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Ask Elsie -- January 10, 2019
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ask Elsie is a column where Chief Financial Officer Elsie Schiro tackles employee queries, or in areas outside her purview, asks other District leaders to answer them.
Dear Elsie,
Each six weeks, multiple interim assessments are administered across the District. These assessments are copied on one side of the paper. Why is the District wasting paper and money by not printing the tests double-sided? Also, our campus receives many more tests than are needed. Why is there so much waste in this process?
Third-Grade Teacher
Dear Third-Grade Teacher,
Thank you for your question. I reached out to Charles Carroll, FWISD’s chief academic officer, and Sarah Arispe, associate superintendent of accountability and data quality, regarding your question and here’s the response: “The interim assessments are printed by external print vendors.
We follow our District purchasing guidelines for selection of vendors and select the lowest-cost bid from the vendor. The cost for the vendors has consistently been higher for two-sided, and if not, it's the same cost with earlier delivery on one-sided. The number of items on a page is determined by the content specialists who design the tests for each grade level based on the font size recommended for students at that grade level and/or as used on state assessments. ‘White space’ on the page is intentionally included on assessments so that students have room to make notes, work problems, or use other strategies they find helpful.”
Thanks again for your question Third-Grade Teacher and thank you Mr. Carroll and Ms. Arispe for your response.
Elsie
Dear Elsie,
I’m currently working on my doctoral degree, and as a part of my university’s requirements I must have the District’s approval for the research process. Depending on my dissertation study, deidentified organization data (records or data which has removed all identities before being released to the doctoral candidate) may be requested. What is the process to obtain such approval? Who should I contact to assistance me in this process?
Ms. Robinson
Dear Ms. Robinson,
Thank you for your question.
Please contact Dr. Stacy Burrell in the Grants Compliance and Monitoring Department. There is a process to request data from the District through the Grants Compliance and Monitoring Data and External Research Request Application.
Thanks again for your question Ms. Robinson.
Elsie
Dear Elsie,
When do nominations for Teacher of the Year begin? I know in the past, nominations were submitted by November, but I haven’t heard anything about it this year at my campus.
Kandace White
Dear Ms. White,
Thank you for your question. I reached out to Barbara Griffith, FWISD’s senior communications officer, regarding your question and here’s the response:
“A memo was included in the Principals’ Packet on Friday, November 30, with instructions for the selection of the Campus Teacher of the Year, along with the timeline. For the past several years, selection has taken place in December and/or January. All principals received nomination forms to distribute to their staff members, and the final submission is due to the Department of Community Partnerships by January 18. It is up to each campus as to when and how they conduct their election. Please contact the Communications Department if you have any questions.”
Thank again for your question Ms. White and thank you Ms. Griffith for your response.
Elsie
Direct your questions to Inside@fwisd.org and put the words "Ask Elsie" in the subject line. Please close your letter with your preferred signature as you wish it to appear in the column. When there are multiple queries on the same subject, we will select the one that is most representative of the subject. We will try to answer as many questions as possible.
Please bear with us as we have a backlog of Ask Elsie questions and are responding to questions as soon as we can.