Extra Credit

UNT offers program for academically gifted high school students

  

Texas high school students attended the Texas Governor's School at UNT. The three-week program is aimed at academically gifted high school students. More than 100 students from across Texas attended the school, which featured the theme: "How Advances in Science and Technology Affect Our World."  

Erica Thompson from Groveton, above, in Stop Motion Madness, an art class. (Photo courtesy of UNT)

Tarleton State University lab is part of EPA network

Tarleton State University's Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research Laboratory is part of the EPA's Environmental Response Laboratory Network. The network identifies laboratories with capability and capacity to analyze chemical, biological and radiological agents. It provides emergency responders information during emergencies.

Assistant professor from TWU elected to association post

Photo by Shannon Drawe 

 

 Dr. Janine Golden, assistant professor of library science at Texas Woman’s University, was recently elected vice president/president-elect of the Library Leadership and Management Association.

The association works to encourage current and future library leaders. It is a division of the American Library Association and was established in 1957. For more information about the association check out their site.

Fort Worth ISD trustees squabble about audit committee appointments

The board was split over who to appoint on its audit committee with some heated words being exchanged.
At one point there was confusion about what motion was being voted on at the time and board members were talking with staff to clarify. Then trustee Carlos Vasquez accused the superintendent of telling trustee Christene Moss how to vote in the matter.
“That’s a good one,” he said.
Moss took offense and responded quickly, “Don’t say that because nobody tells Chris Moss how to vote.”
At issue was which three trustees to appoint.
Vasquez wanted a spot. He has long been critical of how the district has handled the payroll debacle that led to nearly $1.3 million in over payments and been upset that administrators still haven’t given trustees a copy of an external auditor’s management letter that was due in January. He said he wants to ensure that the district is being transparent to the public.
Siding with him was new trustee Ann Sutherland, who defeated former audit chairman Chris Hatch this May with a campaign that criticized how he oversaw the committee and responded to the payroll issue. She passed trustees a paper listing the former employees who were overpaid, a handful of which she said had access to issuing checks, which she said the audit committee should have looked into more deeply. (Later superintendent Melody Johnson said she would update trustees on what safeguards were and are in place to ensure that employees cannot write themselves checks.) Sutherland did say Hatch was the only committee member to show up for a meeting to address the findings of the internal payroll audit, which could then not be held for lack of a quorum.
“He and others on the committee failed in their fiduciary responsibility,” Sutherland said of Hatch.
Moss defended her qualifications to remain on the committee. She said though she does not have finance degrees or background like others (Sutherland had once been a budget analyst for the California state legislature), her 20 years on the board has included reviewing numerous budget issues.
“We’ve never communicated, so I really don’t know how you can determine my qualifications … You don’t know why a person didn’t show up for a meeting,” Moss said.
Vasquez and Sutherland a motion each to have Vasquez replace either trustees Norm Robbins or Moss on the committee. Siding with them on the votes were trustees Juan Rangel, who typically votes with Vasquez, and newcomer Tobi Jackson. Vasquez worked to help both Sutherland and Jackson get elected this spring.
In the end, Moss, Robbins and Sutherland were appointed to the board with a 6-3 vote. In favor were Jackson, Moss, Robbins, T.A. Sims, Judy Needham and Ray Dickerson, who is board president.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

TCC volunteers deliver donations to Azle charity

Volunteers from the Tarrant County College Northwest Campus recently delivered clothes, appliances and kitchen items to the Azle Community Caring Center. Donations were collected by students, faculty and staff in May as part of a pilot service project. The project is called "Spotlight on Service." 

Birdville auto tech students second place in national auto skills contest

A team from the Birdville Center of Technology & Advanced Learning in North Richland Hills took second place in the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills national finals.

The two-day event, held on Tuesday on the front lawn of Ford World Headquarters in Deerborn, Mich., gives automotive technology students the chance to solve repair problems in a head-to-head, hands-on competition, a AAA news release said. Students also completed a 100-question exam on Monday.

Birdville students Ian Dunaway and Jesse Hackfield were runners up. Their teacher is Olin Harrington.  Winners were a team from a campus in Valley City, North Dakota. This year's competition awarded $11.5 million in scholarships.

Jessamy Brown

Double bass competition at UNT

Photo credit: Jonathan Reynolds/UNT

The University of North Texas College of Music is hosting the inaugural Bradetich Foundation International Double Bass Solo Competition. Participants are competing for a gold medal prize of $10,000 and a New York debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Check out the BBC's coverage here.

Diane Smith

Carroll schools chief is Regional Superintendent of the Year

David J. Faltys, Carroll school district's superintendent, has been named regional Superintendent of the Year for 2010.

He bested superintendents from Keller and Glen Rose school districts for the award representing the Region XI Education Service Center. He will now compete for a chance at the state title, a news release said.

A former math and science teacher, Faltys was hired by the Southlake-based school district in December 2005 after serving at the helm of Navasota school district near Bryan-College Station.

Judges praised Faltys’ financial leadership and noted that when he arrived, Faltys visited campuses to improve trust and morale.

"I like that Dr. Faltys seems to remember what it was like to be a classroom teacher, and he emphasized that he always takes that into consideration," one judge said, according to the release. "He has a real empathy for teachers, and it shows."

Next, a committee will interview the regional winners in August. Five finalists are to be interviewed again in September. The winner is to be announced at a Sept. 26 joint convention of the Texas Association of School Administrators and Texas Association of School Boards.

Jessamy Brown

Fort Worth honors its teachers of the year

The school district's teachers of the year were honored by the board at Tuesday's school board meeting. Courtney Sawyer, a pre-kindergarten teacher at J.T.Stevens, is the elementary teacher of the year. (Interesting side note, she attended that school herself as a child.) Jolene Webster, choral music director at Pashcal High, is secondary teacher of the year.

The two get to drive a new car for the summer courtesy of Sewell Lexus, dinner at Del Friscos, tickets to a Texas Rangers game, a night's stay at the Worthington Renaissance Hotel and $500 for their classrooms.

Pictured here from left to right is Sawyer, superintendent Melody Johnson and Webster.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

Concerns about potentially elite Fort Worth schools, tiffs over TIFs

Last night's board meeting included some heated discussion related to the new all-girls school set to open in August.

Trustee Carlos Vasquez told trustees last night that he didn't like that the district was spending money on a new all-girls campus while talking about closing down an alternative campus for pregnant and parenting students. He said he voted for the all-girls academy because it's a great idea but not if the district can't afford it.

Vasquez missed last week's budget meeting where the option to close the Center for New Lives was discussed. He said administrators keep saying the district is struggling financially as it faces a $20 million shortfall but then recommend spending money on new programs that administrators want such as the girl's academy and a proposed high school for biomedical sciences.

"We're going to ignore all these pregnant girls but then spend I don't know how many millions on 150 students that are hand-selected to be at this girl's academy? ... Whether we like teen pregnant girls or not, it's something that happens, and we have to take care of them in order to have their children be successful," Vasquez said.

About two dozen supporters of New Lives attended the meeting to ask trustees to keep it open but could not address the board as it did not have public comments on its agenda. Many plant to return to speak to the at the board's June 22 meeting. Officials have said students at that school would continue to receive help from the district through various programs that help keep them at their home campus.

Superintendent Melody Johnson said, "The girls school is not an elite school. The girl's school is open to all students."

Deputy superintendent Pat Linares said the new Young Women's Leadership Academy accepted nearly all of the students who applied. Of the nearly 140 students who will attend sixth and seventh grade there next year, about 70 percent are considered economically disadvantaged, she said. Most girls are Hispanic and African American and about 10 percent of the students are white, she said. Officials did use some rubrics for selecting students but that it was not as strict as other special interest programs in the district, she said.

Trustees voted Tuesday to use nearly $150,000 from a south Fort Worth tax increment financing district to upgrade a parking lot for the new all-girl's academy that will be on Magnolia Avenue. But board vice president Juan Rangel, who represents that area, became upset with staff saying he had never been told how or what projects the district chooses to fund with that money and that district staff does not keep the TIF board informed about efforts as they progress.

"I get caught in the crossfire by people in my community saying why did this school get this money and why did this school get this money? ... I said I don't know, and I look like a fool," said Rangel, who sits on the TIF board for that district.

A TIF is a geographic district set up by city officials in which additional taxes raised for that area are used for improvements within the district. Money from the TIF can only be spent on a handful of schools in the TIF district. Chief of Operations Cecilia Speer said money from the TIF has been used based on needs and in consultation with various district officials. For example, work has included improving landscaping at DeZavala Elementary and fixing the front steps of Trimble Tech HIgh School. Speer said the TIF board had asked for an annual update, which is expected to be given next week.

"I'd be glad to work with Mr. Rangel on that and with (superintendent) Dr. Johnson to make sure we have a transparent trail of money," Speer said.

-Eva-Marie Ayala