Announcements

Sex Can Wait--Talking Can't, by Austin LifeGuard 

Austin LifeGuard teaches the sex education part of the health curriculum in many Austin ISD high schools.  This workshop will simply be an addition to those free services.  

There are several workshops coming up that parents may be interested in.:
 

May 12, 2008    Bannockburn Baptist Church

May 15, 2008    First Evangelical Free Church

 

All workshops will begin at 6:30 PM.  Please see flier for more information.

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Environmental Concerns About Bus Idling 

Texas PTA submitted a letter last week to the Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governments asking them to encourage the school districts in their area to adopt bus idle-free policies. The Houston-Galveston Area Council of Government's Board of Directors agreed and voted this week to ask all school districts in their area to voluntarily adopt bus idle-free policies.  

Shortly after this announcement, we received an email from Dr. Ramon Alvarez, PhD, Environmental Defense, a non-profit organization with whom TX PTA works on environmental issues:
 
"Once again, PTA puts an environmental issue over the top. Please extend my heartfelt thank you to all involved over there."

Congratulations team!! Now let's build on this success by encouraging ALL our school districts to adopt bus idle-free policies!! Next week Texas PTA will send a letter to all school superintendents across the state, encouraging them to adopt bus idle-free policies to protect our children's health.  Please CLICK HERE to see a sample of the letter and more information about this important issue!

Can we count on you to send a note or to call your superintendent to urge him/her to support TX PTA's request????

Here's a sample statement to assist you when contacting YOUR superintendent and/or principal:

Hello! My name is ______ and I am a member of Texas PTA and _____   School PTA. I am calling to confirm that you received the letter from Texas PTA encouraging our school district to adopt bus idle-free policies in order to protect our children and youth from the damaging fumes emitted by our school buses. These fumes aren't safe to breathe and lead to bronchitis, increasingly severe asthma attacks and delayed lung development in young children, in addition to headaches, nausea, bronchitis, and more serious afflictions later in life, years after a child's last school bus ride.

A policy that includes: 

 

will decrease children's exposure to harmful air pollutants and improve the air quality in our community.

 

Can we count on you to support PTA's recommendation to adopt bus idle-free policies for our school district?

Please call or send a note to your principal and your superintendent! And, let us know what you find out!!!

Lisa Holbrook, Region II Vice-President of Texas PTA, did just that! She shared the TX PTA letter with a school board member at Clear Creek ISD asking her to support TX PTA's request to go "idle-free"! Way to go and thanks Lisa!

So did Diane Melton, PTA Council President in Round Rock ISD and Chris Lloyd, TX PTA Region IV Vice President:

We asked Dr. Jesus Chavez, Superintendent of Round Rock ISD, what RRISD's policy is on bus idling. Dr. Chavez sent TX PTA this note:
Round Rock ISD was actually the first school district in the state to institute a policy regarding bus idling.  We allow a maximum of five minutes idle time and follow the recommended guidelines first adopted by the legislature in 1999.

By the way, every bus in our fleet is using the ultra low sulphur diesel fuel which further limits emissions - we were the first district in the state to implement this as well.   

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TEXAS  SCHOOL ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM UPDATE--INCREASE ANNOUNCED IN CRITERIA FOR ACCEPATBLE RATINGS IN CURRENT ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM

State Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced that minimum passing percentages for schools and districts will be bumped up five points in three subject areas on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). Academically acceptable is equivalent to a C in the state's accountability system. The minimum passing rate for English will increase from 65 percent to 70 percent of all students and each student subgroup. In math, the cutoff will rise from 45 percent to 50 percent, and in science it will go up from 40 percent to 45 percent. There is no change in social studies or writing.

The minimum passing rates for schools to be graded either "exemplary" (equivalent to an A) or "recognized" (equivalent to a B) are unchanged this year. An exemplary rating requires that 90 percent of students pass all five subject areas and a recognized rating requires 75 percent.

Just over half of all campuses - 51 percent - were rated acceptable last year. Ratings are based on student test scores and dropout and high school completion rates. Any district or campus not reaching the acceptable threshold is rated "academically unacceptable" and is subject to state intervention. Last year, 276 campuses - 3.4 percent of the total - were graded unacceptable. A total of 21 districts and 35 charter school operators also were deemed unacceptable.

Some schools may be affected this year by a change in the state test given to special education students - which will ultimately affect the performance ratings of schools and districts. The State Developed Alternative Assessment - which was administered to special education students last year - is being eliminated because of objections to its use by the U.S. Department of Education. Special education students who are working at grade level will take a modified version of the regular TAKS this year. The exam for special education students will be very similar to the TAKS, although it will have a few key differences - such as the listing of three instead of four possible answers on multiple choice questions. 

REVIEW OF CURRENT SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTABILITY HAS BEGUN 

Ted Guerra, Legislative Chair in San Antonio, testified for TX PTA last week before the Joint Select Committee on School Accountability. This committee is reviewing the current school accountability system, the method used to rate schools across Texas. 

Thanks Ted!!  Ted distributed a copy of the TX PTA position at the end of his testimony. 

Here are the "Cliff Notes" from the hearing:  The committee seems to be leaning toward the creation of growth models, models that measure student progress rather than simple proficiency. Growth models offer a number of benefits over the current accountability system: They level the playing field for schools. They recognize overall progress on a campus, rather than setting a rating based on the lowest-performing sub-group of students. (And they don't double-count low-performing students if those students fall into multiple categories, such as African American and economically disadvantaged.) Growth models also give a better picture of how schools are performing at the grade and classroom level. And although growth models are more complicated in composition, they force schools not to simply look at proficiency but also set trajectories for student and even teacher progress. The model looks at expectations for all students instead of focusing resources and effort on students who have yet to master the test. 

NOTE:  Once again legislators reached out to TX PTA to invite them to participate in the process by providing invited testimony at a hearing. Typically, only experts in an area, or those with a particular interest in an issue, are invited witnesses. All others who would like to give input do so through the "public" testimony process, one in which citizens sign up to testify and wait to be called up after all invited witnesses have spoken. Public witnesses give testimony on a first come-first served basis.
 
For more information, visit http://www.txpta.org/legis-res-pos.html.