AHA rep honors Higgins
BY SUZANNE LOUDAMY Staff writer

Monday's Whitehouse ISD trustees meeting began with a presentation of awards to the Higgins Intermediate School principal Tom Luce.

Kim Russell from the American Heart Association was on hand to present Luce and the school an award for their continued support and success in the Jump for Heart program. Russell said that Higgins raised over $9,000 last year, placed fifth out of 192 schools in the East Texas area and first in Smith County. She went on to say that she received word that indicates that they will rank in the top 20 in the state in their support of this program.

Also, Whitehouse Junior High offered presentations to the board and audience of activities going on through the National Junior Honor Society and with the Attack on the TAKS boot camp held this week.

The board certified that of the seats up for election, none are opposed so the cancellation of the election was so ordered.

Reports of the superintendent included performance goals for high school allotment and a revised edition of the local policies as recommended by TASB Policy Service. These were approved and the policies are available for review at the administration office.

Under curriculum matters approval was given to course offering additions for the high school beginning with the 2008- 09 school year. Those additions include Advanced Broadcast Journalism, Reading Application and Study Skills (Honors), Sports Medicine, Astronomy, History of Sports in the United States, Reel America and Role of the Bible in the Development of Western Civilization.

Since the August 2007 meeting of the board of trustees, the district has been in negotiations with the Smith County Juvenile Board and have still not reached an agreement. With the school year drawing to a close with no agreement and the school district dealing with these students within the district, the board felt it necessary to rescind a motion calling for a contract with the Smith County board.

Trustees still batted around ideas of how to name the new elementary school that is nearing completion. The decision was that each board member would submit the names of two willing individuals who would serve on a committee to name the school. That committee would meet and bring forward three unranked options to the board by the next meeting.

Approval was given to an amendment presented by Joe Denson to the construction project involving Brown Elementary and the football stadium.

In student matters, approval was granted for an out of state trip for the debate team and student council at the high school. Thirty students will be attending the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., and the debate team has a member, Brenna Middleton, who has earned the right to attend the National Forensic League competition in Las Vegas.

Following executive session the board renewed several contracts for professional employees and hired Chaundra Thomson as a counselor who will ser ve the Brown and Holloway campuses.

Informational items included the dates for registration for Summer School. They are June 10-11 with late registration being June 12. The dates for summer school run June 16 through July 18 with July 4 as a holiday.

Graduation is set for May 31 at 10 a.m. in the arena. Each graduate will receive eight tickets for seating in the arena and two tickets for the overflow area in the cafeteria.