FIRST ROUND OF ATHLETIC DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS COMPLETED
The first round of interviews for Brenham’s new Athletic Director and head football coach were conducted this week.
Out of a pool of over 40 applicants, 7 were selected to be interviewed using the profile developed by community members and district leaders. The applicants include district athletic directors and head football coaches from 4A to 6A schools across the state.
Brenham ISD Superintendent Dr. Walter Jackson said “This position is one of the most desirable 5A jobs in the state. The applicant pool has been very competitive, just as we expected. Time was spent the week of spring break screening candidates to be interviewed. Our goal now is to interview and carefully research these outstanding candidates.” Dr. Jackson went on to say, “Brenham is a destination community with a premiere school district and a state-wide recognized athletic program. Our students and community deserve the absolute best, and that’s what we are going to give them. Brenham ISD will hire an outstanding head coach and skilled administrator who cares about fostering success for all student-athletes in this community.”
The top candidates will be invited back for a second round of interviews this next week. Although the timeline calls for a new Athletic Director to begin work on April 2nd, Jackson said ample time will be spent vetting, selecting, and presenting to the board of trustees a lone finalist for the position.
Besides Dr. Jackson, the other members of the interviewing committee include Brenham Assistant Superintendent of Operations Paul Aschenbeck, Director of Human Resources Christie Olivarez,
High School Principal Joseph Chandler, Sam Houston State University Vice President for Enrollment Management Dr. Heather Thielemann, and Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative General Manager
Matt Bentke.
Long-time Brenham Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Glen West announced March 5th that he was stepping down to become the assistant Executive Director of the Texas High School Coaches Association.
Some of these comments are truly laughable. The blind statements about underpaid teachers and district discipline problems. Brenham ISD has no idea what real discipline problems entail. I see teachers that have classroom management issues. I see teachers who don’t want to truly take time to build relationships with this generation of youth. If you are truly concerned, take action and do something to help the school system. Create community based mentor programs, study sessions and activities that will promote desired behaviors that we want to see in the schools. We all know that issues start at home. So when you begin to point fingers, please point the first one at yourself.
I have to take issue when you feel the statements are “blind”. I am strongly familiar with the discipline problems and the pay problems in this district. With a strong history in classroom management that has never once been challenged on an evaluation or in any other way, I can tell you the disciplinary support from the administration in my school does not exist. I have kids who are disruptive, aggressive, and show tendencies toward violence and I am repeatedly told the keep them in my classroom and that there is “nothing we can do”. When I try to call parents to discuss the child’s behavior often times their phone is disconnected, or they find someway to blame the school system for their child’s behavior. The complete lack of support from our elementary principal is unbelievable. After 20+ years of teaching with an impeccable record of strong standardized test scores, a solid record of classroom management, and a love for teaching, I am truly dismayed at the current state of our schools. I have never seen them this bad. I likely cannot post the words the describe how a feel about the sentence concerning community based mentor programs, study sessions, etc. There are two issues at play here, parents who will not behave like parents and raise their kids to be good citizens, and school administration who will not create behavioral accountability in our schools. When I point fingers, I as a concerned educator point them where they should be pointed at, the people that are to blame. And no, statements about the substandard pay are not blind, comparisons to other districts in this area clearly show we are behind the curve.
I have been with the district for twenty years. I get paid a teachers salary which I am grateful to the Lord that I have a job, insurance and I love my community. Every superintendent has done the best job they could considering the obstacles we face as a society. Pointing fingers at superintendents and the school board is so childish and non informed. When you came to a district you knew the pay. I am not sure why the “negative nellys” are still around. You need to retire. We are faced with the hardest task to compete with a ever changing society, lack of community resources, parents facing enormous stress, mental health issues, poverty issues, starving children on the weekends…. I could go on and on. I’ll I want to say is we are doing a fantastic job addressing issue that we face. You got to look at the whole picture of our community issues and stop pointing fingers. I am well aware of our hardships. That is my job. My boss and administration are doing a fantastic job. Never posted before but had to comment. I am very positive person and don’t complain cause I use God as my source of comfort. Stop complaining and maybe pray, go to church, or volunteer for us and see what we face….
So does this mean that nobody on the current coaching staff was interested in the position(s), or did you choose not to look at candidates from within? Just curious?
Positive Vibes, I’m not as certain that Brenham ISD is in the best shape it’s ever been in. Can you be more specific about what you’re basing your comment on? Are you speaking solely about being in great shape academically? I hear some pretty concerning stories about other issues within the school system that don’t give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
It’s too bad that academic standards aren’t held to the same level of athletic standards here in Brenham, Tx. If so, we would see posts like this every time we hired a new Principal or Assistant Principal. Or, even a new teacher!!!!
JoeBill, academics are very important in Brenham ISD since Dr. Jackson came to Brenham. Now, unlike in the past, ALL STUDENTS are a priority of the district. I’m thankful that every single hire isn’t posted so that they can be judged like you’re doing now. Brenham ISD is in the best shape it’s ever been in. Jump on the boat or stay at the shore…..
#onebrenhambetterTOGETHER
Amen, very well said, Brenham ISD has been moving forward in the last 3 years with our new district leadership!!!
I am sorry, but I have to disagree with your statement completely. BISD is most certainly not in the best shape it has ever been in! To make statements like that is to simply ignore facts. Talk with the teachers who are so stressed many are looking to leave because discipline is so badly enforced they cannot teach. Look at the continual decline in state standardized tests scores. Look at the ballooning administrative payroll while our teachers remain underpaid and under-resourced. Look at the state of our campus buildings and the lack poor upkeep of those very expensive structures. Check out the army of useless specialist on each campus that spend little to no time with actual students. While I do not place 100% of the blame on Dr. Jackson, he has to own some of this. In the meantime, watch as we hire a super expensive athletic director that will really show the misplaced priorities of our school administration.
I agree 100% with can’t believe what I’m reading. This district is sadly going downhill. Dr. Jackson should absolutely take most of the blame. The rest lies squarely on the shoulders of the school board that blindly goes along with every idea Walter Jackson comes up with. We are losing great teachers and great aides due to poor discipline and lack of support but no one seems to care because – hey – we are all replaceable. That is the attitude the administration takes in response to employees who have concerns and/or complaints. Yes, people can be replaced, but in many instances their experience cannot come close to being replaced.
You gonna have a real hard time convincing a lot of us that Mrs. Jenkins “blindly” goes along with what anybody says, much less the superintendent. You must never have taken Algebra from her.
I will say it once and I’ll say it again…. The district is in the best possible shape it’s ever been in! The first step into making any entity great is weeding out the bad apples!! Bc a business or district is only as strong as it’s weakest link. We’ve never had money in this district. That’s nothing new…. but it’s not Dr. Jackson’s fault. He is doing the best that he can to put the right people in place to ease some of the stress off of the teachers! Alton Elementary School is finally integrated, ECLC is remodeled and being put to great use and not being demolished, ALL STUDENTS are being heard and not just some! AVID is pushing our low income students to being given a chance in AP courses. Bc believe it or not, they are just as smart as the rest!!!! Stop listening to hear say of disgruntled teachers who finally have to teach all students and treat ALL students fairly…. In education, the teaching field is not easy… which is why it takes a SPECIAL type of person to work with kids!!!! I can tell you all some stories of how I was treated in BISD and you wouldn’t believe it…. but that’s the past. We are moving forward now…. and I am truly humbled….
If you don’t like what’s going on……. MOVE! You can make about 15,000 more just up the road and see how you’re treated….. Just like a number…. Discipline begins AT HOME. That’s what alot of people fail to realize…. Classroom management is where it begins as well. For so many years, Brenham teachers treated students badly and I know bc I was one of them. It’s finally a new era! ALL STUDENTS are being created equally. Not just the priveledged ones…. And the teachers who are stressed with so much experience are probably the ones who have ny been doing anything bc they haven’t had to for so long. Why work for a place where you have so many negative things to say??? Have you tried building relationships with the students? Have you tried getting to know the ones who get on the bus at 4 in the morning and arrive home at 5 in the evening? Probably not… Stop blaming the schools for not wanting to deal with ALL studentstudents and the teachers lack of patience. Try going to HISD, CY Fair, Waller or other schools if you want to see specialists. These are the people who are our in place to focus on a specific area. You may think they’re useless but my teacher friends tell me they are great. They do alot!!! They are the ones dissegregating data, breaking down benchmarks, writing lesson plans, and so much more. It seems as though you are a disgruntled teacher who did not get the specialist job. And please remember that Rome was not built in a day. Dr. Jackson has to first clean up those schools and the poison who’s been there for too long and once all the right people are our in place, then watch how the test scores will rise. Let’s take Alton Elementary as an example. It should not have taken this many years for anyone to break up the culture at that school. For so long it was a low poverty school with horrible test scores and no one wanted their children there. All he did was mix up the culture, add a few gifted white students and now EVERYONE wants their kids there and the test scores have risen tremendously. Or we can talk about the old Alton, which was about to be torn down. Jackson and Aschenbeck resuscitated the school and now it’s a beautiful campus, not perfect, but beautiful. I see the class as half full and not otherwise. God blessed this whole community when he sent Dr. Jackson. I’ve never seen this community so united and together as it is now…. I am proud to be a cub….. FOR ONCE!