LONGVIEW, Texas — Longview’s second biggest school district welcomed its teachers back with an annual convocation. Pine Tree ISD is getting ready for the academic year by hyping teachers up and steering them all towards a common goal.
"We have to be a functional family and probably more so today than ever before because so many kids don’t go home to that. And so we have to be that to create that stability and that structure, and to help them learn the habits they have to have to be successful," said Steve Clugston, superintendent at Pine Tree ISD.
Clugston named intentionality, consistency, and reverence as core values for the district. And those values go beyond the classroom.
"It doesn’t do you any good to know algebra if you can’t get along with other people, if you don’t how to follow rules, if you’re not dependable. Those things don’t happen overnight, it takes practice," Clugston said.
Pine Tree ISD is making sure that all its teachers are on the same page ahead of the new school years. But beyond that, teachers are just excited to get back into the classroom and interact with the students again.
"What I’m looking forward to most is getting (to be) around the kids," said Jeremiah Robertson, history teacher and coach at Pine Tree Junior High.
Robertson said he loves spending time with students. He says his favorite duty is lunch duty.
"Nobody wants to do that, but it’s an opportunity for me to just get in there and be around pretty much every kid in the school at the junior high level. Just being around them during lunch duty every day of the week," Robertson said.
Robertson's first chance to work lunch duty is coming up next Wednesday, when Pine Tree ISD is back in session.