Crosby’s School Year starts Aug. 8; New HS addition

Hello East Harris County and Crosby ISD families,

Welcome to August! Crosby ISD students return to class on Thursday, August 8th. The dawning of a new school year means new ways to grow and learn. In this week’s column, I wanted to share some of what’s new for the 2024-25 Academic Year.

This will be an exciting year of construction in Crosby ISD. The district just broke ground on the first new school construction project in eight years. Crosby High School is in the middle of a 75,500 square foot expansion that will increase classroom space by 50%. CHS will have a new academic wing that adds 32 classrooms, 8 labs, and room for more than 900 additional students. The Career and Technical Education (CTE) space at CHS is also expanding to add more welding booths, a new carpentry lab, and more opportunities to offer our students courses that will plug them into a career in the trades. We are using funds from the 2017 voter approved bond to build the additions. It’s an exciting time to see construction work begin again as we expand and improve the learning environments for our students. Students and families will see the construction barriers and hear heavy equipment, but the work should not have a major impact on the traffic flow around CHS this year. The new academic wing and CTE space are expected to open in late 2025.

We are launching a new communications platform across the district. Teacher-parent chats, permission forms, district alerts, principal newsletters, and much more will now be shared through Parent Square. It’s an app and website designed to be convenient for families. Some parents will elect to have their non-emergency notifications sent throughout the day, while others have the option of receiving a digest of daily communications at 6pm. Head to www.crosbyisd.org/parentsquare to watch “how to videos” and read more about signing up for ParentSquare.

In Crosby ISD, we pride ourselves on bell-to-bell instruction. This year, we are overhauling how curriculum and instructional walkthroughs are conducted at each campus in the district. We are aiming to have teachers work even closer with curriculum coordinators to make behind-the-scenes connections that can transform learning in the classroom. Principals and other campus leaders are plugged into the curriculum process like never before. District and campus leaders devoted three full work days this summer to developing new strategies to nurture academic growth in our 6900 students.

We are expanding our reading incentive program called “Pages for Pizza.” We launched this as a pilot program during summer school in partnership with Marco’s Pizza here in Crosby. We’re now expanding it this fall for students in kindergarten through 5th grade. Our young readers will have goals for the amount of pages read to earn a free pizza at Marco’s. We want to thank Marco’s franchise operator, Mr. Clarence Howell, for his support.

There are new faces, new promotions, and familiar faces in new roles this school year. We want to congratulate Ms. Allison Weaver on her new assignment as the Associate Principal of Crosby Middle School. Ms. Weaver was previously an assistant principal at Crosby High School. We also want to welcome Mr. Kyle Leonard to Crosby ISD as a new assistant principal at Crosby Middle School. Mr. Kody Griffin and Ms. Alexis Cisneros are also new to the district as new assistant principals at Crosby High School. Ms. Christina Castillo is also returning to Crosby ISD as our new Director of Elementary Curriculum & Instruction. Ms. Castillo previously worked as a teacher and coordinator in the district. Welcome back!

Finally, I wanted to share our new theme for the year. Our Leadership Definition Task Force aligned with our “Portrait of a Graduate” strategic plan to develop a series of five Cougar Commitments. Each year, we’ll focus on one of these core pillars: Excellence, Community, Students, Staff, and Service. This year, we are Committed to Excellence!

I can’t wait to see our schools filled with laughter and learning again. May our families be blessed as we return to our back-to-school routines. May our students be hungry for knowledge, and may our staff members be recharged, refreshed, and ready to lead.

We are Committed to Excellence! Go Coogs!

Paula Patterson
Superintendent