Spring Branch's 7th Annual Celebration of Sharing took place this morning at Memorial City Mall. As always, the event was an opportunity for the District to thank the many volunteers, partners, and donors who support our students.
You can see the program from today's event by clicking here, and the lengthy list of partners, volunteers, and donors is available here.
And best of all, if you couldn't make it, I took the videos below of the student performances by the Frostwood Choir and the Spring Woods High School Theater. As you will see from the videos, I am definitely not a professional. Enjoy!
Millennials are defined as that group born after 1981. The Pew Research Center has conducted an in depth study of this group to determine who they are, and how they view the world. An overview of the research can be found here.
If you want to know how you compare to this group, the Pew Research Center has created a quiz that will determine how "Millennial" you are.
Take our 14 item quiz and we’ll tell you how "Millennial" you are, on a
scale from 0 to 100, by comparing your answers with those of
respondents to a scientific nationwide survey. You can also find out
how you stack up against others your age.
Click here to take the quiz. My score, as indicated in the picture to the left is 38.
Our Board held its regular monthly meeting tonight. Here's a recap of the issues discussed, and actions taken on tonight's Agenda.
Our meeting started with Special Presentations to recognize the outstanding work of the following:
Sonya Ramirez, the Communities in Schools Liaison for Edgewood Elementary, as our February 2010 Employee of the Month. Click here to watch a video honoring Ms. Ramirez.
Next on our agenda was Citizens Participation. We had four people speak during Citizens Participation. Ms. Schindler gave the District an award as her company's Vendor of the Year. Catherine Barchfield and Chris Hajovsky spoke in favor of the Board's Resolution on Housing Tax Credits. And Chuck Davidson asked the Board to create two task forces, one to look at high school schedules and the other to look at creating a 9th Grade campus.
We then had our Board member Liaison Reports(each Board member serves in a liaison capacity). Clickhere here for the materials I provided in my legislative liaison update. Click here for the materials provided by Wayne Schaper, Sr., in his Facilities update, and here for the materials provided by Mary Grace Landrum in her Technology update.
EJ (Local) Academic Guidance Program. I am very pleased to see the addition of post-secondary planning, college advising, and the requirement for advisory periods for all secondary campuses as I firmly believe that these items are critical to achieving our District's goal of being the premiere college focused district in Texas.
We concluded the meeting with a lengthy discussion regarding the Annual Report to the Board on the Five Year Educational Plan. The Report itself can be viewed by clicking here (this is a very large file). In addition, the PowerPoint presentation given to the Board tonight can be viewed by clicking here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.
On February 22, 1980, the United States Hockey Team beat the Soviet Union's Team in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history. I remember watching the game, and the video below really captures how the game felt that day (for those of you who watched it live). It is hard to explain to kids, as I tried to do last night, why this game was such a big deal.
This week's TED Video of the Week is from Chef Jamie Oliver, whose talk details his efforts to change the way people, and especially children, view food. The talk is truly eye-opening. From the TED website:
Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington,
W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out
assault on our ignorance of food.
Next Thursday, February 25, 2010, Spring Branch will celebrate the
tremendous contributions of its partners, donors, and volunteers with
the 7th Annual Celebration of Sharing. The event will take place at Memorial City Mall from 7:15a - 9:00a.
As
a member of the Volunteer Advisory Board since 2004, I have enjoyed
watching this event grow. Last year, over 650 people attended this
event.
If you are a District partner, donor, or volunteer, please
try to join us to celebrate your contributions to the success of our
students. You can RSVP by clicking the picture to the left or by following this link.
I once again had the opportunity to attend this year's FFA Show and Sale. As is the case every year, it is amazing to see the hard work by each student in the program. The auction was a big success, as described below.
Feb 6 - The 2010 FFA Show and Sale
is complete. Our students proudly showed their projects and bid
farewell to them as the weekend's events completed. The total receipts
for the sale was over $171,000. Congratulations to our students for
their hard work, and many thanks to the support and guidence of our
teachers Christy Capps and Vanessa Collier,
our Alumni Association, parents, community members, and the financial
support from our buyers.
On January 21, 2010, I had the honor of welcoming the students and experts to the District's first Dinner with the Experts. Thanks to our Community Relations Department and M.D. Anderson, as well as all those who made the Dinner a huge success.
The Jan. 21 dinner and roundtable discussion program drew about 80 of young women interested in science and medical careers to the Town and Country Norris Conference Center in Houston City Centre.
For the event, students were grouped at dinner tables for easygoing question-and-answer sessions with medical doctors, researchers and scientists from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Medical Center.
Community Relations Officer Linda Buchman organized the first-time event. It was hosted by the Community Relations Department in partnership with women doctors, researchers, professors and scientists from the cancer hospital and top-rated research facility. The program concept was conceived by the department’s Partners in Education (PIE) Advisory Board.
Keynote speaker was Dr. Carmen Escalante of M.D. Anderson, the professor and chair of general internal medicine, ambulatory treatment and emergency care. At each table, these working professionals shared personal career insights and their schooling, experiences and pathways into particular medical, science or research fields.
Numerous studies continue to show that men in science- and medical-related careers still far outnumber women. According to National Science Foundation data, women make up about 26 percent of the nation’s scientists and engineers.
Rusty Graham of the Memorial Examiner has posted an article online that details the discussion the Board had on Monday concerning government assisted housing. I have posted the article below.
Spring
Branch trustees will consider a resolution that puts the board on
record as opposing the renewal or creation of government-assisted
housing inside the district.
Trustee Mike Falick broached the
issue Monday after learning of three projects — two seeking renewal of
government assistance and one new construction of public-assisted
housing — inside the district.
After several board members
expressed some concern at taking a stronger stand — including board
president David Converse — Falick said that it was time for the board
to back up what he’s heard it say informally for years: that public
housing has a negative impact on both the community and the district.
“There’s
a need for low-income housing,” said Falick, “not government-assisted
housing. We need to let market forces take care of these places,”
referring to the apartment complexes, many with absentee landlords and
substandard living conditions.
Falick will write a draft ordinance to be considered at the Feb. 22 regular meeting.
At
specific issue are two rehabilitation projects — the Gentry House at
9001 Kempwood and Waterford Place, 3125 Crestdale — and proposed new
construction in the 3300 block of Campbell.
Trustee Susan
Kellner said that schools h ave to deal daily with a variety of issues
due to students living in substandard conditions, but wondered what
impact a board resolution would have.
“I don’t like what those apartments are doing to families,” she said, “But what are we trying to accomplish here?”
Trustee
Mary Grace Landrum said that while she understood “the burden (public
housing) places on society and the school system,” the role of the
district is to “educate all who come to us.”
She suggested the board craft a resolution that would accompany the impact letter the district sends back for each application.
Landrum
and Kellner worried if the board takes a position on this issue,
whether it would have to become an advocate for other positions, too.
Falick,
the board’s legislative liaison, said one of the district’s legislative
priorities is a cap on the number of public-assisted housing units. The
district’s position is that because government-assisted housing is not
full, then no more is needed.
By law, the district is notified
when renewals or applications for public-assisted housing are
submitted. As a matter of course, Superintendent Duncan Klussmann said,
a letter is sent back stating that the district opposes the project and
that the project will have a negative impact on the district.
But Falick said he felt like the board should stand behind its commitment and not push that responsibilty off on administrators.
Board
members noted state Rep. Dwayne Bohac’s bill from the last legislative
session that requires the city of Houston to inspect apartments. But
they also realized that’s a slow, ongoing process, with more than
18,000 apartment units in Spring Branch alone, according to the Houston
Apartment Association.
Kellner said that a resolution condemning
public housing lets the community know that the board hears it, but
wouldn’t solve the larger problem.
“It will not change
anything,” she said. “Until the city does inspections, until the state
passes tighter legislation, and until the federal government closes
(tax) loopholes, nothing will change.”
But Falick said he’s willing to give the free market a shot at shutting down government-assisted housing.
“We’ll
never transform those neighborhoods when 50 percent or more of the
housing is government-assisted,” he said. “Most (units) aren’t fully
occupied and would go out of business if market forces prevailed.
“And because they impact our schools, maybe it’s time we take a stand.”
Falick
said he understood the district’s central role is education, but that
the board has a responsibility to the community to hear its needs.
“As elected officials we have the obligation to do something,” he said.
Other discussion
Heard
from Bay Architects about preliminary design schema for new science
facilities at Memorial High School. The design fits into a campus
master plan and will result in a new dance studio and CAD lab. Work
should start early this summer and be complete by the 2011 school year.
Heard
from SKH Architects about change orders for work being done at Tully
Stadium and Don Coleman Coliseum. Most involved additional work for
contingencies discovered during ongoing construction. Trustees will
consider approving more than $900,000 — $400,000 of that for
anticipated problems — in change orders at its Feb. 22 meeting.
Heard
updated enrollment and staffing projections for the 2011 budget.
Klussmann said he expects an increase of 116 students next year, and
revenue around $250 million. He said he and district staff are looking
at ways to bump revenue and cut some $8.5 million from expenditures to
balance the budget, which has dipped into reserves the last two years.
Our next item continued our ongoing discussion regarding the cuts necessary to balance the 2010-2011 Budget.
Our final discussion item was a discussion of the Board's approach to applications for affordable housing projects. For the past two legislative sessions, one of the Board's Legislative Positions has been to support legislation to limit the density of government supported low income housing. Currently, we have a number of applications for these types of projects. The Board's discussion focused on the appropriate input that the Board should provide in response to these applications.
Our meeting concluded with second reading and consideration of amendments to the following:
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