process at this time.
New Namesake of Student Support Annex
(Pictured provided by Katy ISD...Jeanne Coleman)
At Monday night's board meeting, the Student Support Annex was named after Jeanne Coleman. She began her career at Katy ISD in 1998 at Nottingham Elementary as a speech-language pathologist with Katy ISD. Her role soon expanded to include the provision of speech therapy services for secondary students at the Opportunity Awareness Center and the Behavior Transition Program. She also coordinated district-wide speech therapy, adapted physical education and related services for occupational therapy, physical therapy, music and art therapy.
Coleman worked tirelessly on establishing eligibility guidelines for the district, overseeing assessment teams and establishing service program guidelines, all while maintaining federal, state and local guidelines. While in this role, her responsibilities continued to grow in size. Coleman became responsible for the supervision and administrative responsibilities for roughly 120 direct hires and contract speech-language pathologists. She also took on the instructional services for the visually impaired population throughout the district. Coleman retired in 2016 with 31 years of dedication and service to students and parents.
The Student Support Annex is the former University of Houston building that was purchased by Katy ISD after Hurricane Harvey to house Creech Elementary while it was repaired during the 2017/18 school year. The facility, which is now property of Katy ISD, will house the District’s Early Childhood Testing, Work-Based Learning Program, Speech Therapy Testing, Vision Impaired and Braille staff, Occupational and Physical Therapy, Licensed Specialist in School Psychology and other special education related services.
Employee Bonuses Approved
At Monday's board meeting, a 1% one-time pay bonus was approved for teachers and non-teacher pay grades.
New Principals Named
Stephanie Vaughan was named principal of elementary #42 that will open for the 2019/20 school year in the northwest quadrant of the district. Vaughan is currently the principal of Stephens Elementary and was named District-Wide Elementary Principal of the Year for 2017/2018.
Carrie Caruso was named principal of McDonald Junior High. Caruso is currently the Associate Principal of Morton Ranch High. The current principal of McDonald, Dr. Cummings, is retiring in December.
Elisabeth Brodt, who is currently the Associate Principal of Seven Lakes High, was named principal of junior high #16. Junior High #16 will open for the 2019/20 school year in Cross Creek Ranch located in the southwest quadrant in the district.
Attendance Boundary Modification (Elementary) for 2019/20
(Pictured provided by Katy ISD...ABM Option #1)
The ABM (Attendance Boundary Modification) above was approved for the 2019/20 school year. The district sent out surveys to parents with three options. This modification was needed due to the opening of Elementary #42 in the northwest quadrant of the district. The elementary school will open for the 2019/20 school year with 656 students.