Additionally, the superintendent
recognized students and staff members for honors and achievements earned in
recent weeks. Congratulations were extended for the following:
· Nearly 173 third- and fourth-place winners and their coaches were recognized
for their standing in the Texas Science Olympiad.
· David Sanders of Cypress Creek High School won third place for his
digital project in the Advanced Division at the Association of Texas Photography
Instructor's State Fall Festival.
· Ashley Canter, Michael Massey, Brian Cunningham, Laney Todd, Paola
Bolivar, Alyssa Amparan and Tony Geppert of Farney Elementary were recognized
for winning second place in the It's Your Move category of the Destination ImagiNation
Regional Competition. Douglas Boudreaux served as the coach and sponsor for
the team.
· The Houston Chronicle selected several district basketball players
for the All-Greater Houston Basketball Teams. Lindsey Harding from Cy-Fair and
Nina Norman from Jersey Village were named the 16-5A All-District first team
while Sarah Davis from Cypress Falls was named to the second team. Karon Bradley
from Cypress Springs was selected for the boys' basketball All-District first
team. Additionally Nina Norman was named the Houston Chronicle's player of the
year and her Lady Falcons coach Brenda Rose chosen as district coach of the
year.
· Sarah Sanders, CFISD middle school art coordinator, was appointed to
serve a two-year term as division chair of the Texas Art Education Association.
She is one of only six art educators in the state to receive this honor.
· The Cypress Springs boys' soccer team and the Cypress Creek girls'
soccer team were first in district competition and advanced to win area championships.
Additionally, the Jersey Village boys' and girls' soccer teams finished second
while Cy-Fair girls' soccer team finished third.
· Twenty-three high school students received perfect SAT scores this
year. These students included: Ryan Newman, Zachary Olson and Yana Kong of Cy-Fair;
Mark Araas, David Cole, Colin Jennings, Erik Larson, Grant Oladipo, Jennifer
Nation and Michael Jungman of Cypress Creek; Nicholas Barry, An Dinh, Elaine
Lee, Matthew Lee, Kim-Chi Nguyen and Nathan Johnson of Jersey Village; Catherine
Busch, Ronald Bredenkamp, Megan Jewitt, Laura Rickelman, Daniel Soudek, Jody
Van Reet and Jeffery Chan of Langham Creek.
· The staff members at Holmsley Elementary who worked together to successfully
handle a bomb threat were recognized for their efforts. Following a bomb threat
that was called in February 2, 2002, staff members at Holmsley worked with CFISD
security and Precinct 4 officers to trace the call. The suspect was located
and later confessed to making the threat. While investigating this incident,
police also identified another suspect who confessed to making previous bomb
threats to CFISD high schools.
The Board approved a resolution and order that declared unopposed trustee candidates Lou Bertoli and Lida Woodul elected to the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Board of Trustees and officially canceled the election scheduled for May 4, 2002. This marks only the second time in district history that a trustee election has been canceled. The first canceled election was realized last year.
As of the March 25 write-in deadline, only incumbents Bertoli and Woodul had registered to be listed on the ballot for Position 3 and Position 4, respectively. The Texas Education Code allows for a district to cancel election in the event that a candidate should run unopposed and there are no other propositions on the ballot.
With the cancellation, the district will save approximately $35,000 in costs associated to holding the election, which includes the cost of publicizing the event, purchasing ballots and renting equipment.
Due to the district's previous agreement with the North Harris Montgomery Community College District (NHMCCD), CFISD will conduct the college district's trustee election at the expense of NHMCCD. Polls for the college district election will be located at CFISD facilities on May 4. There is contention for only one of four positions that are up for election on the NHMCCD Board of Trustees.
In personnel transactions, Mike Smith was named as the new principal for Dean Middle School while Gary Kinninger was named as the new principal for Campbell Middle School. Current Cypress Creek Principal Sue Heineman was named as the new assistant to the superintendent while Claude Yoas was named director of facilities planning and construction. Craig Eichhorn, currently with the public relations office at Galena Park ISD, was named as director of communication.
Superintendent Berry reported his plans to initiate a Substance Abuse Task Force in response to a growing drug problem that is facing school districts throughout the country. As identified at the Board's goal-setting workshop in March and approved in the district's Annual Action Plan, the task force will join district staff with members of the community to work together to deter substance abuse among students. The organization process for this task force will begin with the start of the 2002-03 school year.
Mr. Berry reported that elementary and middle school staff members are working with students in preparation for the upcoming TAAS exams. Tests will be taken during the week of April 15.
Commenting on a current analysis of high school TAAS results for reading and mathematics, the district has seen improvement in 90 percent of the categories. Based on just the reading and mathematics results, Cypress Creek, Cypress Falls and Jersey Village qualify for "recognized" status, and Cy-Fair, Cypress Springs and Langham Creek qualify for "exemplary" status. For the first time since the institution of the accountability system, the district qualifies for an "exemplary" rating at this point in the TAAS returns. While the district awaits writing scores for high school students and students in grades 3 through 8 still need to take the reading and mathematics test, the district has never realized such success at this stage in the TAAS returns.
Dates and times have been announced for the class of 2002 graduation ceremonies. Windfern High School will conduct graduation May 30 at Metropolitan Baptist Church. All other high schools will hold commencement exercises June 1 or 2 at the Don Coleman Coliseum in Spring Branch ISD. Each school's date and time is available on the district's web site at www.cfisd.net and CFISD-TV Channel 16. Tickets for graduations will be issued at each school due to the facility's limited seating and fire code regulations.
Trustees received an update on the building plans for support facilities projects approved in the 2001 bond election. Although no decision will be necessary until September, Board members received proposals for the locations of the Educational Support Center (ESC) and the district's second athletic stadium. The district currently owns two lots, one at Barker-Cypress and West roads and another near the intersection of Jarvis and Skinner, for which either of these projects may be built. Advantages and disadvantages of building either facility at one of the two sites were presented.
A proposed site for the district's fourth transportation center was identified at a site just south of Cypress Ridge High School. Additionally, it was proposed that an agriculture farm could be built behind the transportation center.
The Board approved the inclusion of additional summer school opportunities that will be available to secondary students at various locations in the district. Added course offerings include: ESL enrichment, TAAS remediation, Accelerate to Algebra, Moving Up in Math, 9th-grade Summer Academy, Scholars Program (PSAT prep), Carverdale summer reading program, Willow Green Apartment tutoring program, and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers summer program. Several of the programs are funded by grants.
In other action, the Cypress-Fairbanks
ISD Board of Trustees:
· received a written report on revenue received from a live surplus inventory
action held February 23, 2002 which generated approximately $34,955;
· received a written report on legislative issues and the activities
of the State Board of Education, Texas School Alliance and the Fast Growth School
Coalition;
· received an update on the status of the 2001-02 budget and a report
on the forecast for the 2002-03 budget;
· approved budget amendments for the period December 1, 2001 through
February 28, 2002;
· approved bids and contracts from recommended vendors for goods and
services;
· approved on first reading revisions to two local policies related to
academic achievement, specifically retention and promotion as well as graduation,
and one local policy on credits for individualized learning;
· approved on second reading a local policy revision regarding out-of-state
travel for student activities;
· approved the Annual Action Plan which includes priorities as identified
during the 2002-03 Board Goal-setting Workshop that are to be carried out by
the district;
· approved the locally developed appraisal process and performance criteria
approved by the District Education Improvement Committee and the superintendent;
· authorized the superintendent to execute the necessary actions related
to the sale of a 0.53 acre tract adjacent to the Truitt Middle School property;
· authorized the superintendent to execute the necessary actions related
to the purchase of a 15.3409 acre tract located north of West Little York and
east of North Eldridge Parkway;
· authorized tax refunds of $500 or greater for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
and/or the Harris County Education District; and
· approved 75 personnel recommendations, resignations, retirements, promotions,
terminations and discharges.
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