The Denton school board has offered a new three-year contract to longtime Superintendent Ray Braswell, and Braswell says he'll accept it. That's good news for Denton and its schoolchildren, not to mention the teachers and other district employees.
Like other prudent school boards in North Texas, the Denton board offered the new contract to Braswell at the same rate of pay as his present one, and like other wise and prudent school superintendents in the area, Braswell accepted it with grace.
We would not have expected anything else. Since coming from the Texas Oil Patch to enroll as an undergraduate at what is now the University of North Texas, Braswell has made Denton his hometown, and has returned in the form of dedicated service whatever benefits he has received for his long tenure here.
He has been employed by the Denton school district since 1979, serving as an assistant principal and associate principal at Denton High School, executive director of research and development for the district, executive director for policy, planning and evaluation, associate superintendent and interim superintendent. He was named superintendent in 1999.
Spending more than 30 years in one school district is almost unheard of for a school administrator these days, especially one of Braswell's caliber. He has been named one of the top school superintendents in Texas numerous times by professional organizations; administrators like that are apt to see job offers from other districts floating in over the transom in a steady stream.
But Braswell has remained steadfast in his loyalty to Denton. As he said simply yet eloquently Tuesday in announcing his intention to accept the new three-year contract, "I'm just pleased to be able to continue the relationship with the board and the district. It's a great place to work."
And Braswell has done yeoman's work since becoming superintendent in 1999. On his watch, the district has built two new high schools, negotiated the donation of sites for several new elementary and middle schools, annexed 13 square miles from the Argyle school district, greatly increased volunteerism and parent involvement in school programs, opened the LaGrone Advanced Technology Complex, received certification to offer the International Baccalaureate Organization program in three of the district's schools and raised Texas Education Agency school ratings virtually across the board.
As we have watched Braswell accomplish these things over the years, we have marveled at the mixture of competence, pragmatism and idealism that has driven him. Last year may have been the worst year in the history to be a school superintendent, but you would never have known it by watching Braswell at work. The nearest we got to seeing him truly flustered was when he was forced to announce cutbacks and a reduction in the teaching staff as a result of draconian cuts in state school funding.
Though we wouldn't have blamed him, Braswell never flew off the handle at the folly of the Legislature (we can't say the same for ourselves). He also never failed to make it clear that he believed the cuts were a terrible mistake and he never quit working to mitigate the damage they had done.
We are extremely glad that Ray Braswell will be at the helm of Denton's public schools for another three years, at least. We hope it's a lot longer than that.
