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MESSAGE FROM THE
MESSAGE FROM THE

SUPERINTENDENT
SUPERINTENDENT

Superintendent Letter to the Community

Families and stakeholders,

I am grateful to be celebrating one year here at Southside ISD. This has been an experience
of a lifetime. Southside is now my home and I would not change it for the world. While it has
been a challenging year with the pandemic, it has allowed us to witness our students and
staff excel in a time of adversity. This resiliency is what defi nes Southside ISD.
We still have much to do. STAAR assessment results must improve. We are working
diligently to improve our STAAR scores. In the midst of the pandemic, we had close to
90% participation in the STAAR assessment and in the overall scores, we slightly improved
compared to last year. Our projected College, Career, and Military Readiness (CCMR) is a
61 which would be an equivalent to a 91 rating. This is the highest CCMR rating that the
district has had. This is critical since this is used for next year’s accountability and is 40% of Domain I and 30% of Domain
III of state accountability. We also had the highest kindergarten readiness rate of a 65 and literacy growth of a 75 that the
district has had. While we have a great deal of work ahead of us, we are confi dent that the district is headed in the right
direction.

Summer Academies are back. Dual Language and Early College High school initiatives are being featured as examples
throughout the state (check out the cover story on how Southside is leading the way with Texas Lessons). STEAM
Academies and 2nd-6th grade intramural sports will be introduced next year districtwide.

ADSY, Addition Days School Year, has also launched at Menchaca Early Childhood Center. ADSY is an awarded grant
from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and funded through the United States Department of Education. The grant gives
us the opportunity to support early child development which encompasses the focus of the whole child with the foundation of
learning, behavior, and health. The experiences children will have during the additional 30 days of school will be hands-on,
student-centered, and experiential so students experience their learning through opportunities such as fi eld trips and special
visitors like a petting zoo. We are excited to see this eff ort translate into success for all of our early learners.
Safety and Security is another major initiative and priority. Drills have increased, patrols have increased. All guard shacks
now have a person assigned. We will have 24/7 daily security surveillance next school year. Right now 24/7 security
surveillance is provided on the weekends.

Vaccinations and COVID testing eff orts continue at Southside. We have partnerships with WellMed, WellCare, La Mision
Clinic, UIW, University Health, and so many others. On June 7th, we will have the Pfi zer vaccine at Menchaca Early
Childhood Center for ages 12 years and older. These partnerships and support will keep Southside healthy and strong as
we move forward.
We are committed to the Southside motto; We Are One. Together is how we will achieve success. I hope you enjoy this
issue of our newsletter. Please know you can always contact me directly with any concerns or questions.
Rolando Ramirez
Southside ISD Superintendent of Schools

2 www.southsideisd.org