Kaufman County Superintendents United AUTHORS: OLIVIA RICE
Terrell ISD Director of Communications and Marketing
BRYANT MARTIN
inForney.com Publisher
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N FUN AND SPORT, districts within the same county are often positioned against each other as rivals. Mayors make friendly wagers on whose team will win the homecoming football game, leaving one donning the opposing team’s jersey at the next city council meeting. Superintendents and district leaders playfully compare the number of graduation tickets each graduate will receive for commencement or the district’s policy on staff jean days. While the public often only sees the friendly competition, what they may not see is the collaboration and teamwork happening behind the scenes. In September 2020, Kaufman County commissioners made a historic pledge that public school children county-wide would benefit from an initial $2 million dollars in federal CARES Act dollars. These funds were further maximized by grant funding, thanks to the extraordinary collaboration and hard work of a group of Kaufman County school superintendents. In conjunction with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), passed by Congress in March, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) also offered public schools grant money to recover the cost of technology expenses for devices and connectivity infrastructure that was initially absorbed by local districts during the pandemic and onset of virtual learning. This specific TEA grant money only
matched COVID relief dollars given to districts by their local counties; therefore, to maximize state and federal dollars, local school administrators needed to solicit the support of local county commissioners. In some instances, this would allow local districts to double their CARES Act dollars. Kaufman County superintendents saw this opportunity to put aside friendly competition and roll up their sleeves to work together on an initiative that would benefit every student across the county. What happened next was an unprecedented act of collaboration to garner an incredible amount of funding. “We have always worked closely together and met regularly to share best practices and collaborate on common issues,” Scurry-Rosser Superintendent James D. Sanders said. “Since the onset of the pandemic, these meetings have become more frequent, more informative and more powerful than ever before. We have realized together during this time that there is a commonality to all of us, but that each district brings its own set of skills and resources to the table that helps benefit us all. It has been extremely special to watch as we have worked together in ways we never would have imagined before,” Sanders says.
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