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East Chambers board members -
Lisa Meysembourg
The Region 5 Education Service Center, which serves Beaumont and beyond to encompass more than half a dozen counties in Southeast Texas, has named the School Board of the Year in East Chambers ISD, and the Superintendent of the Year as Lisa Meysembourg of Woodville ISD.
The East Chambers ISD Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) 2022 School Board of the Year members include Scott Jones, president; Lisa Bauer, vice president; Taylor Wilcox, secretary; Frank Abalos, Charlotte Edwards, Richard Lee and Kelley Touchet. Scott Campbell is superintendent.
School boards are awarded the honor based on support for educational improvement projects and school transformation initiatives, as well as for educational performance in accordance with state-established standards, Region 5 offered along with the winner announcement. “Other criteria include adherence to adopted board policies, function as a policy-making body, and a number of additional standards.
“Specifically, East Chambers ISD school board members have displayed excellence in the following areas, to name a few: purchased Chromebooks and software for every student; installed Smartboards in every classroom; partnered with Winnie-Stowell Hospital District for additional nursing and counseling services; established an Educational Foundation; passed three bond elections; maintained a perfect score of 100 in the Financial Integrity Rating System; received an unqualified (clean) audit annually since 1997; maintains a billboard that is updated quarterly for recruitment/retention of staff and attracting students; added a cosmetology department based on student requests; and much more!”
The school also prides itself on listening to the student body and staff, and reacting accordingly.
“It has been a long-standing commitment of this board to provide all necessary tools for our students to succeed academically,” the board represented to Region 5. “This year, the board added an Assistant Superintendent position with a focus on curriculum needs to overcome the headwinds created by the many obstacles our students have faced going back to 2017 when we were inundated by Hurricane Harvey that left hundreds of our students homeless, followed by Imelda, which caused the same level of flooding in 2019, followed by the ill-effects of COVID-19.
“While our students did not see anywhere near the level of COVID slide as most other districts, the board recognized the need to increase support in the curricular arena by adding this position and investing in additional technology by providing every student in our 1,540-student district with a Chromebook and all of the software needed to close the achievement gaps.”
Texas Association of School Board (TASB) 2022 Superintendent of the Year Lisa Meysembourg of Woodville ISD also prides herself in following cues from the student body and staff she serves. Meysembourg has served as superintendent at Woodville for the past three years, but holds a total of 25 years experience in public education.
Selected for the honor due to her “exemplary and visionary leadership toward improving student performance, which is the very mission of the award,” Meysembourg was chosen for her “strong leadership skills, dedication to improving the quality of education in Woodville ISD, and her commitment to public support and involvement in education.”
Meysembourg was nominated for Superintendent of the Year by the local school board, and a selection team of school board members from various districts made the final selection. Meysembourg will be interviewed as a regional winner in late summer by the TASB State Selection Committee, at which time five finalists will be chosen to proceed in the process for the State Superintendent of the Year award.
“While other districts were suffering under the stresses of educating during a pandemic, our Board of Trustees had a remarkable calm due to the comfort and confidence of having Lisa Meysembourg leading our district,” Woodville ISD’s school board wrote in recommendation of Meysembourg being Superintendent of the Year. “Her ability to shoulder the load of going through a bond election, day-to-day school operations, her involvement in civic organizations, and furthering her professional development outside of her home district is what sets her apart from the rest.”
Region 5 ESC serves the school districts of Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Orange, Newton and Tyler counties plus High Island ISD, Hull-Daisetta ISD, East Chambers ISD and Liberty ISD. Approximately 87,000 students and more than 6,100 educators are serviced by the group, which provides “service and technical assistance in a non-regulatory environment.”