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January 2007

RECOGNITIONS

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

• Students from Cypress Creek, Cypress Ridge and Cypress Woods High Schools who won first or second place at the Texas State Thespian Festival in November and are advancing to nationals. Directed by Marilyn Miller, the following students placed from Cypress Creek High School: senior Kristyn Chalker received first place in the Acting Scholarship Competition receiving $1,000; second place in Group Musical were juniors Madison Niederhauser, Colin Bates, Will Havens and Cameron Forbus; seniors Kathleen Callaghan, Ethan Grabau, Murphy Manley and Jordan Matthews; second place in Duet Musical were junior Erin Hardy and senior Kristyn Chalker; and second place in Duet Acting were junior Katie Taylor and senior Leah Martin. Directed by Colleen O’Brien and Bryan Moses, the following students placed from Cypress Ridge High School: first place in Duet Pantomime were William Redfield and Mason Spellings; and one of eight national qualifiers in Costume Design was Bradley Rheinboldt. Directed by Wendy Carrell, the following students placed from Cypress Woods High School: second place in Duet Acting were sophomores Bryan Gray and Phillip Wozny.
• Karen Gregory, CenterPoint Energy representative who commended the district staff for successful ongoing efforts resulting in improved energy efficiency. Gregory presented Claude Yoas, director for Facilities Planning, and Henry Rhoden, Energy Manager, with an incentive check in the amount of $45,231 made out to the district for participation in the Schools Conserving Resources (SCORE) program.

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

• The five VIPS district award winners who were submitted to the Texas Association of Partners in Education( TAPE) state awards competition, receiving the state level awards. The VIPS State Award winners are: Lowery Elementary PTO who won the Crystal Award for Parent Involvement Partnership; John Taylor,a Lamkin Elementary volunteer, who won the Crystal Award for Senior Volunteer Partnership; Chic-fil-A/Copperfield and Cy-Fair who won the Crystal Award for Small Business Partnership; Amegy Bank who won the Crystal Award for Medium Business Partnership; and Linda Young, a Science Resource Center volunteer, who wontheGold Award for Adult Volunteer Partnership. The Crystal Award is a top state award and will be presented to the recipients at the TAPE conference in Austin on Jan. 30.
• Staff members at Hancock and Birkes elementary schools who will be recognized at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s Texas Deafblind Early Childhood Project symposium in Austin this February. The following staff members will receive awards for their dedication in working with triplets who are students in the deaf ed program, for three full years: Sharon Parham, coordinator of the Northwest Harris County Co-Op for the Hearing Impaired; Lisa Moore and Sandy Chance,teachers at Birkes Elementary; Johanna Borg, Kristen Riggs and Tasha Vaughn-Brittain, teachers at Hancock Elementary School.
• Chelsea Wheeler ,who was selected for the Texas Thespian Student State Board, and Cecily Dibrell, whoplaced third in the Mask Making competition at Texas State Thespian Festival held in November in Corpus Christi. Both students are from the drama program at Cypress Ridge High School, directed by Colleen O’Brien and Bryan Moses.
• Fifth grade student Ashley Barrera from Black Elementary who was selected to have her artwork on the cover of the 2007 PBK Architects calendar.
• Under the direction of Scott McAdow, the Langham Creek High School Marching Band who was awarded the Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Shield of Honor at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. Very few high school bands have received this prestigious honor, and to qualify, the program must exhibit sound educational practices in addition to performing well at competition over a number of years.
• The Cypress Falls High School Golden Eagles who advanced to semifinals on Dec.16 and defeated San Antonio MacArthur 30 to 14. They advanced to State Finals on Dec. 23 against Cedar Hill in the Alamodome and finished the season as State Semifinal Champions.A team recognition will be held in their honor at the February Board meeting.

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSIGNMENTS AND PROMOTIONS

The administration reported on administrative assignments and/or promotions during the January Board meeting. The following assignments and promotions were presented to the Board:

• Gloria Cooper , former director of instruction and assistant principal at Watkins Middle School, was selected to replace Jane Humphreys as the director of Student Services and Classroom Management;
• Dr. Rayyan Amine , former director for program evaluation and research, was promoted to senior director for campus improvement and research;
• Ify Ogwumike , former assistant principal at Hamilton Middle School, was promoted to principal at Hamilton Middle School.
• Michael Maness , former principal at Jowell Elementary, was assigned as principal to Warner Elementary School;
• Donna Teel Harden , former principal at Adam Elementary, was assigned as principal to McFee Elementary School; and
• Dr. Robert Borneman , former principal at Cook Middle School, was assigned as principal to Hopper Middle School.

2006 SAT/ACT REPORT

Trustees were provided an oral report on the performance of the class of 2006 on the SAT and ACT exams. Highlights of the report include:

• The number of graduating seniors taking the SAT increased five percent between 2005 and 2006 from 2,960 to 3,121.
• CFISD’s SAT critical reading scores were higher than state and national mean scores. The district’s critical reading score was 507 whereas the state score was 491 and the national score was 503.
• CFISD’s SAT math mean scores were higher than state and national mean scores. The district’s mean score was 533 whereas the state score was 506 and national score was 518.
• CFISD’s SAT writing mean scores were higher than state and national mean scores. The district’s mean score was 501 whereas the state score was 487 and the national score was 497.
• The ACT composite score in CFISD was higher than state and national composite scores. The district’s ACT composite score was 21.7 whereas the state composite score was 20.3 and the national composite score was 21.1.

HEALTH AND INSURANCE PRESCRIPTION PLAN

The Board approved the administration’s recommendation for the Prescription Benefit Management Plan for CFISD effective May 1, 2007. The district sought proposals for Prescription Benefit Management (PBM) services and received 14 proposals. CFISD, along with consultants First Harbour Group, LLP, evaluated the proposals and recommended PatientChoice Rx as the vendor for 2007-2008. The PatientChoice Rx saves a projected total of $1,550,000 of which $755,000 consists of savings directly to our employees.

BOND UPDATE

In a special-called Board meeting, the Board approved an order authorizing the issuance of Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District Unlimited Tax Refunding Bonds, Series 2007; authorizing the advance refunding of certain outstanding obligations and the execution and delivery of an escrow agreement and the subscription for and purchase of certain escrowed securities; and containing other matters related thereto. The school district’s Unlimited Tax Refunding Bonds, Series 2007 saved the district over $10.3 million in interest costs over the life of the bonds refunded. The district will structure the savings for the five years 2012 through 2016, which will best meet the tax rate needs for any future bond authorizations.

In other bond-related items:

• a Design Development presentation was made by SHW Group, LLP Architects, Inc. to the Board for the final design of Elementary School No. 49, which will be located on Westfield Village Road, west of Fry Road with an opening date of August 2008; and
• a Design Development presentation was made by PBK Architects, Inc. to the Board for the final design of Elementary School No. 48, which will be located on West Little York Road, west of Fry Road , with an opening date of August 2008.

SUPERINTENDENT’S BRIEFING

January is designated as National Mentoring Month, a month-long outreach campaign focusing national attention on the need for mentors—individuals, businesses, schools or nonprofit corporations—to work together to make a difference in the lives of CFISD students. National Mentoring Month 2007 spotlights the needs of young people and how mentors help the students with personal and academic development to achieve improved grades, improved self-confidence, improved attendance, and to graduate with improved relationships with parents, teachers and peers. At the present time, CFISD has approximately 1,000 mentors. However, with more than 92,000 students, the challenges and opportunities are ongoing. To become a mentor, please call Pam Scott in the Partners in Education office at 281-894-3950.

The district will celebrate School Board Recognition Month in February 2007 and will have a formal recognition for Board members during the Feb. 12 Board meeting. Each member of the Board of Trustees devotes many hours to the employees, parents and children, as well as the community members in the Cy-Fair area. Dr. Anthony said the trustees are the highest example of true volunteers and he thanked and honored them for their dedication.

The 13th annual Cypress-Fairbanks School District Livestock Show and Sale will be held February 1-3, 2007 at the Exhibit Center located at 11206 Telge Road. Approximately 335 student exhibitors and 480 student projects will be exhibited and judged. A flyer is posted on the district website showing the times and designated animals for the livestock judging that will be held on Feb. 1 and 2 at the Exhibit Center. A buyer’s luncheon will be held at Arnold Middle School on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 11:00 a.m. and the premium auction will be at 1 p.m. at the Exhibit Center. The CFISD community is invited to attend and support the CFISD students who have worked diligently for months in preparation for the show and sale. Dr. Anthony said he was proud of the dedicated students.

Also, February is the month for the district’s annual Board Goal-setting Workshop where the Board of Trustees and the administrationreview, add and modify the goals necessary to provide a quality educational setting for CFISD students. The Portrait of a Cypress-Fairbanks Graduate serves as the vision for the workshop and employees and parent groups throughout the district are currently providing input for the Board of Trustees to consider. The Goal-setting Workshop will be held Saturday, Feb. 17 beginning at 7:30 a.m. in the Board roomat the Instructional Support Center , 10300 Jones Road . Dr. Anthony reminded the viewing audience that this meeting is an open meeting, and the public is welcome to attend and observe as the Board of Trustees begins to set the course for the district’s priorities for the next school year.

TEA notified the district that CFISD is required to participate in TAKS field testing during the latter part of January and into early February. The field test requirement is that all potential test-takers must participate in the testing. This requirement places a huge burden on CFISD high schools, in particular Cypress Creek and Cy-Fair high schools, where students in ninth, 10 th and 11 th grades must be tested in reading and English Language Arts. The number of students tested is over 2,400 at both of these schools. Since high school students are in mixed-grade-level courses and since so many teachers will be needed for administering and proctoring the tests, seniors will need to be allowed to arrive late on the day of the field test. The field test dates are Jan. 26 at Cy-Fair High School and Jan. 30 at Cypress Creek High School. In all, the district will have six high schools, two middle schools and 17 elementary schools participating in the TAKS field testing.

Dr. Anthony thanked the Board and congratulated students identified as Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District 2006-07 National Merit Scholars. The district-wide high school students and their family members attended a special-called meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9 to receive recognition for their achievement of academic excellence from the district’s Board of Trustees. This was the first year the annual recognition was held at the Berry Center. Dr. Anthony said it was wonderful to have adequate seating for all students, parents and guests.

AGENDA ITEMS

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

• received a written report on plans for use of high school allotment funds and on related student performance goals;
• received a written report on legislative issues, State Board of Education, Texas School Alliance and the Fast Growth School Coalition activities;
• approved bids and contracts from recommended vendors;
• approved the tax refunds of $500 or greater for Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District and/or Harris County Education District;
• approved the sale of district furniture and equipment through a surplus Internet auction to be held in February 2007;

• approved the leave of absence for three paraprofessionals, Anita Renfro, Julie Ybarra, and Fe Cooper, for purposes of student teaching;
• approved the 2007-2008 Official Board Meeting Calendar;
• approved a resolution authorizing Bonnie Brown to conduct treasury functions with Texpool and Lonestar Investment Pool;
• approved first-reading additions, deletions or revisions to the following district policies:
• BDAA (LOCAL) Officers and Officials: Duties and Requirements of Board Officers
• DEC (LOCAL ) Compensation and Benefits: Leaves and Absences
• EIAA (LOCAL) Grading/Progress Reports to Parents: Examinations (DELETE)
• approved recommendations for attendance boundary changes related to the opening of McFee Elementary School and Warner Elementary School ;
• authorized the superintendent or the assistant superintendent for facilities planning and construction to negotiate and execute an interlocal agreement with Harris County Municipal Utility District No. 168 to provide physical activity equipment to Emmott Elementary School; and
• approved the contracts for the associate superintendents.

ADDENDUM

The Board authorized the Superintendent or Designee to enter into a purchase and sales agreement for the purchase of approximately 15.8 acres of land located on Round Robin Road and to complete final negotiations of the terms of the contract and to execute the documents on behalf of the District pursuant to the terms discussed in closed session.