Alto is 'taking the next step' with motto, bond proposal
DR. RAY DESPAIN Alto

The start of the 2007-08 school year at Alto ISD has been great. Our staff and students impress me more and more each day with their dedication, commitment to improvement, willingness to help one another and school spirit. The accomplishments keep piling up, and I'm very proud to be a small part of what is one of the "most improved" school districts in all of East Texas. Our enrollment numbers (680 in Pre-K through 12th Grade) and attendance rate (97.19 percent) are both up over last year.

Academics are our priority. Successes in that area boil down to two things: teachers preparing students and students performing. At the end of the first six-weeks grading period, we had 306 of our 680 students named to either the "All-A" or "A-B" Honor Roll and few academic failures.

Tutorials are held daily before school, and three days per week after school. Our curriculum alignment has proven successful, and benchmark testing programs are in full swing. We had a great turnout for our "parent orientation" nights throughout the district.

We've been very busy with extracurricular events also. Our Middle School and Elementary UIL academic and literary teams are preparing to defend their district championship title from a year ago. Alto's varsity football team is not only ranked #1 in the state in Class 1A, but also has the longest winning streak (currently at 21 games) in the state for all classifications. Camera crews from Reebok were on campus and at our Oakwood football game to film a commercial, thanks to our cheerleaders and their spirit promotions.

Our cross country teams competed very well at the District 21-A meet and the "Mean Sting Music Machine" is preparing to compete in the NSU Invitational Marching Festival on Nov. 3 at Natchitoches. A new group this year is the Alto High School Choir. The Alto Future Farmers of America chapter continues to excel and has added a "Junior Chapter" this year. At the High School level, more than 100 of our 175 students are involved in this outstanding program.

On the technology front, Alto ISD has been awarded an $18,000 grant which has been used to upgrade all computers to the Microsoft Office 2007 program, as well as to purchase an additional 25 new computers. We've also updated and upgraded our "Study Island" software programs for our districtwide tutorials and academic remediation.

Perhaps the biggest event at Alto ISD this fall is the upcoming bond election to construct a new 42,000 square foot elementary complex and parking lots. Alto ISD's motto this year is "Taking the Next Step," and we feel that this new facility would be our biggest step of all.

We encourage everyone to exercise their democratic right to vote on Nov. 6. An old adage in education is that "…it takes a village to educate a child." Never has this statement been more true than now.

Dr. DeSpain is the Alto ISD superintendent.