Letter from the Superintendent
October 21, 2009

 
Dear AISD Community,

I hope you are as excited as I am to see all the transformation happening at Angleton ISD.  Since the passing of the 2007 Bond, the school district has undergone some major changes and additions, and we are still working to finish the bond project by its scheduled completion date of Fall 2010.  I am confident that we will meet that deadline and that all of our constituents will be pleased with the final product.

I know many of you may be wondering what the district has already accomplished and what still lies ahead.  I want to make sure you are with us the entire step of the way because you are the ones who voted to approve the changes and because you and your children are the ones who will enjoy the new AISD.

We have had many questions related to deconstruction in the district, and I will answer as many of those questions as I can.  No facility in the district is being torn down completely; parts of every facility will remain and will serve a purpose within the district.  I will highlight a few of the changes, but detailed reports including project summaries and future plans are available at the end of the letter.

Recently, you may have noticed some deconstruction at existing facilities, for example the changes at the old Wildcat Stadium.  The concrete stands were removed as was the field house.  The track, one restroom facility and one concession stand will remain, and the district is adding aluminum stands with a seating capacity of 500.  AISD will use the old stadium for various events and will open it to the public.  In addition, the current baseball field has seen some major changes with the field house, concession stand and restrooms being torn down, but construction will be complete on the new field next to the new stadium in time for our Wildcat baseball team to take the field this spring.

Also, I have received several questions asking what will happen to a few of our current campuses, and I want to reassure you that we are not doing away with any facility; however, some buildings will change in function.  The current Westside Elementary will no longer act as an elementary campus but instead will become the new alternative education center housing such programs as our Accelerated Choices in Education (ACE) program.  The facility will receive renovations to accommodate those changes.  The current Early Childhood Campus will undergo renovations as well changing it into a full elementary campus for Kindergarten - 5^th graders.

Although the current intermediate campus will no longer function as a school, the facility will be used by the district for a number of reasons.  Entire areas will be removed from the facility such as the library, auditorium, round band hall, H-Wing and C-Building.  We are leaving the gymnasiums, locker rooms and A-Building, and we are considering leaving the cafeteria, snack bar, administration offices and square band hall.  The district will use the remaining facility for storage and training purposes and plans to create an AISD history center that will be housed in the current A-Building.

Although we are transitioning into a new era, we still hold our history and our many traditions close to our hearts.  We want to preserve our past because we are proud of everything the district has accomplished since its establishment in 1897.  That is why we have worked hard to maintain our facilities and to utilize existing structures keeping a strong balance between old and new.  This can be seen with the changes happening at the Marshall Education Center.  The facility will be used for the district transportation department, but the building itself holds a lot of meaning to the community as it served as an amazing high school campus for many years.  Many Angletonians reached out to the district and asked us to respect that memory.  We felt it was necessary to honor that request and thus constructed a memorial as a tribute to Marshall High School.  We renovated the facility to be more accessible to the community and included a garden and public basketball courts.

If you have not seen the changes, I invite you to take a look because they are beautiful.  Once all the construction and renovations are complete, I believe the community will be more than pleased with the results.  We have worked diligently to achieve all the things we promised AISD constituents we would do at the beginning of the bond process, and we have stuck to our plans and objectives as we laid them out two years ago.  I encourage you to ask us questions and to be a part of the changes happening all around you.  As always, I am proud to be a member of Angleton ISD and to call Angleton my home.  There truly is no place like it.

Sincerely,

Heath Burns

AISD Superintendent