ACTIONLINE Your Board Meeting Update

Transcription

1 ACTIONLINE Your Board Meeting Update September 23, 2009 Staff assignments approved During the Sept. 23 board meeting, trustees approved two staff assignments. Carla Merka was named director of accounting and business services after serving as a senior accountant at the Central Office. Merka received her bachelor s degree in business administration and accounting from the University of Houston-Downtown in She meets district requirements for this position. She began her career in education in 2000 with Humble ISD as a financial bookkeeper and secretary. In 2007, she moved to Pasadena ISD and served as the internal auditor. Her career in Aldine began in 2008 in her present position as senior accountant. Merka has nine years of experience and she has spent one year with Aldine ISD. Deborah Connors was named senior accountant at the Central Office after serving as an accountant with Humble ISD. Connors received her bachelor s degree in accounting from Sam Houston State University in She meets district requirements for this position. She began her accounting career in 2004 as an accounts payable specialist in Humble ISD. In 2005, she moved into her current position of general ledger accountant with that same district. Connors has 13 years of experience in a school district setting and she has four years of accounting experience. ASF receives donation from AISD, Lone-Star College North Harris During the Sept. 22 Board meeting, the Aldine Scholarship Foundation (ASF) received $20,000 in donations from Aldine ISD and Lone Star College-North Harris. Each institution donated $10,000, which will go towards providing scholarships to Lone Star College-North Harris for Aldine ISD graduates. Dr. Bennie Lambert made the presentation on behalf of the college, while Dr. Keith Clark made the presentation on behalf of the school district. Accepting on behalf of ASF was Perla Davila, an ASF board member.

2 Employees honored During the Sept. 23 board meeting, a number of employees were honored for the contributions they made to Aldine ISD on a daily basis. Richard Delgado, executive director of transportation, named Teresa Henson as his department s Employee of the Month. Henson drives out of the east side transportation department and has worked in the district for 22 years. Emitte Roque, executive director of buildings and properties, named Spence Elementary as his department s Building of the Month. On hand to accept the award were principal Debra Carrington and head custodian Myriam Jimenez. The Yard of the Month Award went to Aldine Senior High School. On hand to accept the award were principal Jan DeBlance, head custodian Gloria Woodard and yardman Simon Galvez. Aldine ISD Police Chief Brian Allen named officers Felicia Lewis and Jimmy Stucky as the department s Employee of the Quarter. The two were honored for the assistance they provided to the Houston Police Department during its investigation of an attempted kidnapping on the morning of Aug. 27.

3 Dani Sheffield, executive director of child nutrition services, named the cafeteria staff of Stehlik Intermediate School as her department s Team of the Month for the month of May. The team consists of manager Lela Duffee and specialists Alejandrina Aranda, Carmen Bonilla, Sandra Gottselig, Roxana Hernandez, Sanjuana Hinojosa, Gricelda Mijares and Tamekia Rodgers. The CN supervisor is Valerie Barr and Kristin Fox-Craft serves as the school s principal. Grants announced During the Sept. 23 meeting, Judy Hoya, program director of resource development, announced two grants. Cecil Hutson, principal of Victory Early College High School, secured a $6,000 Texas Early College High School Professional Development Grant. Gloria Cavazos, assistant superintendent of human resources, and Selena Chapa, director of human resources, secured an $187,500 Teacher Induction and Mentoring Grant. The purpose of this funding is to provide funding to establish a beginning teacher induction and mentoring program or to enhance an existing mentoring program that will provide support and ongoing professional development for beginning teachers; improve beginning teacher performance and effectiveness to increase student achievement; provide support and training for mentor teachers; provide training to administrators to support beginning teachers and mentors; and increase beginning teacher retention. The grants announced at the Sept. 22 Board meeting totaled $193,500.

4 Board approves order of unopposed candidates to return to their positions on AISD Board of Education During the Sept. 22 board meeting, trustees unanimously approved a recommendation by Dr. Keith Clark, assistant superintendent of finance, declaring unopposed candidates for the Nov. 3 school board election be returned to their current positions on the board and the cancellation of the election. Current board members Rose Avalos (Position 3), Rick Ogden (Position 4) and Steve Mead (Position 5) are all unopposed and will retain their seats on the Board until November, Schools FIRST hearing held During the Sept. 22 board meeting, Dr. Keith Clark, assistant superintendent of finance, held a hearing to report that Aldine ISD has received a Superior Achievement rating under Texas Schools FIRST (Financial Accountability Rating System of Texas), a financial accountability system for Texas school districts developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to Senate Bill 875 of the 76 th Texas Legislature in The primary goal of Schools FIRST is to achieve quality performance in the management of a school district s financial resources. The Schools FIRST accountability rating system assigns one of four ratings to Texas school districts, with the highest being Superior Achievement, followed by Above-Standard Achievement, Standard Achievement and Substandard Achievement. Program presented During the Sept. 22 board meeting, Deborah Johnson, program director of secondary social studies, and Shirley Worden, program director of elementary/intermediate social studies, presented the program. They introduced the students from Aldine ISD who competed at the National History Fair this past summer in College Park, MD. Teams from Nimitz Senior High School and Eisenhower Senior High School competed at the national level. The groups of students, along with their sponsors and parents, were introduced during the board meeting. The Board, along with the audience, viewed Nimitz Senior High student Kathleen Bride s Senior Individual Documentary, The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican. Bride finished second in the nation and also won the Irish History Award for her project. Two teams won third-place

5 medals from Eisenhower Senior High School. The team of Clifton Boudreaux, Darryus Vaughn, Ayeshia Powell, Alejandro Reyes and Zuleyma Escobar finished third in the Senior Group Performance category for their production of, We Ain t Running No More! while the Eisenhower team of Alejandro Suazo, Nernwon Kargou, Jonathan Espinoza, Dimas Gonzales and Tasnim Mohamed finished third in the Senior Group Documentary, Legacy of a Secularist. Nimitz Senior High s Senior Group Documentary team consisting of Katlin Barnes, Monica Cordova, Jose Balderas, Chris Button and Daniel Nelson won the Outstanding State Entry Award for their Senior Group Documentary, A Legacy Greater Than the Game: The Great Experiment. That group also placed ninth in Senior Group Documentary. Other AISD students who competed at National History Fair were: Roman Coronado of Nimitz Senior High School (Senior Individual Documentary); Britney Walker-Merritte of Nimitz Senior High School (Senior Individual Performance); Roger Yindeemark, Alex Espinoza, Chi Nguyen, Emma Hartmann and Heather Klein of Nimitz Senior High (Senior Group Exhibit); and Haroon Badat, Asad Badat, Hamza Badat, Terence Parker and Mohammad Chauhan of Eisenhower Senior High School (Senior Interpretative Web Site).