By: Shelley McKinley
The 2024-2025 school year marks Dr. LaTonya Goffney’s seventh year in Aldine ISD. What she knows for sure is that she has students who need her, as well as the very best administrators and teachers available to fit the context of Aldine ISD. Unlike other school districts that are named aft er the cities or counties in which they are located, Aldine ISD is 111 square miles on the north side of Houston with a high density and concentration of impoverished students. In fact, 90% of the students are economically disadvantaged and 85%of students qualify for free lunch. “I love my district and take pride in it because I wasn’t born on third base, and it was school that created the magic for me and the opportunity for me. That’s the goal here. Our students are school dependent,” shared Dr. Goffney. Each year that Dr. Goffney has been with Aldine ISD has brought a unique set of circumstances that she has overcome.
For example, in 2018 she opened eight new schools and had a $60 million deficit along with school boundary changes and a reduction of 300 positions. In 2019, tropical storm Imelda derailed some of the Aldine ISD strategic plan implementation, and in 2020 COVID hit with the most cases documented within a zip code found in Aldine ISD, causing students to miss a whole school year. This was followed by the freeze in 2021. “Every year that I have been here there have been challenges, but what I can tell you is there is a lot of success that is hard to quantify. The fact is we launched our strategic plan that is called ‘A New Way Forward’ that put systems in place and created a portfolio of schools and opportunities for Black and Brown students. Now in 2024, I need another five-year plan that is all about accelerating the impact,” disclosed Dr. Goffney. In the latest round of STAAR testing, Aldine high school students outgrew the state in all five areas of the end-of course (EOC) tests. “My students are school dependent so we are starting below the state. We have to accelerate our growth and accelerate our Aldine impact. With all these challenges behind us, I’m very optimistic and ex-cited about the fact that we have systems in place for acceleration to occur,” exclaimed Dr. Goffney. In lower grades Aldine outgrew or loss less than the state in 12 of 15 areas, expanded Pre-K to include 3-year olds, and implemented the Teacher Incentive Allotment so that some teachers who accelerate student growth are earning six figures.
In addition to serving students, Aldine ISD is serving families, too. Dr. Goffney created the Family Community Engagement Office that teaches family members how to help their children and themselves; launched Parent Universities where adults can earn their GED or enroll in the local junior college, Lone Star College; and helping parents become paraprofessionals. These services were not available prior to Dr. Goffney’s arrival. “I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do,” said Dr. Goffney. This is her 26th year in education and her 17th year as a school superintendent. She was superin-tendent of schools for Coldspring-Oakhurst CISD and Lufkin ISD before becoming Superintendent of Aldine ISD. A native of Coldspring, Texas, Dr. Goffney is a Sam Houston State University gradu-ate. She earned her bachelor’s degree in history, a master’s in educational administration, and a doctorate in educational leadership. Dr. Goffney stated, “I always intend to leave schools and districts better than I found them.”
