Thank you to everyone who came out for First Responders Appreciation Night at Newton Field recently. It was an amazing evening of supporting and celebrating these community heroes before cheering our Graham Steers on to a Homecoming win. Thanks to the Graham Athletic Booster Club for collaborating with us on this event and providing a tailgate dinner for the first responders and their families.
GISD will host a coffee and conversation about the 2026 bond proposal at 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 19 at the Graham Learning Center, next door to Graham Junior High. You are all invited to attend to learn more about the $60 million bond package recommended by our Facility Planning Committee. Our goal is to ensure we share the facts and encourage participation in this election.
Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 19. It is convenient and typically offers no waiting. GISD voters residing in Young County can vote at the main early voting location at Young County Courthouse Annex, 417 Second Street or the branch early voting location at Fort Belknap Electric Co-Op, 1302 W. Main St., in Olney. The early voting schedule includes these opportunities to cast your ballot:
Oct. 19-23, 2026 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 24 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Oct. 26-30, 2026 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
GISD voters living in Stephens County can cast an early ballot at the Stephens County Courthouse, 200 W. Walker St. in Breckenridge. The early voting hours for Stephens County voters are the same as the ones noted above, with the exception of Sunday, Oct. 25 when voting hours are Noon to 6 p.m.
Bond elections are the mechanism in state law that allow local voters to decide if a public school district can borrow money to construct or renovate facilities. The last voter-approved school bond election in Graham ISD was 19 years ago. The proposal is projected to cost the average GISD taxpayer less than $3 more per month.
Voting is an awesome privilege and responsibility, and we encourage a culture of voting in local, county, state and national elections. Now is the time to exercise your right to vote.
Committed to Excellence,
Dr. Mary Johnston
District Shares Site Plans, Architectural Renderings For Proposed New Graham Elementary School (Grades 1-5)
School officials recently shared site plans and draft architectural renderings for the proposed new Graham Elementary School. The $53 million project will be decided by voters in a single-proposition election on the November 3 ballot. Proposition A also includes another $7 million in projects at Pioneer Elementary, Graham Junior High and Graham High School.
The new elementary campus would be built on the district-owned property where Woodland Elementary currently sits. The proposal involves consolidating Crestview and Woodland Elementary Schools into one newly constructed, modernized elementary school for grades 1-5. The committee first looked at renovating Crestview and Woodland and/or replacing Woodland. The cost to repair both campuses is estimated to be $69.3 million, and the cost to replace both campuses is estimated to be $84.1 million. The committee chose, instead, to recommend a single-story new campus that would open in the fall of 2029.
Consolidating Woodland and Crestview campuses into a single, new school, is projected to save GISD more than $640,000 annually in operating costs. The project would include classroom and commons spaces for up to 650-700 students, a security vestibule, cameras, exterior/interior lighting and ADA compliant projects throughout, as well as a new, accessible playground.
The construction would occur on-site over a two-year period, opening in the fall of 2029. During the summer before the school opens, the old Woodland building would be replaced by the new playground spaces, parking and a newly designed parent pick-up/drop-off lane to take traffic off of Cliff Drive. The district would close both Crestview and Woodland campuses and move all students and teachers to the new elementary. The School Board would like the Crestview site to be sold to a developer to build more affordable housing in Graham. The revenue could be used for the district’s operating budget and/or to pay for additional capital improvement projects recommended in the Facility Planning Committee’s five-year Long-Range Facility Plan.
The Graham ISD Board of Trustees met for a regular meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 14. In addition to recognizing GISD students and staff, the Board approved School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) Membership for the 2026-2027 school year. Title 2, Chapter 28.004 of the Texas Education Code requires school districts to create and maintain a School Health Advisory Council (SHAC). The SHAC assists the District in ensuring the local community values are reflected in the District’s health education instruction. The committee will meet four times this school year.
2026-27 SHAC members include:
Parent Estrella Anderson
Parent Stephanie Campbell
Health Professional Terry Qualls, LVN - GISD Lead Nurse
District SRO Blake Davis
Teacher Tyler Fowler
Teacher Ashley Register
GISD Administrator Robert Loomis
During the Oct. 14 meeting Trustees received an update to the 2026-2027 General Operating and Debt Service Budgets adopted in June 2026. This update provided information on how changes to Certified Property Values and final adopted tax rates received after the budget was adopted in June impacted the adopted budget. Tax rates are set by the State and communicated to Districts in August. Property values are determined by the Young County Appraisal District (YCAD) and sent to Districts in July. Because local property values increased and enrollment declined slightly, the State compressed the Maximum Compressed Tax rate by 2.4 cents from 2025-2026. The increase in property values served as an offset to the decrease in the tax rate, causing the impact of these changes to be negligible. Below are the GISD tax rates for 2026-2027:
Maintenance & Operations Tax Rate: $.6517 per $100 assessed valuation
Interest & Sinking Tax Rate: $.3106 per $100 assessed valuation
Total 2026-27 Tax Rate:$.9623 per $100 assessed valuation (a decrease of 2.4 cents)
In other business, the Board:
Heard an Academic Update on Mathematics, the Oct. 9 Professional Development Day, Advanced Academics Planning and District Plan on Seeking Increased Collaboration with NCTC;
Heard a Safety & Security Committee update;
Heard a txEDCON update (TASA/TASB Conference);
Approved the Consent Agenda, which consisted of previous meeting minutes, an enrollment report and financial reports; and
Met in Closed Session as permitted by Texas law.
The School Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the Graham Learning Center.
Graham High School Art Student Honor
Diego Camacho- Artsonia Artist of the Week
KC Dumpsters Team Graham Art Contest Winners
Harry Brown
Titus Lipsey
Layla Easterling
Indie Kramer
Alexandra Garcia
FFA Leadership Development Event Team Presentation- Public Relations Team:
Adalyn Joy
Lillian Ford
Hadley Trammell
Maddy Erwin
Academics: Excellence in Action
Pioneer students traveled back in time at Pioneer Day to see how life used to be. Students made butter, searched for gold, rode the trail, went fishing, and enjoyed old-fashioned games like hopscotch and drop the handkerchief. Thank you to all the families who joined us for a great day!
Crestview 2nd graders wrapped up their Ancient Greek studies by competing in the 2nd grade Olympics in PE and enjoying some Greek inspired snacks. Thank you to our parents who helped out and made the learning special.
GISD Employees Dive Deep into Data and Standards
We appreciate the hard work of our teachers during our professional learning day! They spent time digging into the student data and the state standards (TEKS) to prepare to serve our students in an excellent manner. We believe in giving our teachers time to collaborate and plan for instruction and are grateful for your support of them.
Graham ISD Veterans’ Day Ceremony
Graham ISD will be celebrating Veterans’ Day at the high school on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 9:30 a.m. In advance of the event, we would love to recognize our veterans in the Graham community. Please fill out the form below for yourself or a veteran you know by Friday, Nov. 6. We would also love to include photos and comments. Thank you for helping create a special celebration for our veterans!
From time to time, Graham ISD schools may implement one of five Standard Response Protocols as part of the district’s emergency response plan. These protocols include Secure,Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter and Hold. We will be using space in our monthly community newsletters to review the procedures and purposes of each of these protocols.
The second protocol explained for the 2026-27 school year is a campus Lockdown. A Lockdown is typically announced over the intercom system to alert students and staff members of an imminent threat to safety happening inside or directed at the school.
During a Lockdown, protocol demands locking individual classroom doors, offices and other securable areas, moving room occupants to a ‘safe zone’ out of line of sight of corridor windows and having room occupants maintain silence. Students and staff who are outside of classrooms when a Lockdown is announced, should get into the first available classroom with a teacher or a room that can be secured. Teacher, staff, and student training reinforces the practice of not opening the classroom door, once in Lockdown. Rather, no indication of occupancy should be revealed until first responders or school administrators open the door.
During a Lockdown, we ask that parents/guardians NOT come to the campus until the Lockdown has been lifted and instructions have been shared. Allow school personnel and emergency responders an opportunity to manage the emergency situation first and then Graham ISD will communicate with parents as quickly as possible. If a student is ever injured, just know that GISD will contact the parent/guardian directly.
Lockdowns are reserved for more serious situations with imminent concern for student and staff safety. Although it can be an anxious few minutes for parents who are unsure of what is happening, please trust that school officials and first responders will put student safety first when managing the situation. Notifying families of the facts and where to reconnect with your child if a Reunification is necessary will be the next priority. Reunification is the district’s plan to reunite families with their children following a serious emergency situation or evacuation. We’ll cover more details on the Reunification procedures in a future edition of the TeleGRAHAM.
If you ever have questions about any of the District’s SRPs, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your campus principal.
Watch for #GrahamSafe announcements through the ParentSquare mobile app to stay up-to-date on GISD Safety!
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month
Graham ISD Special Program invites you to join the Graham ISD dyslexia instructional staff for a "Learn @ Lunch" informational session for parents. Grab a lunch and meet our outstanding team in the Crestview Elementary Cafeteria on Monday, Oct. 19, from 12:15 - 12:45 p.m. to learn about Texas's definition of dyslexia, the evaluation process for dyslexia, Graham ISD's continuum of dyslexia services, and programs utilized for dyslexia instruction, intervention, and support. Additionally, parents of students served by the dyslexia team can learn how they can support their student's growth in reading! GISD dyslexia instructional staff will be available after the meeting to answer any questions.
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month! We invite all parents who are interested in learning about the dyslexia services provided to join our team for this 'Learn @ Lunch" opportunity!
GISD Current Openings for 2026-2027
Human Resources Update: Applications can be found on Region 9
GISD
Diagnostician
Speech Language Pathologist
Crestview
Principal
Assistant Principal
Paraprofessional
Pioneer
Paraprofessional
Please know that we will be posting these openings twice a month in our newsletters. If you are interested in looking at postings more frequently, they may be accessed in Quick Links through our District website.
Graham ISD would love to have a growing list of trained substitute teachers for the coming year. Training dates have been set up and are required before you can qualify to substitute in GISD.
Meeting Place: The Graham Learning Center
Time: 8:30 to 11 a.m.
Training Dates: (you need only attend once)
November 4
December 2
January 6
February 3
March 3
Football Game Time Commercial Space - FOR SALE!
Support the Steers and showcase your business! Reach up to 3,000 potential customers during every Friday night Graham Steers home game on the video board.
Act now as there are only two more home games! If interested, contact Gary Browning at gary.browning@grahamisd.com.
Staff and Student Shoutouts
MaryAnna Griffin
“We would love to recognize Mrs. Griffin for the way she supports Winnie during breakfast and lunch. In a relatively small part of the school day, she has helped create such meaningful opportunities for friendship, communication, and belonging. She encourages Winnie to interact with her peers using her AAC, has helped her build new friendships, and even made sure she could join her classmates in playing soccer at recess.
What stands out most is that she doesn’t begin with Winnie’s cerebral palsy—she begins with Winnie, a six-year-old girl who is at school to learn, communicate, make friends, play, and belong. That kind of expectation and inclusion is incredibly valuable, and we are so grateful for her.”
Submitted by Winnie's Family
Vianey Serrano
“Vianey Serrano is such an important part of our Functional Life Skills team. She is so much more than a para—she is a person of comfort and support for some of our students when they become overwhelmed or need someone they trust. Vianey has a calm, caring way of helping our students work through difficult moments and feel safe and understood. She is always willing to step in, help wherever she is needed, and do whatever it takes to support our students and our team. Honestly, we couldn't do what we do every day without her. We are incredibly thankful to have Vianey as part of our GHS family!”
Submitted by Robin Johnson
Barbara Rice
“Mrs. Rice is doing such an amazing job! She always has a smile on her face, and is so kind and patient with her students. We are so thankful for such a great Pre-k team this year and she is one of the many reasons!”
6th Grade - Class dues are due! $20 through Venmo, Paypal or Cash to First State Bank or Sheena Parrilla.
Thank you for your support of our students!
Class of 2033 (6th Grade) Fundraiser on Oct. 23
Who will be the Stampede’s next victim? At the stadium table, fans bid to select a willing coach, teacher or principal as that night’s Stampede’s target. Visit the Class of 2033 table at the Pink Out Football game on Oct. 23 to participate!
Community Events
If you would like to host a flier in the Community Events section for upcoming monthly editions of the GISD TeleGRAHAM, send the information to communications@grahamisd.com.
GHS Mini Cheer Camp
Children ages kindergarten through sixth grade are invited to the GHS Mini Cheer Camp! Camp will take place on Sunday, Oct. 18 from 1-3 p.m. at GHS Gym. The students will learn cheers for the Pink Out Game on Friday, Oct. 23. $50 per camper. Register today!
Michelle Lowrey Golf Tournament Silent Auction
A Silent Auction will be held to help raise money for The Michelle Lowrey STEM Scholarship. Silent auction (online) and bidding starts today, Thursday, Oct. 15 and will go until Monday, Oct. 19 (midday).
Do you like to walk and talk or go for a healthy run? We would like to invite you to participate in the Spivey Hill Challenge on Nov. 7. Bring the whole family!
