We are asking the Manor ISD Board of Trustees to suspend the expensive search for a new superintendent immediately. We ask that the Board offer Dr. Avery a one-year extension on his contract (if possible) or offer him a new one-year contract with an option to extend him again if the pandemic lasts longer than a year or if he continues to prove that he has the district on the right path. Should the Board choose to replace Dr. Avery next year the district will be better situated to find a superintendent that meets the high standards this community has set for leadership.

Some Manor ISD Board of Trustees members are still ignoring what is best for MISD and want our superintendent, Dr. Royce Avery, gone no matter the cost to the district or our children. It's completely illogical and unreasonable to expect to recruit, vet, and hire a good, qualified replacement superintendent during a pandemic in which the Board of Trustees cannot even be in the same room together. If this pandemic continues into the next school year do we really want someone trying to learn on the job while we sit at home with our kids trying to figure out how and what we should teach them?

Manor ISD already has a great superintendent who has brought our school district from a TEA rating of D to a B in only one school year. Additionally, he has led the effort to get our district up and running online so that our children can still have formal educational opportunities while our schools are closed due to the pandemic.

The search for a new superintendent during this time is counterproductive and foolish. We are in the middle of an unprecedented event that affects every facet of our lives. Anyone who works for MISD or who has children at MISD (or any school for that matter) can tell you the magnitude of the school shut down on all our daily lives. One can only imagine how complicated things have been behind the scenes trying to gear up to teach all of our students remotely. The chances that our students will be returning to school this year seem less every day.

It is in the midst of this pandemic that some members of the Board wish to recruit, interview, hire, and bring aboard a brand-new superintendent. Putting aside the complications of finding a suitable candidate while everyone is on virtual lockdown, how do they imagine a new superintendent will step in and continue leading our district through this crisis? Bringing aboard a new superintendent to try to expand on the improvements Dr. Avery has achieved thus far was always a dubious proposal. Many of us feel that Dr. Avery should have been given another year or two to carry out the remainder of his five-year plan. While there are still many hurdles to overcome to get MISD where it needs to be, Dr. Avery has shown improvements each year and the district is on a distinct upward trend as far as district ratings go.

Do we really expect to bring in a new superintendent in the middle of this unprecedented event and expect him to get up to speed on our crisis mode only to have to spend even more time learning how the district actually works when this is all over? It doesn’t make any sense. The middle of a historical calamity is not the time to change leadership.