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RECOGNITIONS

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

• Texas Association of Partners In Education (TAPE) district and state award winners. The following state awards were presented at the awards dinner during the TAPE state conference in Austin on Jan. 27, 2009: Don Bollwinkle, Yeager Elementary School volunteer, Individual Partnership Wisdom Award; Clariza Rath, Individual Partnership Role Model Award; CH2MHill Engineering, Holbrook Elementary School business partner, Business Partnership Career Education Award. The district award winners are: Lisa Mayer of the Cypress Creek Cougar Link E-News, Partnership Program Innovation Award; Pate Engineers, Inc., Dean Middle School business partner, Business Partnership STEM Award; Mustang Engineering, Watkins Middle School business partner, Business Partnership Academic Award; and Champions Sunrise Rotary Club, Yeager Elementary School business partner, Community Partnership Academic Impact Award.
• Winners from the Destination ImagiNation State Tournament. The following teams won at state: Challenge A, Operation Cooperation—the DI Dynamites from Bang Elementary School, with team members James Gutierrez, Ali Zaidi, Kevin Turner, Kaitlyn Zera, Mohammad Zaidi and Mustafa Khan; Team Squirrel from Hamilton Middle School, with team members Erin Curby, Patrick Martin, Mitch Schockley, Ross Tuzin and Kirsten Williamson; Challenge B, Instinct Messaging—the Billion Bolts of Brilliance from Hamilton Elementary School, with team members Ryan Martin, Ryan Lancaster, Ben Miller, Pooja Shankar, Esha Dewan, Hannah Phillips and Caleb Longan; Challenge D, Private DI—the Superstars from Sampson Elementary School, with team members Will Hudson, Alex Duensing, Kate Laymon, Haley Brusen, Yash Chulki, Christian Sullivan and Sharon Zhou; and DI Extreme—Cy-Woods Number One from Cypress Woods High School, with team members Kelsey Sallade, Bryan Gray, Phillip Wozny and Matthew Wheeler; and
• High school students participating in the Board Shadowing Project: Jessie Baines of Langham Creek High School shadowed Bob Covey, Board secretary; George McHugh of Cypress Woods High School and T.J. Sarkar of Cypress Creek High School shadowed Dr. David Anthony, superintendent; Andrea Curtis of Windfern High School shadowed Roy Garcia, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction and school administration; Kari Smith of Cypress Falls High School shadowed Ethel Wolfe, Board member; Mabel Rodriguez of Cypress Ridge High School shadowed Larry Youngblood, Board member; Alex Flick of Cy-Fair High School shadowed Dr. Cheryl Salyards, associate superintendent for governmental relations and communication; Tuyen Nguyen of Jersey Village High School shadowed Lou Bertoli, Board president; and John Castille of Cypress Springs High School shadowed Lida Woodul, Board member.

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

• Eleven middle schools that participated in the Houston/Harris County “Do the Write Thing” Challenge, a youth anti-violence program. The students wrote about the effects of violence, the causes and possible solutions to problems students face regarding safety, anger, bullying and maintaining their dignity. The following students were selected as school finalists and will be honored at a recognition ceremony in May at Minute Maid Park: from Aragon Middle School, Shelby Horton and Thomas Kang; from Arnold Middle School, Sidney DeBlanc and Romina Reyimjan; from Bleyl Middle School, Amanpreet Grewal and Aleena Tholanikunnal; from Campbell Middle School, Zach Martin and Charisse Sumibcay; from Cook Middle School, Courtney Calbat and Sylvester Doby; from Goodson Middle School, Emily Bishop and Kyle Wagner; from Hamilton Middle School, Jacklin Cheung and Nicholas Griffith; from Hopper Middle School, Erica Bayless and Anthony Burrus; from Labay Middle School, Venessa Clarke and Damian Foreman; from Spillane Middle School, David Verastegui and Lily Zhang; and from Truitt Middle School, Thomas Nguyen and Jazzelle Velazquez;

• Six Cypress-Fairbanks ISD teachers, who were selected as 2008 Wal-Mart Teachers of the Year and were recognized at the 2009 Crystal Awards on March 6 at the Westin Galleria. The event was presented by the Spring Branch Education Foundation and the Houston Chronicle, and underwritten by Wal-Mart. The teachers were among 34 Wal-Mart Teachers of the Year from an eight-county region. CFISD’s honorees are: Tamera Felder, Sheridan Elementary School; John James Jr., Dean Middle School; Jennifer Sorrells, Fiest Elementary School; Jennifer Buchert, Fiest Elementary School; Terri Cole, Hamilton Middle School; and Anne Donlevy, Post Elementary School;

• Soccer teams that qualified for the playoffs. In boys’ soccer, Langham Creek, Cypress Woods and Cypress Ridge were district tri-champions and Cypress Falls finished fourth in district. Cypress Woods ended its season as an area finalist and Cypress Falls ended its season as a regional quarterfinalist. In girls’ soccer, Cypress Creek was the district champion and ended its season as Region II-5A runner-up. Cypress Woods placed second in district and ended its season as area finalist, Cy-Fair was third in district and ended its season as a bi-district finalist and Langham Creek was fourth place in district and also ended its season as a bi-district finalist;

• Several CFISD swimmers and divers, who were named to the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (TISCA) 2009 5A All-State Swimming and Diving Team: Jonathan Edwards and Kathryn Eckhart of Cypress Creek High School, Hudson Rains of Cy-Fair High School, Seraphina Van of Cypress Woods High School and Andrew Keily of Langham Creek High School; and

• Boys and girls District 15-5A regional golf qualifiers. In girls’ golf, Cypress Woods placed first and Cy-Fair placed second in district to advance to regionals. Audrey Koncaba of Jersey Village and Kirby Kramer of Langham Creek were individual medalists and will advance to regionals. In boys’ golf, Cypress Falls placed first and Cy-Fair placed second in district to advance to regionals. Hunter Palmer and Luke Sheehan of Cypress Woods were individual medalists and will advance to regionals.

TAKS/FIELD TEST DATES

The Board approved a request for a Texas Education Agency expedited waiver to modify the schedule of classes on TAKS and field test days, as needed, during the 2009-2010 school year. The Districtwide Educational Improvement Council has approved the waiver, which features March 3, April 6 and April 27-30, 2010 as regular test dates and Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 2010 as field test dates.

BOND UPDATE

The administration provided a written report on the progress of the design of Elementary School No. 52. A Design Development Report, prepared by Bay Architects, was submitted to the Board for the final design of Elementary School No. 52, which will be located on Tuckerton Road near Greenhouse Road on CFISD’s Towne Lake multi-campus site. This project is being funded from the 2007 Bond program. The district anticipates presenting a construction contract award recommendation to the Board for approval for a separate site package at the May 2009 Board Meeting and the remainder of the project will be submitted to the Board for approval at the June 2009 Board meeting. The project is scheduled to be completed in July 2010 for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Board approved construction proposals and contracts paid from bond funds to the recommended contractors as follows:

• Package B-2008 – Additions and Renovations at Campbell Middle School;
• Package D-2009 – Miscellaneous Renovations at Millsap and Yeager elementary schools;
• Package F-2009 – Miscellaneous Renovations at Bang and Hamilton elementary schools;
• Package I-2009 – Miscellaneous Renovations at Truitt and Watkins middle schools;
• Package N-2009 – Science Additions at Cypress Woods High School;
• Package O-2009 – District-Wide Presentation Systems Upgrade; and
• Fall Protection System.

The Board approved and executed the plat for Elementary School No. 51.

The Board authorized the superintendent or designee to enter into a purchase and sales agreement for the sale of approximately 0.16 acres of land described as Lot 8, Block 1 on Hilton Crest Street just south of Fallbrook Drive in the northwest corner of the district 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.

SUPERINTENDENT’S BRIEFING

Throughout the year, the Board of Trustees, parents and community business partners provide valuable volunteer services to the district’s students, teachers and support staff.  Dr. Anthony thanked all district volunteers in anticipation of National Volunteer Week, celebrated nationally during the week of April 19-25.

The 2009 state testing continues April 28 through May 1 with designated dates for grades 3-11. Check the district website at www.cfisd.net for the assessment testing dates by grade and subject matter. Dr. Anthony thanked parents in advance for supporting their children and encouraging them to do their very best. The individual student’s performance provides valuable data that are used when determining the student’s instructional schedule for next year. Dr. Anthony asked parents to help communicate to students to show their best as they take these tests over the next few weeks.

This year CFISD, along with other Region IV districts, will participate in “Take Our Child to Work” Day on Wednesday, June 17. Although the national event is scheduled for this month, students will not be excused from classes on April 23. The district officials feel June 17 is a better option so students can maximize their instructional days and utilize a summer day to accompany their parent to work.

The Employees’ Service Banquet is scheduled for Monday, April 20, at 6 p.m. The banquet and program will be held at the Berry Center on Barker Cypress Road, just south of the Cy-Fair College. Honorees include district employees whose service years total 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40, as well as those employees who are retiring during this school year.

The district will recognize the “Spotlight Teachers” On Monday, May 4, at 7 p.m. at the Berry Center. The teachers were selected because of their high expectations for student success during the 2008-2009 school year. The paraprofessional and ancillary Spotlight employees will also be recognized at the event for their contributions to the district in their respective positions.

Public School Paraprofessional Day is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, in recognition of education paraprofessionals. Dr. Anthony thanked all CFISD paraprofessionals for playing a vital role in helping provide support to the district.

AGENDA ITEMS

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

• approved bids and contracts to the recommended vendors and authorized the superintendent, respective associate superintendent or designee to execute all necessary documents related to such bids and contracts;
• authorized the superintendent or designee to enter into miscellaneous professional service contracts related to the following projects up to the amounts listed below:
  • Package B-2008 — Additions and Renovations at Campbell Middle School;
  • Package D-2009 — Miscellaneous Renovations at Millsap and Yeager elementary schools; and
  • Package F-2009 — Miscellaneous Renovations at Bang and Hamilton elementary schools;
• approved tax refunds of $500 or greater for Cypress-Fairbanks ISD and/or Harris County Education District;
• approved on second reading additions, deletions or revisions to district policies:
  • CDA (LOCAL) OTHER REVENUE INVESTMENTS
  • CE (LOCAL) ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET
  • FB (LOCAL) EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
  • FNCE (LOCAL) STUDENT CONDUCT TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ ELECTRONIC DEVICES
• approved on first reading additions, deletions or revisions to district policies:
  • BJCF (LOCAL) SUPERINTENDENT NONRENEWAL
  • CI (LOCAL) SCHOOL PROPERTIES DISPOSAL
  • DFBB (LOCAL) TERM CONTRACTS NONRENEWAL
  • FD (LOCAL) ADMISSIONS
  • FDA (LOCAL) ADMISSIONS – INTRADISTRICT TRANSFERS
  • FDB (LOCAL) ADMISSIONS – INTRADISTRICT TRANSFERS AND CLASSROOM ASSIGNMENTS;
• approved a resolution to participate in the National Intergovernmental Purchasing Alliance (National IPA) and authorize the superintendent, respective associate superintendent or designee to execute all necessary documents related to this National IPA cooperative purchasing program;
• approved the superintendent’s contract recommendations for school year 2009-2010 of teachers to: (1) issue probationary and term contracts for teachers; (2) issue probationary contracts for a fourth consecutive school year for teachers; and (3) terminate probationary contracts for teachers as presented in the Staff Recommendation Report (April 2009) and the superintendent’s memorandum of April 16, 2009; and
• approved the superintendent’s recommendation to issue one-year annual contracts to paraprofessionals for the 2009-2010 school year as presented in the Staff Recommendation Report (April 2009)