Beginning next school year, all Klein ISD schools will be adopting a new time schedule and making changes to both the student and teacher handbook. These changes have been put in place partially because of the Promise2Purpose vision, which ensures that every student enters the system with a promise and exits with a purpose.

“During this year, a survey went out with calendaring options over making the adjustments to times for the start and end of school,” Deputy Superintendent Larry Whitehead said. “We did this to make sure that it feeds into our overall vision. Another concern was the guidelines from the state, which has been an overwhelming process.”

According to Principal Randy Kirk, something that he will be focusing on is that everyone is aware and prepared as we move into these changes next year.

“The board approved [the changes] in one of its recent board meetings,” Kirk said. “I think these changes are positive in that the district is trying to do what is best for the students. As far as the overall start and end time, we are starting school earlier in the year, and we get out about the same time.”

According to Kirk, many of the changes will not be noticeable next year once students get used to them. Changes are made every year that students do not realize because they are so small.

“The biggest change that [I’ve] come across [in my years of being principal at Klein Collins] would be when we went from a six period day to a seven period day,” Kirk said. “This was a pretty big change because students could take more courses and [had more] opportunities.”

Attendance is something the district is looking at and working through, according to Kirk. To get credit for a class, students have to be in class 90 percent of the time based on the minutes the student is present.

“The changes being made are primarily because of the minutes that our state requires students to attend now, [as] it is not just a certain number of days you have to be in class,” Kirk said. “The district is looking at exemptions, so that will be interesting to see what happens to that.”

Things that are needed right now to facilitate the process of change are agility and flexibility, according to Superintendent Dr. Bret Champion.

“[The KISD faculty and board members] exist solely for students,” Champion said. “Sometimes, as adults, we forget that the center of our purpose is to address the students. Our promise is that they exit and have something to do with their lives. There are five words that we focus on: pathways, challenge, equity, leadership and continuous improvement.”