Cleburne Schools

A Busy Day in the Schools of Cleburne.

On Thursday we had a full day visiting and learning about the Cleburne Independent School District.  The word "independent" does not mean private.  These are public schools funded by the government and the state.  Ms Tammy Bright, the Assistant Superintendent of Student Services, was our host and, after a 90 minutes meeting with her, learning all about how their principal appraisal system works (and many of the requirements and systems in the state of Texas), she then took us to visit three of their elementary (primary) schools.  We also met briefly with the new District Superintendent, and finally had a short time in the middle school where a celebration of wounded war veterans was taking place.

This photo is of Ms Tammy Baker, with me, outside one of the schools we visited.


Cleburne has 7 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, one "alternative school" for special learning programmes, and one large high school.  It has an interesting mix of students, with the largest number being Hispanic (speaking Spanish), and also a number of students from the Marshall Islands.  Have you worked out why people from these islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are here?  There are two important factors: the first is that the USA did nuclear testing on one of their islands in the 1940s, especially on Bikini Island (the bikini swim suit is named after this very small island - can you get the connection?) and the second is that many Marshall Islanders attend Seventh Day Adventist churches, and there is a Seventh Day Adventist University in Keene, close to Cleburne.