[CSPS] 9/20/2005 school board meeting

[Lynne Vallone]

Dear CSPSers,

I went to the school board meeting tonight--the first official board 
meeting attended by the new superintendent, Dr. Jimmy Creel.

At 7pm there was a public hearing on the Financial Integrity Rating System 
of Texas (FIRST) for the 2004-2005 school year.  CSISD received a "superior 
achievement" rating which means that the district is in good financial 
shape (at least according to their indicators which includes questions such 
as "are you in debt?"  and "did you pay your mortgage?").

The meeting proper began at 7:15pm.

Vicki Murphy, a teacher at College Hills Elementary (4th grade teacher and 
now G and T teacher--I believe I have this right), has won Region 6 Teacher 
of the Year and will go on to compete in the Texas Teacher of the Year 
competition in Austin at the beginning of October.

Dr. Clark Ealy presented a report on CSISD's Adequate Yearly Progress and 
2005 State Accountability Ratings.  In the Federal accountability ratings, 
CSISD met Adequate Yearly Progress in every measure except for 10th grade 
English Language Arts.   In the State Accountability Ratings, CSISD 
received an "acceptable" rating overall.  One campus--Pebble Creek--was 
rated "exemplary" and three other elementary schools were rated 
"recognized" (College Hills, Rock Prairie, Southwood Valley) and all other 
schools were "acceptable."

There was some discussion of the impact of Hurricane Katrina evacuees and 
this year's testing.  Although the district is asking the state for 
"forbearance" in accountability (or some flexibility), at this point all 
students (when appropriate) will be taking the TAKS and will be 
counted.  Right now there are 179 student evacuees enrolled in all the 
different campuses of CSISD.  Board member Charlotte Slack praised the 
district for its welcome and handling of the evacuees and their educational 
needs.

The meeting adjourned about 8pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Lynne Vallone

Lynne Vallone
Professor of English
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX  77843-4227
Phone:  979-845-8336
FAX:  979-862-2292
l-vallone at tamu.edu