This Friday night, Oct. 2, the Battle of Josey Lane continues - Newman Smith and R. L. Turner football teams will compete for the 32nd time. Watch this video to hear John Mathews recount the history of The Battle of Josey Lane.
If you cannot make it to the game at Standridge Stadium on Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m.:
We will cover the game live here through this blog. Log-in Friday night, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. to follow the game.
You can also listen to the game on CFB-TV at www.cfbisd.edu to hear a live broadcast of the game.
We will re-broadcast the game on CFB-TV on Tuesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. Visit www.cfbisd.edu to find out more information.
In C-FB ISD, our main goal is high achievement for all students. Well, here’s an example of high achievement.
Just recently, the National Merit Corporation sent letters to 16,000 high seniors across the country saying “Congratulations, you are a 2010 National Merit Semifinalist!”
Those letters made their way into the homes of 10 C-FB ISD seniors. The seniors are from Creekview: Cienna Breen, Andrew Crider; from Newman Smith: Ryan Allen, Daniel Lewis, Victor Lopez, Bryan MaHony, Tristan Munnerlyn, and Kevin Smith; from R. L. Turner: Roman Stolyarov, Amanda Werneke.
What’s so amazing -- they represent less than 1 percent of the top high school seniors in the United States.
How did they become Semifinalists? Their performance on the PSAT (Preliminary SAT) as juniors earned them the recognition.
We salute these 10 National Merit Semifinalists from our high schools, their teachers and families. They have received this academic honor because of their commitment to purpose and learning.
These are just 10 success stories of academic achievement in C-FB ISD.
We have other success stories because in C-FB ISD we are innovative leaders in learning.
We in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District see student achievement as our number one focus. Everyone who works in C-FB ISD has a role in helping students learn. At last week’s School Board meeting, Dr. Sheila Maher, our assistant superintendent for instruction and curriculum, presented a report on academic achievement related to the 2009 TAKS results.
Basically, C-FB ISD students did incredibly well on TAKS. Did you know that there are five subjects tested: Reading/English – Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Writing AND that students are divided into five subgroups: All students, African American, Hispanic, White, and Economically Disadvantaged.
When the state measures C-FB ISD’s performance on TAKS indicators, it is evaluating the district on 25 different indicators. In 2009, C-FB ISD improved on 23 of the 25 indicators. That is really outstanding work for our teachers, principals, and instructional staff. Of course, our students and their families deserve praise too! Success happens when everyone works together as a team.
If you take a look at Dr. Maher’s PowerPoint presentation, you will see even more outstanding achievement – especially the continued overall gains of the 2009 total test takers.
As you go through the presentation, see how our students are excelling in Commended Performance on the individual tests of Reading/English – Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Writing. They are outperforming their state peers significantly, and we saw a higher commended performance than in 2008.
We know that success can happen in C-FB ISD because we believe everyone in C-FB ISD can "innovate, lead and learn."
We have a fabulous community! Individuals are always giving and providing needed materials to our schools and students. Just last week, the Texas Hospital for Advanced Medicine in Farmers Branch made two special huge deliveries of school supplies – one to Nancy Strickland Intermediate School and the other to Farmers Branch Elementary School.
What a great moment to watch as the hospital representatives stopped by each school. They unloaded boxes, boxes, and boxes of school supplies full of backpacks, crayons, notebooks, pencils, erasers and much, much more. School is already in full swing, but we can always use school supplies.
So, McLaughlin/Strickland principal Tracy Smith and her team and Farmers Branch principal Susan Lightsey and her team say thank you very much to the Texas Hospital for Advanced Medicine for thinking of their students and families. We know these supplies will be put to good use.
And, we in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD say thank you to the hospital and all of our other partners who have given generously to help us start the 2009-2010 school year.
Watch our video below and you can see how wonderful the time was!
Our pre-kindergarten classes for eligible four-year-olds started this week. C-FB ISD begins this program a week later than other classes so that our pre-kindergarten staff has time to work with families to complete the eligibility process. We also take this occasion to help the families learn about how they help their children with school.
For those unfamiliar with the pre-kindergarten program, we have specific criteria that students must meet before students can become pre-kindergarteners.
The number one requirement is the child must be 4 years of age on or before September 1, 2009.
And, then the child must meet one of the following criteria: 1. Unable to speak and comprehend the English language. 2. Educationally disadvantaged (Eligible to participate in the national free or reduced-price lunch program.) 3. Homeless, as defined by 42 U.S.C. Section 11302, regardless of the residence of the child, of either parent of the child, or of the child’s guardian or other person having lawful control of the child. 4. Child of military: active, reserved, missing in action or who have died.
Once the children get into pre-kindergarten, they spend a half-day working on their oral language skills and other basic concepts. Our goal is to get them ready for kindergarten.
We visited the Pre-Kindergarten Center at the district’s Community Learning Complex (CLC), and our teachers and pre-kindergarten students were already hard at work.
