Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District                                          June 2006
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RECOGNITIONS

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

• The team of Brian Humphrey, Linh Lee, Jason Nguyen and Elton Guenther from Cypress Falls High School that won the state Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) computer science contest May 4-5 in Austin. Stacey Armstrong is the sponsor/coach of the team.
• Cypress Falls student Marcelino Benito was named the 2006 Texas High School Journalist of the Year and the 2006 National High School Journalist of the Year. He will be attending Northwestern University on a $33,000 a year scholarship to continue his work in journalism with the ultimate goal of becoming the first Hispanic White House Press Secretary. He was taught by Lisa Vanetta, journalism teacher at Cypress Falls.
• Students from Langham Creek High School for taking the top two honors at the Texas Regional Ocean Sciences Bowl competition this spring at Texas A&M University and advancing to the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) that was held recently in Pacific Grove, California. Members of the first-place team were Andrew Muñoz, Leah LaMaster, Sayyeda Hasan, Clinton Russell and Samantha Amstadt. Langham Creek’s second-place team members were Lindsay Christensen, Jessie Crawford, James T. Lang and James Micah Rosen. Langham Creek teacher Nancy Attaway coached both teams to victory.
• High school students for receiving awards at this year’s National Science Olympiad competition at Indiana University. Cypress Falls students that placed nationally were: Endri Hoxha, third place; Shilen Patel, third place; Carina Baskett, fourth place; Tiffany Dao, fourth place; Kathrine Mitchell fifth place;and Ye-jin Kang,fifth place.
• Middle and high school students for receiving awards at the State Science Olympiad Competition held at Texas A&M University. State first-place individual winners were: Bhargav Hiremagalore and Jasneet Singh,Labay Middle School; Travis Hinton, Irene Kwon, Amanda Chow, Xinlin Yu, Ye-jin Kang  and Kathrine Mitchell,Labay Middle School; Alexandra Durkee and Mark Goloby,Truitt Middle School; Lindsay Landry and Zachary Horst,Cy-Creek High School; Zachary Sledge,Cy-Fair High School; Joshua Hilliard, Margaret Wei, Jonathan Joe and Ankit Rajgariah,Jersey Village High School; Andrew Okuyiga (two wins), Yi-Wei Liu and Tate Hombeck,Langham Creek High School. State second place individual winners are: Kevin Wade, Annirudh Balachandran, Momena Ali, Rebecca Boylan, Jonathan Capo and Zal Bhathena, Aragon Middle School; Laura Strong, Angela Li and Jasneet Singh,Labay Middle School; Amanda Lyons and Miranda Mattocks, Alexandra Durkee,Truitt Middle School; Shilen Patel and Jeremy Lai,Cy-Falls High School; John Scarborough and Hilcias Hernandez,Langham Creek High School.

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

• The Texas State Historical Association has recognized Terry Noe of Goodson Middle School for outstanding achievement in the Texas History Day Program for 2005-06. Noe has motivated students to excel in local and state history day programs, thereby earning much-deserved recognition as one of the top history teachers in the State of Texas.
• Sheri Stice , associate athletic director, has successfully completed the process to claim the title of “Certified Master Athletic Administrator.” The certification program, which is administered by the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, identifies those administrators nationally who demonstrate exemplary knowledge, contributions and on-going professional development in the field of interscholastic athletic administration. Stice is one of a very elite group of interscholastic athletic administrators nationwide to attain this level of professionalism.
• Cypress Falls High School had a fantastic year in computer science. In addition to the first place team recognized earlier, the team of Elton Guenther, Mai Nguyen and SagarVachhani placed fourth at the Texas Computer Science Association state contest April 29. At the UIL 5A state computer science contest May 4-5, Linh Le and Brian Humphrey placed fourth and sixth respectively in individual competition. Congratulations were also extended to the sponsor/coach, Stacey Armstrong.
• Other middle school students who placed well at the Texas Science Olympiad held in April at Texas A&M University: Momena Ali and Madison Corpening, Aragon, fourth place; Rebecca Boylan and Kelley Poblet,Aragon,third place; Logan Demny and Thomas Rogers, Aragon, third place; Heather Bolton, Labay, third place (two projects); Suraj Chandwani and Olga Yatsenko, Labay, fourth place; Jocelyn Egner and Fan Zeng, Labay, fourth place; John Fortner,Labay, third place (two projects); Angela Li, Labay, third place (two projects); Josephine Pham,Labay, third place; Cecilia Cisar, Spillane, third place; Alexandrea Pacheco and Holly Wilcox, Truitt, fourth place.
• Other high school students who placed at the Texas Science Olympiad held in April at Texas A&M University: Amanda Chow and Ye-jin Kang, Cypress Falls, third place; Carina Baskett, Cypress Falls, third place (two projects); Hoang Nguyen,Cypress Falls,third place; Kathrine Mitchell and Xinlin Yu, Cypress Falls, third place; Sha Liao, Cypress Falls,third place (two projects); Shilen Patel, Cypress Falls, third place; Blair Wendt and Jing Yun Huang, Cypress Springs,fourth place ; Ankit Rajgariah and Joshua Hilliard, Jersey Village, third place; Andrew Okuyiga,Langham Creek,fourth place; Atul Agrawa, Langham Creek, third place (two projects); Ben Cox, Langham Creek, third place; Charles Zhuo, Langham Creek, third place (two projects); John Scarborough, Langham Creek, fourth place; Martin Dickson, Langham Creek, third place; Maxwell Brown, Langham Creek, third place (two projects); Tate Hornbeck, Langham Creek, fourth place. Calum Poblete, Hilcias Hernandez and Ibrahim Khatkhatay were also part of the team from Langham Creek that took fourth place at the competition.
• Three CFISD athletes were finalists in this year’s High School Scholar Athlete Awards hosted by the Houston Athletic Committee. All honorees were honored at a dinner Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at the J.W. Marriott. Finalists are chosen by a committee made up of area athletic directors and members of the Touchdown Club. Rebekah Hill, Cypress Ridge,was named Outstanding Female Scholar-Athlete and Track & Field award finalist; WesleyBray, Cy-Fair, was named Outstanding Male Scholar-Athlete finalist; and Cheryl Williamson,Cypress Falls, was named Soccer award finalists.
• Cypress Creek, Cy-Fair and Tomball finished in a three-way tie for first place in softball. The “Lady Cougars” coached by Randy Kight, ended their season as area champions. The “Lady Bobcats” coached by Debbie Burrow, finished as the regional quarterfinal champions.
• The 2005-06 baseball season ended with Cy-Fair High School and Langham Creek High School tied for second place. The Cy-Fair Bobcats defeated Nimitz, Cinco Ranch and Tomball to advance to the regional tournament while the Langham Creek Lobos defeated Spring Woods and Elkins to advance to the Regional round of playoffs.
• The varsity track meet was held April 10-12 at Cypress Ridge. The boys district champion was Cy-Fair and second place went to Cypress Falls. The girls district champion was Cy-Fair; second place was Cypress Creek and third place was Cypress Springs. Many athletes placed at the regional meet in Humble to advance to the state meet in Austin. The state meet results are as follows: Lauren Kuhner, Cypress Creek, placed third in the discus; Brittany Machacek, Cy-Fair, placed third in the 400-meter run; Wes Bray, Cy-Fair, placed third in the 300-meter hurdles; Sam McGuffie, Cy-Fair, placed sixth in the long jump; Blake Shaw, Cypress Falls, placed second in the 800-meter run and seventh in the 1600-meter run; and J.R. Slade, Cornell Howard, Anthony Price and Jack Freeman, Cypress Falls, placed fourth in the 1600-meter relay.
• In district girls team tennis, first place went to Cypress Falls with second place going to Cy-Fair. In boys team tennis, Cy-Fair placed first, Langham Creek placed second, with third place going to Cypress Falls . In boys doubles, Cy-Fair placed first and Cypress Falls placed second. In girls doubles, first place went to Cypress Falls with Cy-Fair placing second. In boys singles, Langham Creek placed first while second place went to Cy-Fair. Cypress Falls placed first in girls singles. In mixed doubles, first place went to Cypress Falls with Cy-Fair placing second.

VOTES CANVASSED, TRUSTEES SWORN IN

In a special-called meeting held May 22, Board members canvassed the votes and approved the results of the May 13 Trustee Election. Dr. John Ogletree was declared the winner for position 5; Don Ryan was declared the winner for position 6; and Bob Covey was declared the winner for position 7. All three terms will end in 2009.

Cindy Wright, secretary to the superintendent of schools, administered the oath of office to the three winners. Following the oath, trustees voted for the following Board officers: Don Ryan was elected as the new Board president; Lou Bertoli filled the vacancy of vice president left by Don Ryan; and Dr. John Ogletree elected secretary of the Board.

NEW HIGH SCHOOLS NAMED

Trustees approved the names of High School #9 and High School #10 that are both scheduled to open in 2008. Cypress Ranch High School was selected as the name for High School #9 and Cypress Lakes was chosen as the name for High School #10. One of the considerations in naming the two high schools was that it continued the tradition of including “Cypress” in the moniker to reflect the school’s distinction as belonging to Cypress-Fairbanks ISD.

Cypress Ranch will be located on the 130-acre multi-school site near Blackhorse on Fry Road and Cypress North Houston. The new campus is designed by PBK Architects and is a repeat design with modifications of Cypress Springs, Cypress Ridge and Cypress Woods high schools. Cypress Ranch High School is scheduled to be open for ninth- and 10th-grade students in August of 2008.

Cypress Lakes High School will be located on a 65-acre trace of land on Greenhouse Road south of West Little York and just south of Patti McFee Elementary School that is currently under construction. The school is designed by PBK Architects and is modeled after Cypress Springs, Cypress Ridge and Cypress Woods high schools. Construction is scheduled to begin in July 2006 and the school is scheduled to open for ninth- and 10th-grade students for the 2008-2009 school year.

Colors for both schools have already been determined to assist in the design of the building. The colors for Cypress Ranch are navy and gold and the colors for Cypress Lakes are red and silver. School mascots will be decided by students after attendance boundaries are determined.

NAMESAKES ANNOUNCED FOR ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Trustees approved the namesakes for four future schools honoring long-time educators Bob and Bobbie Warner, Patti Becker McFee, George E. Hopper Jr. and Jodie Blair Smith.

Bob and Bobbie Warner were selected as the namesakes for Elementary #46. Bob spent 30 of his 34 years in education working for CFISD prior to his retirement in June 2004. He was a teacher and swim coach at several secondary schools, an assistant principal at Cy-Fair High School and Dean Junior High School, and the principal at Labay Junior High and Cy-Fair High School.

Bobbie spent 29 of her 35 years in education working for CFISD. S he began her tenure with the district as a PE teacher at Yeager Elementary. She was a teacher and swim coach at Bleyl, the coordinating counselor at Cypress Creek High School, and was serving as the director of testing and research when she retired from the district in June 2004.

Bob and Bobbie Warner Elementary School is currently under construction on a 130-acre multi-school site located at Fry Road and Cypress North Houston near Blackhorse. The school was designed by PBK Architects, Inc. and is a new prototype design developed by the district utilizing some features of Danish, Black and Postma elementary schools. Warner Elementary School is scheduled to be completed in August 2007 in time for the 2007-2008 school year.

Patti Becker McFee was selected as the namesake for Elementary #47. She worked in the district for 28 years. She worked as a paraprofessional at Matzke Elementary for eight years and spent the remaining 20 years in the district’s human resources office. McFee was named director for certification and records and then director of human resource systems before she retired in February 1995.

Patti Becker McFee Elementary School is currently under construction on a 14-acre site recently purchased on Greenhouse Road south of West Little York Road. This school was designed by Bay Architects and is a repeat design with modifications of Lee, Tipps and Farney elementary schools. McFee Elementary School will be ready for students in August 2007.

George E. Hopper Jr . was selected as the namesake for Middle School #15. He spent 32 of his 42 years in education working in CFISD. He began his tenure with the district in 1972 as a teacher and coach at the inception of Jersey Village High School. He also served as an assistant principal and associate principal at Jersey Village. Hopper was the principal who opened Campbell Middle School, Langham Creek Interim School, Langham Creek High School and Cypress Falls High School. He served as the director of ancillary personnel and was serving as the director of athletics when he retired in June 2004.

George E. Hopper Jr. Middle School is currently under construction on a 35-acre site located at the corner of Fry Road and Rustic Lake Lane just south of Cypress Springs High School. The school was designed by Bay Architects and modeled after Goodson and Kahla Middle Schools. Hopper Middle School is scheduled to open its doors to children in August 2007.

Jodie Blair Smith was selected as the namesake for Middle School #16. Smith spent 30 of her 33 years in education working in CFISD. She began her career with the district as a teacher at Cy-Fair High School. She served as an assistant principal and an associate principal at Jersey Village High School. She returned to Cy-Fair High School where she served as the principal for 12 years. Jodie was serving as the assistant superintendent for secondary school administration when she retired in June 2003.

Jodie Blair Smith Middle School will be constructed on the 130-acre multi-school campus site located on Fry Road near the intersection of Cypress N. Houston. Design work is scheduled to begin in March 2007 with the school opening for the 2009-2010 school year.

PERSONNEL CHANGES APPROVED

Roy Sprague, senior director of facilities planning and construction, was promoted to assistant superintendent for facilities planning and construction and will assume responsibility for some of the responsibilities formerly assigned to H.D. Chambers, who was recently named superintendent for Stafford Municipal School District. Sprague came to CFISD in 1997 and is effectively managing a budget in excess of $1 billion to provide appropriate facilities for the district. This summer, almost 60 projects are currently underway in the district, with plans to open seven schools in the next 12 months.

Larry Matysiak was named director of secondary music, replacing Bill Quillen who recently retired. Matysiak has 30 years of experience in education and has spent the past 23 years as head band director and department head at Fort Bend Clements High School.

2006-2007 BUDGET

After hearing a detailed report on the proposed 2006-2007 budget, a public hearing was held during the June 8 Committee-of-the-Whole meeting to allow the community an opportunity to offer comments or suggestions. Two patrons elected to speak at the hearing.

The Board approved the district’s recommendation for the 2006-2007 operating budget in the amount of $660,800,126 during the June 12 Board meeting. Projected revenue to fund general maintenance and technology is $540,103,701 while projected expenses total $545,792,512. These figures represent a projected deficit of approximately $5.6 million. Interest and sinking costs as well as food service expenditures account for the additional $94,578,270 in the budget. The district has saved approximately $44 million through implementing budget reductions and cost avoidances since 2000-2001, including almost $14 million in reductions for the 2006-2007 budget.

Any deficit will be resolved by utilizing the general fund balance, which is estimated to be $75 million at the close of the 2005-2006 school year.

5.79 percent will be spent on contracted goods and services, 2.62 percent on supplies and materials, 2.19 percent on other operating expenses and funding for capital outlay for the 2006-2007 school year has been shifted from the general fund to the savings on bond interest.

The budget includes a starting salary of $39,500 for first-year teachers and a 2 percent structural adjustment and a $2,000 salary schedule step for each full-time teacher and nurse. The average increase for teachers and nurses is 5.933 percent of the midpoint. Counselors, librarians and speech pathologists will receive a 2 percent structural adjustment and a 3 percent of the midpoint increase or $2,000 whichever is greater. All other professional employees will receive a 2 percent structural adjustment and a 3 percent of the midpoint increase. Paraprofessional and ancillary employees will receive a 2 percent structural adjustment and a 5 percent of the midpoint increase.

BOND UPDATE

The Board approved the administration’s recommendation to award a contract to M. Scott Construction, Ltd. in the amount of $2,359,500 for miscellaneous renovations at Carlton Center and Reo Annex. The contract award recommendation is $69,959 under the established construction budget. PBK Architects, Inc. is the architect for this project.

Trustees approved the construction contract award to Gilbane Building Company in the amount of $71,010,921 for the construction of Cypress Lakes High School (#10) located on Greenhouse Road south of West Little York and the meet pool at Cypress Ranch High School (#9) as recommended by PBK Architects and the administration. The contract award is $1,520,297 over the established construction budget due to moving the opening of Cypress Ranch from August 2009 to August 2008 and the escalating cost of transportation and materials such as steel and copper.

The Board voted to execute of a Consent and Joinder to Petition for Annexation of Land into Municipal Utility District #172 and related documents necessary to annex Postma Elementary School into MUD #172 for water and sanitary sewer services.

Trustees also approved the Storm Sewer and Waterline Easement and Storm and Sanitary Sewer Easement with Harris County MUD #167 for utility services to McFee Elementary School (#47).

SUPERINTENDENT’S BRIEFING

Dr. Anthony said that CFISD’s 4,693 graduating seniors were awarded their high school diplomas at ceremonies held at the district’s new Richard E. Berry Educational Support Center. More than 45,000 guests and family members gathered at the district’s facility on Barker Cypress Road for the conferment. The graduation exercises were also broadcast over CFTV Channel 16 for the first time in district history.

Dr. Anthony thanked the Board of Trustees and the many district employees who helped organize, participate and assist at the eight high school graduation ceremonies over the Memorial Day weekend. He added that he was very proud of the graduates and wished them every success in their future endeavors.

The enrollment total for this year’s summer school is 13,453 students. That number includes 6,492 at the elementary level (regular education and Bilingual/ESL); 6,343 students enrolled at the secondary level (2,827 students taking original credit courses and 3,516 students taking make-up credit); and 618 students in the Extended School Year (ESY) program.

The Texas Student Success Initiative requires students to pass selected TAKS tests in order to be eligible for promotion to the next grade. Currently, third-grade students are required to pass the TAKS reading assessment to advance to Grade 4, while fifth-grade students must pass the reading and mathematics assessments to advance to Grade 6.

The third of three testing opportunities will occur on the following dates:

• June 21, 2006 - Grade 5 Math TAKS Retest

• June 22, 2006 - Grades 3 and 5 Reading TAKS Retest

The TAKS and TAAS Exit Level Retesting for ELA, math, social studies and science will occur July 11-14. TAAS Exit level retesting for writing, math and reading will occur on July 11- 13.

Employees in the facilities planning and construction and the maintenance and operations departments are experiencing an extremely busy summer as they are currently managing projects at 59 campuses and seven facilities.

In addition, the facilities planning and construction department is overseeing the final stages of construction and the purchasing department is buying equipment for Cypress Woods High School, Black Elementary, Postma Elementary, Andre' Elementary that will all open in August 2006.

Construction is underway for Hopper Middle School (#15), Warner Elementary (#46), McFee Elementary (#47), Cypress Ranch High School (#9) and Cypress Lakes High School (#10). The middle school and the two elementary schools will open in August 2007. Cypress Ranch High School and Cypress Lake High School will open in August 2008.

Dr. Anthony thanked the facilities planning and construction, maintenance and operations and purchasing departments along with the campus administrators and staff who are working as a team to get district campuses ready for students in August.

Summer graduation has been scheduled for July 14, 2006 at 7 p.m. at the Richard E. Berry Center.

There will be a special-called meeting of the Board of Trustees scheduled for June 29, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Board room of the Instructional Support Center located at 10300 Jones Road .

The first day of classes for Cypress-Fairbanks district students is scheduled for Wednesday, August 16, 2006. While the students and teachers are just beginning their summer vacation, Dr. Anthony wanted to remind everyone to mark the August 16 school start date on their calendars.

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 2006 TAKS results for grades 3-11 and SDAA II results for grades 3-10;
• received a report on a management review of the district’s transportation department;
• received a written report on the district’s GED Test Center, including the number of tests administered and fees received for administering the test during 2005;
• approved the list of students for Off-Campus Physical Education, Category I, for the school years 2006-2007 (spring) through 2008-2009;
• approved the implementation of activities and the application for the Texas Statewide Tobacco Education and Prevention Grant;
• approved the sale of district furniture and equipment through a surplus Internet auction to be held in August 2006;
• approved an addendum to its Interlocal Agreement with Harris County for the provision of law enforcement services through Precinct 4 Constables Office, to cover the period of August 5, 2006 through December 31, 2006;
• approved the Superintendent’s salary recommendation for employees for the school year 2006-2007;
• approved the 2006-2007 Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Student Code of Conduct;
• selected Trustee Lida Woodul for the Texas Association of School Boards at-large position 4-F;
• selected Board members Bob Covey and John Ogletree to serve as delegate and alternate delegate to the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) annual delegate assembly;
• authorized tax refunds $500 or greater for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD and/or the Harris County Education District in the amount of $ 276,150.45;
• approved bids and contracts from recommended vendors for goods and services; and
• approved on second-reading revisions to the following policies:
  • DAB (LOCAL) Employment Objectives: Objective Criteria for Personnel Decisions
  • DBA (LOCAL) Employment Requirements and Restrictions: Credentials and Records
  • GKD (LOCAL) Community Relations: Nonschool Use of School Facilities.