Extra Credit

New building eyed for Fort Worth ISDs Young Women's Leadership Academy

The girls at the Young Women's Leadership Academy may be moving to new digs on Eighth Street in Fort Worth.

The Fort Worth school board in January agreed to purchase the Tarrant County Education Center building at 401 E. 8th St.

On Tuesday, trustees are to consider using $5.8 million from funds left over from the Capital Improvement Program to pay for renovations to the building.

The deal still must still be considered by the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court, which is expected to take up the matter at a meeting scheduled for Feb. 26, a school district spokeswoman said. If both parties approve, officials hope to be done with renovations and ready to move into the new building in time for the fall 2013 semester.

The academy has outgrown its current space, Fort Worth schools spokesman Clint Bond said.

The school opened in August 2010 in a converted building on West Magnolia Avenue that served as the school district's adult education center. Officials are adding one grade per year. This year, there are students in grades seven through 10.

Jessamy Brown

 

 

Keller ISD says City of Fort Worth making crosswalk changes for student safety

Anyone who drives or walks around Keller-Hicks and Alta Vista knows that area is a hot mess due to construction and heavy traffic. Keller ISD posted a bulletin today that City of Fort Worth officials are adjusting the crosswalks beginning Sept. 24 while the southeast side of Keller-Hicks and Alta Vista is blocked off for construction.  Students walking and biking to Trinity Meadows Intermediate and Trinity Springs Middle School can cross streets at three temporary crosswalks: one  on the north side of Keller-Hicks at Alta Vista, another about a tenth of a mile to the west on Keller Hicks and a third across the new portion of Beach southeast of Trinity Springs. For a little more clarity, check the diagram from Keller ISD above and see their post.

-- Sandra Engelland

Arlington school trustees make changes to meeting structure

Thursday marks the first Arlington school board meeting to follow the school board's new plan to set aside one of its two monthly meetings as a public work session.

The work session agenda will not include an open forum, and no action or vote will be taken on any of the discussion topics.

Thursday's topics include discussion about the boundary process of the new Sherry Street Elementary School currently under construction, and the current schools that will be affected, including Atherton, Johns and Hale.

A general discussion of the overcrowding issues in East Arlington will also be held.

Trustees will also talk about out of district transfers and fees, a budget amendment to the Strategic Plan, and the Student Leader Advisory Board.

Open session begins at 7 p.m. at the Woodrow Counts Administration Building, 1203 W. Pioneer Parkway.

__ Shirley Jinkins

 

Southlake church bids on site of former Carroll Intermediate School

A Southlake church that meets in the former site of Carroll Intermediate School has submitted bids to buy the property.

Carroll schools trustees last year declared the campus surplus property to allow it to be sold.

Southlake Baptist Church was the only bidder and submitted two separate bids options, said Julie Thannum, school district spokeswoman. The bids were opened on Tuesday. The school board can decide whether to accept or reject the offers.

The congregation has a two-year lease with the district for space at the intermediate school.

If the building is sold, those offices will move to a new administrative center at the vacant Carroll Middle School building on Dove Road, which is slated for renovation. Students and teachers moved to a new, solar-powered replacement campus that opened in August 2011.

The Carroll Intermediate campus, at Carroll Avenue and Highland Street in Southlake, closed after the 2002-2003 school year. The site includes the original area schoolhouse building, constructed in 1919. It is the oldest public building in Southlake. Read more about the 1919 school from the Southlake Historical Society.  

This 2003 pic (right, Ricky Moon) shows a teacher writing farewell to her classroom after the Carroll Intermediate campus closed.

Jessamy Brown

Lawsuit between Carroll and Northwest schools may return to court

Carroll school district's legal battle against Northwest school district over boundaries may return to court.

A Carroll spokeswoman said officials intend to file a motion for a rehearing in the case to the state's Second District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, which last week ordered Carroll’s claims dismissed.

The dispute over which district can claim 840 acres in Tarrant County has been a long legal battle characterized by trips to the Legislature, legal maneuvering, negotiations, judgments and appeals.

The land, known as the “disputed zone or disputed territory” is in Trophy Club and Southlake.

Northwest, based in far north Fort Worth, has argued that the courts do not have proper jurisdiction to decide the matter.

In a Feb. 16 judgment, the appeals court dismissed Carroll’s claims, and ordered Carroll to pay the costs of the appeal.

But Carroll schools spokeswoman Julie Thannum told the Star-Telegram on Wednesday the district plans to request a rehearing of the matter from the appeals court.

Northwest spokeswoman Lesley Weaver issued this statement on Thursday: “In response to Carroll ISD’s plans to continue pursuing legal action against Northwest ISD, we remain committed to the community and the children we educate in Northwest schools. This case has been dismissed twice previously and we feel the courts’ decisions have been in the best interest of students.”

During the litigation, Northwest has collected property taxes in the disputed zone. Carroll, based in Southlake, allows families who live in the disputed zone to attend its school district without paying tuition. About 46 such students are attending Carroll schools, Thannum said.

“There are no changes for the students or their siblings who live in the disputed zone and attend Carroll ISD,” Thannum said this week.

Jessamy Brown

Couple pledges $1 million toward UT Arlington's College Park Center

"Petsche Court."

That's what the home floor of the UT Arlington men's and women's basketball teams will be called after a pair of alumni committed $1 million to the new College Park Center events venue that opens early next year.

Alan and Bonnie Smith Petsche chose to support the $78 million project because of the role UT Arlington has played in their lives and the impact that the venue will play in the downtown area, the university said in a news release.

The UT Arlington men’s and women’s basketball teams are expected to take to Petsche Court for the first time Feb. 1 against UT San Antonio.

“This moves the university up to the next level,” Alan Petsche said. “You have to have something to rally around, and I think the basketball program can be a center of the UT Arlington experience.”

Alan Petsche earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from UT Arlington in 1980. Bonnie Smith Petsche earned her BBA from in 1986. Mr. Petsche is the former chief operating officer for A.E. Petsche Co., an aerospace distribution company that his family sold to Arrow Electronics in 2009.

Alan Petsche recently acquired the historic Candlelite Inn on East Division Street near Cowboys Stadium and is refurbishing it with plans to reopen with the original menu soon. An avid musician, he also plans to open an instrument rental business downtown and a separate studio that he said will be suitable for symphony-quality musical recordings.

During college, Petsche joined a popular local band, The Pengwins, as lead guitarist. UT Arlington was also where he met his wife at a Sigma Nu fraternity party, he said.

Bonnie Smith Petsche said her UT Arlington education, including her service through the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, was a life-shaping opportunity.

“I was the first person in my family to go to college, and I was truly blessed to have a four-year university in this community,” she said.

-Patrick M. Walker 

Two new Southlake Carroll campuses ready to open next week

Teachers are moving into two new campuses opening next week in the Carroll school district, superintendent David Faltys told trustees on Monday.

Walnut Grove Elementary and a replacement campus for Carroll Middle School both have many "green" elements.

A water well went online at Walnut Grove Elementary last week. The landscaping at the campus is now being irrigated solely by well water instead of water from the City of Southlake, Faltys said.

School district officials plan to open wells on other campuses in the future to save on utility costs.

The middle school is largely solar powered.

Jessamy Brown

 

More than 100 names suggested for new Southlake Carroll campus

So what will the new elementary campus in the Carroll school district be named? Trustees on Monday will review several suggestions culled from 108 names put forward by current and former students, staff and residents.

The school, under construction on North White Chapel Boulevard in Southlake, is to open in August. And since most of the students will come from Durham Elementary and Johnson Elementary, district officials thought it would be best to start with a new name. Durham Intermediate, adjacent to Durham Elementary, is keeping its name, in honor of a longtime Carroll teacher and coach, the late Don T. Durham.

Two district committees reviewed the name ideas and have come up with their top three choices.

The District Advisory Committee's picks: Mabel Cate Elementary, Southlake Elementary and Lonesome Dove Elementary.

The Bond Advisory Committee's picks: Lonesome Dove Elementary, White Chapel Elementary and Walnut Grove Elementary.

More details about the potential names will be provided to trustees and the board can choose from these suggestions or pick a different one.

The board meets at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at Johnson Elementary School, 1301 N. Carroll Av., Southlake.

Jessamy Brown

 Update: The campus name will be Walnut Grove Elementary.

 

 

 

Arlington trustees set to approve more bond sales

Arlington school trustees meet Thursday night and on their agenda is an item to approve issuing up to $30,795,000 in bonds for a variety of district projects. It will be the second bond sale since voters approved a $197.5 million package in November.

Two-million dollars of the $30,795,000 is earmarked for the purchase of land for a new elementary school in east Arlington, according to the district. Other planned expenditures include $14.4 million in technology updates, $2.4 million for buses and $1.3 million for fine arts. To see a list of the of all the projects that the latest sale will fund, go here. It's on page 14 and 15 of the meeting agenda.

- Traci Shurley

Original Carroll schoolhouse in Southlake to get historical marker

Look out for a future historical marker planned to honor the 1919 Carroll School - the only remaining original county school in Tarrant County. The Texas Historical Commission has awarded a marker to the brick schoolhouse, built in 1919 in an unincorporated area that is now Southlake. The marker will go to the foundry but it could be months before it goes up, said Anita Robeson, president of the Southlake Historical Society.

Over the years, the building has been used as a warehouse, art studio and transportation office. It is on the site of the now-closed Carroll Intermediate School, 1055 N. Carroll Ave. The school district intends to sell the property at some point and the Historical Society supports finding a way for building to be restored and re-used.

Carroll trustees last week told administrators to seek an attorney general's opinion on whether the district has the legal option to give away the building (not the property) if it is used for educational purposes. Officials are also looking into using artifacts from the building and historical photos in a display in the future Administration Center. Administrators plan to move into the Carroll Middle School building when a replacement campus opens in fall 2011.

Jessamy Brown