to Work Day.” “This year almost 400 individuals volunteered. ,” says Marino.“A local business adopts a campus, and they send in volunteers to help teachers get their classrooms ready for the first day of school. It’s an amazing show of support from our community” From a capital perspective, the district is proactively managing its growth. It is successfully wrapping up a $326.9 million 2022 bond program. “Our focus has been on keeping the commitments we made to the community during the bond planning process and election — ensuring that every campus across the district has comparable facilities,” Marino said, referencing the bond, which funded campus upgrades districtwide and constructed the new CTE and AgScience Center and elementary school.” Looking ahead, Marino notes they have “convened a long-range planning committee to look at our demographic projections” for the next decade, ensuring the district leads growth rather than reacting to it. THE LIFELONG LEARNING LOOP AND FUTURE PRIORITIES For Montgomery ISD, the ultimate goal transcends test scores and certifications, it is about instilling a capacity for continuous growth. Dr. Busby encapsulates this philosophy, stating, “being a lifelong learner is just critical to this role in itself, but then when we talk about… preparing students for future jobs, well, we’re actually preparing them for jobs that don’t even exist yet.”The district’s focus, she explains, is on “teaching students how to learn, so then once they are outside of Montgomery ISD, they are continuing to learn and grow and be successful citizens.” Looking ahead, Dr. Ruffin outlines clear priorities. The immediate focus is on fully activating The DEN’s potential as a community-facing hub. “That’s the vision of it, and we’re not there yet. We just opened the building at the start of this school year, so getting the foundation in place to start allows it to serve our community in the way it was intended” he says, emphasizing the work to open the student-led cafe, salon, and auto shop to the public. 293 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 11 MONTGOMERY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
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