Logic is the Beginning of Wisdom

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!