Boerne Independent School District teachers, staff and administrators went back to the future on Tuesday as they vividly were reminded that that future is in their classrooms.
The district hosted its annual opening convocation in the Champion High School Auditorium as “Marty” and “Jennifer” of Back to the Future movie fame paved the way for “Doc Brown” to encourage and challenge the hundreds of teachers in attendance.
“Doc” was BISD Super intendent Tom Price.
“There’s no place I’d rather be than BISD,” Price said. “And that’s because of the people in this room.”
The superintendent stressed that BISD is a family, albeit one that has 1,600 members.
“Family holds us together,” he said. “Family is important. … We are a family and we all need to be there to support each other.”
Price reviewed some of the challenges of the past few years as the district went through the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to go through growing pains as the student population continues to swell at a rapid pace. He said that despite the growth and the fact that BISD is “larger than 950 school districts in the state,” the district still has that small-town feeling.
“And that’s because you care,” Price said. “We are part of this community.”
Keeping up with the theme of the day, Price spent some time talking about the BISD student body and where the district wants to go as it continues to educate those young minds.
“Our priority is safety,” he said to the teachers, “which includes you as well as the students. You work hard and teach every day, but if everyone doesn’t go home safely it doesn’t matter.”
Price then pointed his comments forward, saying the district “needs to make sure our arrows are going in the right direction.”
And that direction is educating students to be ready for that future – whatever it entails.
“We must prepare our students for this brave, new world,” he said. “We need to prepare them for a different type of world. We need to prepare our children for a world that doesn’t exist yet.”
Price said the basics – like reading writing and math – always will be essential.
“But what else?” he said. “What skills do we want our students to have to prepare them for their world?”
He continued.
“The future is in our classrooms. And you need to have the freedom to teach and to motivate. … We need to make sure we give you the opportunity to be you … so we can make the future bright for all our students and make all their dreams come true.”
He finished by saying, “Let’s get back to the future.”
Throughout the skit, Marty and Jennifer, played by Champion senior Westin Eades and Boerne High senior Samantha D’Amico, visited various years to try to determine when BISD was at its best. At each stop, high school students danced to music of the times.
In keeping with the theme of the day, all of the BISD campus principals were invited to the stage and Athletic Director Stan Leech played a game that matched each school with its opening year.
The district’s 2021-22 teachers of the year also were recognized.
In the end, it was determined that the district is at its best right now.
“BISD keeps getting better year after year,” D’Amico said in character.
“The greatest year every year is today,” Eades said.
“This is the best of times, and we’ve had the best success,” Price said.
The Boerne ISD academic year gets underway on Wednesday, Aug. 10.
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