10.24.07
Posted in News at 9:33 am by Paloma Cruz
Pitfall lurking as foes target bonds?
Legal success in Waller County may have ripple effect on HISD
– Houston Chronicle2
A legal battle in Waller County over a $49.3 million school bond
continues to threaten construction projects and has left some wondering
whether the case will have a chilling effect on neighboring districts
that also have contested bond elections.
Despite voters approving the Waller Independent School District
measure this spring and a judge declaring the election legal earlier
this month, the Texas Attorney General’s Office says the money won’t be
distributed until the plaintiffs exhaust their appeals — illustrating
how a small group of critics can jeopardize school construction.
[snip]
Critics of Waller’s bond are upset that a black neighborhood school
would receive only $270,000 for repairs, less than 1 percent of the
bond. They also say they will help lobby against the controversial $805
million bond that the Houston Independent School District is asking
voters to approve Nov. 6.
None of the vocal opponents to the Houston bond has committed to filing a lawsuit, but they’re not ruling it out either.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire after a few weeks
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Posted in News at 9:28 am by Paloma Cruz
PEARLAND ISD DEBATE
Trustees vote to begin meetings with remarks, not opening prayer
Compromise means members will decide what to say in statements
– Houston Chronicle2
School trustees defused what had become a thorny issue over the
long-followed tradition of opening board meetings with a prayer by
adopting a plan to have members take turns starting meetings with
opening remarks.
Each board member will decide what to include in the remarks,
according to the policy unanimously approved Tuesday. They can include
“inspirational remarks, a moment of silence or an nonproselytizing
prayer.”
More than a hundred people attended the meeting, most in favor of
keeping the opening prayer. Two weeks ago more than 200 attended a
meeting when word got around the community that trustee Suzy Roberts
had asked other members to consider doing away with the prayer.
Roberts said she feared the school district was liable to have to
defend itself against a lawsuit involving the opening prayer. She also
said that Pear- land had many people who are offended by the opening
prayer. “We have an Islamic center and a very large Hindu temple,” she
said before the earlier meeting.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire after a few weeks
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10.23.07
Posted in News at 9:13 am by Paloma Cruz
Tuition at Texas universities rises 7.6 percent
Wide-ranging survey finds many borrowing more to pay for college
– Houston Chronicle2
The sticker price at public universities across Texas rose 7.6 percent this year, again outpacing the rapid increases in tuition and fees nationwide, the College Board reported Monday.
Texans now are paying an average of $6,437 a year to attend the state’s public universities, which is $252 more than the national average.
On the bright side, the pace of increase held steady at the state’s four-year colleges. Texas saw an average hike of 20 percent in 2005, two years after state lawmakers allowed the universities’ governing boards to set their own tuition rates.
[snip]
As I try to decide whether to pursue a graduate degree, or not, the price tag for higher education in Texas (and across the country) is getting higher and higher. The longer I wait, the more it costs. And I wonder how high schoolers are going to afford to get their undegraduate degrees.
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
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10.20.07
Posted in News at 10:07 pm by Paloma Cruz
School cleaned after recent staph infection outbreak
– reported by ABC13 KTRK
Aldine ISD had crews out cleaning Hill Intermediate School because of a staph infection outbreak.
Two students and two adults at the school developed staph infections over the last few weeks. Aldine ISD officials notified the Harris County health department and ordered the cleaning and disinfecting of the classrooms used by the infected students and adults.
[snip]
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10.17.07
Posted in News at 8:58 am by Paloma Cruz
Kudos to Mary Walker, at J. Frank Dobie High School, for taking the initiative and teaching kids web skills.
Teacher develops award-winning program
Mary Walker’s Dobie students learn Web skills
– Houston Chronicle
Mary Walker always expects her students to win first place. There is no reason for them not to.
Since the inception of J. Frank Dobie High School’s Web Mastering program in 2001, a Dobie team has won first place in the Pasadena Independent School District Web design contest every year.
[snip]
In Web I, students complete Web sites based on school subjects using various software and programming languages. Walker chooses one site to represent the school at district.
[snip]
Walker sees the program being expanded and more teachers being added. Slated for January 2008, Web mastering will move to a new computer lab in Dobie’s appended wing.
[snip]
To learn more about the program and to view the winning sites, visit www.jfrankdobie.org.
Fast fact:
Dobie is the only school in PISD to have its own domain name. In 1995, Mary Walker and her husband, attorney Milton Walker, taught themselves HTML programming so they could develop the Web site. They thought Dobie needed a site to “let everyone know” of the many accomplishments at the school. The program receives no funding, but Walker credits Principal Steve Jamail with supporting the program “whole-heartedly”
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10.16.07
Posted in News at 10:57 am by Paloma Cruz
The University of Houston system has a new chancellor & president. Renu Khator, who was provost at the University of South Florida, was the board’s only finalist. She will begin her job in January.
Resources:
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10.03.07
Posted in News at 3:06 pm by Paloma Cruz
From Gish Creative’s newsletter:
MIDDLE-SCHOOL GIRLS REACH FOR THE STARS, SCIENTIFICALLY.
The “Sally Ride Science Festival” is coming to Rice University on Saturday, October 27 from 11am until 4:15pm and aims to boost middle-school girls’ interest in science and engineering and is sponsored by the Rice Space Institute. The festival includes workshops for girls taught by local scientists and engineers and workshops for parents and teachers on ways to support girls’ interests in science and math. Also planned are a street fair with booths, hands-on activities, food, prize drawings, music and an inspiring talk by Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a space shuttle mission. Advance registration is required; the cost is $18 and includes lunch.
For more information, call 713.348.6774 or log onto www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp.
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