Borger ISD became a District of Innovation (DOI) in May of 2022, which enabled us to provide local certifications to teachers. This allowed the relief of state mandates on qualified candidates, but candidates still must meet certain criteria.
Have a bachelor's degree
Be enrolled in an alternate certification program
Having a local certification gives Borger ISD an advantage in that we can hire highly qualified individuals and take them off the market before they are hired by other districts. Michael Cano, Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services explains, “Before becoming a DOI, we lost out on hiring many qualified candidates because they did not have a Texas state certification. With local certification, we have been able to hire some highly qualified people before another district takes them off the market.”
One of these exceptional hires was Head Boys' Basketball Coach Mark Laird. He has taught high school in another state and coached at the college level, but he did not have his Texas teaching certificate. Through this process, Borger ISD was able to hire a great educator quickly and he can work on his state certification while making a huge impact on Borger students.
The district provides a lot of support for local certification hires, as we do all new hires, as they work through the process. Starting with New Teacher Bootcamp, teachers are provided with a good foundation. Amy Blansett, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction and DeDe Conaway, District Instructional Leader, give an overview of BISD’s instructional practices. They learn and discuss TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills), lesson planning, and best practices for each lesson, each day! Throughout the year, campuses will continue to support all teachers in these and other topics to ensure the best classroom instruction for our students.
Each local certification teacher receives an experienced mentor at their campus. They also receive coaching through campus instructional liaisons and district instructional coaches.
Another stellar hire from this year is Madia Montoya, who was hired as a Spanish instructor and cheer sponsor at Borger High School. Spanish teachers are very hard to come by, so administrators were very excited to find a qualified candidate and bring her aboard.
Madia explains more about the process, “I am currently in the PACE program for WT which is a teacher certification program. To get into this program, I had to take the PACT exam, for me since I am teaching Spanish, I had to take the LOTE Spanish EC-12. After I passed my LOTE exam, I got into the PACE program and I now have about a year to finish the modules for that certification and take the PPR exam, which is basically the last step to get an actual teacher certification.
This program has been very beneficial for me, particularly since I did not go through traditional student teaching in college. Though I do not have my certification yet, I do have a chance to get my teaching experience, take my time to get my certification without feeling rushed, and get paid as a teacher while I work on my certification, which to me has been life-changing.”
The full District of Innovation Plan can be viewed on the district website. https://cdnsm5-ss11.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_143941/File/21-22/DOI%20Final%20Plan%20May%202022.pdf
rebecca.calder