Dean sees rewards for seniors earning school diplomas
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

This may be Bill Dean's first graduation as the official superintendent of the Jasper Independent School District; he did have a little practice.

Back when Dr. Eddie Dunn first came to Jasper, he left to attend his daughter's graduation in Troup and Dean had to step in to serve as interim superintendent at the 2005 graduation ceremonies.

"Their graduation was the same night so I subbed for him so I can say I have one year sub experience at graduation ceremonies," Dean said.

And while the 2007 JHS class crosses the stage Friday evening, Dean knows this "is what we work for."

"I really enjoyed going to the JHS Scholarship Program because it felt good to see what has been accomplished by some of these students over the years," Dean said. "You like to seem them get benefits for the hard work they have done.

"It means a lot to the everyone involved with these students," Dean said. "It's the culmination of a lot of hard work for the staff and these students. It's a pretty touching moment for everyone involved."

As this year is ending, next year's school year starts Tuesday, May 29 for Dean and the administrative staff of JISD.

"We begin registering students for summer school May 29 and begin classes on May 31," Dean said. "This is a real busy time of the year for us.

"The summer is one of the busiest times for central administration," Dean said. "Having done the business here for more than 21 years, we spend the summer trying to keep up with the changes from the Texas Education Agency and school finance issues."

Dean said he expects changes in the school finance issues in the coming months. These changes may affect school districts operation status in the coming years, according to Dean.

"What I look for is that in the 2009-2010 school year, you will see a lot of school districts affected adversely financially by the current school finance plan," Dean said. "I think districts will be looking to consolidate their services or school districts that are close together. I will not be surprised if that happens."

Dean believes this slowdown in school funding will hurt small districts in their efforts to hire quality educators and keep them.

He said math, science and ESL teachers are hard to find and recruit to smaller school districts.

"We go recruiting and (Human Resources Director) Chris Coleman has visited 12 colleges this spring to advertise for teachers," Dean said.

Dean also expects a change in the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests (TAKS) that are administered at Texas public schools.

He believes end of course year assessments are in the future for public schools instead of the TAKS tests.

"To me it's a much fairer form of assessment for students," Dean said. "