Lago Vista ISD

Lago Vista ISD

News & Announcements

Lago Vista ISD Board of Trustees Approves Compensation Increases

July 16, 2019

Last evening, the Lago Vista ISD Board of Trustees approved substantial salary and stipend increases for the District’s 2019-2020 employee compensation plan. As a result of the passage of House Bill 3 in the 86th Texas Legislative session, Lago Vista ISD will receive an additional $154,000 in state revenue that must be used to increase compensation for non-administrative employees. However, last night, the Lago Vista ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved an additional $450,000.00 in funds for employee compensation. In total, over $600,000 was approved for increases to employee pay.

The approved compensation plan for 2019-2020 includes significant increases in salaries at each step, with a special emphasis placed on teachers with more than five years of experience, as required by HB 3. When applied to the 2019-2020 staff, the salary increases approved by the Lago Vista ISD Board of Trustees include:

An average salary increase of 8% for all teachers, counselors, and librarians District-wide;
A minimum pay increase of 4% for all hourly staff;
A minimum salary increase of 3% for all administrators and directors; and
An additional $97,000 to the current stipend schedule, which are in addition to the overall salary increases.

"This competitive compensation package demonstrates our Board's appreciation for the service and dedication our employees provide to our students and community," said Superintendent Darren Webb. "Lago Vista ISD is fortunate to be able to provide meaningful pay raises and increased stipends for our hardworking and incredibly talented staff."

The District will continue to contribute $134 per month above the required contribution for employee insurance premiums, for a total contribution of $434 per month/$5,208 annually.

Lago Vista ISD Seeks District of Innovation Designation

February 20, 2017

The 84^th legislature passed House Bill 1842, which allows traditional independent school districts the ability to access flexibilities which had previously been reserved for Texas’ open enrollment charter schools. In order for an independent school district to obtain these flexibilities, the Districts must seek designation as a “District of Innovation.” On Monday, March 24, 2016, the Lago Vista ISD Board of Trustees initiated the process by adopting a resolution to pursue a “District of Innovation” designation.

On Monday, February 13, 2017, the Lago Vista ISD Board of Trustees held a public hearing to consider the development of an innovation plan and approved the motion to move forward with the process to develop a District Plan for Innovation, pursuant to Texas Education Code, Title 2, Subtitle C, §12A.005. The Lago Vista ISD Board of Trustees appointed the District Educational Improvement Committee to serve as the District of Innovation Committee. This committee is comprised of various stakeholders, including district and campus administrators, teachers, parents, community representatives, and business representatives. The committee will meet in February and March of 2017 to discuss and develop a District Plan for Innovation. The committee was arranged into 5 teams with the objective of investigating identified areas of the Texas Education Codes from which the District could benefit from modifying in order to make the education process more effective/efficient for Lago Vista ISD.

The Lago Vista ISD District Plan for Innovation was posted on the District web page for public input on February 20, 2017 for 30 days. The District Educational Improvement Committee will meet to consider feedback at a public meeting on March 22, 2017. Click here to view the draft plan.

UPDATE: The final Lago Vista ISD District of Innovation plan was approved by the Board of Trustees on July 12, 2017. Click here to view the final approved plan. If you have any questions about LVISD's innovation plan, please contact Dr. Suzy Lofton-Bullis.

Filing Begins for Board of Trustees Election
June 20, 2016

The filing period for Lago Vista ISD board of trustees places 1, 2 and 3 officially begins July 23. Residents interested in becoming a board candidate may pick up an application packet at Lago Vista ISD Administration office located at 8039 Bar-K Ranch Rd. between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday (except for Fridays in July). Because July 23 is a Saturday, packets will be available beginning Monday, July 25. Completed applications must be returned to the LVISD Administration Office no later than Aug. 22 at 5 p.m. See board elections for more information.

Texans Invited to Take SBOE Survey on Student Assessment/School Accountability
June 14, 2016

The State Board of Education (SBOE) has released a survey to seek public input about the State’s student assessment and accountability systems. The survey, available in English and Spanish, is open online to all Texans through June 30, 2016. The online survey addresses the issues raised about the state’s student assessment and accountability systems and seeks feedback from parents for the SBOE. The information gathered from the survey will be presented to the SBOE for its consideration at its July 19-22 meeting. The State encourages Texans to share the link to the survey to encourage widespread participation.

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2762440/State-Assessments-and-Accountability-Survey

Texas Commissioner of Education's Announcement Regarding 5th and 8th Grade STAAR Retesting and the Student Success Initiative (SSI)
June 13, 2016

On June 10, 2016 at 6:30pm, Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath informed school districts and the media that there will no longer be a 3rd STAAR testing opportunity in June for 5th and 8th graders who previously did not meet passing standards on their STAAR assessments this year. Commissioner Morath also stated that the State is waiving requirements for accelerated instruction (known as the Student Success Initiative, SSI) for these students. This decision was in response to ongoing complications and issues resulting from the State's transition to a new company for management of its STAAR assessments. The Commissioner's full letter is available at http://tea.texas.gov/taa_letters.aspx.

Normally, 5th and 8th grade students must pass both the STAAR reading and STAAR math assessments in order to be promoted to the next grade level. Students who are unsuccessful on the assessments must also participate in accelerated instruction. Under normal circumstances, if a student does not participate in accelerated instruction and does not pass the tests after three tries, the student must be retained unless a Grade Placement Committee unanimously agrees to promote the child to the next grade level. State law gives the Commissioner the ability to waive these requirements, when necessary, and the Commissioner has chosen to exercise this authority.

As a result of the Commissioner’s announcement, there are a few important things to note. First, students who were previously informed that they must take the 3rd administration of the 5th or 8th grade STAAR Reading and STAAR Math tests will no longer be required to retest later this month. Students who did not meet passing standards on the first two administrations of these STAAR assessments may advance to the 6th and 9th grades, if they met all other district criteria for grade-level promotion. The State will not offer a 3rd administration for 5th and 8th grade STAAR Reading and STAAR Math this year.

Also, students who were previously informed that they must participate in summer school to receive accelerated instruction before the 3rd administration of the 5th or 8th grade STAAR Reading and STAAR Math tests will no longer be required to participate in order to advance to 6th and 9th grade. Although it is no longer a requirement for promotion related to STAAR and SSI, it is still strongly recommended that these students continue to participate in summer school.

Accelerated instruction offered through summer school is an important intervention for our students and we are committed to our students’ successful academic growth. We recognize that, even in the absence of State requirements, it is important to support students who did not meet passing standard on the 5th and 8th grade STAAR tests with free academic intervention through our summer school program. As a result, all summer school academic programming will continue as previously planned and these students are strongly encouraged to continue attending.

Please note: the Commissioner's announcement ONLY affects students who did not meet the passing standard on the 5th and 8th grade STAAR Reading and/or STAAR Math assessments. All other students in summer school for promotion and/or credit recovery must continue attending.

TEA Letter to Testing Coordinators: Grades 3-8 STAAR Results Delayed to July 5
June 13, 2016

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) sent a letter via email informing school districts that spring 2016 STAAR results for grades 3-8 will be reported to districts on July 5 rather than June 15. Due to ongoing issues and concerns with reporting, TEA has requested that the testing vendor, ETS, conduct additional quality control checks and verifications. Scores are due to be in-district in early July and will be mailed to the parent/guardian of the student shortly thereafter.

To read TEA’s letter to testing coordinators, please click here.

Information on the 2016-2017 School Day and Academic Calendar
June 10, 2016

As we finish another outstanding year, Lago Vista ISD would like to share updates to our school day and academic calendar that will go into effect in August 2016.

School districts across the State are adjusting school start and end times in order to meet the change to instructional minutes mandated by HB 2610. To effectively make the shift to instructional minutes, while also ensuring a schedule that will allow the District to operate efficient bus routes, Lago Vista ISD will add approximately 15-30 minutes to the school day, depending on the campus/grade level. As a result of the additional instructional minutes, Lago Vista ISD students and staff will have the entire week off for Thanksgiving Break and will not have to make up the scheduled “bad weather days” if the District closes for any reason. This will also allow students to finish the academic year and high school graduation to occur before Memorial Day.

Campuses in Lago Vista ISD will operate on the following schedule for the 2016-2017 school year.

Lago Vista Elementary School
Grades PK - 3
7:45am - 3:00pm (435 minutes)

Lago Vista Intermediate School
Grades 4-5
7:45am - 3:05pm (440 minutes)

Lago Vista Middle School
Grades 6-8
8:15am - 3:58pm (463 minutes)

Lago Vista High School
Grades 9-12
8:10am - 3:50pm (460 minutes)

Additionally, the 2016-2017 academic calendar reduces early release days to four days. Campuses will release early on October 28th, December 16th, January 27th, and May 25th. The early release dates on October 28th and January 27th will be reserved for parent/teacher conferences.

NexGen 2.0 Plan Approved

April 19, 2016

On Monday night, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved our plan to expand technology integration, NexGen 2.0. We are very excited because this rollout will provide a technology rich learning environment in every classroom in Lago Vista ISD. It will provide additional technology tools for our students to be more successful in learning by placing class sets of devices in all K-8 classrooms and new devices with greater capacity in 9-12.

Our primary goal in the development of NexGen 2.0 was sustainability, especially in light of impending funding reductions in 2017-2018. Devices will be purchased this summer using Career & Technical Education (CTE) funds for 23% of the high school devices. The rest of the technology package will be funded using Instructional Materials Allotment (IMA) through a 4-year lease package. This will place Lago Vista ISD on a 4-year technology replacement cycle using Instructional Materials Allotment (IMA) to ensure sustainability for future technology integration without needing to use local funds. The tentative allocation plan for the fall 2016 rollout of NexGen 2.0 is as follows:

Lago Vista High School:
Continuation of 1:1 iPad devices. Current devices will replaced with iPad Air 2 64GB devices to address textbook capacity concerns. Additional devices will be purchased to plan for growth in enrollment. Each teacher will have an iPad Air 2 64GB device.

Lago Vista Middle School:
Each core classroom will have a class set of 25 iPad Air 16GB devices. One set of iPad Air 16GB devices will be available for checkout. Each teacher will have an iPad Air 16GB device. Lago Vista Intermediate School: Each core classroom will have a class set of 25 iPad Air 16GB devices. One set of iPad Air 16GB devices will be available for checkout. Each teacher will have an iPad Air 16GB device.

Lago Vista Elementary School:
Each core classroom will have a class set of devices. Grades 2-3 will have class sets of 12 iPad Mini devices. Grades K-1 will have class sets of 10 iPad 2nd and 3rd generation devices. One set of 12 iPad Minis will be available for checkout. Each teacher will have an iPad Air 16GB device.

Staff will receive more information in the coming weeks about the rollout of NexGen 2.0, including related professional development and the development of classroom protocol & instructional expectations. We want to thank our Board of Trustees for their support of instructional innovation, as well as the leadership team for their hard work on crafting this sustainable plan for innovation. We also want thank our parents and staff for their dedication to the students of Lago Vista ISD. Your commitment to excellence is what makes this District awesome.

Lago Vista ISD Announces Opening of Intermediate Campus for 2016-2017

February 8, 2016

Lago Vista ISD is pleased to announce a plan to restructure grade levels by adding a 4th-5th grade intermediate campus. The Lago Vista Intermediate School campus will open for the 2016-2017 academic year and will be formed by relocating the 4th grade from Lago Vista Elementary School and adding it to the current 5th grade location, which is presently a part of Lago Vista Middle School.

The benefits of the decision to transition to an intermediate campus model include:

Creation of a more developmentally appropriate learning environment for students in the intermediate grade-levels;
Improved efficiency in facility use to allow for additional growth in student enrollment; and
Facilitation of sequencing of curriculum and the fostering of a more effective and aligned professional learning community of teachers.

The Board of Trustees named Mrs. Stacie Davis as the principal of the new Lago Vista Intermediate School. Over the next few months, Mrs. Davis will meet regularly with the District Leadership Team to plan transition activities and parent meetings. The primary goal of these activities and events is to ensure a well-planned, well-communicated, and smooth transition for students, parents, and staff members. We have tentatively scheduled a Parent Meeting for Monday, April 4, 2016 at 6:30pm in Viking Hall. Changes regarding meeting dates and location will be communicated through ParentLink and through the District website.