Malakoff High School released its honor rolls today. Click below for the list.
Category: Education
Daily Brief: Jan. 14
Folks arriving for work at the Henderson County Courthouse this morning made an interesting discovery. Sitting by the door were two $1 bills and a beautiful “Noel” Christmas ornament.
Nobody knows who left the gift or why, but considering the controversy the past two Christmases, it seems at least possible that it is connected to the nativity scene.
—
Our hearts are heavy today and our prayers are with the staff and students at Malakoff High School. One of the students at the school was killed in a car accident near Crandall last night.
Jamiya (Givens) Williams and her infant daughter, Alahna, were both killed in the accident.
Officials at Malakoff High School reported that grief counselors were on hand today for those students who needed them.
—
It was cold this morning and it looks like it is going to stay that way through the first part of the week.
—
Average retail gasoline prices in Texas have fallen 0.5 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.16/g yesterday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 13,114 gas outlets in Texas. This compares with the national average that has fallen 0.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.26/g, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.
Including the change in gas prices in Texas during the past week, prices yesterday were 4.4 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 12.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has decreased 1.4 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 8.7 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.
—
The City of Eustace will be holding a called meeting tonight to discuss the firing of Police Chief Troy Tucker. The meeting will be 7 p.m. in the Eustace Municipal Court.
—
The City of Athens will also be holding a meeting tonight, 5:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers. The agenda looks to be fairly routine.
—
Loretta Humble’s “Around the Town” Facebook page has a cool photo spread about recent improvements to the historic Bartlett House.
In the photo, Cheryl Kietscheraski points out some of the work she’s done with the help of her brother, Dennis Haws, and bricklayer Billy Gray.
Pitts looking to end 15-percent Rule
State Rep. Jim Pitts has filed legislation that would end the so-called 15-percent Rule, which would require that 15 percent of a student’s final grade come from their State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) end-of-course exams.
The STAAR replaced the TAKS two years ago. According to the Texas Education Agency: “The STAAR program at grades 3–8 will assess the same subjects and grades that are currently assessed on TAKS. At high school, however, grade-specific assessments will be replaced with 12 end-of-course assessments: Algebra I, geometry, Algebra II, biology, chemistry, physics, English I, English II, English III, world geography, world history, and U.S. history.”
Continuing uncertainty about the STAAR test, however, has caused the 15-percent rule to be deferred the past two years.
Now Pitts would like to just end the rule permanently. In December, State Rep. Lance Gooden announced that he was going to file legislation that would do the same thing.
Area superintendents have reservations about the STAAR.
In December, Athens ISD Superintendent Blake Stiles said, “The plan for implementation of the end-of-course tests has been very disorganized. Schools did not know what the passing standards would be and there was very little directions from the state as to how we should apply the 15 percent rule to the courses (by semester, by year, retakes, GPA, etc.). The rules and procedures for the end-of-course tests and the 15 percent rule should be crystal clear before we hold our students accountable for their performance on the exams.”
Daily Brief: Tuesday, Jan. 8
It is Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 … the first day of the 83rd Texas Legislative Session.
Not a whole lot expected to happen today other than lawmakers taking the oath of office and some paperwork.
Later today, we will have a story about a bill filed by State Rep. Jim Pitts regarding the use of cellphones while driving around schools.
—
Today also marks the first meeting of Henderson County Commissioners’ Court.
I went by there this morning but, as one official said, the agenda was “long and laborious” so I didn’t stay. I did get an interview with the County Judge and couple of the commissioners regarding their take on the upcoming Legislative Session. That story will be posted later today or early tomorrow.
—
Now that we’ve got THAT out of the way, we can move on to the important news. Local high school sports returns in full swing tonight.
- Athens has both boys and girls basketball and a boys soccer scrimmage, all on the road.
- Malakoff has both boys and girls basketball playing in Red Oak.
- In Cross Roads, the girls will host Kerens (UPDATE: Kerens is currently ranked No. 7 in the state), and the boys will be at Trinidad.
- Up in Mabank, the girls will be on the road at Canton, and the boys will be home against Kaufman.
—
It is also registration day at Trinity Valley Community College. This is from the TVCC Facebook Page.
It’s registration day at The Valley! Welcome new students and those of you coming back for another semester. It’s going to be great to see all of you on campus today. If you have any questions you need answered, please remember you can ask them here and we’ll do our best to help you out. Here’s a link to the schedule finder if you’re needing your registration time. Just type in Spring 2013 and it will bring up the info. Have a wonderful day Valley family!
—
One of the important area Facebook pages is the one for Athens ISD.
Here is my favorite photo posted over there this week.
—
Ending on a down note today. It has been announced that My Favorite Things in Malakoff will be closing. I cannot tell you how sad this makes me. Jessica Crye and her mother have been a wonderful addition to the Malakoff downtown and their absence will surely be felt.
We’ll miss you.
Daily Brief: Monday, Jan. 7
Welcome back to school for administrators, teachers and students. Hope you all had a great holiday.
The rest of us need to be very careful this week as kids and buses return to the roads for the first time in nearly a month.
—
The 83rd Texas Legislature will convene tomorrow and will play a big role in the news over the next few months.
In Henderson County, we have three lawmakers representing us in Austin. State Sen. Robert Nichols,
State Rep. Lance Gooden, and State Rep. Jim Pitts.
While Gooden represents most of the county, Pitts portions around Cedar Creek Lake during redistricting.
—
Gas prices are still rising:
Average retail gasoline prices in Texas have risen 5.7 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.16/g yesterday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 13,114 gas outlets in Texas. This compares with the national average that has not moved in the last week to $3.26/g, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com. Including the change in gas prices in Texas during the past week, prices yesterday were 4.2 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 6.6 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has decreased 9.3 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 6.8 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.
—
The Malakoff Athletic Booster Club will be holding a meeting 6 p.m. tonight in the coaches office to discuss the upcoming powerlifting meet.
In just a few years, Malakoff has made this meet one of the best in East Texas. If you are in Malakoff, think about helping out. If you are not in Malakoff, think about attending.
—
For those who heard my anguished cries Friday on our Facebook Page, you know that our website was deleted in an industrial accident. I believe there were explosions and fire and mayhem involved. (Actually, we managed to copy over the database files, thereby erasing the site.)
We are back up and running and will continue to tweak the site of the next few months to try and bring you the best completely free news site in the county.
One of the modules lost was the one that emailed the Daily Brief to those who registered. I have not rebuilt that module yet, but will be working on it this week. I apologize for the inconvenience.
—
Have a great day and remember, ALWAYS backup your files.