Board approves District of Innovation amendments on teacher-cert exemptions and library oversight

Grapevine-Colleyville, TX ' The Board of Trustees on Aug. 25 approved two amendments to the district's District of Innovation (DOI) plan: one limiting DOI hiring discretion for foundation curriculum courses and one adding an exemption related to library advisory requirements established in recent state law.

District HR leaders said the first amendment clarifies that the DOI will continue to allow hiring flexibility only when certified teachers cannot be found for hard-to-fill secondary positions such as career and technical education and languages other than English, but that the district will not use the DOI to staff foundation curriculum classes in English, mathematics, science or social studies. Kelly, the HR presenter, said the proposal was precautionary because a new state restriction effective in 2026 will otherwise prohibit DOI use for foundation courses.

Separately, district administrators proposed a DOI amendment tied to Senate Bill 13 and Texas Education Code 33.025. That section allows districts to create local school library advisory councils; the district requested an exemption from that new statutory requirement because GCISD said it already adopted local policies (EF local and EFB local) in August 2022 and refined procedures in 2023 to manage library material addition and removal. Dr. Shiver said library media specialists reviewed the proposal and supported the DOI exemption.

The board voted 7-0 to adopt the amendments. Trustees and staff said the changes were intended to preserve locally developed processes and avoid duplicative committees while retaining the district's ability to recruit qualified candidates for hard-to-fill roles where certification is not available.

Motion and vote: Trustee AJ moved approval; Trustee Mary seconded. Vote: 7-0.