Achieve 180 teachers didn’t let Wednesday’s cold front stop the festivities as they prepared for their biggest challenge outside of the classroom — determining which campus had the best chili.
The district invited nearly 1,400 teachers from the turnaround program to a first-ever, pep-rally-style Achieve 180 Tailgate as a celebration of the teachers’ efforts to transform some of the district’s most undeserved campuses and critical student populations.
“This is our way of saying thank you for always making our students a priority,” Achieve 180 Area Superintendent Felicia Adams said. “Whether it’s arriving early, staying late, (or) constantly attending professional development opportunities, none of our achievements would have been possible with you.”
Donning campus paraphernalia, teachers packed inside of Delmar Stadium after a chili cook-off for a special one-hour program featuring Interim Superintendent Dr. Grenita Lathan and Chief of Communications Rebecca Suarez, who acted as emcee for the event.
“While we have celebrated campuses like Worthing, Kashmere, Highland Heights, Woodson and Dogan exiting Improvement Required, we still have lots of work to get done before the end of the 2019-2020 school year,” Lathan said. “For those who have not quite made it out of IR, your celebration to victory remains as the other graduated campuses serve as a reminder that it can happen for your campus.”
Since the start of the program, Achieve 180 teachers, leaders and district administrators have ushered a total of 43 campuses out of Improvement Required, continuously outperformed the district in Meets and Masters levels in literacy and mathematics, and have placed a number of social/emotional support programs across the district.
“It’s important that you partner with your peers, talk with your leaders, and more importantly, utilize the Winter Break as a time to regroup and recharge,” Lathan said. “We have another busy school year ahead of us, and I can’t wait to achieve another round of milestones with this special group.”