Interim/CFO

He sees the interim position as shorter-term, while the KISD Board of Education conducts a search for a new superintendent. He says it’s more about maintaining a great district, following up on short-term goals, and working with the rest of the administration, staff, and faculty to keep students succeeding for the rest of the school year, so the new superintendent can step into that office with confidence, probably sometime in June.

But Jachade is also still the CFO, and he says a lot of things fall under that umbrella. “I have to keep the district fiscally responsible to ensure the budget meets the needs of all the students and the staff. A big part of that is writing the budget in the first place. Some of the funding comes from the state and federal government, and I have to ensure those funds are properly spent and accounted for according to a lot of laws, rules, and regulations. But a majority of KISD funding comes from the district’s taxpayers, and we have to be good stewards of those dollars.”

He says a majority of the KISD budget is based on property tax collected from within the district, but the Texas Legislature has been talking about changing how Texas schools are funded. However, his focus remains on the current semester.

“We want our graduates to be CCMR,” he says. “That’s ‘college, career, or military ready.’ The spring semester is very busy. Besides next year’s budget, spring is a time for hiring. We have to replace teachers and staff who are retiring or moving, and we look for quality staff to work with our students.

“This spring there’s also a focus on campus security. We’re working with Kerrville Police Department to staff our school resource officers so the campuses will be covered, with an officer each at Tivy High School and Peterson Middle School, and two officers covering the four elementary school campuses. We’re also adding special glass and fencing to our campuses, and investigating the School Marshall program.”

Jachade says the school board hired a search firm, Thompson & Horton, LLC, on Jan. 2, and on Jan. 10 met with that firm to set a timeline, establish focus groups, and allow for comments from employees, parents, and the community to find out what they would like to see in a new leader for KISD. The applications for the position are already open, and now it’s a process of narrowing them down, conducting two rounds of interviews, and finding the best person for the job as a “lone finalist.” The timeline established anticipates the board signing the new superintendent’s contract by May 1.

“I’m not applying for the job,” he says. “I’m happy to be the KISD CFO.”

Jachade says he was born and raised in San Antonio, where his mother, Myra Jachade, was an elementary school teacher. He graduated from Judson High School in 2000, then went to Southwest Texas State University, which became Texas State University while he was there.

“My father, Larry Jachade, always stressed the value of education,” Jachade says. “He was a route salesman for Owens Country Sausage. He told me he graduated ninth in his high school class, and he expected me to do as well. I was grown before I discovered his class at La Vernia High School only had 11 graduates. He’s still living in the same house in San Antonio where I grew up.”

Jachade says, “SWTSU is also where I met Katie McFadden. My dorm roommate, Zach Frost, was dating Katie’s best friend, so Katie and I were ‘forced to hang out with each other.’ That started our freshman year, Jan. 13, 2001, going to a movie. We became friends, then ended up getting married in 2007. Now Katie is the school nurse at Starkey Elementary School, and we have a daughter, Parker, in the sixth grade at HPMS. She’s in the school orchestra, and plays softball and volleyball. We’re all active in the nineteen:ten church in Boerne. Luke 19:10 tells us, ‘For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost’.”

After he earned his degree in mathematics and kinesiology, Jachade says he taught math and coached for three years in Bandera High School, then spent four years at Rockport-Fulton High School. “But I needed to be closer to Mom in San Antonio, to care for her. I almost chose a school in Wimberly, but KISD called me for an interview. I came here as a Tivy assistant principal in 2010, became the principal, then moved to central office as assistant CFO, and was promoted to CFO. It was more of a God-intervention than anything.”

But he adds, “Success is a matter of choice, not chance.”