Crowley ISD Connections Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 15

WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR PARENTS?
McFarland: “For parents, one of the things I want to
assure them of is that we want for their children the same
thing they want, which is a high quality education. But
more importantly than that, we want for their students
to be able to graduate from our schools with more than
just a high school diploma. Everything we do is about
ensuring that our students have choices, that if they are
interested in engineering, they have a way to learn more
about that. If they are interested in fine arts, we can get
them exposed in multiple ways to fine arts. We want
them to graduate with choices and opportunities.
From the parents, we need their support. We need the
encouragement, the reinforcement of what we are doing
at school, to reinforce that at home. We also need them
to be present – when kids are performing or when kids
are in a program or when kids are competing, we need
parents to be engaged and really partners in this work.
Our ultimate goal, though, is to make sure, not just that
they graduate. We are assuming and setting the standard
that they will all graduate. We want them to graduate
and have choices and opportunities.”
WHAT MESSAGE DO YOU HAVE FOR TEACHERS
IN CROWLEY ISD?
McFarland: “The teachers are really the difference
makers. Most of those educators who I think about who
made a difference for me, they were teachers. They were
teachers who were in the room every day, and they were
speaking hope into me. The message I have for teachers
is you have some awesome power, and we recognize that
power, and the entire system should be structured to
support what happens in that classroom because that’s
really where the most important work occurs.”
14 CROWLEY ISD CONNECTIONS | Fall 2016
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR GOALS FOR
CROWLEY ISD?
McFarland: “The first goal is for me to get a good
understanding of the history and the tradition that exists
here in this city. Beyond that, I would love for Crowley
ISD to be the best district in Tarrant County first. I
believe the board has aspirations of being the best in the
state and best in the world, and I do as well. But first I
want us to be the best in Tarrant County. And that’s a
goal we can hit in a very short order. I think it will take
some working and collaborating and really redesigning
some systems. But I fully believe in a short period of
time, we will be the shining star of Tarrant County first.
And then beyond that, I want Crowley to be this model
district where we have districts coming from across
the nation and across the state to see how, in a diverse
environment, in a mixed economic environment, that
we’re able to do the things that we’re able to do. I believe
it can happen. I’ve seen it happen, and I know it can
happen here with the right people.”