Labor Day has come (and almost gone), and Olney ISD is in full swing! Our student-athletes are already competing with pride in Cross Country, Volleyball, and Football. Fine Arts are joining the action as well, with the Band preparing their marching competition show and Junior High One-Act Play beginning rehearsals. Above all of this activity, our teachers are hard at work making sure every student has what they need for a wonderful and exciting school year.

Meanwhile, construction is buzzing across our campuses — nearly every building is impacted in some way. The new hospital project has also shifted our traffic patterns for now, but we are adjusting together as a community. Student Library visits have been temporarily delayed because of the work in progress, but we are hopeful that visits will resume in the very near future.

Yes, there are lots of changes all around us, but what awesome and amazing changes they are! Together, we are building toward a brighter future for our Cubs. After all, Olney ISD is proudly “Under Cub-struction!”

And don’t forget — you can keep up with all of the district’s activities and events by checking the Calendar in the Olney ISD Toolbox located below. It’s the best way to stay connected and make sure you don’t miss a moment of the action!

(Spoiler, we rank higher than everyone. Holliday is closest to us and they rank about 20 places behind us.) We have more students now than ever before who are graduating and finding great success after high school. Through partnership with the Olney Education Foundation we are sending more kids to college and trade school with great scholarship money and successful completion of college.

Due to our CTE programs, we are graduating more students who are career ready than ever before. We will not be satisfied with that. We will move ever closer to having every student that graduates leaving us taking concrete steps toward well defined goals.

All of that secondary success starts in the trenches of the elementary grades. I am so proud of how our teachers at OES take students from every background and ability level and push them, making sure they are strong readers and writers, have a firm foundation in math, and are avid science and social studies students. OJH incubates these scholars and raises their maturity level and work ethic. Just recently I was in a meeting at the junior high and the staff were working with Mr. Berngen to devise ways to fight student apathy and increase their daily performance to match their STAAR performance.

No matter what your role in OISD, whether it is a student, parent, teacher, coach, custodian, maintenance staff, daycare worker, or administrator; I challenge you to consider how your relationship to OISD can not only contribute to building students’ resumes, but to also build our community. How can you further the duty of preparing every student for a promising future, but also prepare them to add to the lives of others by improving themselves? What are your ideas for how you can add to what we do to develop character, community service, and a strong work ethic? Share that with us. How can you further this mission within your sphere of influence? Let us know. We will look for any way we can to support and reinforce what you are doing to contribute to the mission and vision of OISD. I’ll end with something inspirational that I have heard Kevin Keene, our highly gifted transportation manager, say time and time again: “Never underestimate the size of your platform.”