Sharon Doughty, a consultant with the Texas Education Agency who has been acting as a monitor at Natalia ISD since April, has been upgraded to the role of conservator for the district.
The decision was made by TEA Deputy Commissioner of Governance AJ Crabill on July 9, based on Doughty’s recommendation, and affirmed on July 19 after an informal review requested by NISD was conducted.
Doughty will be in place as conservator until at least August 2019. Her departure is contingent upon the district and individual campuses receiving academic accountability ratings of D or better; a FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas) rating of C or better; the Board engaging in research-based governance practices and earning 45 points in governance scoring in back-to-back quarterly reports to the TEA; and the district following all Texas school policies, rules, and laws.
The district recently received an academic accountability rating of F in the first year of the new A-F rating scale adopted by the State Legislature in 2017.
Doughty was initially installed as monitor after the TEA assigned Natalia ISD a status of accreditation-warned for the 2017-2018 school year. In that position, she participated in Board meetings and reported on the activities of the Board and Superintendent Freeman Cone to the TEA.
In her new role as conservator, Doughty will oversee the operations of the entire district itself.
Should the TEA deem further intervention necessary, a Board of Managers can be installed to exercise the powers and duties of the Board of Trustees.
Doughty stressed the importance of the Board following Lone Star Governance, TEA’s training initiative that aims to train school boards to focus on improving student outcomes, and on allowing Cone and other administrators the freedom to make sure those outcomes are improved.
“Your Superintendent, with his leadership and his great staff, are moving forward,” Doughty said. “I take pride in knowing that I won’t be around here forever because you won’t need it.”
By Marly Davis
Staff Writer
