During citizen input at the Little Elm Independent School District Board meeting on Monday, Feb. 20, several community members spoke on teacher retention, the proposed four-day school calendar, and board transparency.
Several parents, teachers and concerned citizens spoke highly of the board as individuals, but when it came to communicating with the public as a whole, there was a lack of transparency, some citizens said. The most recent example is Little Elm ISD Superintendent Daniel Gallagher being placed on administrative leave with pay, which several citizens said they found out from Facebook.
The Little Elm Independent School District announced in November 2022 that Superintendent Daniel Gallagher would officially retire at the end …
The email said that the change was “necessary for the immediate leadership needs of our students, teachers, staff, and administration. While we focus on the superintendent search, we are placing an acting superintendent in this leadership position.”
Little Elm ISD Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Services Shay Adams is serving as acting superintendent until a new superintendent has been found, which the board said will hopefully be in spring 2023.
Long-time LEISD teachers spoke during the citizen input portion of Monday's meeting to discuss that they have been looking at leaving the profession and the district despite teaching for decades. Instead of a destination district, it’s looking more like a resignation district, one teacher said.
According to the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Little Elm ISD has a 22.5% turnover rate when it comes to teachers, compared to 14.2% in Denton ISD, 14.9% in Frisco ISD, and 12.9% in Lewisville ISD.
With teacher turnover rates being so high in LEISD, some citizens and board members thought that the four-day calendar would help with the retention, which was first brought to the board in May 2022.
During citizen input, one person stated that the board of trustees violated the Open Meetings Act during their Jan. 4 special meeting and made a decision on the four-day week without public input.
Teachers and parents are calling for more transparency and communication from the board about school decisions, as teacher retention and the four-day week are not the only issues they have been vague about, one concerned citizen said.
During the meeting on Monday, Dr. Penny Tramel presented two five-day calendar options: Blue and Silver. The calendars went through District Educational Improvement Committee adoption and the board expressed concern about creating time for teachers. The two calendars presented best met the criteria of those needs based on the information administration received during the Feb. 6 workshop with the board.
The Silver calendar was approved for the 2023-2024 school year.
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Arianna Morrison is a reporter for Star Local Media, covering the communities of The Colony, Little Elm, Carrollton, Lewisville, Flower Mound and Coppell. Email her with story ideas and more at amorrison@starlocalmedia.com.
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