Extra Credit

Starting pay for early childhood teachers in San Antonio's pre-K program is $60K

Months after voters gave the nod for a new pre-kindergarten program in San Antonio, officials are coming to the Metroplex looking to hire teachers and other employees before the program launches in August, according to a news release.

The City of San Antonio is holding a job fair in Dallas on April 4. They are seeking to hire more than 100 positions, including master teachers (who will start at a $60,000 annual salary), teacher assistants, nurses and professional and administrative staff. It's an informational job fair, so resumes and applications are not being accepted at the event.

The "Pre-K 4 SA" program gained national attention when voters approved it in November 2012. Four "model education centers" are planned to provide prekindergarten instruction for 2,000 four-year-olds. Staffers are being hired for the first two centers, scheduled to open in August.

Master teachers must have: at least three years of early childhood teaching experience, a teaching certificate with endorsements to teach early childhood education from any state's educator certification department and the ability to get Texas certification.

DFW job fair details:

• 4 to 7 p.m. on April 4
• Dallas Public Library, 1515 Young St., Dallas.
• Program overview presentations: 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Jessamy Brown

United Educators Association endorses Fort Worth ISD board incumbents for re-election

The Fort Worth-based United Educators Association employee group is endorsing the re-election bids of two Fort Worth school district trustees, a news release said.

The group, which represents more than 6,000 Fort Worth school district employees, is endorsing incumbents Carlos Vasquez in the school board's district 1 and Juan Rangel in district 9.

"Juan Rangel and Dr. Carlos Vasquez have proven themselves as champions for our students and our teachers," Steven Poole, UEAs executive director, said in the release. "As a current teacher, Dr. Carlos Vasquez understands the needs of our students. Juan Rangel's experience on the school board is important to help us focus on the continued improvement of our schools."

Vasquez, a teacher, has two challengers: Camille Rodriguez, a podiatrist and Jacinto A. Ramos Jr., a juvenile probation officer.

Rangel, a marketing/management consultant, is also in a three way race. Ashley E. Paz, an event planner and Melody Palacios, who gave her occupation as a housewife, are also running for the seat.

The group's executive board reviewed the candidates' qualifications, voting records and other factors, the release said.

Jessamy Brown

 

Young chefs from Byron Nelson High win state contest, headed to nationals

A team of students from the Academy of Culinary Arts and Hospitality at Byron Nelson High School won the state title at the Texas ProStart Invitational and are headed to a national competition in April in Maryland, according to a news release.

The team prepared a three course meal in 60 minutes. Students were also judged on knife skills, chicken fabrication and safety and sanitation. 

The team includes Chef James Neel, Allison Bode and chef Steve DeShazo, LaKoda Sailer, Lyric Gibson, Trenton Shank, Nathan Young, Emily Baker. (R: Culinary team/Photo from NISD)

A second team from Byron Nelson High, a campus in Trophy Club that is part of the Northwest school district, took second place in the restaurant management competition. Those teams had to develop a restaurant proposal and give a presentation about it. Their concept was City Park Smoke House. A team from Rockwall High School placed first in that category.

A restaurant management team placed first at the national competition last year.

The state event was hosted by the Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation. The competition is open to students enrolled in high school culinary arts programs that use the Texas ProStart program and curriculum.

Jessamy Brown

UNT conference tackles hazing, social media and bullying

The higher education community discussed this week how to best address a number of issues on college campuses; including post traumatic stress disorder, students on social media, hazing and bullying. The issues were themes at the 17th Annual Texas Higher Education Law Conference at the University of North Texas.

Marc Cutright, associate professor and director for the Center for Higher Education at UNT, said the conference gives higher education professionals resources for handling campus issues.

Cutright said the aim is for higher education experts to be able to answer: "What do I do if this situation comes up?"

Cutright said the proceeds of the two-day conference pay for scholarships for graduate students in higher education.

Kim Novak, a consultant and advocate for Campus Safety, urged campuses to work to prevent hazing -a problem that is not isolated to fraternities and sororities.

"Hazing happens all over the place," she said. Novak referred to the November 2011 hazing death of Robert Champion Jr., a drum major for Florida A&M University. Twelve former students face manslaughter charges in connection with that case.

-Diane Smith

Fort Worth ISDs free mobile app ready to download from Apple and Google stores

UPDATE 3/27/13 

To find the mobile app:
It is a free download for smart phones and tablets on Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store. Users can search for “Fort Worth ISD” to find the app, located in the education category. Developed by Parlant Technology Inc., the app has a red icon with a white apple.

The app has been downloaded 690 times since January, including 456 times since it was announced on Monday, officials said Wednesday afternoon.

ORIGINAL POST

A smart phone app with news and student information about Fort Worth schools is ready, officials announced in a Monday news release.

Users can download the app for free from the Apple App Store for iPhone users and the Google Play Store for Android users.

The app is available in 70 languages and folks can access the district's social media sites and lunch money accounts, make a report to the safety and security office, find school phone numbers and check sports scores. The district will also use the app for school and district updates and news and will send voice messages to parents, who can access them when it is convenient, rather than being interrupted by a phone call, said Clint Bond, director of external and emergency communications.

Here's a January Star-Telegram article about the app.

"We are extremely excited to be deploying this mobile app," Walter Dansby, Fort Worth schools superintendent, said in a Monday news release. "It's so important that we can communicate effectively when there is an emergency. But it is even more important that we can communicate with our parents about the progress of their children in school. Our new mobile app puts the facts right into the hands of people who need it the most ... our parents."

Jessamy Brown

Donation will fund four billboards to publicize Fort Worth schools May 11 walk

Four billboards touting the Fort Worth school district's District Walk are going up next month.

The school district on Monday was given a $15,000 donation to help pay for and publicize the annual walk, scheduled for May 11. Participants will meet at athletic tracks at Fort Worth ISD high schools and walk. The event is 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The Humana Foundation's donation will pay to buy water, water bottles, t-shirts and other expenses. It will also cover the costs of four billboards.

Starting on April 14, the billboards will be located at:

• Beach Street and Elinor Street (south facing)
• Berry Street and Mississippi Avenue (east facing)
• North and Pharr Street (north facing)
• Vickery Boulevard and Lovell Avenue (east facing)

Jessamy Brown

 

Two UT Arlington educators named to ACE Fellows Program

Pamela Jansma

Pamela Jansma, dean of The University of Texas at Arlington College of Science, and Victoria Farrar-Myers, a UT Arlington professor of political science, have been named American Council on Education Fellows for the 2013-14 academic year.

UTA President James Spaniolo nominated the educators for the program, according to a news release. 

Victoria Farrar-Myers

-Diane Smith

UT Arlington environmental engineer wins grant to identify algae blooms in water sources

A University of Texas at Arlington environmental engineer has received a three-year, $561,730 grant to identify harmful algae blooms in fresh and salt water so that water providers can take action to contain and curb them.

The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation awarded assistant professor Hyeok Choi the grant to develop and place sensors to find these biological toxins so that they can be monitored.

“We will use satellite information to identify the best demonstration site where our sensors can be installed,” said Choi, who is in the civil engineering department. “These sensors will be able to read the microcystins or biological toxins wirelessly, then report back to us.”

Sungyong Jung, a UT Arlington associate professor of electrical engineering, is building the sensors, in cooperation with Sang-Yeon Cho of New Mexico State University and Jung-Min Park of Virginia Tech.

The Environmental Protection Agency will direct the research team to a site where there is a high concentration of biological toxins, Choi said. Researchers will deploy the sensors, often travel to the site to collect samples and measure the amount of biological toxins in that water through a laboratory process. The EPA also plans to take water samples for blind testing. That data will be compared with the data monitored and transmitted by the sensors.

Arlington is in the process of installing similar sensors in Lake Arlington. Terry Benton, assistant director of operations for the Water Utilities Department, said in October that the monitors are designed to detect contaminants ranging algae blooms to man-made toxins. That information will help staff fine-tune the water-treatment process, which could save the city on chemical and electricity costs.

"If we know what is coming into the plant, that will help us adjust our treatment processes to get the best quality of water that we can," Benton said. "Any time it rains we get run-off, which will allow pesticides and fertilizers to get in the lake. We can measure the severity and that will help dictate how we treat the water."

In early 2011, a golden algae bloom killed more than a quarter-million fish in Lake Granbury and downstream in the Brazos River.

Jean-Pierre Bardet, dean of the UT Arlington College of Engineering, said that Choi’s work has the opportunity to dramatically improve how developing nations cope with water sources saturated with such toxins.

“Monitoring general algal bloom activities gives an idea on potential hazard while monitoring actual biological toxins gives an insight on imminent hazard,” Bardet said. “This innovation has the potential to aid anyone who uses water.”

-Patrick M. Walker

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Eschewal is winning word in Fort Worth regional spelling bee

Update: Spelling bee champ is 12-year-old Ansun Sujoe, a sixth grader at Parkwood Hill Intermediate School in the Keller school district. Check out this video by the Star-Telegram's Paul Moseley.  

The championship word, in the 26th round of competition, was eschewal, meaning shunning or avoidance.

Holding his trophy, he gave interviews to television stations and newspaper reporters. He wins an expenses paid trip to Washington, DC for the national spelling bee.

 Second place went to Ben Benjadol, 11, of Wilshire Elementary in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district, a previous area spelling bee winner. (Right: ST photo: Joyce Marshall)

Many more pics by Joyce Marshall from the event on the Star-Telegram's website.

Update 11:35 a.m.

Just five spellers remain at the North Texas regional spelling bee as they head into the 16 round. Kailey Choi, the youngest speller in the contest at age 8, was eliminated in round 14.

Many parents remarked at the break that they not only did not know how to spell many of the words the students were given to spell, they didn't know what they meant.

At one point, somone's cell phone sounded and the audience was reminded to turn them off.

Original post

Returning to the stage after a break at the regional spelling bee at TCU, round 7 proved tough for several of the young spellers. The words are getting more difficult.

Officials have asked the crowd not to publish words given to the students during the competition because other regions have not held their bees yet.

Four of 14 students were eliminated during round 7. The contest started with 25 students from across North Texas who qualified for the event by winning their campus and district or area bees.

The youngest student, an eight year old from Mansfield schools, is still in the competition, powering through her words without asking for additional information, such as the word's language of origin.

Jessamy Brown

 

 

Mansfield ISD student, 8, is youngest competitor at Wednesday's regional spelling bee

Eight-year-old Kailey Choi, the youngest winner of a Mansfield school district spelling bee, will compete in the regional bee at TCU on Wednesday.

Kailey, a third grader, correctly spelled some tough words during the district event last month, including influenza, ominous, refugee, arsenal, piccolo and monotonous.

She topped runner up Jeremy Pham, a fifth grader, who misspelled etymology in the 24th round of competition. Her winning word was exuberant.

(R: Kailey Choi wins Mansfield spelling bee/MISD)

Here's a video of the Mansfield district competition:

ORIGINAL POST

How do you spell V-I-C-T-O-R-Y?

Twenty-five students from North Texas --including one who is just eight-years-old -- will square off on Wednesday at the annual regional spelling bee.

The winner will advance to the national Scripps National Spelling Bee, scheduled for May 28 to 30 near Washington, D.C.

Students from 457 schools participated in the TCU College of Education Spelling Bee, sponsored by the College of Education's Center for Urban Education and the Star-Telegram. The 25 students qualified for the regional bee by winning their campus bee and then their district or area bee, said Jan Lacina, associate dean at the TCU college of education.

In addition to the expenses-paid trip to the finals, the regional winner gets a trophy, dictionary and the chance to audit a TCU course.

Two students who competed in previous regional contests are returning on Wednesday and the youngest contestant is Kailey Choi, a third grader at Anderson Elementary School in the Mansfield school district.

Last year's winner, Mark De Los Santos, is not eligible to compete again because he is in ninth grade. He advanced to the sixth round of the national spelling bee semi-finals but did not spell himation correctly.

The regional bee is scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon at the TCU Brown Lupton University Union, 2901 Stadium Drive, Fort Worth.

Jessamy Brown