Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District                                                         May 2005
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RECOGNITIONS

The Board of Trustees recognized the following students and staff members for their achievements:

• The team of students from Bang Elementary who won the Spirit of Discovery and Imagination Award for outstanding spirit, teamwork, volunteerism, and sportsmanship during the Destination ImagiNation 2005 competition. The D.J. Dudes are Kirsten Garza, Lauren Ancell, Hailee Zera, Katherine Creeden, Lauren Pacetti, Austin Schmied, and Anna Corrigan. Camille Garza is the team manager, and the school sponsor is Michelle Bellomy.
• The Destination ImagiNation team from Hamilton Elementary that placed first in the Dizzy Derby challenge and received a Renaissance Award for outstanding design, engineering, execution and performance. K.I.A.W. Team members are Sally Cogan, Michael Silva, Drew Allen, John Heizelmann, Natalie Charlton, Hayden Passon, and Eddie Bruccelerri. Denise Cogan is the team manager and Donna Beverding is the school sponsor. This team will compete in the Global Competition May 28 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
• The team from Yeager Elementary WilDImagination placed 2nd in Live! It’s RaDIo DI!Team members are Michelle Barnett, Becca Bond, Andrew Boushka, Grant Cook, Cameron Frederick, Alex Mudd and Kirsten Thomas. Linda Mudd is the team manager and Ardith Daily is the school sponsor. This team will compete in the Global Competition May 28 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
• Paraprofessional Spotlight winner Pat Lawlor, Lieder Elementary classroom paraprofessional; Spotlight runner-up: Joanna Wickham, Secretary for Ancillary Personnel; Ancillary Spotlight winner Carolyn Reynolds, Falcon Transportation bus driver and Spotlight runner-up: Armando Olalde, chef at Café Cy-Fair.
• In recognition of their high expectations and dedication to student success during the 2004-2005 school year 40 elementary school and 23 secondary school Spotlight Teachers were honored. They are: Rose Barnes (Wilson), Jeanne Chandler (Copeland), Terri Elizabeth Ferrell (Lieder), Charlotte French (Sampson), Robyn Weigand Missall (Post), Supriti Srivastava (Holbrook), Betty Vogtman (Emmott), Mandy Amato (Jowell), Deborah Chapman (Holmsley), Heather Childers (Ault), Donna Ganster (Lamkin), Kylee Hummel (Birkes), Heather Hurst (Fiest), John S. Johnston (Francone), Kimberly Kerlegan (Metcalf), Paul Kessler (Adam), Cynthia M. Klepper (Millsap), Michelle Loveless (Farney), Brittney Merz (Sheridan), Beth Pitts (Bang),   Glen Renfro (Lowery),   Terri Richter (Hairgrove), Betsy Warner (Yeager),   April Wright (Hancock),   Janise Hollie Brown (Frazier), Suzanne Crozier (Moore), Angela M. Davis (Owens),   Gina Lynn Marlow (Walker), Laura McKenna (Reed), Suzy Mosher (Keith), Casey Suter (Willbern), Susan L. Bolado (Gleason), Brandi Scott (Bane), Joni VandeRiet (Tipps), Michelle Vicary (Matzke), Lori Davis (Horne), Carol McIntyre (Hamilton Elementary),   Amy Price (Kirk), Kathy Schewe (Robison), Jean West (Duryea), Senisa Keene (Thornton),   Dawn McGuffin Nixon (Cypress Ridge), Camile R. Chaney (Campbell), Laryssa Hunter (Aragon), Marisol Guerra Santibañez (Dean),   Kathy Schatte (Bleyl),   Christine Adair Tremonte (Cypress Creek), Jamie E. Allen (Carlton), Nancy Attaway (Langham Creek),   June Benestante (Truitt), Maggie Dailey (Windfern), Kay Evans (Jersey Village),   Heidi K. LaMore (Cypress Springs), Nina Ortiz Lemmons (Labay), Michelle E. Provo (Cypress Falls),   Eva J. Purnell (Hamilton Middle), Ami Ruby (Alternative Learning Center),   Mona Gayle Timko (Adaptive Behavior Center), Lee Davis (Watkins), Peggy Fisher (Goodson), Claudia White (Cook), Susan Williamson (Arnold) and Lana Burns (Cy-Fair High School).
• Cypress Falls High School for outperforming 31 teams from across the state to capture first place at the Texas Science Olympiad competition at Texas A&M University April 15-16. Cypress Falls will represent Texas and compete against teams from across the country at the 2005 National Science Olympiad Tournament May 20-21 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Team members are seniors Shawn O’Neill, Michael Gray, Van Nguyen, Nicolas Canac, Tram Le, Brian Berger, Khasim Syed, and Daniel Hoang (alternate); juniors Endri Hoxha, Alex Hinn, Hoang Nguyen, Theresa Vo and Carina Baskett; sophomores Ye-jin Kang, Amanda Chow, Linzy Yu (alternate); and freshmen Andy Liaoand Kathrine Mitchell (alternate). The students are coached by Jennifer Wuellner, chemistry teacher at Cypress Falls High School with help from additional coaches Audra Spivey, Joseph Malaglowicz, Dr. Mark Gray, Susan Brockley, and David Belanger.
• Other district students who won first or second place at the Texas Science Olympiad: Iman Datta and Aaron Ferrel,Cypress Ridge; Tamanh Nguyen and Jonathan Joe, Jersey Village; Katherine (Katie) Johns and Varunjot Chatha, Cypress Springs; Tanmay Gokhale, Tanveer Khan, Charles Zhuo, Daniel Gonsalves, Megan Ericson, Andrew Okuyiga, Martin Dickson and Emily Walker,   Langham Creek;   Erika Aguirre and Eldrin Ofina, Cy-Fair High School; Saif Kazim, Jeremy Lai,  Pengcheng (Daniel) Du, Tianna Dao, Michelle Lai, Angela Li, Tyler Bolton and Matthew Bratcher, Labay;   Zach Meyer, Megan Brinkman, Andrea Siceluff, Priyanka Debnath,Aragon; Zachary (Zach) Horst, A. J. Horst, Elizabeth Eng,   Lindsay Landry and Alexandria (Alex) Randolph, Hamilton Middle.
• Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) winners at the state and national level. Cy-Fair High School winners are Brittany Alford, Dan Barney, Juli Charpentier, Clarence Hardin, Gregory Kaufman, Andrea Nguyen, Karly Ormsby, Kristina Perez, Lauren Wallis and Grant Waters. Winners from Cypress Creek are David Fox, Michelle Lin, Elyssa Quesada and Sarah Stuchbery. Winning students from Cypress Falls are Tiffany Dao, Kevin Deal, Alisha Rembach and Sarah Rizvil. Cypress Springs winners are Sandy Aguilar, Mariana Andrade, Alexandria Anthony, Sarah Gibbs, Cory Gonzales, Alberto Herrera, Emily Lacy, Miguel Laxa, Han Le, Hyo Park, James Schutz and Sarah Sibayan. Joe Linfesty is the winner from Jersey Village.
• Cy-Fair High School students Clarence Harden, Lauren McLaughlin and Grant Waters who are Silver Key Winners in the National Scholastic Awards Program.
• Fifty-one students, the largest number in CFISD history, earned membership in the various All-State music organizations after performing at the Texas Music Educators Convention in San Antonio in February. Making All-State squads are Ben Croucher, Jenny Liro, Ashley Maydwell and Eric Williams, Cypress Creek; Nick Brown, Catherine Dorsi, Jonathan Gregory, Alfredo Guerro, Ryan Kresta, Irving Ray, Stephanie Rice, Andrew Zarazee, Jessica Bierman, Julianne Larson, Whitney Young, Julia Shu and Melissa Wyatt, Cypress Falls; Walter Canales, Joshua Green and Natalie Pawelek, Cypress Ridge; Kate Shortle, Ashley Gonzales, Sean McFarlin and Robert Miles, Cypress Springs; Ross Ahlhorn, Jeff Barnhill, Jared Leach, Sarah Lieber, Karl Johnson, Mark Landreneau, Philip Perez, Chris Roza, and Cathy Lian, Cy-Fair High School; Jason Paige, Gregory Valentine, Brad Acree, Pierre Minter, Katie Richardson and Carly Walker, Jersey Village High School; Dagny Anderson, William Godkin, William Hayter, Katie Matza, Benjamin Wood, Melissa Bing, Vanessa Cooper, Andrew Gorman, Amy Johnson, Kara Santner, Christen Zbranek and Greg Preston, Langham Creek.

Additionally, the superintendent recognized students and staff members for honors and achievements earned in recent weeks. Congratulations were extended to the following:

• Goodson Middle School students Matt Lundquist and Jennifer Bates, who won the writing competition, Do the Write Thing, Inc. There were 9,509 entries in the competition and Matt and Jennifer will be honored at a recognition ceremony and dinner at the Houston Texans’ Practice Bubble.
• The boys’ and girls’ golf seasons have ended with Cypress Creek High School placing first in boys’ golf and Cypress Falls placing second. Cy-Fair High School placed first in girls’ golf and Cy-Falls in second. Kyle Kelley, Cypress Falls, advanced to the boys’ golf state meet in Austin, May 12-13.
• Cypress Falls captured first place in boys’ doubles in team tennis while Cypress Ridge finished second. Langham Creek’s Daniel McMullan won first place in boys’ singles and advanced to the state tournament in Austin May 9-10. Austin Brooks qualified for the state tournament as an alternate.   Cypress Falls won first and second place in girls’ doubles.   Abby Liu from Cypress Falls won first place in girls’ singles and Emily Bates from Cypress Creek won alternate.
• The district track meet finals were held April 13 at Cypress Ridge High School.   Cy-Fair High placed first in boys and girls and Cypress Creek placed second in boys and girls. Brandon Machacek, Zac Ziemianski, Kevin Drouillard and Wesley Bray from Cy-Fair competed in the 1600-meter relay at the state meet May 13-14. Jack Freeman from Cypress Falls competed in the 400-meter run and Lauren Kuhner from Cypress Creek competed in the field events for discus throwing.
• The Cypress Creek Lady Cougars softball team advanced to area playoffs where they finished their season as Bi-district champions.
• In baseball, the Cy-Fair Bobcats and Cypress Falls Eagles advanced to the regional quarterfinal. Cy-Fair beat Clements in the area round while Cypress Falls beat Katy Taylor.
• Jay Harden, a junior at Cy-Fair High School, was spotlighted in the Houston Chronicle for earning first place for his film in the high school experimental category of the 2005 Houston Young Moviemakers competition.   He received his award on Sunday, 4/17/05, at the Museum of Fine Arts where his film, “Lovers Found” was shown.
• In addition to the students recognized for the Science Olympiad competition, 50 students placed third or fourth.   All of these students will receive a letter of commendation from Dr. Anthony and their names will be recorded in the minutes of this meeting.   These students represent Aragon, Hamilton, Labay, and Watkins middle schools and Cypress Falls, Cypress Ridge, Cypress Springs, Jersey Village, and Langham Creek high schools.
• Hamilton Middle School team members Erin Duhon, Kelsey Sallade, Bryan Gray, Phillip Wozny, Lauren Falconi,and Matt Wheeler placed third in Live! It's RaDIo DI! in Destination Imagination competition.   The Hamilton Elementary team comprised of Marcelle Morrison, Anna Guillory, Austin Horst, Cameron LaMarca, Lauren Dale, Evan Keever, and Jordan Marchand won fourth place in Live! It's RaDIo DI!
• Jennabeth Bogard received the Houston Suburban School Chapter of Texas Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development Educational Leadership Award for 2005 at the Exemplary Programs Showcase on April 28 th. She received the award for her outstanding leadership in elementary mathematics curriculum and instruction. Jennabeth’s impact on elementary mathematics curriculum and instruction in our district has been profound.   In 2003, 94-95 percent of district students in grades 3 through 5 passed math TAKS.   In 2004, 92-95 percent of CFISD students passed the TAKS math test.   Preliminary results this year show 90 percent of fifth grade students passing TAKS; 44 percent of   students earned the commended performance. Jennabeth has been the lead architect of the initiatives that have produced such strong results.

CYPRESS WOODS HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL NAMED

Following the approval of employee transactions during its regularly scheduled meeting for the month of May, Trustees recognized Sue McGown, principal at Hamilton Middle School, as the first principal for Cypress Woods High School, which will open for the 2006-07 school year.

McGown has 31 years of experience in education with 19 years in CFISD. She earned her bachelor’s degree from East Texas State University and her master’s degree from Prairie View A&M University.

VOTES CANVASSED, TRUSTEES SWORN IN

In a special-called meeting held May 16, Board members canvassed the votes and approved the results of the May 7 Trustee Election. Lou Bertoli was declared the winner for position 3, which will expire in 2008; and Lida Woodul was declared the winner for position 4, which also will expire in 2008. Bob Covey was declared the winner for position 7, which will expire in 2006.

Cindy Wright, secretary to the superintendent of schools, administered the oath of office to the three winners. Following the oath, trustees voted to keep the same Board officers as the previous year. Lida Woodul will remain as president while Don Ryan will remain as vice president and Al Martinez will remain as secretary.

BOND UPDATE

Trustees approved an order authorizing the issuance of $131.1 million in Unlimited Tax Schoolhouse Bonds, Series 2005. The total represents the remaining $81.1 million in bonds from the 2001 Bond Election and $50 million from the 2004 Bond Election. This bond sale was originally scheduled for April but the district wanted to wait for the Permanent School Fund (PSF) guarantee from the state which raised the bond rating to AAA and saved the district $400,000-$500,000 in insurance costs to raise that rating.

Trustees approved the CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC Underground Easement to provide permanent electrical service for the Richard E. Berry Educational Support Center and new athletic stadium.

PRELIMINARY REPORT ON 2005-06 BUDGET

A preliminary budget draft for 2005-06 was presented to the Board. All information contained in this report is based upon current law, not legislation that is currently being discussed in the state legislature. The total preliminary general maintenance and technology budget is $478,031,077 of which $428,452,222 is for payroll costs. With projected revenues expected to be $467,778,135 the preliminary budget will have to draw $10,252,942 from fund balance. The number for payroll costs does not include a pay raise for employees pending the outcome of proposed legislation.

The final budget, using updated figures once the 79 th Legislative Session ends, will be presented during the June 9 Work Session and submitted for approval during the June 13 Board Meeting.

TOBACCO EDUCATION AND PREVENTION GRANT

Trustees approved the district’s application for Texas Statewide Tobacco Education and Prevention Grant. The implementation of activities outlined in the program, include:

• enforce laws prohibiting minors from using and/or possessing tobacco products on campus and at school-sanctioned events (Health and Safety Code 161 and CFISD Code of Conduct);
• develop anti-tobacco lessons to support the health TEKS taught in physical education classes;
• develop and provide brochures and posters to assist school nurses and counselors in communicating information about how to lead a healthful life. Provide resources for students who would like to stop smoking;
• implement tobacco education in Discipline Management Classes for first-time offenders;
• distribute information to parents of ninth grade students regarding laws about distribution, possession, and use of tobacco as stated in Health and Safety Code 161.

ROTC APPLICATIONS

Trustees approved the submission of an application for Air Force Junior ROTC courses to be offered at Cypress Woods High School. Once approved by the U.S. Air Force, Cypress Woods students will have access to the 4-year JROTC program and will learn about aerospace science in addition to objectives in leadership, citizenship, community service, and an appreciation for discipline. Courses are currently offered in AFJROTC units at Cypress Falls, Cypress Ridge, Cypress Springs and Jersey Village High Schools. Courses are starting this fall at Cy-Fair High School where a new AFJROTC unit will open. Unit applications have been submitted for Cypress Creek and Langham Creek high schools which places them on the Air Force waiting list for new units.

SUPERINTENDENT’S BRIEFING

Dr. Anthony reminded those present and the television audience at home that the district’s Trustee Election was scheduled for Saturday, May 7 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the designated polling locations. He added that determining leadership for the school district is critical and encouraged everyone to vote.

As the school year comes to a close, high school students will be taking advanced placement tests.   Students who need additional administration of the TAKS tests will also have those opportunities.   The testing calendar, which lists specific testing dates, is on the district Website, www.cfisd.net   under the curriculum department.

The last day of classes for the 2004-05 school year will be Wednesday, May 25.   The superintendent thanked the district staff and students for another successful school year and wished everyone a happy and restful summer.   CFISD teachers will return Thursday, August 4 while students will return Wednesday, August 10.

Dr. Anthony reminded everyone about the graduation dates and times:

• Windfern High School –   May 26 at 7 p.m. at Copperfield Baptist Church
• Cypress Springs High School – May 28 at 9 a.m. at Reliant Stadium
• Cy-Fair High School – May 28 at 12:30 p.m. at Reliant Stadium
• Cypress Falls High School – May 28 at 4 p.m. at Reliant Stadium
• Jersey Village High School – May 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Reliant Stadium
• Langham Creek High School – May 29 at 12:30 p.m. at Reliant Stadium
• Cypress Creek High School – May 29 at 4 p.m. at Reliant Stadium
• Cypress Ridge High School – May 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Reliant Stadium

The district will recognize Memorial Day on Monday, May 30. All district facilities will be closed and will re-open May 31. The security department is available 24 hours-a-day, every day in the event there is any emergency to be reported.

Many students will be taking advantage of summer school.   There are numerous locations and course offerings.   Please refer to the district’s website for the locations, times and course offerings available for students. Please note that courses for original credit have different start dates than make-up courses. CFISD’s Website can be accessed at www.cfisd.net.

AGENDA ITEMS

In other action, the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Board of Trustees:

• received a report on legislative issues and the activities of the State Board of Education, Texas School Alliance and the Fast Growth School Coalition;
• received a report on the 2005-06 CFISD Student Handbook and Code of Conduct;
• approved the   request for a Texas Education Agency expedited waiver to modify the schedule of classes on TAKS/TAAS/SDAA test and field test days, as needed, during the 2005-2006 school year;
• approved the budget amendments for the period of January 1, 2005 through March 31, 2005;
• approved the list of financial institutions and broker/dealers eligible to provide investment services to Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District;
• approved a two-year extension of the current depository contract as allowed under Texas Education Code, Section 45.205 Subchapter G;
• approved the 2005-2006 tuition rate of $4,000 for out-of-district residents;
• authorized tax refunds $500 or greater for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD and/or the Harris County Education District in the amount of $ 229,393.30;
• approved bids and contracts from recommended vendors for goods and services;
• approved on second reading revisions to nine policies:
  • CAA (LOCAL) Fiscal Management: Goals and Objectives: Financial Ethics
  • DBA (LOCAL) Employee Requirements & Restrictions/Credit & Records
  • DBD (LOCAL) Employment Requirements and Restrictions: Conflict of Interest
  • DFF (LOCAL) Termination of Contract: Reduction in Force
  • EED (LOCAL) Instructional Arrangements: Student Schedules
  • EEJC (LOCAL) Individualized Learning: Correspondence Courses
  • EIC (LOCAL) Academic Achievement: Class Ranking
  • EHDD (LOCAL) Extended Instructional Programs: College Course Work/Dual Credit Program
  • EL (LOCAL) Charter Campus or Program; and
• approved on first reading revisions to the following policies:
  • CDA (LOCAL) Other Revenues: Investments
  • DEC (LOCAL) Compensation and Benefits: Leaves and Absences
  • GE (LOCAL) Relations with Parent Organizations