March 8, 2007
Dr. Harrison’s quiet guidance inspires us all

She read to them. They were juniors in high school—angst-ridden, hormone-driven teenagers—yet their favorite moments in English class were when Mrs. Harrison read from the great works of American authors.

That nurturing spirit traveled from the classroom to the Central Administration Office, where dozens of educators turn to Betty Harrison to, in a way, read to them, or listen to them.

Dr. Harrison, Hays CISD Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum, wraps up her 28^th year in education in May, retiring as a full-time administrator. But the unofficial historian of Hays CISD will have plenty of questions to answer, gentle guiding for years to come. The district’s 40^th birthday is this year and there will be people to locate, relatives to contact.

A walk back through her career shows someone who didn’t necessarily plan on teaching, someone who had plenty of insecure moments in front of a class, and someone who wouldn’t trade the experience, the memories, and the relationships for anything in the world. In short, Dr. Harrison was the quintessential teacher.

“My parents were both teachers,” she said. “In college I wanted to do anything but become a teacher.”

As with many female college students around her at the time, Dr. Harrison “majored in whatever you wanted to, and got a teaching certificate.”

Upon graduation from McMurray College in Abilene, Dr. Harrison entered the classroom. “Back then, they gave you the keys, a book and said, ‘There you go.’ It was pretty much up to you to learn on your own.”

And it wasn’t until her fourth or fifth year of teaching that she realized this could be something she could make a career of.

“Changing jobs didn’t make sense,” she said. “I always thought I’d be a stay-at-home mom. I really realized I missed it when I cried on the first day of school because I was at home with my son and didn’t go into the classroom.”

Dr. Harrison joined the staff at Hays High School (HHS) and taught English for 16 years. She was part of the team that piloted the district’s high school gifted and talented program for English and history.

Dr. Harrison served under all but one HHS principal, including Bob Presley, now Deputy Superintendent of Hays CISD.

“As a department chair, the other English teachers saw her as a leader among teachers,” Presley said. “Because of Betty’s calm demeanor, people come to her. She always gets things done, but so quietly you probably don’t realize she does it. I know a lot of people go to her for advice, as a sounding board.”

And Dr. Harrison’s advice is sought—from former students, teachers, former teachers, principals, former principals and others—regularly. She counted 34 former students who are employed by Hays CISD as educators in some capacity. One of her former students, Mark Jones, is a School Board member. In classic Betty Harrison style, she wrote him a letter after his hard work in a successful school bond election: In education, we often measure the success of our ‘products’ by how high they score on the SAT or whether they go to college. We rarely think about the extent to which our graduates really reflect our mission to ‘produce responsible, productive, and informed citizens.’ Although Hays probably did not have a mission statement when you were a student, you certainly represent success of the Hays mission today. In your adult life, your responsible citizenship has made a difference in the lives of many Hays kids. By recognizing that part of being a good citizen is taking responsibility for everybody’s kids, not just our own—giving them a job at HEB, coaching Little Dribblers, keeping the clock at all the ball games, and working to pass the bonds—you set an example for others of all ages.

That camaraderie is valued as much by Dr. Harrison as by those seeking her advice.

“I was a teacher for so long,” Dr. Harrison says, tearing up, noting her self-appointed role helping teachers “feel confident, valued and supported.”

“You want to model what you expect them to do,” she said. “If you don’t know teachers that way, you cannot expect them to be effective in the classroom. People have done that for me.”

The art of teaching, though, has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, Dr. Harrison said.

“It’s a whole mind shift,” she said. “The autonomy in the classroom, the testing. Kids have always had issues, but they’re more complicated today.”

One of Dr. Harrison’s initiatives is the evening program for adults in the community to learn civics and English, El Projecto Adelante.

“We can offer a place, a school for people to attend adult education classes and learn English,” she said, again tearing up. “This is an opportunity for parents to see the school as a place to help them, a place that is safe.”

Through the tears, though, she chuckles in telling the story of a former principal who was suffering from poor turnout at a Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) meeting. She invited all of the adults in a nearby Projecto Adelante classroom to participate in the PTO meeting and learn a first-hand civics lesson.

Long-term, unprecedented enrollment growth colors much of what goes on in Hays CISD. And Dr. Harrison can recall a time when HHS was a small school in a small, rural district.

“With the growth, obviously things have to change,” she said. “But we’ve been able to hang onto things a lot longer than I thought. We have been cautious and thoughtful in implementing programs. We’ve tried to do things that benefit students.”

Maintaining art and music instruction at the elementary level is critical, she said.

“We want to do better academically, and we’ve continued to provide a balanced school experience,” she said.

Opening a second high school (Lehman High School in 2004) was an interesting experience, Dr. Harrison noted.

“I’m glad to have been a part of it,” she said. “I think there were a lot of surprises for all of us. We thought we had asked all of the right questions. Everybody agreed we didn’t want another Judson (a ‘mega’ high school), but I think we learned it was a little harder to implement than that.”

Another talent Dr. Harrison admits she stumbled into is grant writing. Over the past decade, she has written grant applications that have brought millions of dollars to the district from state, federal and private sources for a variety of programs, both curricular and non-curricular.

A lifelong learner, Dr. Harrison earned her doctorate in 2005, starting a graduate program after her first year of teaching.

“I always knew I would go to graduate school,” she said. “My parents had. And after my first year of teaching I figured out that I didn’t know enough and if I knew more, teaching would be easier.”

She earned a master’s degree from University of Tulsa, and began to pursue the doctorate after moving to the Central Administration Office. Her thesis, the history of Kyle schools, united her general interest in history, in local history and her 16 years in Hays CISD.

“Everything just fell into place for me to finish,” she said. “I was really interested in doing this, and the information was accessible. I realized that if someone doesn’t do it, it’s lost. You may think it is past, but it’s not the past. It’s who we are now. History is not gone, it’s part of who people are, whether they know it or not.”

We know it, Betty. You’re a part of us and we’ll be in touch…

Dr. Betty Harrison, Executive Director of Secondary Curriculum

back to top

January 7, 2007
Mrs. Moreno’s calling came at the age of 11

Patty Moreno swore she’d never teach in public schools, though the music teacher at Science Hall Elementary School knew at the age of 11 that she was called to a career in music.

“I was teaching private piano lessons, and I started helping the students prepare for performances through the schools,” she said. “I started saying to myself, they really should teach it this way, or I could do that better or there’s not enough of this.”

So, she jumped in and the rest is Hays CISD history.

The former Elementary Teacher of the Year and finalist in the HEB Excellence in Education program, initiator of the district’s Elementary Chorus and statewide leader in nurturing the Kodály philosophy recalls loving music so much in her public school career in Seguin that she took classes during the summer so she could take two band classes during the school year.

She graduated from Texas State University and joined Hays CISD 15 years ago for one reason: “Hays has a fabulous music program.”

She has taught at Kyle Elementary School, Kyle Intermediate School, Green Elementary School and now Science Hall Elementary School.

“I knew I didn’t want to teach from books,” Mrs. Moreno said. “I knew I wanted to teach above the norm.”

Hays CISD’s involvement with the Kodály philosophy was very attractive to Mrs. Moreno. The fact that all Hays CISD music teachers complete half of their master’s degree “in the same pedagogy (Kodály) is what makes Hays unique,” she said. “The focal point is the same for all of us. All of us are going in the same direction.”

When teaching private lessons, Mrs. Moreno saw that some music classes “are not doing enough training the ear. Kodály trains the ear first. That makes the music experience much better. After the students have internalized it, they can bring out the rhythm and analyze the melody.”

But the individual is the thing.

“People are more important than things,” she says. “I teach the individual. That’s what brings me the true joy of teaching…finding the individual in each child.”

And it doesn’t hurt that Mrs. Moreno loves children.

“As long as you have a pedological reason, that gives you the language to talk to students, to administrators, to your colleagues,” she said. “You have a deeper understanding and you can educate your administrators, your students.”

In 15 years, Mrs. Moreno has seen the musically gifted in her classrooms.

“You can see it especially in how they participate,” she said. “They’re leading the class.”

And when they go on to study music in college, become professional musicians, or follow in Mrs. Moreno’s footsteps and teach, it is “the most rewarding thing about this.”

“The great thing about music, though, is that the students may not make a living with it,” she said. “But music will always be a part of their lives.”

Though she’ll readily admit she is not a singer, Mrs. Moreno started a district-wide children’s chorus three years ago.

“Elementary music should lay the foundation for choral and instrumental study,” she said. “You must be able to hear the pitch in your head before you can put it in your mouth. And choir is the only way to train the ear.”

The elementary chorus practices after school, which is the outcome of one of the greatest challenges facing music programs in fast growth school districts.

“We’re losing instructional time at the elementary level,” she said. “In a fast growth district, some of the schools meet for music once every five to seven days. That’s not enough for a developing ear.”

Mrs. Moreno has worked closely with Austin ISD, Houston ISD and most recently Socorro ISD in establishing a Kodály music program patterned after Hays CISD in close association with Texas State University. She loves the challenge, as well as bringing music educators from other districts to Hays, and the access to students and faculty of Texas State University.

“It keeps me fresh and alive and not bored,” she said. “I am constantly changing and fine-tuning the way I teach a concept.”

Those words do well to describe Patty Moreno: fresh and alive and constantly fine-tuning the way she teaches.

Patty Moreno, Music Teacher, Science Hall Elementary School

back to top

December 12, 2006
Mrs. Dicker builds confidence in students and teachers

In the movie City Slickers, wise ranch hand Curly told the members of his cattle drive that what really matters in life is for each of us to find our passion, our “One Thing.”

For Ginger Dicker, Spanish teacher at Barton Middle School, the passion of teaching is about one thing: building confidence. Whether it’s students or new-to-profession teachers, Mrs. Dicker begins with the simple foundation and builds from there.

“Helping them believe in themselves is what teaching is all about,” she said. “My job as a teacher is to instill that confidence, to help them know they can learn, they can be something.”

After 27 years in her calling, Mrs. Dicker maintains that teaching is a perfect fit.

“I love being with kids,” she says. “I love to see that sparkle in their eyes when I help them realize learning can be fun. Your job is so much more than just teaching. It’s mom, dad, counselor, nurse. They lean on you for so much more than teaching. You can read it in their eyes, especially when they confide in you.”

And after serving for more than 10 years as a mentor teacher in Hays CISD, Mrs. Dicker believes the same for new-to-profession teachers.

“For new teachers the greatest challenge is a lack of confidence,” she said. “I work to instill that confidence and let them know they can do this job. I also remind them that teaching is so important. To help students be successful you need to have the heart for teaching.”

She makes sure those first-year teachers know she is available anytime: “I’m here with a shoulder to lean on when the going gets rough.”

Mrs. Dicker started teaching bilingual classes at the elementary level. She taught at Kyle Elementary, Buda Elementary and helped open Tom Green Elementary in 1985. She was recruited to open Barton Middle School in 1993.

“I always said there is no way I would teach middle school students,” she laughed. “I’m glad I did. I love teaching middle school students. It’s where my heart is. I love to make kids laugh and at this age, they get it. There’s a balance, when to turn it off and they know when it’s time to learn.”

Mrs. Dicker’s students know from the first day that expectations are high.

“I also teach them that respect is a two-way street,” she said. “I’ll give it to you but I expect it back.”

Her trademark smile is completely purposeful.

“Smiling is so important,” Mrs. Dicker says. “When you smile, you make everyone else smile with you. I will do what it takes to make learning fun.”

That includes never sitting down while her class is in session.

“Sitting in a classroom is not teaching to me,” she says. “You take an interest every minute of the day in these students.”

Mrs. Dicker’s Spanish program, where 60-80 student fill the stage with costumes, music and dance, has become a springtime tradition in Hays CISD, but began 13 years ago, “very simply” when she started teaching at Barton.

“I love dance,” she said. “I was teaching the students music and singing and they were learning the dances and so I thought, we should have a program.”

Famous last words.

“Every year the kids beg to have it,” she laughs. “The community has come to expect it.”

Siblings pass the costumes to the next one who’s old enough to perform; students approach Mrs. Dicker on the first day of school inquiring about when practice begins. Mrs. Dicker choreographs the entire performance, which includes Country Western, Polka and Kumbia. She meets with the students before and after school to accommodate athletic and band schedules.

The troupe travels to elementary schools to perform and conducts a community-wide event at the Performing Arts Center (PAC) every spring.

One year, a student teacher assisted Mrs. Dicker with the performance. When that teacher began her career in Luling, she asked for Mrs. Dicker’s assistance with a Spanish program.

“Those students borrowed our costumes and I drove to Luling to teach the dances,” she said. “They put on a program, and when we did ours, we bussed them all to the PAC to see it.”

One memorable year the students surprised Mrs. Dicker with a tribute to the U.S. soldiers. She turned around at the end of the show to see the stage filled with an American flag. The memory still brings tears to her eyes.

Teaching Spanish is a simple fulfillment of a request by Mrs. Dicker’s grandfather, Eduardo Hackley Willis, when she was a young child.

“My grandpa told me that I had to carry the family tradition of speaking Spanish,” she said. Mrs. Dicker grew up in San Antonio and minored in Spanish at Texas State University. She was the first in her family to graduate college.

After years of fulfilling that request, thoughts of retirement come and go.

“I could have retired, but somehow I just can’t quite let go,” she said. “When they ask for your help, you know you’ve made a difference being in a child’s life.”

Ginger Dicker, Spanish Teacher, Barton Middle School

back to top

September 13, 2006
Mrs. Nations remembers every one of them

Walk into Kyle Nations’ 2^nd grade classroom and you can’t help but notice hundreds of items—many of them apple figurines—that have been given to her over the years by students, former students and parents of students.

Mrs. Nations remembers who gave each gift to her, whether it was last week or 25 years ago. And chances are better than 99 percent that all of these collectibles have never been anywhere other than Kyle Elementary School (KES).

That’s because Mrs. Nations has spent all but two years of her 34-year teaching career at KES. Her student teaching was at KES. She started 1^st grade at KES and walked through that school’s hallways and classrooms until graduation.

Of course, her name is Kyle.

She was named J’Frances, and her mother gave her four brothers the opportunity to select her middle name. Their choice: “Kyle” after football player Kyle Rote. In the first grade, she decided to go by Kyle in an effort of efficiency. “J’Frances was too long,” she says. Little did she know at the time that her name would become her place throughout her life.

“It’s fun to teach with some of the same teachers I had as a student here,” she says. Ernest Kimbro was Kyle’s science teacher and high school coach. He taught her Sunday school class and he hired her as a teacher when he was principal.

Linda Schmeltekopf, former Kyle High School teacher and Hays High School principal, is another individual who Mrs. Nations credits with influencing her decision to become a teacher.

A graduate of Texas State University (then Southwest Texas State University), Kyle High School panther mascot, majorette, and member of the 1967 Kyle High School State Volleyball Championship team, Mrs. Nations made her mark at the campus before returning as a teacher.

As a 2^nd grade teacher for 28 years, it would be an understatement to say that Mrs. Nations has taught the children of her students.

“I just love that!” she said. “Parents will come in on the first day of school and ask, ‘Do you remember me?’”

Mrs. Nations continues to hear from many of her former students, from graduation announcements to wedding shower invitations, to thank-yous for being there at a time when she was needed.

After 33 years in the classroom, Mrs. Nations will tell you that a lot has changed, and a lot has stayed much the same.

“We duplicated papers with a ditto machine,” she smiles. “We typed it with a manual typewriter. Today I have computers in the classroom for the students. If I refer to things in the past—cartoons for example—the students have no clue. I have to read to keep current.”

Though she has tried, Mrs. Nations has not mastered video games.

“Today the students have the same hearts and the same wants as they did in earlier years,” she said. “But they just don’t go out and play as much as they used to. They used to play all over town and they felt safe because everyone watched out for everybody. You saw kids at church, grocery store, post office.”

The smiles and the hugs never change from year to year.

“Some of the things they say make you want to cry and some of the things make you want to step outside and hoot!” she said.

One of Mrs. Nations’ gifts is her ability to get parents—particularly fathers—involved in the classroom.

“I recruit townspeople and Dads to come in and help,” she says. “I have to have more than one set of hands. I ask them to read to the class.”

One of her “dads”—Chip DuPont, President of the Hays CISD Board of Trustees—attributes the beginning of years of involvement in the schools to reading to one of his sons in Mrs. Nation’s class.

Mrs. Nations works from the first day of school to build a connection or bond with each of her students.

“My class becomes my family,” she said. And when school ends, “it kills me to let them go. Every year is different. Every year is unique. But you love your kids in the classroom like they were your own.”

“I have real high expectations of every one of my students. We will get there. We all go about it in a different way. It is my job to figure out how to get there, but we’ll get there.”

Kyle Nations, 2nd Grade Teacher, Kyle Elementary School

back to top

The class used to be called home economics and girls, mostly, learned how to sew, cook and grocery shop. At the end of the school year, they would put on a style show modeling the clothes they sewed, and cook a meal for other students in the class.

Today, it’s called family and consumer science. The style show includes boys and more represents an event, where students foster partnerships with local retailers and finalize details involved in producing a show. Interior design is now part of the class. Nutrition is an emphasis in cooking and the culminating event is a banquet that involves partnerships with local merchants and restaurants.

Nancy Freels, family and consumer science teacher at Hays High School, taught then—when the classes were called “vocational”—and still teaches—when they’re part of Career and Technology Education (CATE) —and the changes have been broad as well as deep.

“It is not a cooking and sewing class anymore,” she said. “My classes are more connected with the industry and meeting the needs of the industries in CATE. We are very technical. I can’t think of anything more technical than preparing food and measuring (materials for clothes or furniture).”

Along with family and consumer science, Mrs. Freels teaches interior design, textiles/apparel and personal and family development. In the apparel class, 10 students registered three years ago. Last year there were 31 students, and 52 are registered for Mrs. Freels’ class this year.

Probably the most fundamental change is that yesterday’s class covered managing the home. Today, it’s more about managing a career.

“In all my classes, I teach about careers,” Mrs. Freels said. “I tell my students you can enter these careers from what you learn in my class, or you can take the information and use it in another field.”

Mrs. Freels has been teaching at Hays High School for two decades. Prior to that, she worked in Austin and San Antonio school districts. A former San Marcos Rattler cheerleader, Mrs. Freels’ roots run deep in Central Texas. Teaching these kinds of “life skills” as she calls them, though, is something she has wanted to do since the 7^th grade.

“It’s an honor to teach this class,” she said about the freshman personal and family development class. “It is the beginning of the trip they’re going to take together. It’s my opportunity to let them know about these life skills. They will use them forever.”

From Day 1, Mrs. Freels emphasizes self-esteem, and she begins with her story.

“I want you to know about me. I want to know about you,” she tells her students. “I have an interesting story and these are what my credentials are.”

Then she turns the tables on the students. At first they are a little hesitant to tell their stories, but after her example, they usually give in. And then Mrs. Freels draws out the real power: she listens.

“You’ve gotta like yourself,” she tells the students. “I think you are a beautiful person inside and outside. There is good in every person. Sometimes you have to find it.”

Mrs. Freels tries to counsel students as to what careers they might pursue.

“I try to inspire them,” she said. “I tell them you’d better love what you do because you’re going to be doing it the rest of your life.”

And when they leave her care, she follows their careers. She often hears from students, some who have chosen to follow her footsteps and teach.

“I love what I do,” she says. “I can’t think of anything better to do. It is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Nancy Freels, Family and Consumer Science Teacher at Hays High School

back to top