Andrea Glazebrook

Questions

What inspired you to run for Board Trustee? I have been wanting to serve on the board for some time now, and finally everything lined up for me to run. As both a teacher and parent, I feel I have the working knowledge to accentuate the positives and realize any negatives to help promote the well being of the district.  

On that note, what are you hoping to accomplish if elected to the Board of Trustees? I would like to make sure we are spending our money wisely and efficiently, in order to make the most of our budget to help as many people as we can in our district. 

How will you advocate for teachers and staff within Humble ISD? I’d like to make sure that we’re spending efficiently toward the needs of each school to help teachers, students and staff members; which in turn will help the district as a whole. Each school or area has particular needs and we need to focus on those needs; therefore, we must give teachers voices in what their needs are. 

 In your opinion, what is important to the teachers and staff within Humble ISD? Of course, the most important thing is the well-being of the students. However, as a teacher myself, the largest stressor my colleagues mention is that the STAAR test has taken over the curriculum. Besides the 20 (yes twenty) days of testing you see on your Approved School Calendar, numerous days EVERY semester are spent on mock-testing. The preparation for these tests and mock tests sadly consumes the rest of the school year. Although I do not have an easy answer for this dilemma, I would like to advocate for and find solutions to ease the stress for teachers, students, and even administrators.  As a side note: Something else that many do not realize is that STAAR testing even adds burden to the cafeteria employees, who must create sack-lunches for the grade levels that are testing, on top of the hot lunches for the students who are not.

Tell us your thoughts on how Humble ISD has handled virtual learning, and ideas for virtual learning going forward? It’s been a very, very good start, but so much more needs to be done. We still have students falling behind with their academics. Teachers are simply unable to devote adequate time to their online students while tending to their students in attendance. A very viable solution would be to have teachers dedicated to either virtual or face to face learning, but not both at the same time. I am hoping we will soon go back to full time school and use online only when needed. Online is definitely a great resource for when disasters hit in our communities. We need to work on improving the system and how it is implemented. 

Other than virtual learning, tell us your thoughts about Humble ISD and the handling of COVID-19, both for teachers and students. I personally have had no issues with how Humble ISD handled this unheard-of-before situation. Since this is the first time we have ever had to deal with a pandemic and shut down, it’s a learning curve as we go. Nothing will run smoothly 100 % of the time and you will never please everyone. 

As you look at Humble ISD, are there areas where funds are overspent? We can always improve on our spending in all areas. What areas would you look at to reduce expenses? Food cost is one area in which I see so much waste. I would like to look into that and see how we can improve in this area. I watch so much food be wasted. Students are FORCED to take ALL food offered on the line, even if they have no intention of eating it. I have seen so many intact cartons of milk, juice boxes, and perfect pieces of whole fruit sadly thrown into a trash can. Yes, I realize the federal government reimburses the district for much of this waste, but knowing how many suffer from starvation in this world, seeing this happen just makes me very sad. We need to look into solutions to this problem, such as working with local food banks without jeopardizing our government assistance. 

During several Board meetings, students and parents have brought up topics around diversity and inclusion. What can Humble ISD do to ensure it is welcoming to students of all backgrounds?  With the vast diversity of our (and probably all) districts, a small task force at each school should be set up to make suggestions to the board. As for inclusion for Special Education students, here again, an individual approach is necessary. As a Special Education teacher, I have seen students who thrive with their general peers, but have also seen those who need small individual classroom settings. I see no “one size fits all” answer for either of these issues. Again, the board should be advised of any limitations we can remove to augment these needs. 

Humble ISD has several Title I campuses. How do we ensure that those campuses have the resources needed? Title I schools have funds allocated from the government, and those funds must be spent in certain ways. We need to have a system in place for assuring compliance which includes requesting the much-needed funds that we make they are being used appropriately. The principals at these schools should handle any such needs and advise the board of any ways in which we can help. It should be the board’s job to give clear credence to these administrators.  

Closing thoughts? Anything you would like to add that we didn’t ask? What can people do (or where can they go) to learn more about you? Humble ISD has been part of my life for longer than I care to admit😉. I sincerely desire to see it continue to be a place in which people want their children to be. If you’d like to learn more about me, you can go to https://andreaglazebrook.godaddysites.com (Sorry, GoMomma does not offer websites. Maybe that might be next on my agenda. LOL) Stay safe and sane, All!