Under a new reorganization of the Fine Arts Academy administration and the administration of the school as a whole, associate principal Gabriel Reyes will fill the new position of academy director for the 2021-22 school year. Mr. Reyes will assume the duties of Heather Ramsay, whose job as fine arts coordinator will no longer be funded after this school year due to districtwide budget cuts. In addition Reyes will also supervise the Fine Arts Academy faculty and provide academic support to academy students in conjunction with a dedicated academy counselor.
Principal Nicole Griffith presented the information regarding this restructuring during the town hall meeting tonight at 6 p.m. over Zoom.
“This academy and the education of this academy has never been stagnant,” Griffith said during the meeting. “We learn best when we evolve and I want to assure you that the support for the Fine Arts Academy and students’ experience will continue to evolve. We are going to grow and continue this tradition of excellent fine arts at McCallum that we are all so proud of.”
Currently the administration of the Fine Arts Academy is split into three positions. a designated assistant principal (Andy Baxa), who provides faculty supervision; the fine arts coordinator (Heather Ramsay), who controls programming and vision, and five different assistant principals and counselors, who provide support to academy students. As academy director, Mr. Reyes would oversee all of these roles, along with a designated fine arts specific counselor to aid in student support. In order to facilitate his move to academy director, his current work responsibilities will be divided up between the other members of the current administrative team.
“I love working at McCallum and am looking forward to working with the Fine Arts Academy,” Reyes said during the meeting. “I’m receiving a very strong program into which a lot of great work has already been done. My role will be to continue that work so that McCallum’s fine art experience continues to be a great one.”
Mr. Reyes stated that he has already begun sitting down with staff and teachers to make the transition as smooth as possible. Ms. Ramsay has also been a large part of working to ensure this happens.
“I really want the transition from my leadership to Mr. Reyes’ to be as seamless as possible,” Ramsay said. “I am having lots of conversations with the faculty, with students, with parents, and with Mr. Reyes to ensure that happens. All the systems that we worked for together and fine-tuned to create this amazing program that our students have been able to experience—that’s not going away. We will ensure everything will stay intact, and I’m hoping that Mr. Reyes will come in with a different lens and streamline things even more.”
Ms. Griffith echoed a similar statement, reiterating the fact that this change will only strengthen McCallum. The budget cuts were necessary, explained District 4 Board of Trustee Kristin Ashy during the meeting because of a systemwide drop in enrollment of 5,000 students from 80,000 to 75,000. The cuts led to a projected loss of about 250 staff positions across the district, she said. She also said that AISD is the largest payer into the Robin Hood recapture system, causing the district to lose half of its $1.2 billion budget to redistribution to poorer districts before it can fund anything local. That reality, plus a much-needed equity rebalancing of staffing meant that changes in staffing had to occur at Mac and throughout the district. Griffith said she was grateful she was able to keep all the fine arts teachers in the restructuring plan she presented tonight.
“Change is hard,” Griffith said, “It’s a lot of work. And I know that, but I am confident we will be able to do it. This is a move for McCallum, which will be a good move when we look back at it.”
