PEARLAND, Texas — Pearland ISD is two weeks into the school year and so far, so good, says Superintendent Larry Berger. Still, parents have their concerns and questions for him.
Berger is big on being in Pearland ISD schools.
“I have on my calendar that I visit a campus once a day,” he said.
On the day we met up with him, that campus was Turner College and Career High School. It’s where we presented the superintendent with questions from Pearland parents who took part in the KHOU 11 back-to-school survey.
Teacher shortages, recruitment and retention topped their list of concerns.
“I think the reason this question is asked is because they know we have good teachers and they don't want to lose those good teachers.” he said. “We currently have less than 10 what we call unfilled classes or vacancies that are currently being filled by long term subs. We don't have any classes right now that do not have a teacher in them or a long-term sub in them.”
Another parent asked about steps the district is taking to retain special education assessment staff, including diagnosticians, speech pathologists and school psychologists
“We are working on a kind of a hybrid home remote model and work at the office because what they'll do is, they'll try to do those evaluations and they get interrupted,” Berger said. “Kids come in. Teachers come in. Counselors come in. Parents come in. They need time to finish those evaluations and they also need that burnout time. We want to give them a little bit to work on the evaluations at home in a place where they can."
What is Pearland ISD doing to recruit more minority and male faculty?
“We want to make sure that the person in the classroom or the person leading the campus is the best person for that,” Berger said. “Fortunate enough, we have found the best people that happen to be minorities or males. We just had four long-term great elementary principals retire and we have replaced those elementary principals with a male principal, the only one we have in elementary, it's hard to find a male elementary principal, an African-American principal, a Hispanic principal and a bilingual principal. We didn't hire them because of those traits. We hired them because they were the best person for the job. It just happened to work out that they had those traits.”
From DEI to discipline, another concerning subject for parents.
One parent who filled out the questionnaire asked what policies the district will have in place to ensure students and staff are safe from violent and consistently disrespectful students in the classroom.
“So part of that is educating,. What is disrespectful,” Berger said. “What do we mean by that? Now, if we're talking about a kid coming to the classroom and having profane language with the teacher or disrupting the class, throwing stuff at kids, flipping desks, then we have to deal with that. But what is again lost sometimes in the details is what if that student is in special programs? People need to think about it. Like if a child comes to a classroom and they can't read, we don't kick them out of class because they can't read. We teach them how to read. If a child comes to the classroom and they have something that is either medically or psychologically preventing them from how to behave, we can't kick them out of the classroom. we have to teach them how to behave.”
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It's a delicate balance because every student has rights. Every student matters and they all play a pivotal part in their success.
“If we want to build Pearland proud, you have to be prepared,” Berger said. “You have to put in the work. You have to make sure that you are building positive relationships. You're making connections with people, so they put you on the right path when you're in trouble. And you have that fresh start mindset. Not every day is going to be a great day. You're going to have a bad day. Learn the lesson from that day. Carry that lesson and knowledge forward, but leave that negativity behind. Let every day be a great day for you at the start. And it'll become contagious.”
He has a great attitude despite facing a projected $11 million deficit.
Berger said that deficit grows quickly without any extra from the state. He’s disappointed none of the multi-billions from the big state budget surplus have been allotted to schools, especially since they're adding costs, but not adjusting for inflation.
“The legislature said safety was important, but they didn't put any money behind it,” he said. “I'm now required to have an armed guard at every campus and we're going to make that happen eventually. But it's an additional $3.5 million for me to make that happen. I'm already paying $1.3 million. The state gives us a safety allotment of $500,000. Do the math. We're in a deficit. We don't have enough money.”
Berger says he'll seek a Voter-Approved Tax Rate Election (VATRE) to make up the difference and ask voters for just 9 additional cents that he says will give the district $11 million dollars.
For an even more detailed breakdown, including the basic state allotment per each child and big budget items for Pearland ISD, watch the full interview below.
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