Pflugerville ISD To Honor Longest-Tenured Board Member

PFLUGERVILLE, TEXAS — School district officials are poised to honor their longest-tenured school board member, Dr. Carol Fletcher, on her retirement later this month.

"For 18 years, she has served Pflugerville ISD and this June she will step down from her position on the board of trustees leaving behind a legacy that has impacted countless students and shaped educational practices in not only the region or state but the nation," Pflugerville ISD officials said in a public notice.

Fletcher is retiring from the PfISD Board to focus on her educational research in her position as Deputy Director of the STEM Center at The University of Texas at Austin College of Education, officials explained.

“It’s a great district to serve on the board in," Fletcher said in a prepared statement. "There’s wonderful people who are committed to doing the best for the kids in the district. The family and community are very supportive of public education. You have board members who are there for the right reason. All the board members are trying to do what’s best for kids.”

Fletcher first ran for and was elected to the board in 2001 when her oldest son entered kindergarten at Brookhollow Elementary School, district officials said. "Now, two years after her youngest son graduated from Pflugerville High School, she feels it is time for her to allow someone else to step in and make an impact on the district."

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Douglas Killian said Fletcher's absence will be felt: “We will certainly miss Dr. Fletcher on our board of trustees, and wish her well in focusing on her work at The University of Texas. Through her service to the district as both a teacher and board member, she has impacted PfISD in ways that will last a very long time.”

During her time on the board, district officials said Fletcher was instrumental in the creation of the Pflugerville Education Foundation that's awarded more than $100,000 in grants over the years to PfISD teachers and administrators. Fletcher also helped establish Board Operating Procedures and Committees and secured $1 million in funding for PfISD new teacher mentoring, officials added.

Given her expertise in STEM education, Fletcher has been able to utilize her knowledge to support increasing access to AP courses and exams for PfISD students, officials said. Her efforts helped in the adoption of innovative curriculum such as Geometry in Construction for high schools while also increasing access to engaging computer science coursework for every PfISD student, officials said.

Yet for all her official contributions, Fletcher began impacting PfISD long before she joined the board, officials noted. According to a district-provided bio, the deputy director of the STEM Center in UT’s College of Education started her education career as a teacher at Pflugerville Middle School in 1994. There, she was named teacher of the year serving as the school’s first sponsor for Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME) Club.

Given her longevity, Fletcher has witnessed substantive change in the district over the years, officials observed: "She believes it makes PfISD stronger and a better learning environment for its students because she saw how the diversity within Pflugerville helped her own children in their education and life experience," they said

Fletcher recalled her early years in the city: “My husband and I specifically moved to Pflugerville because of its middle class work ethic and community. That was a huge advantage to my boys because they had friends and classmates of every race, nationality and income level. Most schools in America have become more segregated, not more diverse. They benefited from that so much when they went to college because of the different types of people they were around growing up.”

That goal toward diversity matches that of the school district, she said: “Our No. 1 value is ‘Diversity is our strength,’ ” Fletcher said, alluding to the school district's mission statement and core beliefs. “I think there are a lot of places or individuals that may have seen the changing demographics as something that was a challenge to be dealt with. To some degree it is, but I think our board rather than looking at it from a deficit perspective, we viewed it as something that was a benefit to our kids. We had to make sure that every kid was getting our best effort to equally distribute resources.”

Fletcher's palpable enthusiasm in impacting students and teachers now will continue in her UT-Austin role, district officials said. She recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to lead a national network of 22 states and Puerto Rico in broadening computer science education. This exciting project is expected to take up much of her time and energy as she helps expand access for women in computer science as well as cyber security in Texas.

Her work, district officials said, will ensure students have access to computer science classes and teachers have the resources they need. District officials cited an example of that attribute: In January, Fletcher received a guided tour of Brookhollow Elementary, where her own children attended, with students showing her special projects and classes going on at the campus. After her tour Principal Lisa Harris presented Fletcher with a ceremonial key to the school for her years of service to PfISD.

“Dr. Fletcher wanted to show our community that when you're working on a body of governance it's really important that the people working together are people who have diverse backgrounds and understand how to leverage their experiences to inform one another's leadership,” Harris said. “She believed schools play an important role in fostering a positive and productive environment for students to build a strong background in science. Schools need to prepare their students for the future -- a future that definitely includes science.”

The district will honor Fletcher for year years of service with a retirement reception from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24 at The Rock Gym, 702 W. Pecan St. The community is invited to attend.