WISD cancels board election
BY CHARLOTTE SMITH Editor

Whitehouse ISD trustees canceled the school's participation in the May 12 election and certified unopposed candidates Vince Primo and Kevin Cashion. Members also heard a physical education audit report and discussed the school calendar at the board's regular monthly meeting on Monday, April 2.

Dr. Keith McCoy presented the curriculum audit of health education and physical education at WISD. The evaluation was done by a three-member committee in response to the WISD board setting a priority goal to implement a vertical alignment plan for health education and physical education for grades K-12 in 2006.

The plan should promote a seamless and continuous learning experience, culminating in a set of student learning outcomes that can be measured and evaluated.

Dr. McCoy, a professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Texas at Tyler, reported that there is no vertical alignment plan yet, although the process has been initiated, and that the goals and expectations of a vertical alignment plan were not yet being met.

The audit committee proposed a number of recommendations to facilitate the plan, including:

+ establishing a coordinator of health and physical education;

+ integrating health and physical instruction to focus on lifetime skills and health;

+ specifying graduation outcomes for health and physical education;

+ setting grade-level criterion for health and physical education Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills;

+ specifying professional growth expectations for health education and physical education teachers;

+ developing a greater variety of lifetime skills alternatives for middle school and high school physical education to encourage a physically active lifestyle;

+ integrating district resources for physical activity and recreation with the city's plans for recreational facilities.

Dr. McCoy emphasized the importance of health education and physical education and introduced statistics for obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, and other health-related problems on the county and state-wide level.

Joining Dr. McCoy on the audit committee were Dr. Kay Steelman, an instructional consultant with WISD, and Doug Dudley, pastor of Whitehouse Church of Christ

Board members also heard a summary of the school calendar adoption procedures. Due to state mandates pushing the school start date back, the creation of this year's calendar was especially challenging, according to Betty Lough, executive director of curriculum and instruction.

Mrs. Lough and her staff put together several possible calendars which are submitted to Supt. Dennis Miller, who narrowed that list down to two. Those calendar proposals are submitted to the school's District Educational Improvement Committee, which reviews and revises the calendar before making a final recommendation to the school board.

The approved calendar for the 2007-08 year has drawn criticism, most notably over WISD's spring break dates not coinciding with other area schools, including Tyler Junior College. Trustee Primo said he has received several comments from the community about spring break and the affect on planning vacations as well as the impact on students who take dual credit classes.

Whitehouse has about 44 students who also attend TJC; Primo said these students won't get the full impact of a spring break because they will still be having to attend college classes during their WISD break.

Board president Randall Robinson said first and foremost, the calendar is curriculum driven and needs to be educationally sound. Beyond that, the attempt is made to facilitate the needs of as many people as possible. "But you're not going to please everybody," he said.

Mrs. Lough said one of the primar y goals of the DEIC group was not to push the school session into June; other factors affecting the calendar include required teacher contract days, mandated holidays, and graduation and summer school dates.

Another element of the calendar discussed at the meeting was the inclusion of an early release/ staff development day. Schools can apply for waivers for up to three early release days and three staff development days. The calendar for next year incudes a day when students will be released at 1 p.m. with teachers reconvening at 1:30 to work a staff development day until 6:30 p.m.

Trustee Howard Patterson said he felt this was a concern for some teachers, and he felt there needed to be more communication and a more inclusive process in developing the calendar.

In other agenda items, trustees awarded a $539,592 bid to Tyler Roofing for a project at Higgins Intermediate School. The contract includes a 20-year warranty covering any damage down to the metal deck.

Tyler Roofing proposed a TPO roofing system (thermoplastic polyolefins) which will not require the existing roof to be removed. The bid proposal also includes replacement of existing skylights.

Trustees also approved application for participation in the Texas Short Term Asset Reserve Program (TexSTAR), a similar investment program to TexPool; the district improvement plan; and local policy revisions as recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards.

Following a short public hearing, trustees also approved the 2006-07 and 2007-08 performance goals for the high school allotment.

Trustees met briefly in executive session and then annouced the extension of two professional employee contracts and the approval of $23 per hour salary for summer school instructors.

Prior to adjournment, the board also briefly discussed a change to the high school student survey to utilize the online Survey Monkey service. High school principal Tony Black said the online survey service allows greater flexibility and more potential for followup questions, as well as being more appealing for students.

Trustees also discussed the need to hire a firm to help the district with campus alignment and setting attendance zones. With the construction of a new elementary school, WISD will have multiple K-sixth grade campuses.

Curtis Williams also updated the board on TAKS testing and tutoring efforts, with a focus on African-American and economically disadvantaged sub-group performances, and Cain Elementary principal Cyndi Josephson reported that her students had raised more than $3,500 participating in the Pennies for Patients effort, benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.