Dear Rockwall ISD parents, family and friends,

January is the start of our second semester for the school year, but in many ways it’s the time when we begin planning for the next school year. Our trustees recently approved the school calendar for the 2015 – 2016 school year and we’re beginning discussions on our budgets, events and goals for the coming year.

This January is especially noteworthy because it marks of a community effort to chart the course for our schools for the future. On January 7, we held the first meeting of our 2015 Bond Planning Committee.

This committee made up of 60 parents, business leaders, political leaders and teachers has been charged by our Board of Trustees with examining the needs and projected growth in our district. They will then decide what bond funding is needed to support the type of schools  and educational opportunities we all want for our children and community. Our last bond election was in 2007 and since that time our student population has grown by more than 2,500 students.

The committee still has several months of work ahead matching our community values to the needs in our schools but we expect they will have a recommendation to the Board of Trustees by August.

Also starting in January is the biannual session for the Texas Legislature. Education is always a hot topic in Austin but one message I’ll be sharing with our representatives is the importance of local control of schools. As the session continues I’ll share additional information about how bills under consideration would impact our schools.

I’d also like to share just a few of the recent successes of our students:

• The Rockwall ISD Future Farmers of America Agriculture Mechanics Team won four awards at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Agriculture Mechanics Contest. More »
• Nine Rockwall-Heath High School Health Science students placed into Area and State Competitions in the schools first year participating. More »
• Rockwall ISD Culinary Arts students created a recipe called the “Gobbler Gobbler Slider” for the Kids Fit Menu at the Cotten Patch Cafe. More »
• Fourteen Rockwall High School students are advancing to the state Business Professionals of America competition after claiming the top spots at the Regional Competition. More »
• Springer Elementary’s Robotics teams won the “Best Score” and “STEM Engineering Research” awards at a VEX Robotics event. More » 
• Rockwall-Heath Senior Ashlyn Hohenshelt was named a finalist for the 2014 Davey O’Brien High School Scholarship. More »
• Teams from Stevenson Elementary and Springer Elementary placed first and second in the North Central Texas Region Stock Market Game. More »
• Williams Middle School’s Academic UIL teams won the 7th and 8th grade district championship. More » 
• Rockwall-Heath High School’s Boys Basketball Team is undefeated so far this season. More »
• Rockwall ISD Middle School Wrestling Program hosted their first ever duel tournament and placed first. More » 
• Shannon White, a senior at Rockwall High School, was named to the Texas All-State Choir for the third year in a row. More »
• Tyler Burden, a sophomore at Rockwall-Heath High School, was named to the Texas All-State Band. More »

Exemplary schools anchor great communities. With your continued support, Rockwall ISD’s future will be bright. More importantly though, our students will be prepared to thrive and lead after they graduate.

Thank you.
Jeff Bailey
Superintendent