Superintendent Message

The NBISD Board of Trustees has announced the selection of Dr. James M. Largent as the Interim Superintendent of New Braunfels ISD. Largent is currently a retired superintendent and founder and CEO of Largent Consulting LLC.  He will begin his new role at NBISD on March 27 due to the absence created by the resignation of Superintendent Cade Smith.

"The Board of Trustees is very excited that Dr. Largent will be returning to support our district once again,” said Eric Bergquist, NBISD Board President. “He did a great job for us as interim Superintendent two years ago and he was our first call when this need arose again. We look forward to working with him again and are excited he will lead the district through the end of the school year.  We know our Unicorn community will welcome him back."

Largent has more than 33 years of experience in education including more than 21 years as a superintendent in three school districts in Texas. Before retiring in 2018, he worked six years (2012-2018) as the superintendent of Granbury ISD, 11 years (2001-2012) as superintendent in Rusk ISD and three years (1998-2001) as superintendent in Chireno ISD. His prior administrative experience includes four years (1994-1998) as the high school principal in Queen City ISD and three years (1991-1994) as the high school assistant principal at Coldspring-Oakhurst CISD.

Largent earned his doctorate in Education Leadership and master’s degree in administration from Sam Houston State. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education and completed three years of post-graduate work in Education Leadership at Lamar University. In 1995, he completed his Superintendent Certification from Texas A&M University in Commerce.

"I am honored once again to have been selected to work with the students and staff at New Braunfels ISD,” said Dr. Largent. “I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with the team, staff and community previously and can’t wait to get back. I look forward to continuing the great things going on in NBISD, and I want everyone to know how excited I am to get to work first thing Monday morning."

During his career he also served as a Mentor Superintendent through the Texas Association of School Administrators and is a Registered Provider for Board and Administrator Training through the Texas Education Agency.

He previously served as a board member and Chairman of the Board for the Lake Granbury Medical Center as well as board member and Chairman of the Board of the Granbury Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife, Jeri, have two adult children.

Superintendent Dr. Cade Smith Submits Resignation

Dear Staff, Parents and Community Members,

After almost two years of service to our district, Dr. Cade Smith, Superintendent of Schools, has submitted his resignation, and the New Braunfels ISD Board of Trustees has accepted his resignation, effective March 13, 2023.

We understand and respect his personal decision to resign is not an easy one, and we want to thank Dr. Smith for his hard work and dedication to our district. He was committed to our students and staff.

Our priority now is to ensure a smooth transition for our students, staff, and community. We have begun the process of finding an interim superintendent, however, until an interim can begin work here in NBISD, we have named Kara Bock as Acting Superintendent. We will keep you informed during the entire process of finding a replacement, and we thank you in advance for your patience during this transition.

We remain committed to providing our students with the best possible education and we believe in our administrative team, teachers and staff here in New Braunfels ISD. With the support of our students, staff and community, we will continue to build on the progress we, as a district, have made over the last two years.

Sincerely,
Eric Bergquist on behalf of the NBISD Board of Trustees

Dear NBISD,

Some time has gone by since the passage of the 2021 bond, and while visual aspects of the bond have yet to be seen, quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work has been completed. The designs of future builds have been created and are in the final stage of approval, materials have been ordered and are ready for shipment, and surveys/permits have been established.  As we push into March, our community will begin to see the first stages of dirt turned and structures created across our district.  

Below is a chart that will provide you with a tentative time frame for when these bond projects are projected to start and to be completed:

Project	Estimated Start	Estimated Completion
Convert NGC to Long Creek High School	February 2023	July 2025
New Elementary Playgrounds (KRE, Mem, CLE, WSE, LSECC, Lamar)	March 2023	August 2023
Elementary Playground Shades (same as above plus VE and Voss)	March 2023	August 2023
Elementary #10 - Legend Point Subdivision	April 2023	August 2024
New Braunfels High School - Phase 1	May 2023	July 2025
Klein Road Elementary Additional Classrooms	July 2023	July 2024
Voss Farms Elementary Additional Classrooms	July 2023	July 2024
Carl Schurz Elementary Renovations	July 2023	July 2025
Seele Elementary Renovations	July 2023	July 2025
Elementary #11 - Veramendi Subdivision	March 2024	July 2025

As with any building project, many integral details and decisions are involved. In an effort to provide you access to updates and ongoing communication, a bond information website will be online soon. This website will update ongoing work and the most up-to-date scope/timeline of the projects. Our goal is to have this site launched in early March as dirt begins to move on our projects.

Additionally, we will be asking the respective campuses to communicate with their staff and parents at least once a month regarding how projects impacting their campuses are progressing. Once again, our community has made a substantial investment into NBISD, and we want you to be fully aware of how your tax dollars are allocated.

Last Monday, our Board approved the 2023-2024 school calendar, and that information was shared with our community last week. So many people had a hand in creating this calendar and working toward our best possible school year. We tip our hats to the District Educational Improvement Committee, our staff, parents, and community voice in the surveys, and meetings with our neighboring district, Comal ISD, so that we can be better aligned. Everyone involved provided valuable input. As an additional reminder, here is a reference to the 2023-2024 NBISD Calendar (English) and the 2023-2024 NBISD Calendar (Spanish).

As always, thank you for your continued support of our school district.

Truly,
Cade

Dear NBISD Students, Staff, Parents, and Community Members,

This week we moved a step closer to determining the mascot and colors for our second high school, Long Creek High School (LCHS). With this communication, we want to show you the results of the survey we asked last week and outline the next steps we will take moving forward.  

Multiple surveys have been asked of our current New Braunfels Middle School Students, NBISD parents, staff, and all community members. Last week’s survey drilled down to the single question of whether or not NBISD should consider “Unicorns” as a mascot possibility for LCHS with potential implications on future high school mascot selections. The results were as 

When reviewing the data, it is very apparent that the voice of all of our sub-groups (69% in total) prefer LCHS to have its own, unique mascot. So, now that “Unicorns” is preferred to be eliminated from our decision, where do we go from here? For us, we go back to our future LCHS students to make the final call.

Earlier this week, members of our administrative team reconvened the leadership group of New Braunfels Middle School (NBMS) 8th graders (the first graduating class of LCHS) to review the list of nominations our team has received. That team created one final survey, based on everyone’s voice, that is being administered today to our current 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at NBMS (the first three graduating classes of LCHS). From there, that final survey, along with the rest of the surveys and nominations we received this fall, will be presented to our board of trustees Monday evening at our regular monthly board meeting. Once a mascot is selected, a final recommendation of school colors will be next on the list to be decided.

We began this process this past summer by asking for your nominations. From there, conversations, meetings, and surveys have been conducted, all leading to this point. As we turn the corner to a final recommendation and decision, we want to thank all of you for your continued support and patience in this process. By no means is deciding on a mascot and colors a simple task, and our students, staff, parents, and community members have been absolutely stellar in providing their voices when asked over and over again. Our utmost gratitude to each and every one of you for joining us in developing this decision that will last a lifetime at Long Creek High.

Truly,
Cade

 

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Estimados estudiantes, personal, padres y miembros de la comunidad de NBISD,

Esta semana nos acercamos un paso más a la determinación de la mascota y los colores de nuestra segunda escuela secundaria, Long Creek High School (LCHS). Con esta comunicación, queremos mostrarle los resultados de la encuesta que le hicimos la semana pasada y delinear los próximos pasos que tomaremos para avanzar.

Se han realizado múltiples encuestas a nuestros estudiantes actuales de la escuela secundaria New Braunfels, a los padres, al personal y a todos los miembros de la comunidad de NBISD. La encuesta de la semana pasada se centró en la única pregunta de si NBISD debería o no considerar "Unicornios" como una mascota posible para LCHS con implicaciones potenciales en las futuras selecciones de mascotas de la escuela secundaria. Los resultados fueron los siguientes:

 

Al revisar los datos, es muy evidente que la voz de todos nuestros subgrupos (69% en total) prefieren que LCHS tenga su propia mascota única. Entonces, ahora que se prefiere eliminar a los "Unicornios" de nuestra decisión, ¿a dónde vamos desde aquí? Para nosotros, volvemos a nuestros futuros estudiantes de LCHS para hacer la llamada final.

A principios de esta semana, los miembros de nuestro equipo administrativo volvieron a reunir al grupo de liderazgo de los estudiantes de octavo grado de New Braunfels Middle School (NBMS) (la primera clase que se gradúa de LCHS), para revisar la lista de nominaciones que nuestro equipo ha recibido. Ese equipo creó una encuesta final, basada en la voz de todos, que se administra hoy a nuestros estudiantes actuales de 6.°, 7.° y 8.° grado en NBMS (las tres primeras clases que se gradúan de LCHS). A partir de ahí, esa encuesta final, junto con el resto de las encuestas y nominaciones que recibimos este otoño, se presentarán a nuestra junta directiva el lunes por la noche en nuestra reunión mensual ordinaria de la junta. Una vez que se seleccione una mascota, la recomendación final de los colores de la escuela será la próxima en la lista que se decidirá.

Comenzamos este proceso el verano pasado solicitando sus nominaciones. A partir de ahí, se han realizado conversaciones, reuniones y encuestas, todo lo cual lleva a este punto. A medida que avanzamos hacia una recomendación y decisión final, queremos agradecerles a todos por su continuo apoyo y paciencia en este proceso. Decidir sobre una mascota y colores no es una tarea sencilla, y nuestros estudiantes, personal, padres y miembros de la comunidad han sido absolutamente estelares al brindar sus voces cuando se les preguntó una y otra vez. Nuestro mayor agradecimiento a todos y cada uno de ustedes por unirse a nosotros en el desarrollo de esta decisión que durará toda la vida en Long Creek High.

Realmente,
Cade Smith
Superintendente de escuelas

Dear NBISD Parents and Community Members,

As we work to finalize a decision regarding the mascot and colors of Long Creek High School (LCHS), we, once again, are asking for your voice.  The survey below will ask whether or not you feel LCHS should have the mascot of “Unicorns” or have a unique mascot.  There are many things to consider when selecting the second high school mascot, and we wanted to offer you some items for your consideration:

LCHS Own Unique Mascot:  The most pronounced consideration is the ability to be set apart from New Braunfels High School.  It would also likely decide that any future high school mascots in NBISD have their own mascot.  The domino effect is that New Braunfels Middle School and all feeder elementary schools to LCHS would have to be rebranded to the new mascot as well as a rebranding at the district level.  

LCHS “Unicorns:”  While a double mascot is not the traditional model across the state for second high school mascots, some have voiced their favor for all students to be Unicorns no matter where they live in NBISD.  If LCHS is selected as the Unicorns, that would most certainly decide that any future high school mascots would also hold the same name.  From the rebranding standpoint, not much would occur except for the school colors for LCHS, its feeder pattern schools, and the district’s colors.

Speaking for NBISD, we want to represent our students, staff, parents, and community and want everyone to have a voice in leading the way in this significant decision that will last a lifetime.  Our students at New Braunfels Middle School (the first three graduating classes of LCHS) were surveyed today during their advisory period, our staff across the district are currently being surveyed, and now we are asking for your (parents and community members) voice.

The survey is open and will close on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.  You can find the survey here:
 

MASCOT SURVEY

In advance, many thanks to each of you for taking a moment to help us with this extremely important decision,

Cade

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Estimados padres y miembros de la comunidad de NBISD,

Mientras trabajamos para finalizar una decisión con respecto a la mascota y los colores de Long Creek High School (LCHS), una vez más, pedimos su voz. La siguiente encuesta le preguntará si cree que LCHS debería tener la mascota de "Unicornios" o tener una mascota única. Hay muchas cosas a considerar al seleccionar la segunda mascota de la escuela secundaria, y queríamos ofrecerle algunos elementos para su consideración:

Mascota exclusiva de LCHS: La consideración más pronunciada es la capacidad de diferenciarse de New Braunfels High School. También es probable que decida que cualquier futura mascota de la escuela secundaria en NBISD tenga su propia mascota. El efecto dominó es que la Escuela Intermedia New Braunfels y todas las escuelas primarias secundarias a LCHS tendrían que ser renombradas con la nueva mascota, así como un cambio de marca a nivel de distrito.

“Unicornios” de LCHS: Si bien una mascota doble no es el modelo tradicional en todo el estado para las mascotas de la segunda escuela secundaria, algunos han expresado su favor de que todos los estudiantes sean Unicornios sin importar dónde vivan en NBISD. Si se selecciona a LCHS como los Unicornios, eso seguramente decidiría que cualquier futura mascota de la escuela secundaria también tendría el mismo nombre. Desde el punto de vista del cambio de marca, no ocurriría mucho excepto por los colores de la escuela para LCHS, sus escuelas de patrones de alimentación y los colores del distrito.

Hablando por NBISD, queremos representar a nuestros estudiantes, personal, padres y comunidad y queremos que todos tengan una voz para liderar esta importante decisión que durará toda la vida. Nuestros estudiantes de New Braunfels Middle School (las primeras tres clases de graduados de LCHS) fueron encuestados hoy durante su período de asesoramiento, nuestro personal en todo el distrito está siendo encuestado actualmente y ahora estamos pidiendo su voz (padres y miembros de la comunidad).

La encuesta está abierta y se cerrará el jueves a las 5:00 p. m. Puede encontrar la encuesta aquí:

ENCUESTA DE MASCOTAS

De antemano, muchas gracias a cada uno de ustedes por tomarse un momento para ayudarnos con esta decisión tan importante,

Cade