Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District                                                March 2006
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RECOGNITIONS

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

• Sarah Sanders, K-12 Visual Arts Coordinator, as the 2005-2007 president elect of the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA). Sanders is serving as president-elect for a two year term and will then assume the responsibilities as the President of TAEA from 2007 until 2009. Sarah has also previously served as secretary of this state art education organization.

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

• Each year the Texas School Public Relations Association (TSPRA) recognizes school communicators for outstanding work in both print and electronic media. The CFISD Communication Departmentsubmitted five entries for TSPRA Star Awards and won three Gold Star awards and two Silver Star awards. “News Bytes,” a video news release, that aired on CFTV won a Gold Starand was produced by Adam Raney; “Best Friends,” a photograph submitted by Gary Durrenbergerwas awarded a Gold Star; “Heart Walk,” a public service announcement promoting participation in the Walk for Heart campaign, aired on CFTV this past fall. “Heart Walk,” produced under the leadership of Denise Walker, won a Gold Star; State of the District, an informational brochure produced by the Communication Department and spearheaded by Craig Eichhorn and GaryDurrenberger, won a Silver Award; and “Spanish District News,” an informational program targeting parents of English Learners, was produced by Denise Walker and Rosario Meehan and won a Silver Star.
• Nicholas Goodman , an eighth-grader at Thornton Middle School, won first place in the annual District Middle School Spelling Bee held on Feb. 22. Goodman spelled “heiress” and “necessitate” correctly to win the competition. Jonathan Xu, a sixth grader at Labay Middle School was the district’s runner-up. Both of these students advanced to compete in the Houston Chronicle Spelling Bee scheduled for March 22, 2006.
• Eric Sharar, head swim coach at Cypress Creek High School, was selected as the District Coach of the Year and the Regional Coach of the Year. Nominees for the district honor are selected by the coaches from our district and nominees for the regional honor are selected by the regional coaches attending the regional meet.
• The boys basketball season ended with Cypress Falls Eagles as district champions, and the Cypress Creek Cougars and Cypress Springs Panthers as bi-district champions.
• Girls basketball ended with the Cypress Falls Eagles and Cypress Springs Panthers as bi-district champions. The Cy-Fair Lady Bobcats ended the season as regional quarterfinal champions. Their season record was 37 - 1.
• Courtney Weiser from Cy-Fair High School placed 4th in the 110 lb. division at the state wrestling tournament held in Austin on Feb. 23-25.
• The state swim meet was held in Austin on Feb. 24 -25.  Alex Basso of Cypress Creek placed 3rd in the 50-yard freestyle race and third in the 100-yard breaststroke. From Cy-Fair High School, Ashley Richter placed third in the 100-yard freestyle race, and relay team members Ashley Richter, Kaelee Mader, and Jennifer Lamb placed third in the 400-yard freestyle.
• Cypress Ridge High School students Nabih Hussein, a junior, and Sarah Richmond, a freshman, have been selected for the prestigious AFJROTC Honors Camp at Arizona State University this June.   This is the most competitive program in AFJROTC, only 500 cadets were chosen from a candidate pool of approximately 107,000 nationally.

NEW PRINCIPAL

Barbara Crook, principal at Thornton Middle School, is transferring to Bleyl Middle School to serve as principal beginning with the 2006-2007 school year.   Crook has been with CFISD for 25 years and began her career as a teacher at Post Elementary and then at Dean and Labay middle schools. She became the director of instruction at Labay and then at Cypress Springs and has served the past four years as principal at Thornton.

ADDITIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL OPPORTUNITIES

Trustees approved additional summer opportunities for students. Programs adopted for summer school include : ESL Enrichment, New Arrival Program Summer School, TAKS Remediation, Accelerate to Algebra, Moving Up in Math, Connecting to IP&C, Stepping Up in Science, Scholars’ Program (PSAT Prep), Carverdale Summer Reading Program, Willow Green Apartment Tutoring Program, Somerset Apartment Tutoring Program, SAT Prep, Middle School Summer Special Education Reading and Math Program and High School Summer Special Education Reading and Math Program.

MAY 13 TRUSTEE ELECTION

Trustees authorized the administration to negotiate and finalize an Interlocal Agreement calling for a joint election on May 13, 2006 with the Spencer Road Public Utility District in accordance with the terms and conditions as discussed in open session.

Trustees also authorized the administration to negotiate and finalize an Interlocal Agreement with Harris County for the rental of election equipment for the May 13, 2006 trustee election in accordance with the terms and conditions as discussed in open session.

The United States Department of Justice and Harris County Elections Division are encouraging local voting jurisdictions to conduct joint elections to minimize the number of polling sites for a voter with multiple elections on the same day, and to combine the newly required electronic voting devices for multiple elections so additional voting equipment is not needed.

BOND UPDATE

The Board approved the administration’s recommendation to award a contract to M. Scott Construction in the amount of $3,789,000 for miscellaneous renovations at Hamilton, Truitt and

Thornton middle schools and at Hairgrove, Metcalf, Reed and Sheridan elementary schools. The contract award recommendation is $ 322,910.00 under the established construction budget. SHW Group, LLP is the architect for this project.

Trustees approved the construction contract for High School No. 9 and Elementary School No. 46, to be located on the 130 acre multi-campus site at Fry Road and Cypress North Houston, to Pepper-Lawson Construction, L.P. in the amount of $68,673,095.00. The contract amount is $162,855.00 under budget. High School No. 9 is a repeat design of Cypress–Woods High School with design modifications and is scheduled to open for the 2008-2009 school year. Elementary No. 46 is a new prototype design developed by the District and PBK Architects implementing some of the design concepts and features of Duryea and Danish elementary schools and is scheduled to open for the 2007-2008 school year.

Trustees approved the order authorizing the issuance of Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District Unlimited Tax Schoolhouse Bonds, Series 2006, totaling $200 million, and the refunding of approximately $74 million in outstanding bonds. The sale of $200 million in bonds marks the second sale from the successful 2004 bond referendum. The district increased the amount of this bond sale by moving up the construction of the middle and high school that are needed due to the enrollment growth experienced by the district. There will be no change in the tax rate promised the voters due to this increase in the bond sale. The refunding of the outstanding bonds will save the district approximately $3.3 million in interest payments.

The Board approved a proposed resolution outlining the public necessity and purpose for condemnation of approximately 10.58 acres of land located east of Greenhouse Road, legally described as Track 1L in Abstract 905, WCRR Company Survey, Section 19, Block 2, in Harris County, Texas, for construction of a new high school site, and approval, authorization and/or ratification of all action necessary by the administration to acquire the tract of land.

SUPERINTENDENT’S BRIEFING

The district received the results from the reading TAKS tests, which were recently taken by CFISD third and fifth grade students.   Despite a significant growth in the testing population, the passing rates remain high.   Eighty-nine percent of CFISD third graders passed the reading TAKS with 45 percent of them receiving a commended status, which is a significant increase from 38 percent last year.   Eight-four percent of CFISD fifth graders passed reading.

Students who were not successful will have two other opportunities to pass. These students will be receiving small group instruction in groups of 10 or less students with a teacher who has received specialized training. The teachers will be studying their students’ results and will address any areas of weakness prior to the second administration of the test, scheduled to be given April 19.  

In response to the federal testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Texas Education Agency has developed the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System to evaluate the progress that limited English proficient students make in learning the English language. The two components of this test are the RPTE and the TOP. Both are administered to all students identified as limited English proficient, regardless of their participation in an ESL or a bilingual education program. The RPTE will be administered to all students identified as limited English proficient in grades 3 – 12 on March 22, 2006. The TOP is an evaluation made by students’ teachers which will occur sometime between March 13 - 31.  

The next TAKS test will occur on April 4 when the district’s fifth grade students will test in math.

Governor Perry signed a Proclamation setting aside the week of March 6-10, 2006 as Educational Diagnosticians’ Week. Dr. Anthony added his appreciation to the district’s Educational Diagnosticians who work diligently to evaluate and create personalized learning programs addressing the unique educational needs of students in the Special Education program.   He thanked the diagnosticians for the valued service they provide to our students in this area.

The Eldridge Transportation Center will be hosting this year's Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District's School Bus Safety Road-e-o Saturday, April 1 from 7:30 a.m. until noon. The superintendent invited everyone to come observe as contestants hone their driving skills through competitions that include, but are not limited to, diminishing clearance, parallel parking, offset alley, railroad crossing and backup events. Drivers will begin their competition Friday afternoon with a written exam that will test their knowledge of traffic safety laws as well as the bus maintenance check.

Members of the Board of Trustees will be attending the National School Board Association meeting in April. Therefore, the April Board meeting dates have been changed. The Committee of the Whole work session is now scheduled for Thursday April 6, and the formal Board Meeting will be held Thursday, April 13.

The Board of Trustees Election will determine the three seats at position 5, position 6 and position 7, whose terms of office will expire in late May. In order for the community to learn more about the candidates, the candidate forum has been scheduled for Monday, April 17, 2006 from 7 – 9 p.m. in the Board Room at 10300 Jones Road. The Candidate Forum is a formal question and answer session for all candidates who will be seated at a table in front of a live audience and CF-TV Channel 16. The forum begins with all candidates having the opportunity to introduce themselves and provide relevant information concerning their candidacy. This will be followed by the question and answer session.   There will be some prepared questions as well as questions submitted by the audience. The Cypress-Fairbanks community is invited to attend and become more informed as voters.   Saturday, May 13 is the School Board Election Day.

The Richard E. Berry Educational Support Center located at West and Barker Cypress roads will open in May in time for the district’s graduation ceremonies. The purpose of the Berry Center complex is to enhance educational experiences for our students. The Center is five separate facilities: an athletic stadium, a theatre, an arena, a conference center, and a satellite food distribution center.

Earlier this year, the district’s business partners and local vendors received letters notifying them of the advertising opportunities available on the replay scoreboards in the arena and stadium at the Richard E. Berry Educational Support Center and Ken Pridgeon Stadium. Currently, the district has commitments and is executing contracts for 25 percent of the sign panels.   Businesses that are interested in receiving more information related to advertising opportunities on the scoreboards at the Berry Center or Pridgeon Stadium, may contact Beth Wade, general manager of the Berry Center, at 281-807-8948.

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;
• approved the external auditors, Deloitte & Touche, to perform the annual audit of the district’s financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006;
• approved the sale of district furniture and equipment through two district surplus Internet auctions held March 17 through March 27, 2006 and April 10 through April 19, 2006;
• approved the dissolution of the 401(a) Employee Retention/Incentive Plan;
• approved the student transfer status of district schools for the 2006-2007 school year;
• approved the long-range plan priorities established for 2006-2007 at the goal-setting workshop;
• approved the superintendent’s contract recommendations for the school year 2006-2007 of teachers and paraprofessionals as presented in the Staff Recommendation Report (March, 2006);
• authorized tax refunds $500 or greater for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD and/or the Harris County Education District in the amount of $72,999.77;
• approved bids and contracts from recommended vendors for goods and services;
• approved on first-reading revisions to the following policies:
  • BBD (LOCAL) Board Members: Training and Orientation, and
• approved on second-reading revisions to the following policies:
  • FB (LOCAL) – Equal Educational Opportunities
  • FL (LOCAL) – Student Records
  • FL (EXHIBIT) – Student Records
  • FNCF (EXHIBITS) – Student Conduct: Alcohol and Drug Use
  • FNF (LOCAL) – Interrogations and Searches