A Letter from the Board | December 2024

Happy Holidays GCISD!

We hope everyone had a safe, fun, relaxing, rejuvenating and joyful Thanksgiving. The holidays are a wonderful time for family, fun, faith, reflection and hope. As we reflect on 2024 and look forward to 2025, GCISD has much to be thankful for and much to look forward to.

We kicked off the 2024-25 school year with Convocation and welcomed back teachers and staff at Chicken N Pickle for the second year in a row. We were thrilled to give each full-time employee a $500 surprise one-time payment and part-time employees $250. We are one year into our GCISD Balance Scorecard and we are already seeing improvement year over year. Our students continue to raise the bar in all things GCISD (below is just a snapshot):

A record number (75.3%) of GCISD students who took AP Exams score a 3 or better;
19 National Merit Semifinalists;
25 National Merit Commended Honorees;
3 Perfect ACT Scores;
48 CHHS and GHS Cross Country State Qualifiers;
CHHS Panther Band, which qualified for the state competition, is the 14th best 5A band in the state of Texas;
GHS Theater had 33 out of 35 students qualify for Nationals after competing in the 2024 Texas Thespian State Festival;
CHHS football, and CHHS and GHS volleyball all qualified for the playoffs;
CHHS and GHS tennis made deep runs in the fall season playoffs (let’s not forget to mention our GHS Doubles STATE CHAMPS, sisters Emilia and Sara Gyoergy, in May 2024);
And of course, the magical run of the 2023-24 GHS baseball team – STATE CHAMPS!!

Our amazing community voted OVERWHELMINGLY in favor of the Voter-Approved Tax Ratification Election (VATRE) to provide GCISD with a much needed $6 million dollar revenue injection, not subject to recapture (aka Robinhood). With inflation at an all-time high and the state of Texas’ refusal to increase the basic allotment since 2019, this board’s focus has been on fiscal responsibility. We received another glowing Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. We have laid out comprehensive legislative priorities focused on keeping every dollar of taxpayer funds in GCISD! Our board and leadership team continue to work hard to ensure GCISD is providing the high level of education and extra-curricular opportunities that have made us a district of distinction.

GCISD was again ranked #2 district in DFW and #4 out of more than 1,000 public school districts in Texas, according to Niche.com, an organization that is well-known for evaluating and ranking educational institutions across the United States! GCISD is also ranked #14 in the “Best Places to Teach in Texas” and #19 with the “Best Teachers in Texas” – again, all out of more than 1,000 public school districts.

The board is thankful for and looks forward to our continued partnership and commitment to our vision to Honor our Legacy, Equip for the Future, and Achieve Excellence. Have a safe and happy holiday season.

Many Blessings,
A.J. Pontillo
GCISD Board of Trustees, Place 5