Mike Falick's Blog

Graduation Day at Spring Branch's School of Choice

Graduation at School of Choice was held this afternoon at 4:00p.  The School of Choice graduated 29 students this year. 

The program from today's graduation, which lists all of the graduates, is available here (.pdf).

Graduation at School of Choice was held this afternoon at 4:00p.  The School of Choice graduated 29 students this year. 

The program from today's graduation, which lists all of the graduates, is available here (.pdf).

All-Acronyms.com Answers the Question "What Does that Stand for?" (with a Section Devoted Entirely to Education)

Here's a very useful website.  All-acronyms.com lists every conceivable acronym and tells you what it stands for and its definition (where applicable).  There is even a section devoted specifically to education acronyms.

The entire website is searchable, and you can even add your own new acronyms.

Graduation Day at Westchester Academy for International Studies

Graduation at Westchester Academy for International Studies was held tonight at 7 p.m.  This was Westchester's largest graduating class and for the first time was held at the Coleman Coliseum.

The program from tonight's graduation, which lists all of the graduates, is available here (.pdf).

Graduation Day: Spring Branch Graduates 1,695 Students Today

Congratulations to the 1,695 Spring Branch ISD Graduates from our 4 comprehensive high schools. 

This is my 5th graduation as a Board member, and it is always one of my favorite days of the year.

As the Board's President for 2007-2008, I had the honor of greeting each of the graduations on behalf of the Board.  You can read my remarks here.

You can click on the name of each school below to see the program for its graduation ceremony: Memorial, Northbrook, Spring Woods, Stratford.

KFDA TV Reporting on the "Ten Second Fight Game" - A Dangerous Game Being Played At Local Schools

KFDA, a television station in Amarillo, is reporting today on a new "game" being played at local schools in Amarillo.  The "ten second fight game" involves students "doing as much damage to another student as possible in ten seconds.

The video of the report is available on teh KFDA website. The transcript of the report appears below.

________________________________________________________

Dangerous Game Being Played At Local Schools

Parents are being alerted about a dangerous game students are playing in local schools. Newschannel 10's Stephanae Benson spoke with a parent who son was a victim of this game and warns other parents to talk to their kids and look out for signs of violence like unusual bruising on their body. 

It's a dangerous game being played at local schools and it could harm your child.

"They tell me there's a ten second fight game where you do as much as you can within ten seconds to the other kid."  said concerned parent Tamara Brock whose son was a victim of this violent horseplay. 

"I got a phone call to go to the school and when I got here his mouth was busted open, it was butterflied shut and I had to take him to get stitches."

After receiving 8 stitches, Brock was told a fight started in the cafeteria, that ended in the boys bathroom at Canyon Intermediate. We're told its a popular place to keep fights out of the view of teachers and staff. Now that the school is aware, they say they are taking actions to stop the dangerous game. 

"We're gonna monitor the halls, we're gonna monitor the restrooms, we also have cameras positioned that see the restrooms, we have a camera pointed towards the restroom, not in the restrooms, so we'll know who goes in and out." That's according to Alan Cornelius, a Student Services at Canyon Independent School District.

Both boys involved in the fight received in school suspension, but Brock says the police should have been involved because bodily harm was done to her son, but Cornelius says Texas law says something else.

"The penal code describes an assault as knowingly or recklessly or intentionally involving a student in a fight and we have to determine if they were knowingly or recklessly involved in the fight."
   
Cornelius adds anyone who comes forward with information about a fight will remain anonymous and protected. Brock says she grounded her son for a month with no TV or music and wants to alert other parents about the violence they're kids could be facing at school.

"We need to stop this, they have the right to an education and they have the right to be safe at school."

Brock has two sons at Canyon Intermediate and says her sons are not allowed to go into the bathrooms anymore, she has asked permission that they only go in the nurses restroom. 

"When I was in sixth grade i took part in bullying  a girl and I pray every day that her life turned out okay because she ended up leaving the school."

Recap of Tonight's Regular Monthly Board Meeting

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

We had six special presentations this evening.  First, our May 2008 Employee of the Month is Rita Millan, the Lead Custodian at Spring Woods High School.

Our May 2008 Volunteer of the Month is Maryellen McGlothlin, who volunteers at the Guthrie Center.

Our next special presentation was acceptance of a donation by MWRW, followed by recognition of our Title I Distinguished Performance Schools, and Celebrating Hispanic Heritage with 2 songs by students from Landrum Middle School.

Our final special presentation recognized this year's outstanding student athletes.

No one spoke during tonight's Citizen's Participation.

Next we held the second of our public hearings on the proposed FY 2009 budget.  Representative Jim Murphy, who participated in our Budget process (see prior posts here and here), spoke during this hearing and was very complimentary of the work of our Board.

Next on our agenda were our Board Member liaison reports and the District's Quarterly Energy report.

We then had first readings of the new proposed revised homework policy, EIB (Local) Academic Achievement: Homework, followed by adoption of the following Board policies: EHAC (Local) Basic Instructional Program: Required Instruction (Secondary), FD (Local) Admissions, and TASB Policy Update 82.

Our first action items on the Agenda included the approval of the Budget Status report and the Facility Improvement Program (1999 Bond and 2007 Bond) Update. 

As we do in every monthly meeting, we also approved the awarding of a variety of contracts (part 1 and part 2).  This month's contracts include contracts for numerous building and technology projects authorized by the 2007 Bond election, and the District's health insurance contract.

House Bill 1 requires the Board to adopt a Resolution regarding the budget and the new State imposed expenditure targets. We are required to adopt a Resolution that we are not meeting the targets, even if, as in Spring Branch, we miss a target because we are spending less on Administration ($3.7 million) than the target.

We then approved the FY 2009 Budget and the 2008-2009 Salary Schedule.

One of the items the District has been working on this year is a new Appraisal System for administrators, nurses, police officers, support staff, andcustodians which we approved tonight along with revisions to the Elementary and Secondary Student/Parent Handbook and Student Code of Conduct for 2008-2009.

We concluded our action items by approving the naming of the new Athletic Field House as "Mike Williamson Field House."

We then approved the items on our Consent Agenda.

We concluded our meeting with a discussion on the construction plans for the replacement of Hollibrook Elementary and Westwood Elementary.

Death is Nothing at All

Death is nothing at all.
Whatever we were to each other we still are.
Call me by my only familiar name.
Talk to me in the same easy way you always have.
Laugh as we always laughed.
Play, smile, think of me.  Pray for me.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is as it always was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well.
Nothing is past.
Nothing has been lost.
One brief moment and all will be
as it was before
only better.
Infinitely happier.
We will be one, together, forever.

- Anonymous


Melissa Christopher Crawford

April 3, 1967 - May 20, 2000

My Testimony Today before the House Higher & Public Education Finance Select Committee

Regular readers of this blog know that school districts in Texas are facing a significant funding crisis as a result of the limitations imposed in 2006 by House Bill 1.

Today, the House Select Committee on Higher & Public Education Finance held a meeting here in Houston.  I provided testimony to this Committee regarding the challenges that continue to face Spring Branch as a result of Robin Hood (Chapter 41) and House Bill 1.  You can read the testimony I provided here or by clicking the image below.

Additional information can be found in these prior posts here, here, here, and here.

Stratford and Memorial Students Win 2nd Place in the National Business Professionals of America Contest!

Students from Stratford and Memorial High Schools took 2nd place in a recent national competition at the Business Professionals of America 2008 National Leadership Conference in Reno, Nevada, May 7-11.

From the  Stratford website:

Students from Stratford and Memorial High Schools attended the Business Professionals of America 2008 National Leadership Conference in Reno, Nevada, May 7-11. Seniors Michelle Mandell, Eric Johnson, Ben Halliday and Steven Pham from Stratford High School competed in the Small Business Management Team Event, freshman, Anne Alexander also from Stratford competed in Entrepreneurship and senior, Young Kim from Memorial competed in Fundamentals of Accounting.

The Small Business Management Team took 2^nd in the nation for their project. They are all members of the Stratford Academy of Finance Program. Young Kim placed 6^th in Fundamentals of Accounting.

Business Professionals of America is a national organization for high school students preparing for careers in business and information technology. Congratulations to these students!

Recap of Tonight's Board Workshop

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

Our first agenda item was a discussion of the District's FY 2009 Budget.  We have had 4 meetings on the Budget, so this discussion was very short.  The Board will have a second public hearing on the Budget on May 19 at 7:00p.  For more information the FY 2009 Budget, see these prior posts here and here.

Our next discussion item involved a presentation by the Homework Task Force that included their recommendations for modifications to the District's homework policy.  The Board will continue to discuss this issue at our next several meetings with an eye toward approval of a new policy no later than our July Board meeting.

Next we discussed the District's new staff appraisal system.  Significant effort has been made to make the appraisal system uniform and more robust.

We then concluded our meeting with a lengthy conversation on the second readings on the following Board policies:

BQA (Local) Planning and Decision Making Process: District Level
BQB (Local) Planning and Decision Making Process: Campus Level
CDA (Local) Other Revenues: Investments
EHAC (Local) Basic Instructional Program: Required Instruction (Secondary)
FD (Local) Admissions
TASB Policy Update 82

Numerous amendments were offered, and final approval of these policies will occur at our Board meeting on May 19.