In honor of October’s National Principals Month, the school board recognized the principals in the district with a plaque bearing their name and a pin.
Superintendent Dr. Shannon Saylor expressed her gratitude for their work at the Oct. 15 Aubrey ISD board meeting.
“My job is a lot easier because of these people,” she said. “… The support of the seven of you guys has made it really easy to be a very successful principal in Aubrey ISD. So, thank you all for what you do.”
Monica Molinar, the director of the bilingual and English as a Second Language Program, presented her annual report.
In it, she compiled a list of the Top 10 languages spoken in the ESL program—English, Spanish, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Portuguese, Urdu, French, Swahili and Yoruba.
“We have students coming to Aubrey from all over the world,” Molinar said. “Telugu, Tamil and Hindi are all coming from India. Most of our Portuguese speakers are coming from Brazil. Our Urdu speakers are from Pakistan and India. Our French speakers are mostly from Cameroon and other countries in Africa.”
The number of students enrolled in the Aubrey ISD bilingual/ESL program has risen from 14% last year to 16.5% now.
Data taken as of Oct. 15 shows an increase from 617 students to 804.
As the program grows, Molinar highlighted a new challenge it faces.
“We need to start really paying attention to campuses like West, which this year are at 40% bilingual ESL,” Molinar said. “That means four out of every 10 students would be in my program.
“That comes with a very different kind of set of things to teach kids, … so we’re going to have to start really looking at individualizing everything from professional development to how teachers approach things with students across our district.”
Molinar shared that most of the students in the program are in elementary school, many of whom exit the program between third and fifth grade.
However, before they can exit the program, they’re tested for English proficiency in writing, reading, listening and speaking skills.
Afterward, the students are monitored for two years to see how they are adapting.
In the last two years, more than 100 students have completed the program.
Construction updates were also discussed at the meeting. As the current projects wrap up, the next phase of construction is in motion for several projects, including the courtyard at the high school, the gym area and other campus improvement projects.
The work on the “indoor and field house addition” is expected to be completed by Dec. 31.
Construction for Elementary No. 5 is expected to begin in March 2026.
