This doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges ahead. Opening a fully-staffed school — with strong campus leadership and high quality teachers — on August 24 is critical to Pearce’s success. We will offer incentives; some very dedicated educators will take on the challenge. The research shows that the effectiveness of the classroom teacher is the most important factor in student success, and that the effectiveness of the school leader is critical to school success. We have to keep focused on what’s best for these students.  
 
I want to thank the AISD Board of Trustees and the Pearce community, including students, parents and staff, for their faith in me as the new Superintendent. In our crucial July 15 meeting at the campus, the Pearce community gave AISD the go-ahead to develop a repurposing proposal and to negotiate that plan with TEA in order to keep Pearce open. The community gave us the space we needed to keep Pearce open and to come up with a plan that will serve Pearce students well.  
 
I pledge that, with today’s approval of our plan, this partnership will not end. This Administration will continue to meet with the Pearce community to discuss full implementation of this plan throughout the school year. I also want to assure Pearce parents that, at Monday night’s Board meeting, we clearly heard about the support services you want to help ensure your children’s academic success.  
 
Our challenges at Pearce are not isolated to that school—as Austinites, we all live in the Pearce community. Once this school year is underway, I commit to engaging in future conversations with the entire Austin community, so that we can discuss together how we can take all the schools and students of Austin to high levels of academic performance. We need to hold deep conversations about systemic academic improvements, working to make sure our chronically underperforming schools turn around, and that we support our successful schools too.  
 
Implementation of a Comprehensive Strategic Plan, including academics, that matches this mindset is crucial, and will be the subject of all District planning this school year, and in the future.