Tyra Walker

I've been in education for 31 years, and I've been in my current position as Executive Director at Spring Branch ISD for three years. I originally started working with severely emotionally disturbed and autistic children in a residential facility. I had gotten out of school with a degree in international business with a double major in economics, and I realized once I got a job, I didn't enjoy it. It didn't fit my personality. I started subbing at a middle school in a classroom for a teacher who had gone on sabbatical because she felt the children were challenging behaviorally. I loved it. I loved the kids, and for some reason, the kids loved me. I happened to fall in love with working with children. A friend came and talked to me about a residential facility that was hiring, and I worked with severely emotionally disturbed as well as autistic children who were wards of the state. I was so fascinated with just making a difference for kids who had very severe backgrounds. I found out that that was my niche, and it was something that I really loved, and I felt a lot of gratitude at being able to make a difference for children. They paid me to go back to school and become certified as a teacher. I became a teacher and went into special education, got certified, and continued that work. From there I went into counseling and did that for 8 years, and then I went into administration and became an assistant principal for 3 years, associate principal for 3 years, and then they called me and asked if I would take a job at the district office overseeing counseling. Recently when I left Alief and came to Spring Branch, I took on behavioral health, mental health, college access, and CCMR accountability. I've never lost that desire and need to make the difference for kids in the margins, the kids who don't have that person that's gonna step in and stand in that kind of situation. I've had opportunities to go to the state level and go to Austin and advocate to get laws and bills passed. I got a chance to present several times before the Senate and the House to get bills passed that are still in effect right now, including one that allowed kids who may not test well but learn well in smaller chunks to still have the opportunity to graduate. I helped start a college academy where our kids get to stay in all their extracurriculars and have the best of both worlds. We just graduated our first graduating class last week at one of our campuses that had the highest low SES demographic and the most academic challenges in the district. I also run my own consulting company called Inspiring Solutions, where I've trained for Aldine ISD, Cypress ISD, and one of my larger contracts was Episcopal High School. I present at Region 4 and help facilitate their Counselor Leader Series, and I've done a keynote for HISD.