Extra Credit

Fort Worth teens receive Horatio Alger scholarship

Thirteen students received the Horatio Alger State Scholars award sponsored by the BNSF Railway Foundation. The scholarship gives the teens $5,000 to use toward college, and the students will receive financial aid guidance through the program.

Teens are chosen based on academic performance, community service and strength of character shown by overcoming personal obstacles. Since 1984, the Horatio Alger Association has given $2.5 million in scholarships to Texas students. The 2012 winners are:

·         Marlene Aguayo, Carter-Riverside High School
·         Kiera J. Carey, Trimble Technical High School
·         Mariela Garcia, Trimble Technical High School
·         Reagan D. Harris, Trimble Technical High School
·         Diana Hernandez, Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School
·         Erika Herrera, South Hills High School
·         Vanessa R. Homesley, Carter-Riverside High School
·         Lorena Lomeli, Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School
·         Jazmine S. Olwalia, North Crowley High .School
·         Abel M. Perez-Arita, Polytechnic High School
·         Thuy H. Truong, Fort Worth Country Day School
·         Miriam Villegas, Carter-Riverside High School
·         Jazmine Y. Williams, Trimble Technical High School

-Eva-Marie Ayala

First female class captain graduates from TCC's fire training program

(PHOTO: TCC Photographer Rita Short)

Janet Onim, 38, is the first woman to graduate as a class captain from the Tarrant County College Fire Service Training Center. She leads Day Class # 65, which graduates April 27.  She was selected class captain in January, according to a news release issued by the college district.

As class captain, Onim supervised lieutenants who direct the engine crews, coordinated class activities with school staff and served as a liaison to between students and course coordinators.

Some 1,650 students have graduated TCC's fire service training program since it began in 1989.

-Diane Smith

 

Vote for Keller student in Future Chef contest

For just a few more days, you can vote for Keller Middle School student Lorenzo Laohoo in Sodexo's Future Chef contest. With a fried rice dish he calls "Saturday Asian Breakfast," Lorenzo won the Keller ISD contest and advanced through the regional round to become one of six national finalists.  At right is Lorenzo cooking his winning dish last month at Timber Creek High School.

A few weeks ago, Lorenzo taped a "How to" video with help from KISD child nutrition and media departments. The video is available here:

 

Voting ends April 30. To cast a vote for Lorenzo, go here:

2012 Sodexo Future Chefs

- Sandra Engelland

Keller trustees to discuss budget, superintendent search

KELLER - Keller school district officials will meet Thursday (4/26) to discuss the 2012-13 budget and to pick a firm to coordinate the search for a new superintendent.

James Veitenheimer is leaving Keller this summer to take the top spot in a suburban Phoenix district. Trustees plan to hear presentations from several search firms and choose one to begin the process. They hope to have a new chief in place before the next school year begins.

The budget process should be simpler than it was last year because there are fewer unknowns: the Legislature isn't in session, no tax election on the horizon, etc. For more on the meeting, look for my story in the Keller Citizen.

-- Sandra Engelland

No-go yet on bond guarantees for Texas charter schools

Charter schools are supposed to be able to tap the Permanent School Fund's bond guarantee program, which saves schools money by helping them get high ratings for bond packages. The Legislature last year included charter schools in the program, and they were to be eligible starting Sept. 28. But that's not happening - and it may never happen. In October, the state asked the IRS if including them in the program would violate what's called arbitrage laws and cause the program to lose its tax-exempt status. It won't extend guarantees to charter schools until the IRS clears the idea, the State Auditor's Office says in a new report. Besides, state law says that the state education commission may not approve charter district bonds for guarantees if it would result in a lower bond rating for the program. So now the program is waiting to get updated rating letters from various bond rating agencies to see what would happen if charter schools were covered. - Lois Norder

 

TEA releases performance standards on new state tests

Today state officials released the passing standards for the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness end-of-course tests for high schoolers. 

The standards are a three-teired setup with Level I being unsatisfactory academic performance, Level II being satisfactory and Level II meaning students reached the advanced status. The Level II satisfactory passing standard will be phased in over four years. Level II will be phased in over two years in English III reading and writing and Algebra II only.

TEA officials said in a release that the transition will give districts time to adjust instruction and provide additional staff training as the new STAAR tests are aimed to be more rigorous than the outgoing TAKS tests.

The phase-in is as follows:

Algebra I, Algebra II, geometry, biology, chemistry, physics, world geography, world history and United State history-- students must have a scale score of at least 3500 if taken in 2012 or 2013 or a 4000 thereafter.

English I, II and III reading and writing assessments -- students must earn a score of 1875 if taken in the first two years and then 2000 after that.

Additional details on the phase in can be found here.

Meanwhile, elementary and middle schoolers were taking their STAAR tests today. At Fort Worth's South Hi Mount Elementary, students had a STAAR pep rally that included a helicopter landing, donated by CareFlite to the school for collecting the highest per capita giving by an elementary school in the 2011 United Way campaign. Below is the district's video of the event.

Photos: Fort Worth school district

-Eva-Marie Ayala

 

Mocked in movie, former ed board member compares criticism to "pre-Holocaust Germany"

DALLAS -- Mocked in a new documentary about Texas textbooks and the Texas State Board of Education, former board member Cynthia Dunbar accused critics of the controversial board of "discrimination" against religious views like in "pre-Holocaust Germany."

In a panel discussion Sunday night after the Texas premiere of The Revisionaries, a new documentary on how the social conservative board majority has influenced American science and history textbooks, Dunbar said board members who opposed teaching "weaknesses" of evolution theory were committing "viewpoint discrimination."

Dunbar is one of several board members featured in the documentary, which "stars" former board Chairman Don McLeroy and his "young-Earth" view of creation, including his belief that dinosaurs were alongside other animals aboard Noah's Ark.

The documentary revisits the board's 2010 debate over teaching evolution.

Dunbar said even though "experts" oppose discussing other views as science, "that's what they talked about in pre-Holocaust Germany as well." She added that "making us a homogenous society that has [only] one ideology that's acceptable is not what this society was based upon."

Dunbar, a Republican from Richmond in Fort Bend County, has said she believes public schools are unconstitutional. She served on the board from 2007 to 2011.

In 2008, she predicted that terrorists "with whom [President Barack] Obama truly sympathizes" would attempt to "take down" America.

Fresh off its Saturday premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, (photo above of McLeroy and filmmaker Scott Thurman from Twitter), The Revisionaries was featured at the Dallas International Film Festival. The movie was originally a graduate project for Thurman, a University of North Texas film student.

Thurman, 31, wept when he talked about McLeroy, calling him a "warm and kind" man who cooperated completely. McLeroy is scheduled to be a guest on The Colbert Report Tuesday night, Thurman said.

Among other guests Sunday was board member Thomas Ratliff, a Mount Pleasant Republican seen in the movie defeating McLeroy.

-- Bud Kennedy

Haltom High investment team makes $40K in virtual Stock Market Game

Who says young people don't understand money?

Four teens from Haltom High School are the top team in Texas in the Stock Market Game education program after they increased the value of a virtual portfolio by 41 percent.

Each team started with a hypothetical $100,000 in stocks, bonds or mutual funds and had 10 weeks to research companies and invest the virtual money in an online trading account, an April 18 news release said.

At the end of the investment simulation, the team from Birdville schools' Haltom High increased the value of their account by $40,809.

The students are all in an economics class taught by Ben Sartor. Teammates Matthew Bryan Comer, Valente Iglesias, Mauro Velador and Clifford Croft win $100 for managing the top investment portfolio in the state plus $50 for being tops in the Dallas region of the program. Sartor also gets $100.

The program is sponsored by the Texas Council on Economic Education.

Jessamy Brown

Southlake Carroll to celebrate athletics, academics at Parade of Champions

Shoppers at Southlake Town Square on Sunday will notice an extra amount of Carroll Dragon green all over the place.

About 700 Southlake Carroll schools students will be making their way to Town Hall to celebrate their successes this year in academics and athletics. Read more from the Southlake Journal here.

Led by Carroll's campus teachers of the year as Grand Marshals, the Parade of Champions is a chance for the community to recognize its state and national champions.

The 4 p.m. parade will include floats and marchers with students in grades nine to 12 who compete on behalf of Carroll in competitive or spirit groups.

Here's the route: the parade starts on West Grand Avenue between the Southlake Hilton and Barnes and Noble store, continues along Grand Avenue West to Fountain Place and ends near Rustin Park.

At a Spirit Rally in front of Town Hall, officials will recognize students with first place finishes at the state and national level.

They are: All-State Band, All-State Choir, Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country, Boys’ and Girls’ Swimming/Diving, National Merit finalists, Latin Club state champion, Forensics state champions, Student Council, Winter Guard and Football. (right - Star-Telegram photo by Paul Moseley/Carroll quarterback Kenny Hill scores during state title game in Dec. 2011.)

The event is co sponsored by the Carroll school district, Town Square and the City of Southlake.

Southlake Mayor John Terrell said in a statement: “The City is so proud of all of our Carroll Dragon champions,” he said. “The academic and athletic excellence exhibited by our students is something to celebrate. The Council is looking forward to helping these students celebrate on April 22.”

 

Jessamy Brown

Scholarship program lands Arlington Rotary Club a White House invite

 When many in The Rotary Club of Arlington questioned the viability of a college scholarship program nine years ago, member Jim Fulgham calmly persuaded them to stay the course.

Little did he know that his convictions would one day land him in the White House.

Fulgham will be a guest Thursday at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to receive the Arlington club’s recognition as one of President Barack Obama’s Champions of Change. He’ll join representatives from nine other clubs nationwide as part of Rotary Day at the White House.

In 2003, the signature scholarship program, which promises $750 a semester to every student who finishes the sixth grade at Webb Elementary and goes on to graduate from high school, was viewed by many club members as too ambitious and expensive. Some even feared that the obligations could pile up so high that it would bankrupt the club.

“They were scared,” Fulgham said. “And with good reason.”

But Fulgham wasn’t ready to ditch the program, which had begun promising scholarships to Webb sixth-graders in 1994-95.

He asked Tarrant County College and the University of Texas at Arlington to match the scholarship money. He urged club members to support the program and to ask their friends and neighbors to join them.

He also got fellow Rotarians to start helping high school students fill out the federal student financial aid application. His thinking was that if students qualify for Pell Grants, the Rotary Webb endowment could be stretched further.

His ideas worked. Club members and their friends pitched in hundreds of thousands of dollars, and more Webb alumni began taking advantage of the offer.

The club has awarded $483,000 in scholarship money and helped other students qualify for more than $263,000 in federal grants.

-Patrick M. Walker