Who's Watching the Wedding Cake?

GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY FRIDAY!

GHS DECA Students Advance to State- Congratulations to Graham High School students advancing to State competition in DECA: Smith Graham & Garrett Gatlin - Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making, Chance Hornsey - Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Kolton Spurlin - Automotive Services Marketing, Kristen Duncan - Principles of Finance, Kayla Clevenger - Principles of Hospitality, Aimee McShan - Principles of Marketing, Liliana Huerta - Principles of Business Management.

GHS Student, Jack Hayes Advances to State Lions Club Contest- This past Saturday Jack Hays competed in Stephenville and won first place in Outstanding Youth Essay, Diabetes Awareness and Prescription Drug Abuse.

Professional Learning Opportunity- The Texas Association of School Administrators is offering a new feature to the annual Midwinter Conference that will allow you to participate in four teaching and learning sessions. To view the session descriptions and to participate in the sessions go to http://www.tasanet.org/domain/404, and enter the code 04mw17.  From there you will be able to view four key Midwinter Conference sessions in real-time at the times listed or on-demand from the Midwinter Archive.

Energy Conservation- As you are aware, the district is working with Ideal Impact on an energy conservation project.  Our goal is to save approximately $1.5 million dollars over the next fifteen years. Energy Tip of the Week:

A Dollar a Watt

Running a watt 24/7 all year costs about $1.

What does a dollar buy? Not much but…

One 4 lamp T-12 light fixture (similar to our classroom/office lights) with four 34 watt lamps = 136 watts.

That’s $136 dollars per year, times the number of fixtures left on.

LET’S BEGIN TODAY PRACTICING THE 5 SECOND RULE:

IF THE LIGHT WILL BE OFF FOR LONGER THAN FIVE SECONDS,

IT IS WORTH TURNING OFF.

TURN OFF LIGHTS WHEN NOBODY’S THERE!

Legislative Update- I encourage each of you to be informed regarding potential action of the Texas Legislature.  I will begin routinely sharing information with you regarding issues that may have implications for the public school system.

• Cyberbullying Bills filed in House and Senate- A hot topic to be informed about is cybersecurity in our schools. Legislators will try to strengthen the penalties against acts of bullying. HISTORY – Several bills will be filed under “David’s Law.” David Molak, a 16 year old, committed suicide after being attacked over social media sites and through text messaging. Several legislators vowed to deal with the problem of cyberbullying through legislation. Bills addressing this issue include HB304, HB305, HB 306, with companion bills being SB 179, SB180 and SB181.

WHO’S WATCHING THE WEDDING CAKE?

By Barry Haenisch, Executive Director

Texas Association of Community Schools

My wife loves weddings. Well, really, she enjoys weddings, but she LOVES the wedding receptions! White cake with a creamy white frosting, mints, and salted nuts put a smile on her face and a skip to her step. In fact, there have been times that she was so hungry for that combination of flavors and textures melting in her mouth that we have embarked too late in the evening to find the closest things she can find. In a pinch, an HEB or Wal-Mart bakery cake has met her approval.

One December evening a few years ago, she had a yearning for “wedding cake”. One stop, and she found just what she wanted. When we returned home, she fixed herself a treat: a nice big piece of cake, a few mints, and a handful of salted nuts on a plate. Wanting to relax and enjoy her snack, she left the food on the kitchen counter and went to change into her PJs and robe. Her mouth was watering as she returned to the kitchen to retrieve her plate.

From the kitchen, I heard her ask, “Where is my cake?” Not realizing she was talking to me, I just ignored her. Again, she queried, “What did you do with my cake?” Her tone told me that she was talking to me, so I responded with a helpful, “I didn’t take your cake. Keep looking. It’s got to be there somewhere.” Eventually she disappointedly gave up looking for the dessert.

At the time we had two dogs. Since Solomon, the Yellow Lab, was in the room with us, we had not realized that George, our Golden Retriever, had excused himself from the room. Later that evening, when we noticed that George was not with us, we went to the back door to summon him. As we turned the porch light on, my wife saw the plate that had held the cake, nuts, and mints lying in the grass. When no one was watching, George had taken the plate off of the counter, walked through the house with the plate in his mouth, had exited through the doggy door into the backyard, and had not dropped one morsel of food! Obviously, George liked wedding cake as much as my wife.

For decades, public education has been held in high esteem by the citizens of our state and by our elected officials. However, over the past few years, it seems to many that the esteem and respect for public education and educators has been eroding bit by bit. Many educators have been left to feel that their profession has become a job rather than a calling. This legislative session, unless those who love teaching and respect educators are diligent, items that have been identified as priorities for the legislators –vouchers, other school choice issues, reduced funding, A-F accountability, high stakes testing, reduced benefits and higher premiums for TRS ActiveCare- have the potential to steal even more joy from teaching. Actively working together, those who love and respect the teaching profession can help our elected officials see the important role educators play in our state. We can help them help us protect our valuable state asset!

Let’s vow to do all we can to block the “doggy door” of state government to keep a few legislators from sneaking away, like George, with our “cake”!

CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY:

Why should we ban the purchase of pre-shredded cheese? (Scroll down for the answer)

We need to make America grate again!