Alief ISD: Thanksgiving 2021

Dear Key Communicators,

As we all wind down the work week and begin to prepare for the Thanksgiving season, I encourage each of you to join me in pausing to reflect on the countless blessings that we all enjoy—both personally and professionally. I realize that many members of our Alief Team, as well as our business and community partners, have experienced (and continue to experience) loss or challenges in their work and personal life that make it tough at times to be grateful. I encourage each of us to help our family, friends and colleagues that may be struggling during this Thanksgiving season.

I have used this quote before, but it still rings true. Author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon says, “When you are grateful for the things in your life, big and small, you always seem to find more things to be grateful about.”

We could all learn from that quote, me included. While Alief ISD, Texas and our country are not without their struggles, we should be thankful for our freedoms, rights and opportunity to solve those problems. As educators, we have our own set of struggles, but we should remain thankful to be in the most important profession known to man.

For those that may not be aware, Alief ISD was recently recognized as a Houston Chronicle Top Workplace. This is the sixth consecutive year the district has received this honor. While we are pleased to receive that recognition again, I realize there are areas in which Alief can improve. We all know that. Let’s be grateful we have something to celebrate as well as something to improve. In the end, we are all striving to give the most meaningful educational experience to all of our students.

Thanks to each of you for your support of Alief ISD. As we all begin to enjoy the Thanksgiving holidays, I encourage you to find some time to rest and squeeze in a little of that “life-balance” we are all constantly seeking. That has never been more important than now.

Happy Thanksgiving!