District Administration - November 2008 - (Page 28)

DistrictProfile ROCKWALL (TEXAS) INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT Deep Is the Heart of Texas By Mary Johnson Patt Some SuperintendentS might be content to boast about the new schools and great test scores in the fast-growing community of rockwall County, texas. gene Burton, superintendent of the rockwall independent School district (riSd), has a less tangible priority. it’s the sight of young people demonstrating kindness and compassion that gives him “goose bump moments.” Schools in this burgeoning suburb 25 miles east of dallas have long been devoted to educating the whole child, says Burton. “We live in this fast-paced, high-stakes testing environment, and our students perform academically very, very well. But we believe in the three h’s: the heart, the head and the hands.” Birth of Compassion riSd’s counseling staff, led by director nancy Boyd, has spent the past year and a half designing and implementing a character-education curriculum that has already become a national model for reaching elementary-age children. riSd’s inspiration is the life story of rachel Joy Scott, the vibrant 17-year-old who was the first victim in the 1999 shootings at Columbine high School in Littleton, Colo. one month before her death, rachel Scott wrote an essay in which she challenged readers to practice her personal definition of compassion: “forgiving, loving, helping, leading, and showing mercy.” She was known at Columbine for reaching out to new students, those being bullied, and those with mental and physical handicaps. “i have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same,” she wrote. After rachel’s death, her father, darrell Scott, created rachel’s Challenge, an 28 November 2008 Nearly 10,000 residents of Rockwall, Texas, rallied at a local stadium last May to celebrate acts of kindness shared by elementary students and adults throughout the year. international outreach program devoted to preventing teen violence by nurturing a student-led culture of kindness within middle schools and high schools. he and a Rockwall (Texas) Independent School District Superintendent: Gene Burton, since May 1, 2001 No. of schools: 17 No. of students: 13,360 No. of teachers: 775.5 Students per teacher ratio: 16:1 Percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch: 22% Per-pupil expenditure: $7,018 District size: 102 square miles small speaker’s bureau composed of Scott family members and friends have spent several years traveling around the nation and abroad—sharing rachel’s thoughts and journals in countless school assemblies. Their work has inspired thousands of teens to form Friends of rachel social advocacy clubs on secondary campuses. Learning Early in the spring of 2007, rockwall’s nancy Boyd first witnessed the emotional impact that rachel’s Challenge assemblies had on texas teens. deeply appreciative, she voiced a challenge of her own to guest speaker Larry Scott, rachel’s uncle. Why wait until adolescence? “We need to start this in elementary school,” she told Scott. Boyd enlisted three riSd counselors—Christi Crump, dina rowe and rochelle eddy—to spend the summer of 2007 with her developing an age-approDistrict Administration Web site: www.rockwallisd.com http://www.rockwallisd.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - November 2008

District Administration - November 2008
School Breakfasts: An Added Value
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
1-2-3 Campus Safety
News Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Snacks as Part of Your School Nutrition Program
Technology
Facilities & Construction
Admissions
DA Web Seminars
Leadership Assessment
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Technology Books
Professional Opinion
Supervisor’s Opinion
Crisis Response
Problem Solution
Research Center

District Administration - November 2008