Extra Credit

Southlake Carroll to feature graduation messages on Dragon Stadium scoreboard

It's not the huge scoreboard at Cowboys Stadium, but this year's Carroll Senior High School graduates will have the chance to see themselves on the big screen at commencement on June 3.

In a new program, parents, grandparents and other supporters of the Class of 2011 can purchase a graduation announcement and photo to be shown on the new Dragon Stadium video scoreboard.

The seven-second messages will be shown in alphabetical order before and after the 7:30 p.m. ceremony. The number of times each message appears will depend on the total number of messages, said Rick Herrin, Carroll's communications and marketing video-webmaster.

The cost is $50 and order deadline is May 20. The money benefits the Southlake-based school district's general fund.

Last spring, extreme heat prompted Carroll schools officials to take steps to move graduation indoors to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, the first high school graduation at the facility.

Jessamy Brown

 

Birdville names Forney chief as lone superintendent finalist

Birdville school district officials on Thursday chose the lone finalist for their vacant superintendent position.  

Darrell Brown, 50, superintendent of the exemplary-rated Forney school district (20 miles east of Dallas) is slated to sign a contract on May 19, after the state mandated 21-day waiting period. The school district is planning a welcome reception for the community also on May 19.

If hired, Brown is to take the helm in July. He replaces former superintendent Stephen Waddell, who became Lewisville schools chief in March. 

Birdville school board president Joe Tolbert told the audience at the Thursday meeting that the board had conducted about 30 hours of candidate interviews and deliberation. Tolbert and two other trustees on Wednesday visited Forney schools to talk to school and community leaders.

After the vote, the district held a small reception to meet Dr. Brown and his family.

Later in the meeting, trustees approved two principal appointments: Jed Carleton, who has been assistant principal at the Academy at C.F. Thomas, will be principal of Richland Elementary School. He replaces the retiring DeeDee Peacock.

Kyle Pekurney will move from assistant principal at Richland High School to principal at Smithfield Middle School. He replaces Jeff Russell, who has been named principal at Haltom Middle School for next year.

Jessamy Brown

 

 

 

Tarrant County College Board to get a new president soon

 
Photo from Star-Telegram archives

 

Joe Hudson, president of Tarrant County College Board of Trustees, is stepping down from his role as board president this June. The move allows the title of board president to rotate to various board members even as Hudson continues his term as trustee. He said rotating that post makes board members more accountable.  

"Everybody on the board knew when I was elected that I was only going to serve one year," Hudson told the Star-Telegram. 

He said the board has two options now _ let vice president Kristin Vandergriff fill the vacated post or board members can vote for a new president. Hudson said serving as president forces board members to learn more about how the college district is operated while taking a strong leadership role.

"The board is elected to provide the vision and set the policy for the college and that's what they ought to do," Hudson said.

The issue will be acted on during the board's June meeting.

-Diane Smith 

Birdville school board completes superintendent interviews

Birdville school district trustees late last week interviewed candidates for the district's open superintendent job.

Few details have emerged.

But Board President Joe Tolbert did say three board members expect to make a site visit this week to meet with officials and community leaders for at least one candidate.

The agenda for the school board's Thursday meeting gives trustees the option to consider naming a lone finalist for the position.

The board has been working for several weeks withsearch consultant Bob E. Griggs & Associates, of North Richland Hills, to find a replacement for Stephen Waddell, who is now Lewisville schools superintendent. Birdville is being led by interim superintendent Jay C. Thompson, associate superitentendent for staff and student services.

Jessamy Brown

Texas scraps controversial projection measure in school accountability

Texas will no longer use a controversial provision that critics said artificially bumped up academic ratings at schools.

State Education Commissioner Robert Scott said Friday that the Texas Projection Measure was being scrapped because of the “lack of public support.”

The provision gave schools credit on state and federal accountability ratings for students who did not pass state tests but were expected to do so in the future. Last year, nine Tarrant County area districts and 260 schools had boosted ratings because of the TPM or other state provisions that allowed for higher ratings. Statewide, 774 school districts had a bump in their ratings because of the TPM measure.

“We think it was absolutely a valid measure, but it became so controversial that overshadowed the real progress students were making and hurt the credibility of the entire accountability system,” TEA spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe said. “It was just so hard for people to understand how it worked.”

Earlier this month, the representatives in the House voted unanimously on an amendment to legislation that would have done away with using projection measures in accountability.

“What this amendment says is that the purpose of a projection is to set expectations but if you’re measuring growth, you need to report actual growth, not the projection,” state Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, told fellow lawmakers when he  brought forward the amendment.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

Museum for Birdville schools memorabilia to open May 12

Where can you look up a copy of every school yearbook printed in the Birdville school district?

The Birdville school district archives and the Birdville Historical Society are moving into a new location.

The school district has remodeled part of the Shannon Learning Center in Haltom City to serve as the Birdville Museum, according to an announcement by The Northeast Tarrant Chamber.

The museum is to be the permanent home for both collections, the announcement said.

Here are some of the items to be featured:

• Desk used by former superintendent Wylie G. Thomas
• Replica of the old red brick schoolhouse
• A time capsule from a former graduating class
• An 800-piece collection of genealogy research material
• A doll collection from a former Birdville schools educator
• Section on Black history in Birdville
• Sports memorabilia

Grand opening: May 12. Open from 4 to 8 p.m., with a ribbon cutting at 5:30 p.m.

Birdville Museum, 6030 Walker St., Haltom City

Jessamy Brown

 

Tarrant County area districts plan for more job cuts

This week the Fort Worth and Arlington school districts announced more expected layoffs. Fort Worth plans to cut another 135 employees, bringing the total to about 360. Here is a list of positions released this week, some of which are vacant, that the district plans to cut. Arlington superintendent Jerry McCullough told trustees Thursday that the district will need to cut an additional 104 teachers and teaching assistants from pre-kindergarten and special education programs. 

-Eva-Marie Ayala

North Texas students to make up for February snow day on Friday

Remember the ice-covered roadways and subfreezing temperatures during the mega snowstorm in February? Schools were closed and classes canceled, at some districts for up to four days.

So Friday will not be a day off for many students. Districts will be holding classes to make up for lost time.

Many districts got state waivers allowing officials to only have to make up two of the days. Several districts scheduled classes on Friday, which is often a day off just before Easter weekend.

As best we can tell from websites, school districts holding classes on Friday include:

(Be sure to check with your school district's calendar for the schedule).

Aledo, Birdville, Burleson, Carroll, Castleberry, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Fort Worth, Grapevine-Colleyville, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Keller (early release through middle school), Kennedale, Northwest and White Settlement.

UPDATE: These school districts are listed on their websites as closed on Friday: Arlington, Azle, Crowley, Lake Worth and Mansfield.

Jessamy Brown

 

 

 

 

Birdville to screen student film festival finalists on Thursday

Student film directors will showcase their work on the big screen at Birdville's April Fools Film Festival on Thursday.

Finalists in a contest for student films will be shown at 6:30 p.m. at the Birdville Center of Technology and Advanced Learning, which officials said has an "industry quality" movie theater. If you miss it, check out the films on www.bisdtv.com, coming soon.

It's called the April Fools fest because the deadline to finish the projects was April 1.

All three of the finalists in the high school category are students in the Haltom High School theater department, said media technology teacher Karen Seimears.

Students submitted videos of about 2 to 8 minutes in these catagories: drama, documentary, comedy and educational.

Winners are being judged on creativity, storytelling ability, overall impression and technical ability, including making sure that dialogue can be heard and that proper lighting is used.

The entries were judged and critiqued by students in the advanced audio/visual production program at the center, known as BCTAL, in North Richland Hills.

Jessamy Brown

 

Birdville's finance superintendent heading to Lewisville ISD

Quentin S. Burnett, the Birdville school district's associate superintendent for finance, is following his former boss to Lewisville school district.

Former Birdville chief Stephen Waddell started last month as superintendent of the Flower Mound-based Lewisville schools. Birdville trustees have scheduled interviews of candidates for Waddell's replacement starting on Thursday. 

On Monday, Lewisville trustees hired Burnett join their school district, too, as chief financial officer, a spokeswoman said.

Burnett has been with Birdville since 2002. He said Wednesday that his departure date is not yet set. The districts have different fiscal years, with Birdville ending FY 2010-11 on June 30. Lewisville's fiscal year ends later, on August 31, he said.

"We want to make sure that Birdville is well served until they can get their team in place," Burnett said.

Jessamy Brown