Category: Education

State Board of Education asking for input on testing

Press release

The State Board of Education (SBOE) is issuing a survey in English and Spanish to seek public input about the state’s current assessment and accountability programs and gather suggestions for future program development including online university for military. The survey will be open online to all Texans through June 30.

From October 2015 to March 2016, SBOE members held nine Community Conversations meetings around the state, meeting with more than 500 citizens to gather comments about the state’s student assessment and accountability systems. The online survey addresses the issues raised during the community meetings and allows for additional input from educators, parents, business people and students.

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Meet Bel Air’s new principal on Monday

Lisa Howell
Lisa Howell

By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist

Parents of students attending Bel Air Elementary in the 2016-17 school year are invited with their children to “meet and greet” new principal Lisa Howell on Monday, June 13. The come-and-go gathering will be from 9 a.m.- 10 a.m. in the school cafeteria. Snacks will be served, information about local summer activities shared, and students have a chance to win a new book to start off their summer reading.

“I am thrilled to be joining Bel Air,” said Mrs. Howell, whose sister, Laura Robertson, was a teacher there for nine years. “I already know what a wonderful place this is.”

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DeMay brings back summer camps

A blast from the past (2004). Previous campers at the Civil War Camp with their marshmallow muskets in hand used to reenact the Battle at Vicksburg. Serious soldiers for serious business. (Courtesy photo)
A blast from the past (2004). Previous campers at the Civil War Camp with their marshmallow muskets in hand used to reenact the Battle at Vicksburg. Serious soldiers for serious business. (Courtesy photo)

Press release

popsicleskidscampsSummer and camps go hand in hand. After an eight-year hiatus, the Farmpiddler Camps are returning to Athens under the new name Popsicles, Summer Camps for Kids. Teresa DeMay suspended the camps eight years ago when she founded Athens Christian Preparatory Academy, a private school for grades 7-12.

“The Farmpiddler camps were wildly popular” says DeMay. “We would sell-out by mid-April for the entire summer.”

Athens Prep has now adopted all of the Farmpiddler’s old camp formats and will be running 18 different camps this summer for ages 5-13. The educational camps involve very unusual hands-on activities.

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AHS Top 10 Percent dinner

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The Athens Public Education Foundation provided Athens High School graduates in the top 10 percent of their class to a dinner at Athens Country Club Thursday. Pictured are (from left) Grant Hirsch, Carter Ferrell, Jonathan Bywaters, Hayden Gore, Jack Amheiser, Jakob Smith, Ben Van Der Colff, Brent Shultz, Shane Ellis, Jeremy Bateman, Luke Eldore, Jose Contreras, and (seated, from left) Allison Hardin, Candace Clemmons, Stephanie Ritz, Lydia Strand, Madison Womble, Sarah Bandy, Janette Gomez, Hanna Baker and Daniela Cerrillo. Not pictured is Mason Mikkelsen. (Toni Garrard Clay/AISD)