Friday, January 20, 2017

Transition of Power

Good Morning and Happy Inauguration Friday!

District of Innovation- The district is in the process of considering the District of Innovation (DOI) concept. This concept was passed into law by the 84th Legislative Session in House Bill 1842.  The law allows traditional independent school districts to access most of the flexibilities available to Texas’ open enrollment charter schools. To access these flexibilities, a district must adopt an innovation plan, as set forth in Chapter 12A of the Texas Education Code and Texas Education Agency. Graham ISD completed the following steps to date:
  • The Board of Trustees have approved the DOI Resolution.
  • The Board of Trustees have held a public hearing regarding DOI.
  • The Board of Trustees have appointed a DOI Committee.
  • The Superintendent has notified the Commissioner of Education of the district beginning the process.
  • The DOI Committee has held its’ initial meeting.

The DOI Committee reached general consensus regarding the areas of the Texas Education Code to consider exempting within the innovation plan.  The areas include:
  • School Calendar Start Date
  • Certification of Educators in the areas of CTE, Bilingual and “Singleton” Assignments Out of Primary Certification
  • Probationary Contracts for Experienced Educators

A shared folder has been created that contains the information reviewed by the DOI Committee. The link to the folder is http://bit.ly/2k7Dd85. Please feel review the information send me your questions.

Young County Livestock Show- The annual Young County Livestock Show was a success!  Graham students made up ⅔ of the sale with 67 of the 100 lots being represented by Graham students. Congratulations to all the participants.  Additionally, thanks a ton to the Graham Finance Committee for their efforts raising funds for our students, the FFA Booster Club for helping facilitate work days and contributions to our students, to Dancey Creel for her efforts with the Commercial Steer Program and to Jim Bob Perry, Logan Taylor, Ben Burgess and Tanner Walls for their help in showmanship prep and mechanics.

Below is a listing of students/results.  If I left someone off, please let me know so I can update the list.

  • Mechanics
    • Tyler Walls & Joseph Wendel-5th
  • Goats
    • Kyle Moore-6th
    • Roy Belyeu-8th
    • Becca Burgess-1st, showmanship winner
    • Anna Wailes-2nd
  • Rabbits
    • Lauren Maxwell-4th
    • Abby Casbeer-3rd
    • Amanda Richards-showmanship winner
  • Steers
    • Jade Jordan-2nd
    • Becca Burgess-2nd
    • Clayton Read-3rd
    • Shanna Gleason-2nd
  • Swine
    • Jordan Crago-Champion White Other Purebred, 1st
    • Levi May-Reserve Champion White Other Purebred
    • Riley Langford-Champion Dark Other Purebred
    • Kody Perry-Reserve Champion Dark Other Purebred
    • Cade Anderson-Champion Duroc
    • Toby Moore-1st
    • Kaitlyn Slavings-2nd
    • Hayden Leach-3rd
    • Michael Moore-3rd
    • Creed Jordan-1st, Reserve Champion Cross
    • Jack Lowery-4th
    • Preston Collins-4th
    • Joe Todd-4th
    • Joseph Wendel-4th
    • Alee Alvidrez-2nd
    • Heather Cash-2nd
    • Boston Brewer-2nd
    • Sadie Walls-2nd
    • Tyler Walls-3rd
    • Annie Slavings-3rd
    • Feli Werner-Reserve Grand Champion
    • Riley Wyatt-Grand Champion

Lady Blues and Graham Steer Basketball- The Lady Blues and Graham Steers will be in action this evening at Graham High School.  Best of luck to our teams and hope to see you there
GJHS Basketball- Good luck and safe travel to our boys teams traveling to Stephenville to compete in a tournament.

Fall Athletic Banquet- Mark your calendar for Thursday, February 16, 2017.

Transition of Power

Contentious elections are not new to our country and neither is a peaceful transition of power.  

The election of 1796 would provide the next great test for this great experiment called the United States of America. The Jeffersonians obviously favored Thomas Jefferson to succeed Washington as president. The Federalists favored John Adams, Washington’s vice president for the last eight years. Alexander Hamilton, however, did not like Adams. So he secretly worked against Adams on behalf of another man, without success. When the Electoral College votes were tallied, Adams had seventy-one, Jefferson had sixty-eight, and Hamilton’s candidate only had fifty-nine. At that time, the Constitution stated that the candidate with the most votes would become the President and the one with the second most votes will become Vice-President. Adam thus became President and Jefferson Vice-President, even though they were from opposite political parties.

On Inauguration Day, March 4, 1797, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson entered Congress Hall in Philadelphia – then the nation’s capital. There, John Adams took the oath of office as the new president of the United States. Afterward, as they got ready to leave, Adams stepped aside at the door to allow Washington to go through first. But Washington was well aware of the historic significance of the moment. He stopped and asked Adams to leave first. After all, he said, Adams was now president of the United States, and Washington was now just a private citizen. Adams led, followed by Jefferson, and Washington went last.

This was the first time in human political history that power was transferred between two common citizens without the death or violent overthrow of the person losing power. The Constitution had passed its first crucial test primarily because of George Washington’s commitment to it.

In his First Inaugural Address, President Ronald Reagan praised our collective achievement:

“To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every 4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.”

Today, my prayer and hope for our young people is that they get to witness our leaders continue the tradition of a smooth and peaceful transition of power!

CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY
What do you call George Washington's false teeth? (Scroll down for the answer)








Presidentures!

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