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Del Valle schools
October 20, 2009
Del Valle school district officials say PTAs not welcome
Parent Teacher Associations are most everywhere — appearing in country songs and on more than 100 campuses in Central Texas. But while they are present in schools across the country, they aren’t on a single campus in the Del Valle school district.
And Del Valle administrators said they are actively trying to keep it that way.
Monica Rivera and Liliana Orozco, mothers of Del Valle Elementary School students, said they are upset that the district is standing in the way of them forming a PTA and said they plan to air their concerns at a school board meeting tonight.
“We don’t find that we can really get involved in our children,” said Rivera, whose daughter is a kindergartener. “We don’t have a voice really as parents.”
PTAs are local, self-governing units that are comprised of parents, campus officials and others with a goal of improving child welfare and education, according to the Texas PTA Website, which claims a member of more than 600,000 statewide. Members are part of a nationwide network of parents and receive state legislative and Congressional updates as well as other benefits.
Blanchard said the district has concerns about the dues that PTA’s charge members. “Del Valle ISD welcomes parental involvement,” Blanchard said in a statement. “We don’t see the need for competing groups and especially don’t want parents to feel like they have to pay dues of any amount to be involved.”
Rivera said the $4 annual dues are “nothing compared to all the resources you can get” from the state and local PTA organizations. She said the district’s alternative is “more about helping to sell stuff or doing labor.”
The school board meets in open session tonight at 7 p.m. in the Edward A. Neal Building at 5301 Ross Road. Closed session begins at 6:15 p.m.
According to the Texas PTA, PTA’s are common in Central Texas. All campuses in the Austin, Georgetown and Round Rock school districts have one, said Diane Melton, the Area 6 (which includes Central Texas) PTA president.
Melton joined Rivera and Orozco in an unsuccessful meeting with Blanchard to ask to establish a PTA. Melton said that the distrct’s response was much different that what she had experienced in Round Rock, where her children are enrolled.
“In Round Rock, they bend over backwards,” Melton said. “This was just totally outside the realm of my experience.”
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April 30, 2009
Del Valle student dies as a result of heart condition
A Del Valle school district student died Wednesday from a heart condition, spokeswoman Celina Bley.
The student, a girl in 11th grade, died in the hospital from causes not related to swine flu, Bley said.
Bley said that the school did not have memorial plans, but was focused on calming community fears that the death was related to swine flu.
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November 3, 2008
U.S. students pick Obama in national poll
More than 125,000 students from grades K-12 voted in the 14th annual Weekly Reader election survey. The results: Barack Obama 54.7 percent, John McCain 42.9 percent. The rest of the votes were for other candidates.
The Weekly Reader folks say that the survey has correctly predicted the winner in 12 of the past 13 presidential elections. (The kids were wrong in 1992.)
This year, Obama won Texas, 32 other states and the District of Columbia, garnering 420 electoral votes. McCain won 17 states and 118 electoral votes. CNN has Texas going to McCain.
An unscientific sampling of reader-reported Austin-area schools’ mock election results could lend credence to the Weekly Reader Results:
Martin Middle School: Obama 583, McCain 29
Zilker Elementary School: Obama 393, McCain 42
Creedmoor Elementary School: Obama 610, McCain 118
Whom do you believe: the kids or CNN?
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October 30, 2008
Do schools events and election day collide?
I’ve been asked to write a story about school districts scheduling events like band performances and football games on election day and how that might affect parents, teachers, coaches and other Texans of voting age.
So:
Are you a parent worried that attending the UIL State Marching Band Contest at the Alamodome Tuesday might keep you from voting?
Or a parent concerned that enjoying the musical stylings of the Fall String Festival at Zilker Park during your lunch break might prevent you from reaching the polls?
If your kid is supposed to play in an 8th grade away football game Tuesday night, is that going to conflict with you doing your civic duty?
If you’re affected by these scheduling dilemnas, go ahead and weigh in in the comment section below, or email me.
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September 12, 2008
ACT college testing postponed
FROM AISD:
The ACT college test corporation has postponed testing scheduled for Saturday, September 13, at Texas school districts affected by Hurricane Ike.
In Austin ISD, tests were scheduled to be given at Anderson, Akins, Lanier, Reagan, and Travis high schools.
ACT indicated that it will contact those students who were registered for the test with rescheduling information later this Fall.
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August 31, 2008
A Centex mother explains how she keeps her daughters healthy: Video
While reporting this story on how fit local kids are, I spoke with Del Valle mother Gloria Leal earlier in August on the last day of a summer fitness program for kids at El Buen Samaritano in South Austin.
As some state education officials spent their summers working on ongoing efforts to keep all Texas schoolchildren healthy, Gloria Leal spent her summer trying to keep her daughters off the couch, away from the television, and healthy.
Though the Del Valle school district, where Leal’s daughters Estfany and Guadalupe attend school, has one of the highest percentages of overweight students in the Austin area, as measured by body mass indices, Leal tries hard to keep her family healthy, partly because she has health problems that keep her from exercising.
“Somehow, they got the idea they would sit in front of the TV all summer,” Leal said in Spanish of her daughters.
By July, Leal had set Estfany, 9, and Guadalupe, 7, straight.
Leal enrolled the girls in the free Born to Run summer recreation program at El Buen Samaritano in South Austin that is part of El Buen’s Combating Childhood Obesity through Exercise and Nutrition Initiative.
The seven-week program, created by RunTex Carrozza Foundation and funded by the, the Tofer Family Foundation the Dell Foundation, the Dell Family Foundation, gave Estfany, Guadalupe, and 98 other children ages 6 to 12, a chance to run around outside, get introduced to healthy snack foods, and learn other healthy habits, like eating a nutritional breakfast.
Leal said she has always tried to cook with plenty of fresh vegetables and without lots of oil. And while she might make a dinner of cheese quesadillas, at El Buen Samaritano’s fitness program, her daughters tried a different tortilla-based snack: peanut butter and honey on a rolled up tortilla. It wasn’t a combination Leal or her daughters had tried before.
“At first I thought it was nasty,” Estfany said, wrinkling her nose. “But it was good.”
Now Estfany and her younger sister sometimes ask their mother to make peanut butter and honey quasi-quesadillas for them at home, Leal said.
During the school year, the girls get some physical activity at school, though Leal doesn’t recall receiving a copy of the personalized Fitnessgram fitness evaluation the school district is supposed to send to each student’s parents.
This summer, the drive into Austin day to take the girls to the Born to Run program seems to have paid off by helping keep the girls on a healthy track, Leal said.
“They’re getting up early. They’re a little more active,” she said of the girls as Estfany raced across the field to hug her.
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August 25, 2008
First day of school jitters, snafus, and whatchamacallits
Today’s the first day of school everywhere in Statesman-land except Pflugerville and Round Rock.
Rejoice or mourn, the choice is yours.
Statesman photographer Larry Kolvoord talked to 4-year-old Madison Briones, right, this morning at Sanchez Elementary. Madison was heartbroken after learning that she wouldn’t be able to attend pre-kindergarten classes on the first day because of a paperwork glitch.
‘Everybody is going to school besides me,’ she cried to her mom.
Did you experience any first day of school issues? Have any words of advice to offer Madison?
Updated, 5 p.m.: Leander school district spokesman Dick Ellis says that the district welcomed 27,528 students to school today without a hitch. The district opened four new campuses today too.
“It was perfect,” he said. “A really good first day.”
Check out the sights and sounds of Leander’s first day of school.
Updated, 8/26, for the curious: A Sanchez assistant principal told the Statesman that Madison got her paperwork straightened out and will be in class Wednesday morning.
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August 21, 2008
Central Texas back to school calendar
August 25 - First day of classes for following school districts: Austin, Bastrop, Del Valle, Dripping Springs, Eanes, Georgetown, Hays, Lake Travis, Leander, Manor, San Marcos and Wimberley. Also first day of classes at Austin Community College, and St. Edward’s and Southwestern universities.
August 26 - First day of classes for Lago Vista, Pflugerville and Round Rock ISDs. August 27 - First day of classes for Texas State University and the University of Texas.
September 1 - The following school districts are closed for the Labor Day holiday: Austin, Bastrop, Del Valle, Dripping Springs, Eanes, Georgetown, Hays, Lago Vista, Lake Travis, Leander, Manor, Pflugerville, Round Rock, San Marcos and Wimberley. It’s also a holiday at Austin Community College, St. Edward’s University, Southwestern University, Texas State University and the University of Texas.
September 2 - First day of classes at Huston-Tillotson University.
September 10 - First day of classes at Concordia University.
Check your local district’s website for first-day details, like Austin’s school bus stop locator, and other events.
If you’re lucky enough to live in Wimberley, for example, your kids can get vaccinations and free haircuts — two of any child’s favorite activities — at the Back to School Fiesta on Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the United Methodist Church of Wimberley.
(Cal Warlick cartoon at right)
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July 23, 2008
Details of Del Valle "hugging incident" released: How close is too close?
In April, we reported that the Del Valle school district was investigating suspected “inappropriate contact” in the form of hugging between a Del Valle High School teacher and student.
The district requested permission from the Texas Attorney General’s Office to withhold further information about the incident.
This week, in response to a ruling from the Attorney General’s Office, the district released more information about what happened. The gist of it is that a male teacher regularly hugged his students, both male and female. A hug from that teacher, coupled with his comment that she was “looking good,” made a female student feel uncomfortable. That female student told district administrators about what happened. Thus, the investigation.
During the investigation, some students told district administrators that the teacher stared at his female students’ chests and behinds. Other students said they hadn’t noticed the teacher starting “in that way.”
Read the account of the district’s investigation and the teacher’s response for yourself.
(I’m not naming the teacher, who resigned at the end of the 2007-08 school year, because he has not been charged with a crime. The district redacted names of students and other information in black; I blanked-out the teacher’s name.)
As we wrote in May, and as many of you have written in the comments, teachers walk a fine line: They are encouraged to be close enough to help in crises, but with that role comes the risk of getting too involved with students’ problems.
Teachers, how do you show your students you care without risking getting yourself into a difficult situation?
(Photo courtesy of Michael Ortiz used under a Creative Commons license.)
Permalink | Comments (33) | Post your comment Categories: Del Valle schools, School Safety, Teachers
May 20, 2008
Updates on Central Texas teacher investigations
A brief update on several Central Texas teachers accused of having inappropriate relationships with students.
- Allen Cole, the 34-year-old Travis High School teacher accused last week of having sex with an 18-year-old female student and arrested on a charge of having an improper relationship with a student is still being paid by the district. Cole submitted his resignation letter and was put on paid administrative leave on May 13, the day before he was arrested, by noted in his letter that he was resigning effective June 6.
Spokeswoman Roxanne Evans says that Cole will remain on paid administrative leave until the last day of school.
According to an email from Evans this afternoon:
Cole was placed on paid administrative leave prior to his arrest or knowledge that he would for be arrested. The administrative leave was granted “pending investigation.”
Also, Board Policy DFBA requires Board Approval to suspend someone without pay. Additionally, the employee has the right to a hearing before we suspend him without pay.
[Human resources] is trying to reach him to get him to make his resignation effective immediately, but hasn’t been successful yet.
-The Del Valle High School teacher under investigation last month for having “inappropriate contact” with a student by hugging the student has returned to the classroom and has not been charged with a crime, district spokeswoman Celina Bley said.
The district has asked the state Attorney General’s Office for permission to not release to the public reports detailing what exactly happened in the alleged “hugging incident” and if the teacher was disciplined for the hugging, saying in part that releasing the reports would violate the teacher’s right to privacy.
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May 13, 2008
Central Texas high school graduation dates set
We’ve compiled graduation dates for area high schools. Let us know if we’ve left one out, and if there’s a graduating senior (or two, or three, or 1,543) that you’re particularly proud of!
(All times are ceremony starting times. Seniors should check with their schools for their arrival times.)
Austin
6/3, Rosedale School, 1 p.m., at the Rosedale School
6/4, Garza, 7 p.m., Delco Center
6/5, Akins, 3 p.m.; Anderson, 5:45 p.m.; Austin, 8:30 p.m., all at Frank Erwin Center
6/6, Bowie, noon; Crockett, 3 p.m.; Lanier, 5:45 p.m., both at Frank Erwin Center
6/6, Johnston, 8 p.m., Delco Center
6/7, McCallum, noon, Frank Erwin Center
6/7 Reagan, 5:45 p.m., Delco Center
6/7 Travis, 3 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
6/7 LBJ/LASA, 9 a.m., Frank Erwin Center
Bastrop
5/25, Genesis, 1:30 p.m., Bastrop High School cafeteria
5/30, Bastrop, 8 p.m., Erhard Field, 1602 Hill Street.
Del Valle
6/4, 7 p.m., Texas State University Strahan Coliseum, San Marcos
Dripping Springs
6/6, 8 p.m., Shoreline Center
Eanes
5/30, 8:30 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
Hays
5/30, Hays, 8 p.m., Shelton Stadim
5/31, Lehman, 8 p.m., Shelton Stadium
5/31, The Academy@Hays, 6 p.m., Performing Arts Center
Hutto
6/7, 10 a.m., Shoreline Center
Lago Vista
6/6, 6 p.m., Lago Vista High School gymnasium
Lake Travis
6/5, Shoreline Center, 8 p.m.
Leander
5/30, New Hope, 7:30 p.m., Leander Extended Opportunity Conference Center
6/6, Leander, 9 a.m., Frank Erwin Center
6/8, Cedar Park, 3 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
6/8, Vista Ridge, 6 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
Manor
5/22, EXCEL, 7 p.m., Manor Performing Arts Center
6/5, High School, 1 p.m., Shoreline Center
Pflugerville
6/6, Hendrickson, 9 a.m., Shoreline Center
6/6, Provan Opportunity Center, 7 p.m., Pflugerville High School Performing Arts Center
6/7, Pflugerville, 5:45 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
6/7, Connally, 8:30 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
Round Rock
5/29, Success Program, Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m.
5/31, Round Rock, 9 a.m., Frank Erwin Center
5/31, Stony Point, noon, Frank Erwin Center
5/31, Westwood, 3 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
5/31, McNeil, 6 p.m., Frank Erwin Center
San Marcos
5/30, Pathfinder Learning Center, 1 p.m., San Marcos High School auditorium
6/7, High School, 7 p.m., Texas State University Strahan Coliseum, San Marcos
6/5, PRIDE, 10:30 a.m., San Marcos High School auditorium
Wimberley
5/30, 8 p.m., Texas State University Strahan Coliseum, San Marcos
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Austin schools, Bastrop County schools, Del Valle schools, Hays County schools, Leander schools, Manor, Pflugerville schools, Round Rock schools, Wimberley schools
May 9, 2008
Teacher blacklist: myth or reality, and job fairs
Someone on the Texas Teachers Chatboard is asking about a state-wide blacklist for uppity and/or naughty teachers. The posters there seem to think it’s a myth. Anyone heard otherwise?
And speaking of teaching jobs, the Austin school district is holding its job fair on Saturday at the Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road. Only certified teachers need apply, though student teachers can bring a copy of a transcript showing enrollment and alternative certification program participants can bring letters showing proof of participation.
Del Valle will hold a job fair on Saturday at Del Valle Middle School, 5500 Ross Road.
And the Region 13 Education Service Center, the regional state agency serving Austin-area schools, will hold a job fair on June 5 at 5701 Springdale Road.
I’ve heard the job fairs can be stressful and overwhelming. Any current or prospective teachers planning on attending? Got any tips to share with newbies?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment Categories: Austin schools, Bastrop County schools, Del Valle schools, Hays County schools, Leander schools, Manor, Pflugerville schools, Teachers, Wimberley schools
April 24, 2008
Del Valle High School teacher suspended for hugging student - Updated
The Del Valle school district is investigating suspected “inappropriate contact” in the form of hugging between a Del Valle High School teacher and student, according to Del Valle district spokeswoman Celina Bley.
A high school student reported the incident to administrators Monday afternoon and the teacher was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday while the district investigated the allegations, Bley said.
The district declined to release additional information about the incident, including further information about the incident and the name, gender, subject area or district tenure of the teacher.
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