Board OKs Change to HPISD Master’s Degree Requirement

The Highland Park ISD board of trustees Feb. 14 approved a modification to the district’s longstanding practice of requiring teachers to get their master’s degree within seven years of being hired by the district. The board’s modified policy requires teachers to get their master’s degree or valid certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

The requirement has been in place for more than 50 years and is reconsidered every seven-to-eight years. The change comes after the district put together a committee to study the policy, sought input from the community, and recommended the revision, as part of the review process.

“I appreciate the committee’s work on (the policy) and their recommendation. I think they did a great job of meeting in the middle and giving teachers and staff choice, and still fulfilling the ultimate goal and overarching desire for our district that we would have this unyielding commitment to excellence and hold our staff up to a standard of excellence,” board vice president Maryjane Bonfield said. “Hopefully the cost-benefit analysis will work so that we’re still fulfilling our mission without endangering our ability to recruit and retain the highest quality teachers.”

Trustee Bryce Benson said he’d still like to see a mechanism for exceptions or exemptions in certain cases be included in the policy.

“I continue to believe that we ought to have some sort of exception or exemption to the policy. I don’t know what the mechanics of that look like necessarily, but I understand this is going to be revisited,” Benson said.

Regulations and further clarifications related to the policy are expected to be discussed at a future school board work session. 

In other news:

• The board approved a request asking the Texas Education Agency for a waiver for two of the four missed instructional days during Winter Storm Mara earlier this month. HPISD students will be in school for the bad-weather-make-up day April 10, and superintendent Dr. Tom Trigg said the district plans on using one day of banked calendar minutes to cover the additional missed instruction time.