By Any Other Name

GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY FRIDAY!

Graham Steer Marcus Montfort Accepts Tennis Scholarship with Holmes College!  Congrats Marcus!!!

GHS DECA Student Competing at State! Good luck to Graham High School students competing in the State DECA competition today and Saturday in San Antonio. Competing are: 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.

Graham Steer Basketball Playoff Action- Best of luck to our Graham Steer basketball team as they take on Midlothian Heritage at 6:00 this evening at Aledo High School.

Graham Steer Joel Jones Competing at the USA Weightlifting Junior National Championships! Joel was invited to compete this weekend in Kansas City, MO. The competition will be aired live on the internet. You can go here to find the webcast site if you have time and are interested. He is in the A session for the Men’s 94kg class, scheduled for this Sunday from 11:00-1:00.

Graham Steers and Lady Blues in Action- During the second semester there are so many student activities it is difficult to keep up. If everyone has their events on the website here is a list for this weekend:

• JV Baseball at Bowie today
• JV Softball Candice Martin Tournament in Graham today and Saturday
• FFA Students at San Antonio Stock Show
• V Softball at Abilene Tournament today and Saturday
• V Boys golf at Lubbock
• GHS Track at Mineral Wells on Saturday
• V Baseball home scrimmage vs Bowie on Saturday
• JV Baseball doubleheader at Bowie on Saturday
• GHS StellarXplorer Semi-Final Round on Saturday

For a complete listing of activities, visit the Graham ISD Calendar.

Speak up by joining the Texans for Strong Public Schools website!

The time is now for everyone who supports Texas public schools to communicate to lawmakers in Austin. TASB has created an easy way for you (and other trustees in your area) to make your voices heard. A new website, Texans for Strong Public Schools, makes it simple for you to tell your elected officials how you feel about vouchers and public school funding.

Enter your name and address, and the website will match you to your lawmakers so that you can contact them. Decisions are being made now. Sign up, speak up, and share this flier with trustees in your area, asking them to stand up for Texas public schools.

BY ANY OTHER NAME

Olga Samaroff delighted audiences in the United States and Europe with her legendary mastery as a classical pianist. Her stage performances were critically acclaimed from the early 1900s until an injury in 1925 limited her ability to perform. In fact, the music critics of the time proclaimed her to be the most brilliant and talented performer of all her contemporaries.

Olga Samaroff eventually evolved from a performer to a music critic and a teacher, but she is best remembered for her charismatic and enigmatic life on the concert stage. During a time when Russian musicians were enormously popular, Olga’s name was known world-wide, and she was the most popular performer of them all! Olga created a sensation wherever she went. A fiery and temperamental pianist, she was a formidable woman. She seemed to hold the music world of America and Europe in her hands!

Interestingly, her exotic and intriguing name Olga Samaroff was only a stage name. Olga was actually born in San Antonio, Texas, and she was named Lucy Hickenlooper at birth. Her talent provided her with an opportunity to study with the greatest performers in Europe at an early age, and when she returned to the United States, she decided to benefit from the popularity of the Russian performers by changing her name.

The music critics of her time, and even today, agree that whether she used the name Olga or Lucy, she was the greatest concert pianist of her time!

Isn’t this a delightful story? Lucy Hickenlooper knew that she had talent, but only as Olga Samaroff did she have the confidence and the bravado to become a world famous celebrity.

Between the 84th Texas legislative Session in 2015 and the 85th Texas Legislative Session that has just begun, several legislators must have read the story of Lucy/Olga. This session we are seeing tired, worn-out ideas reappearing with new names.

For the first time in several sessions, no school voucher bills have been filed so far. Before anyone has a coronary, you need to take a deep breath and let me explain. The voucher proponents are taking a page from Lucy Hickenlooper’s book; they have changed the name.

What once was a voucher is now a business tax credit (voucher on vitamins) or an Education Savings Account Program (voucher on steroids). The business tax credit is not a new idea. It was floated last session in some of the voucher bills, and, in fact, a version of the tax credit plan was in the voucher bill that did pass the Senate during the 84th session. This year’s business tax credit plan will allow a qualifying business who contributes scholarship money to students in most of the nonpublic schools to deduct the value of their donation from their state premium tax liability. What’s the problem? Any business donation reduces the amount of revenue flowing to the state’s general revenue which funds, among other things, public education.

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are even more insidious. In effect, ESAs are debit cards given to parents for each of their children eligible to attend school who are not enrolled in a public school. ESAs can be used to enroll students in private schools, to pay for tutoring services, to purchase instructional materials, and for almost any other educational expense a parent might choose. The amount of the ESA per child fluctuates depending upon a family’s income and any learning disabilities the children may have. In extreme cases, the amount of credit to the card can be 100% of the average per pupil state funding.

So, this session be on the lookout for Senate Bill 3 sponsored by Chairman Larry Taylor (provides for business tax credits and ESAs), Senate Bill 542 by Senator Bettencourt (dedicated to business tax credits), and House Bill 1335 by Representative Simmons (ESAs for special education students). There may be other bills filed later, but these are the current voucher-like bills before the legislature.

We are told that no voucher-like bill will pass in the House of Representatives this session; however, do not become complacent. Call your representative today and urge him/her to vote “NO” on any voucher-like bill that comes before their body. To quote former representative Dr. Marsha Farney, “Ask them to cast a hard NO vote for vouchers.”

The Senate is a different animal. As you know, last session, for the first time in the history of our state, a voucher bill passed in the Senate. Rumor has it that this session, the Lt. Governor cannot yet find enough support to pass any of the voucher-like bills that have been filed. It seems some Senators that represent primarily rural and suburban areas are listening to their constituents, and they are resisting pressure from the powers-that-be. The resistance is coming primarily from some of our Senators, those who represent TACS schools. Help them today! Call your Senator and urge her/him to say “YES” to public schools and “NO” to vouchers.

You can finds phone numbers and email addresses for your Senator and Representative at www.capitol.state.tx.us. When you get to the site, look to the left and click “Members”. By the way, the volume of calls does count. It is helpful if you engage your business community, civic clubs, chamber of commerce, and other groups in the action!!

SCHOOL FINANCE

Occasionally someone might ask you, “What are you all doing with all of the school property taxes that I am paying?” No taxpayer seems to realize that not every penny of school taxes collected pays for schools in that community. Some are also unaware that as property values rise, state contribution to public education decreases. Taxparency Texas provides timely information and an excellent brief video to educate your staff and community about school finance issues. Just click this link http://www.taxparencytexas.org/ for more information and to view the video. The video is found under the headline Why Taxparency Texas?

CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY:

Why are batteries lonely? (Scroll down for the answer.)

Because they are never included in things!

Mixed Messages

GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY FRIDAY!

Smith Graham Named as A Nation Merit Scholar Finalist! Congratulations Smith!!!

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®)—a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.6 million entrants each year—and by meeting published program entry and participation requirements.

Of the 1.6 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program. In September, these high scorers are notified through their schools that they have qualified as either a Commended Student or Semifinalist. In February, some 15,000 Semifinalists are notified that they have advanced to Finalist standing.

GHS FCCLA Students Advance to State- Congrats to Abigayle Yates, Kaycee Dunnam, Maddie Paulson, Mandee Paulson, Sadie Walls, Calder Seebeck, Lizbeth Anaya and sponsor Cara Echols!!!

Lady Blues Basketball Completes a Successful Season! Congrats to the Lady Blues and to Coach Ky Graham on a successful season!

Graham Steers Basketball Earn Playoff Berth!- Congrats to the Graham Steers and Coach Marcus Morris.  The team will be in action this coming Tuesday vs Brownwood at Clyde. Hope to see you there!

San Angelo Stock Show Results- Sale Qualifiers: Riley Wyatt 1st place-$7,000 and Feli Werner 1st place-$1,000. Placing Pigs- Heather Cash- 8th, Garrison Stovall- 8th, Terry Don Wainscott-4th, Jordan Crago-4th, Kenzie Gough-3rd, Kimber Pratt-8th, Cameron Pratt-5th, Levi May-8th, Riley Langford 3rd & 10th, Sadie Walls-5th, Tucker, May-3rd, Toby Moore-8th, Creed Jordan-9th. Top 15-(honorable mention)- Hayden Leach, Boston Brewer, Preston Collins, Alee Alvidrez, Tyler Walls

Lady Blues Golf- Good luck at the Snyder tournament this weekend!

Lady Blues Softball @ Clyde Tonight- Good luck!

Graham Steer and Lady Blues Powerlifting- Good luck at Iowa Park on Saturday!

Graham Steer Baseball- Scrimmage vs FW Benbrook and Alumni Game on Saturday.

Graham FFA @ San Antonio Stock Show- Good luck to the students and their projects (7 pigs and 2 commercial steers) at the stock show!

Student Voice Volunteer Pilot- I am looking for a small group of teacher volunteers to meet to discuss the concept of student voice.  If you would be interested, please email me.

Mixed Messages

“SPEAK CLEARLY IF YOU MUST SPEAK AT ALL; CARVE EVERY WORD BEFORE YOU LET IT FALL” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

This past Tuesday was Valentine’s Day! It’s a day for flowers, candy, and greeting cards with sweet messages. It’s a day for using words like, “sweetie”, “honey”, and “baby doll”. On this day, most of us will be on our best behavior with the one we love. On other days, however, disagreements, arguments, or “knock-down-drag-out” fights can result from one or the other sending mixed signals.

A mixed signal is defined as “…an unclear message often contradicting a situation.” Mixed signals can be sent whenever human beings interact. The Internet is full of stories of confusion that results when a person sends a mixed message – some with funny results and others with more serious consequences. For instance, I read of a man who swore that he once saw a tombstone in a cemetery that read, “Nothing is written in stone.”

In another, a farmer wanted to express his love to his wife, so he drove his tractor around his field to make a giant love heart, but the heart was made from spreading cow manure in the field. There was no report of which message his wife received!

Supposedly, Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, was once giving a group of his constituents a guided tour of the House of Parliament. During the course of the visit, the group happened to meet Lord Hailsham, who was then Lord Chancellor, wearing all of the regalia of his office. Hailsham recognized Marten among the group and cried, “Neil!” Not daring to question or disobey, the entire band of visitors dropped to one knee!

Finally, one last story. J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI, no question about it. As a result, almost all of his subordinates were on the lookout for ways to impress the boss. A young man who was in charge of the FBI’s supply department wanted to impress Mr. Hoover by cutting costs. On his own, he reduced the size of the memo paper they used, and soon a message on one of the new memo sheets ended up on the boss’s desk. After a quick look, Hoover determined that he did not like the size of the margins on the paper and quickly scribbled on the memo, “Watch the borders.” His message quickly filtered out to other agents, and for six weeks it became extremely difficult to enter the United States from Mexico or Canada!

These examples of mixed messages bring a smile to our faces. However, not every example of a mixed message is funny. Educators are getting some mixed signals from the state Capitol these days; sometimes in the same speech. In the Governor’s State of the State speech, he left many people scratching their heads. For instance, many of us remember that the state franchise tax was created in 2006 and all of its proceeds were dedicated to public education to off-set the state’s reduction of the school property tax by one-third. While the tax has never met its goal of fully funding education, in his address Governor Abbott stated, “We must continue to cut the business franchise tax until it will fit in a coffin.” That statement has left many wondering about the governor’s priorities and how he plans to pay for educating the state’s school children.

Yet, in the same speech he bragged that more Texas high schools are ranked in the nation’s top 100 schools than any other state. He said that Texas had the fourth highest graduation rate in the nation, the second highest graduation rate for Hispanic and African American students, and was ranked first for graduating economically disadvantaged students. He didn’t stop there, however. Governor Abbott pointed out the progress that Texas has made under his leadership to establish a high quality Pre-K program that meets a “gold standard”, and he urged the legislature to do even more. He challenged them with, “Do it right or not at all!”

Did he stop his gushing there? No. Before quoting President James Madison on the importance of education in protecting our liberties, he mentioned that some of the very best teachers in America work in Texas classrooms. Outstanding! What parent, student, and educator would not feel good? Well, apparently Governor Abbott. Before the speech ended, he made a plea for legislators to pass school choice legislation “…to empower parents to choose schools that best fit their child’s needs.” Just the week before at the School Choice Rally, on the steps of the Texas Capitol, with a yellow scarf symbolizing “choice” around his neck, our governor stated, “I want that law [school choice] to reach my desk and when it does I will make the choice to sign it.”

All in all, our governor’s words in his State of the State may be the epitome of mixed messages!

There are times when good advice comes to us from the strangest of places. In a quote from TEN THINGS EVERY WOMAN NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT MEN we find, “If he is sending you mixed messages, the message is clear: he does not like you!”

Wow! The truth can hurt.

CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY- PROVIDED BY GJHS 6TH GRADER- BRYSON CORRAL. Thanks Bryson!

How do you organize a solar system party? (Scroll down for the answer.)

You planet!

Student Voice

GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY FRIDAY!

RSB3 Member Kaylea Wright Selected as 10th Overall in the ATSSB Symphonic Band! Having been selected to the ATSBB All-State Band, she is attending the All-State Clinic/Concert this week in San Antonio. Great job Kaylea!

GHS Calculus Team finishes 2nd at the 15th Annual Weatherford Coyote Math Championship on February 3rd! Our Calculus team got 2nd place.  The team was Smith Graham, Will Walton, Hudson Peavy and Josh McBride. Smith Graham won the contest (1st place), Will Walton received 9th place and Hudson Peavy got 10th place. The precalculus team was Joel Jones, Jake Lanham, Tyler Cook and Tucker Horn. There were over 150 students with 16 schools represented.

Graham FFA Continues Stock Show Success at the Ft. Worth Stock Show. Congratulations for Becca Burgess with her 3rd Place steer and Cade Anderson with his 2nd Place pig.  GHS FFA have 35 pigs headed to San Angelo today!  Best of Luck and Safe Travels!

GHS FCCLA Students Competing at Regionals- Sadie Walls, Mandee Paulson, Abigayle Yates, Maddie Paulson, Mattie Sullivan, Jaden Perkins, Calder Seebeck and Lizbeth Anaya will be competing at the Regional Competition in Waco this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Best of Luck Ladies!

Lady Blues Qualify for the UIL Playoffs- Congratulations to our Lady Blues on a great regular season! The Lady Blues will play a warm up game in Ft. Worth vs Lake Country Christian this Friday. Next Tuesday they play Sweetwater at McMurry University. Go Lady Blues!

Graham Steers Defeat Iowa Park! The final regular season game will be this Friday vs Vernon. It will be Senior Night. Hope to see you in the gym!

Legislative Update- SB 13 is a bill that will remove the right to use payroll deduction for association dues (ATPE, TSTA, etc.). The Senate Committee on State Affairs will hear testimony on SB 13 on Monday, February 13. SB 13 makes an exception for fire, police and medical services personnel.

From the district's perspective it does not cost us additional resources to allow our employees to use payroll deduction for their association dues.  The process of allowing this requires no more labor than already required to set up deductions for health insurance, 403B’s, the United Way, etc. As such, I encourage you to make contact with Representative Drew Springer and Senator Estes to advocate for continuing to allow educators to have the right to use payroll deduction for their association dues.

STUDENT VOICE

One of the most powerful tools available to influence academic achievement is helping students feel they have a stake in their learning. To feel motivated to do something and become engaged in its activity, youth (like adults) generally need to feel they have a voice in how it is conducted and an impact on how it concludes. Time and again, research has shown that the more educators give their students choice, control, challenge, and opportunities for collaboration, the more their motivation and engagement are likely to rise.

It is particularly important for adolescents, who are developing their sense of identity and their ability for complex thinking, to have the chance to affect decision making. Research shows that increasing levels of self-determination give rise to greater integration of the students’ own sense of purpose, interest, and desire with what may be required of them from outside forces.

Student-centered classrooms that capitalize on the power of self-determination can substantially increase achievement and motivation. Promoting student voice also has been linked to other important educational outcomes, including: elevated achievement in marginalized student populations; greater classroom participation; enhanced school reform efforts; better self-reflection and preparation for improvement in struggling students; and decreased behavior problems.

At its core, student voice is the antithesis of depersonalized, standardized, and homogenized educational experiences because it begins and ends with the thoughts, feelings, visions, and actions of the students themselves. This makes student voice profoundly student centered.

Most student voice activities currently in schools consist of less-intensive involvement, in the forms of expression, consultation, and some participation. Increasing partnership, activism, and leadership may motivate more students to make an effort and, ultimately, to succeed.

If any of this information resonates with you, please let me know. I would like to collaborate with a small group of educators to develop a pilot program in our district focused on providing and using student voice to enhance the learning environment.  Email or call me if you're interested.

CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY:

What did one canoe say to the other? (Scroll down for the answer.)

Are you up for a little row-mance?

Make Grand Choices

GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY FRIDAY!

Graham High School Team Excels in the STELLARXPLORERS Competition! This year 133 teams from across the country have participated in this competition. The GHS team consisting of Connor Wolfe (Captain), Smith Graham, Jonah Qualls, Garrett Gatlin and Nicolas Saunders has finished in the top 30 nationally and will be competing in the Semi-Finals on February 24-26.  A top 10 finish in the Semi-Finals will earn the team a spot in the National Finals being held in Colorado Springs, CO in April.

The STELLARXPLORERS competition is sponsored by the Air Force Association to inspire and attract high school students to pursue studies and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through a challenging, space system design competition involving all aspects of system development and operation with a spacecraft/payload focus. Additionally, it provides the students with an opportunity to understand operations in outer space and hands-on experience in planning and executing space missions.

Thanks a ton to Mrs. Michelle Lowrey for coaching this group of students!

Lady Blues and Graham Steers vs Burkburnett at GHS tonight!  I encourage you all to come out and support our student athletes.  Tonight will be Senior Night for the Lady Blues.

Best of luck to all the GISD Students at Fort Worth and San Angelo Stock Shows!

Legislative Update- Contacting Our House Representative Member and State Senator. Earlier this week, while attending the TASA Midwinter Conference, I had the opportunity spend a day at the State Capitol learning more about effective strategies for communicating with our legislators.  Here are a few tips:

• Avoid the use of a form letter.  They get very little to no attention from the legislator or his/her staff.
• When writing a letter to the legislator, make it personal…share how something is directly related to your classroom or to a particular student or group of students.
• Email is effective. Keep it personal, brief and to the point.
• In both letters and emails, bulleted lists seem to work well.
• When sending them facts, make sure they are indeed FACTS.
• Texas Tweets- 92% of the Texas House & Senate are on Twitter.
• Our House Rep, Drew Springer is on Twitter- @DrewSpringer
• Capitol office: E2.706
• Office phone: 512-463-0526
• District phone- 940-580-1770
• Email Link
• Our State Senator, Craig Estes is on Twitter- @EstesforTexas
• Capitol office: 3E.18
• Capitol phone: 512-463-0130
• District phone: 940-689-0191
• Email Link
• In my opinion, we need to directly ask our legislators to be “Hard No” regarding Vouchers, Education Savings Accounts, and Education Tax Credits. The Texas Constitution is clear regarding education in Article 7, Section 1:

“SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE OF AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM OF PUBLIC FREE SCHOOLS.  A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.”

Make Grand Choices

Once upon a time there was a very mean king who ruled his kingdom with an iron fist.

One day he received some very distressing news--a commoner was in love with his daughter, the princess. The next day he received even more distressing news--the princess was also in love with the commoner.

Well the king had to put a stop to this. He knew that the only way he could permanently end this relationship was to execute the commoner. So the king charged the commoner with a crime that he did not commit. The commoner pled innocent.

As was the custom in this kingdom, fates would determine guilt or innocence.

The next day the king and the commoner were in the town's square as hundreds of townspeople looked on.

The king held out two envelopes. Inside one was a card that read "innocent." Inside the other was a card with the word "guilty." The commoner had to choose one.

The commoner was a very wise young man and he knew the king wanted to execute him no matter what. He knew that the king had the word "guilty" written on both cards.

The commoner carefully chose one of the envelopes. He slowly opened it. Read the card. And then he suddenly started jumping up and down with joy while he was shouting "I'm innocent. I'm innocent. I'm innocent."

As he was excitedly jumping up and down, the young man ripped the card into very small pieces and swallowed it.

One of the king's magistrates screamed to him, "How do we know you are innocent? You swallowed the card."

The young man said "Oh, that's easy--just read what's on the king's card."

Have a nice day and make GRAND choices!

Corny Joke of the Day

What do you call a belt with a watch on it? (Scroll down for the answer.)

A waist of time.