GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY FRIDAY!
HRS Level 1
Certification Celebration- We know that each campus celebrated in their own way. To celebrate the entire staff of Graham ISD
for their part in helping to make a Graham ISD a HRS Level 1 Certified
District, Buzz, the owner of our local Sonic, is providing each staff member
with a coupon for a FREE Route 44 beverage. Your principal/supervisor will have
the coupons for you. Thanks for all each of you do to make Graham ISD a great
place to be! ENJOY!!!
All in For Autism
Community Workout Event- 9:30 am on Saturday, April 28th at the Graham High
School Track. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO PARTICIPATE! This event has been organized by Graham
ISD parent Nelly Caddell to assist with the purchase of additional sensory lab
items for our students. You can register
on site for the All
In For Autism Community WOD Event or go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/all-in-for-autism-community-wo… to register.
GHS FFA Range
Team Qualifies for Nationals! The range team
placed 5th at the state contest today and qualified for nationals in Oklahoma
City next week. Members of the team
include: Jake Holland, Shanna Gleason, Gustavo Ramirez and Terry Wainscott.
CONGRATS to the team and to Ag Teacher, Jacob Lange!
State VASE Art
Contest- GHS students,
Brissa Fuentes, Jolie Pippins, Ali Dragoo and Kaylee Chowning, are in San
Marcus competing at the State VASE Art Contest.
Good luck ladies!
Lady Blues Track
at Regional Meet-
Good luck at the UIL Regional Track Meet to: Makenzie Graham, Morgan Shook,
Jourdan Daily, Emily Schaefer, Chloe Menard, Claire Jones, Olivia Shifflett,
Julia Grimes, Rosie Schaffer, Summer Croxton, Allison Lee, Ashley Gallaway and
Khloe Morris.
Graham Steer
Track at Regional Meet- Best of luck to our Steers competing at the UIL Regional Track Meet.
Will Busey, Gage Faulk, Daniel Gilbertson, Will Hayes, JJ Lee, Wes Martin,
Xavier Reyes, Jonathan Sanchez and Marc Tate.
Lady Blues
Softball- The Lady Blues
defeated Sweetwater last night ??=??. Game 2 will be this evening in Hawley at
7:30 pm.
Graham Steer
Baseball- Mark your
calendar - 1st round of baseball playoffs for the Steers will begin on
Thursday, May 3rd in Graham at 7:00 pm vs Wylie. The second/third games will be
at Wylie on Saturday, May 5th at 1:00 pm.
GPEF Hall of Honor Nominations- Our inaugural Hall of Honor induction was a huge success and it's time
to begin the nomination process for the next group that will be inducted in the
Fall of 2018. Completed nomination forms are due by Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
You can retrieve the nomination forms at the Graham ISD Administration Office
at 400 3rd Street or from the web at https://drive.google.com/…/15AEix6vMohbWy1P8WdQ9jcpUK4thLm-….
Time to Vote Again- You
can now vote during the early voting period at NCTC to help decide who will
lead our city and the local hospital.
“LOGIC IS THE
BEGINNING OF WISDOM… NOT THE END.” Leonard Nimoy
I heard a story years ago. I
suspect that it is a very old story and not true. I think it is a very old
story because it is about Notre Dame University football around the time of its
famous coach Knute Rockne. During the Rockne era at Notre Dame, the university
established itself as the dominant
collegiate football team. Rockne put “Fighting Irish” football on the map!
Coach Rockne is regarded by some
to be the greatest football coach in history. In his biography at the College
Football Hall of Fame, he is identified as “without question, American
football’s most-renowned coach”.
During his distinguished career,
Rockne coached Jim Thorpe, who some consider to be the greatest athlete to ever
live; Red Grange, “the Galloping Ghost” of Chicago Bear fame; George “just win
one for the Gipper” Gipp; and the famous “Four Horsemen” backfield.
With a reputation of this
magnitude and surrounded by unmatched talent, jealousies arose. It was fun to
make light of Notre Dame and Rockne’s success!
Thus, the story. Notre Dame was
having another stellar season. No opponent had even come close to defeating
them that season. As the “Irish” prepared for a big game, the coach (presumably
Rockne) was informed that the star running back of the team was ineligible
because he was one credit shy of the minimum required. The coach was panicked.
He went to the university president for help, and it was agreed that the
president would bring the young man in to see if something could be done to
repair his eligibility.
On the day before the big game
and at the appointed time, the star football player reported to the president’s
office. After a brief conversation, the college president, with his heavy Irish
brogue, said, “You need a credit in mathematics. I have decided to ask you one
question, and if your answer is correct, you will pass the mathematics course.
If you miss it, there is nothing more I can do. You will fail. Do you
understand?”
The young man replied, “Yes, of
course.” What else could he say to the president of the University of Notre
Dame?
The president then continued,
“There are four flies sitting on a table. You swat at one fly and it flies
away. How many flies are left?”
The
young athlete thought for a minute and replied, “None.”
Astounded, the president repeated
the question, and the young man gave his same emphatic reply.
The questioner then asked the
young man how in the world he arrived at his answer. Confidently came his
reply, “If you swat at one fly, all of them will fly away.”
“God be blessed,” exclaimed the
president. “You have failed mathematics, but you have passed logic! One credit
earned. You are eligible to play in the game!”
Recently the State Board of
Education released the results of the survey the Board plans to use in
preparing its Long-Range Plan for Public Education. Over 11,000 Texans
responded to the survey. The survey results are clear. Of the Texans who
completed the survey, two desired outcomes for public schools were dominant:
(1.) teach communications, problem-solving, critical thinking, and other
employable skills and (2.) prepare students to be productive citizens. The full
survey results can be found at https://bit.ly/2GW60UV.
Also, last week Commissioner
Morath announced his final decisions for implementing the state’s A-F
accountability system. In describing the system to superintendents and other
interested groups, the Commissioner stresses that his decisions were “data
driven”. Since 70% of the state’s school districts are classified by TEA as
small and/or rural, some of the decisions may be supported by state-wide data,
but they are hard to understand from a logic point of view.
For instance, in determining
career readiness the Commissioner first identified 73 specific industry-based
certifications that students could earn for the school to receive credit for
the accountability system. After hearing from superintendents in small and
rural school districts who carried the message that few or none of the
certificates were offered by institutions in their area, he modified his
expectation by allowing graduates who completed the CTE coherent sequence to be
deemed career ready if they completed a CTE course aligned with one of the 73
industry-based certifications. The bigger question to me is since all high
schools offer the coherent sequence, and since there are areas of the state
where there are no employment opportunities for people holding one of the 73
certificates, why doesn’t completion of a coherent sequence count for career
readiness?
Similarly, many small school
districts, because of their size and other reasons, do not offer Advanced
Placement courses. However, almost all high schools working with the community
college in their area provide an opportunity for students to earn college
credits through dual credit. Yet, the accountability rules offer more weight
for AP courses taken than for college
credits earned by dual credit. Doesn’t seem
logical!
Also, in the Student Achievement
Domain of the A-F system, STAAR results count 40% of the “grade”, College,
Career, and Military Readiness counts 40%, but graduation rates count only 20%.
Isn’t graduation one of the biggest goals of all high school students’ and
their parents? It seems logical to me that graduation rates should be at least
as important as students’ STAAR results (since no college or employer looks at
them) as arbitrary indicators of college, career, and military readiness.
Finally, it is hard to find any
relationship between the desired outcomes for public schools disclosed in the
SBOE survey and the state’s accountability rules announced by the Commissioner.
Shouldn’t these state goals be closely aligned? It seems illogical to me that
they aren’t!
Unlike the young Notre Dame
athlete in the story, I am afraid that the Texas Education Agency does not pass
logic!
CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY:
What do cows most like to read? (Scroll down for the
answer.)
Cattle-logs!
