A group of community members who have come together to evaluate the district’s facilities in order to provide facility and equipment recommendations to the Gainesville ISD Board of Trustees. The committee will evaluate aging and evolving building needs, programmatic needs, as well as projected enrollment.

The district believes in creating a collaborative culture in which all stakeholders may be a part of discussions regarding the district’s future. The district wants input in evaluating its facility needs and by forming a Committee it allows the district to hear from and incorporate many different perspectives from people in the Gainesville ISD community. Committee participants reflect larger community values, needs, and desires

The Facility Steering Committee represents a diverse demographic makeup of Gainesville ISD residents, including parents, non-parents, grandparents, local civic and business leaders, as well as school and district staff. These committee members work alongside one another to prioritize and build a recommendation to the Board of Trustees that best represents the values and perceptions of the entire community.

Committee members were nominated by district employees and/or school board members.

Gainesville ISD residents Martin Phillips and Rachel Pickett are serving as co-chairs. Their roles include helping to lead each committee meeting and make adjustments to agendas, if/when needed; facilitating large group discussions; ensuring all ideas and/or positions of committee members are heard and given equal time; maintaining group focus; and giving a formal presentation to Gainesville ISD Board of Trustees with the FSC’s final recommendations.

Committee members are studying a district-wide facilities assessment completed by EIKON, current building conditions and functionality, enrollment projections, financial data, and results of a community survey in order to form their recommendation. As additional relevant information and data is requested or becomes available, it will be shared with the committee members.

The Facilities Steering Committee (FSC) process is designed to be open and transparent. Meeting notes, presentations and agendas will be posted for each meeting, and all FSC meetings will be open to the public. Non-committee members in attendance are invited to sit in the designated section for visitors and to listen, but not verbally participate. The non-committee members are encouraged to submit their questions and/or comments in writing on note cards that will be available at each meeting. Those questions and comments will be shared with the committee members and the Board of Trustees. Answers will be communicated via email to guests who provide an email address on the note card.

Gainesville ISD has partnered with an independent polling firm to help the district gauge what voters think about the options being considered. If you receive a phone call from the research firm, we ask that you participate. If you have not received a phone call and would like to take the online survey, please do so by December 29. All participation in this survey is completely anonymous. The firm will report results of the survey with the district, but they will keep the identities of participants confidential