Public Education in the Time of COVID

Description

The state's education commissioner, two superintendents and two teachers on when and how we reopen schools — and what happens when we do.

This session was available to ticket holders of the 2020 Texas Tribune Festival for the duration of the monthlong event.

Check out the Festival website for some of our freely available favorite sessions, and sign up to receive updates from the Festival team about available session videos, upcoming events and news on #TribFest21.

This session is presented by Raise Your Hand Texas and supported by Educate Texas, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute - The Hackett Center and Lone Star College. Media support is provided by Chalkbeat.

Speakers

LaTonya M. Goffney

Superintendent of the Aldine Independent School District

Goffney has been superintendent of Aldine ISD since 2018 and has overseen many new initiatives in the district, including piloting prekindergarten, dual-language immersion and college-readiness programs. Previously, she served as superintendent of Coldspring-Oakhurst Consolidated ISD and Lufkin ISD. The Texas Association of School Boards named Goffney its Superintendent of the Year in 2017.

Mike Morath

Texas Education Commissioner

Morath was appointed education commissioner by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2016. In this role, he heads the Texas Education Agency, which oversees pre-kindergarten through high school education for more than five million Texas students. Previously, Morath served on the Dallas ISD board of trustees.

Michael Hinojosa

Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District

Hinojosa served as superintendent of Dallas ISD from 2005 to 2011 and returned in 2015. During his tenure, he has led initiatives in Dallas ISD schools that include early childhood, career and technical education programs. During his more than three-decade career in public education, Hinojosa has served 20 years as a superintendent and CEO of six public education systems.

Paige Stanford

Middle School Teacher in the Waco Independent School District

Stanford teaches grades six through eight at G.W. Carver Middle School in Waco, where more than 75% of students come from low‑income households, in the Waco Independent School District. She has been a teacher for eight years and has also taught in Presidio, San Saba and Lampasas.

Ale Checka

Seventh Grade Teacher in the Fort Worth Independent School District

Checka teaches seventh grade at the Applied Learning Academy in the Fort Worth Independent School District. She was awarded the secondary district Teacher of the Year award in 2018.

Moderator

Aliyya Swaby

Public Education Reporter for The Texas Tribune

Swaby has covered public education for the Tribune since 2016. She was a Livingston Award finalist in 2019 for a series on school desegregation and won the Texas State Teachers Association School Bell award in 2018. Previously, Swaby worked for the hyperlocal nonprofit New Haven Independent, where she covered education, zoning and transit. Swaby also spent a year freelance reporting in Panama on social issues affecting Black Panamanian communities.