Mike Falick's Blog

Spring Branch Council of PTAs School Supplies Project: Donate Today!

As in past years, the Spring Branch Council of PTAs is raising money to provide school supplies to students in Spring Branch who would otherwise start school without necessary, basic supplies.  As an added bonus, in addition to helping a student, your donation is tax deductible.

From the District's website:

Every year, thousands of children in the Spring Branch School District go to school without the needed supplies -- no paper, pens, pencils or other essential supplies necessary for their education.  These students need our help.

The Spring Branch Council of PTAs will again strive to provide these necessary tools to our students.  Last year, the Council raised over $12,000 from businesses, churches, organizations, individuals, and schools.  The funds raised provided supplies for over 1,660 elementary students.  The Council was also able to provide over $5,000 of emergency supplies to our middle schools and high schools.  Please consider a donation to the School Supply Fund.  By giving back to our Spring Branch community, we enrich our lives.  It's a wonderful way to start the new millennium.

You can donate online by clicking on the icon below.

         

More Ways to Keep Your Children Entertained: How to Make Flubber, and Other Fun Activities

Yesterday, I posted this link to  10 ways to entertain young children for $1 or less (without the TV).  This website, brought to you by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, has more including:

Flubber Recipe
Bubble Wrap Painting
Color and Light Window Art
Goop Recipe
Ice Painting
Oobleck Recipe
Pasta Necklaces Recipe
Play Dough Recipe
Pounding and Prying
Silly Putty Recipe
Stained Glass
String Painting
Tear-Free Bubble Solution Recipe

The website also features a Guide to Online Science Resources for great Early Learning links.

10 Ways to Entertain Young Children for $1 or Less (Without TV)

One of my favorite websites is Lifehacker.com, which has a post today that could be very valuable as we enter the last 4 weeks of the summer vacation.  Here are Lifehacker's 10 ways to entertain young children for $1 or less (without the TV):      

Sick of paying hundreds of dollars for toys your kids don't play with? Tired of the latest toy catching your child's attention and having it turn out to be something you consider offensive (Bratz) or impossible to acquire (break dancing Elmo)?

Never fear. These classic toys and activities can be created with stuff you probably already have lying around your house. Plus, they will entertain your kids for hours and when they are done, you can chuck 'em without feeling bad you spent your Christmas bonus to get them. Plus, studies show a child will remember a toy you both created far longer than a store bought toy.

Here are the top 10 ways to entertain your young child for $1 or less:

1. Large cardboard boxes - Perfect for making houses and small castles. A large cardboard box can entertain an imaginative child for hours. Make sure you are nearby to take pictures and plenty of door knocking. Hint: look for an appliance store in your area. They often have many of the large boxes they are willing to give you as opposed to putting in the trash.
2. Rubber band and pencil crazy bot - A simple toy you probably remember from elementary school. Take two unsharpened pencils and wrap a rubber band around the center. Twist the pencils lengthwise against each other (as you would wind a propeller on a toy plane). Set down flat on a table and let the jumping begin. Teach your child not to twist the rubber band too tightly or it will break. Make sure to have plenty of extra rubber bands handy just in case.
3. Make a paper popper - What do kids like more than birthday cake? Noise of course. Here's a little noisemaker you remember from grade school. To make:
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   1. Fold a sheet of copier paper lengthwise down the middle - open the sheet back up and lay flat          
   2. Fold all four corners of the paper inward toward the center crease          
   3. Fold the sheet of paper in half the other way keeping all four corners folded inward - you will end up what looks vaguely like a stealth aircraft
   4. With the point facing away from you, grab the right side and fold it upward so the bottom is parallel with the crease          
   5. Do the same with the left side          
   6. Unfold so you are back to the stealth fighter          
   7. Using the crease as a reference, tuck the upper right hand corner into the popper.          
   8. Repeat with the other side.  It will look like a diamond.          
   9. Lastly, Fold it one more time so it looks like a triangle.        
   10. Hold from the bottom and as if you were pitching a baseball, flip the popper rapidly through the air. The inward folded corner will "POP" out making a fun and satisfying sound.

Recap of Tonight's Board Workshop: Discussion of the Recommendations of the Bond Advisory Committee Continues

Our Board held a workshop tonight.  Here's a recap of the issues discussed and actions taken on tonight's Agenda. 

We approved 2 policy revisions, DEC (Local) Compensation and Benefits: Leaves and Absences and CRE (Local) Insurance and Annuities Management: Worker's Compensation.

The majority of the meeting was spent continuing to discuss the recommendations of the Bond Advisory Committee.  Included in the materials provided to the Board are a Proposed District Transformation Schedule that shows when each of the District's campuses might be replaced, and the possible addition of 4 elementary schools to the list of schools to be replaced.

The Board will continue to discuss the possible bond election at an August 13 workshop meeting.  For more information on the Bond Advisory Committee's recommendations, please see this prior post.

SBISD Board of Trustees is Named Regional School Board Award Winner

Our Board has been selected as the Region 4 Honor Board of the Year.   I am very proud to be a part of this Board and the Spring Branch leadership team.

**Update 8/8/07: The TASA website has listed the 7 school boards that are finalists.  In addition to Spring Branch, Brenham, Clint, Mesquite, San Benito, Stephenville, and Texarkana are regional winners.

From the District's website:

The Spring Branch ISD Board of Trustees has been selected as the regional winner in the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) School Board Awards Program.  Dr. Duncan Klussmann, Superintendent of Schools, made the surprise announcement during the Board’s regular monthly meeting held on Monday, July 23.

In his nomination letter, Dr. Klussmann said the seven Trustees, elected by the citizens of Spring Branch, “continually demonstrate their commitment to quality public education.”

“While individual members may hold divergent opinions, they always respect the end decision,” Dr. Klussmann said. “I believe the mutual respect our Trustees have for the process of decision-making ultimately leads to their differences becoming their strengths.”

Boards are selected for demonstrating leadership as a policy-making body, supporting educational performance in accordance with state-established standards, supporting educational improvement projects, commitment to a Code of Ethics, providing financial support for the school system, participating in professional development workshops, placing the welfare of district children above personal and political motives, supporting public relations efforts and maintaining harmonious and supportive relationships among members.

“They are a team,” said Bob Stevenson, a local CPA and Board Budget Buddy, “and as a team they encourage input in the policy-making process—not only from the professional staff, but also from the patrons.”

Regional winners now move on to the state level, where their nomination material will be reviewed and five Honor Boards will be announced in August.

In late September, each Honor Board will be interviewed at the Texas Association of School Administrators/Texas Association of School Boards (TASA/TASB) Convention in Dallas. There, the Outstanding Board will be announced Sept. 29 at the association’s Second General Session.

SBISD Board of Trustee members are Mike Falick, President; Susan Kellner, Vice President; Wayne Schaper, Sr., Secretary; Dr. Dave Converse; Theresa Kosmoski; Mary Grace Landrum; and Susan Mathews.

In 1983, the Spring Branch Board of Trustees last won Outstanding Texas School Board honors.

posted 07-24-07

Recap of Tonight's Board Meeting (Regular Monthly Agenda Plus Continuing Discussion of the Bond Committee's Recommendations)

Our Board held its regular monthly meeting tonight.  Here's a recap of the issues discussed and actions taken on tonight's Agenda.

• Trustee Susan Kellner delivered the invocation.
• Our only special presentation was
  
• We then held a Public Hearing on the
• Each of the Board members then gave their liaison reports
• We then received the District's Quarterly Investment Report
  
• As part of our Board's work to revise the Board's Policies, we had second readings of DEC (Local) Compensation and Benefits: Leaves and Absences and CRE (Local) Insurance and Annuities Management: Worker's Compensation, and we approved a Resolution concerning the District's Investment Policy
• The Board approved the Budget Status Summary with Budget Amendments as of June 30, 2007, and the Facility Improvement Program Monthly Status Report as of June 30, 2007.
• The Board also approved the award of numerous contracts.
  
• We next discussed and approved a Resolution to declare an emergency to complete repairs at Pine Shadows Elementary where part of the stucco ceiling has collapsed.
• The Board endorsed Katherine Hanson for Position 4A on the Texas Association of School Board's Board of Directors.
• We then approved the items on our Consent Agenda.
• Next we discussed the Continuing Education Board members are required to complete each year.
• Finally, the Board continued its discussion on the Bond Committee's recommendations.  The materials reviewed and discussed at tonight's meeting are available here.  This discussion will continue at tomorrow night's workshop.
   

Can You Name All the U.S. Presidents?

Here's a website that will really challenge you.  You have 10 minutes to name all of the Presidents.  Here are the directions to play:

To play, enter a name in the box.  If you properly name a President, it will get filled in to the proper year below.  The colored years represent special circumstances, described at the bottom.  You've got 10 minutes....go!

Could You Hit a 90 mph Fastball? Try Your Skills Here

Well, I have determined through this website that I could not have been a major league baseball player.  But maybe you will fare better.

From the website:

Click on the "play ball" button, then move your cursor over the part of the screen that shows the baseball field. As soon as you see "swing batter," click on your screen as fast as you can.

Fastball Reaction Time imitates a 90-mph fastball thrown by a major league pitcher. While this exhibit doesn't test if you could actually hit a fastball, it does test whether you could react in time to hit one. When you see the "swing batter" screen, a signal in your eye sends a message to a part of your brain  that controls your muscles. Your brain must then send a signal to your muscles, telling them to click. Although it takes some time for the signal to travel along each nerve, the major delay in your reaction time occurs at the junction points in between the different nerves involved, and between the nerves and the muscles in your fingers.

July 20, 1969: One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped off the Apollo 11 lunar module and said those famous words.

Trivia moment: the first word said from the moon was "Houston." 

From NASA's Apollo 11 website:

On July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body.

Six hours after landing at 4:17 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (with less than 30 seconds of fuel remaining), Neil A. Armstrong took the “Small Step” into our greater future when he stepped off the Lunar Module, named “Eagle,” onto the surface of the Moon, from which he could look up and see Earth in the heavens as no one had done before him.

He was shortly joined by “Buzz” Aldrin, and the two astronauts spent 21 hours on the lunar surface and returned 46 pounds of lunar rocks. After their historic walks on the Moon, they successfully docked with the Command Module “Columbia,” in which Michael Collins was patiently orbiting the cold but no longer lifeless Moon.

Spring Branch ISD Fast Facts: Highlights, Demographic Data, SAT Scores, Staffing, and Teacher Salaries on a Single Page

Click here for the Fast Facts.pdf or click the picture to enlarge.