0507-The Connection - INSIDE CFISD.NET Home Page

Vol. 7, No. 1 · Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District · July 2005
Jersey Village students, grads
feel the force at movie premiere
Robert Dennison and his wife, Mary, greet the hundreds of former students and Star Wars
fans at the premier of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in May.
Robert
Dennison,
biology
teacher at Jersey Village High School,
planned a special reunion for his
former students in May when Star
Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
was released. Dennison has used
Star Wars as a discussion topic and
teaching tool in his biology class since
1978, the year after the first Star Wars
movie - Episode IV: A New Hope was
released.
Students have shown their
appreciation by presenting him with
Star Wars-related items as teacher
appreciation gifts for 27 years. Dennison
proudly displays the hundreds of items
including action figures, posters,
spaceships and more in his classroom.
He began the tradition of seeing the
new movies as 30 former students
joined him in 1999 when Episode I: The
Phantom Menace was released and
then again in 2002 when 60 students
joined him for the release of Episode II:
Attack of the Clones opened.
Some of those students who
See DENNISON, page 6
THE CONNECTION
IMPORTANT NEWS
Trustees approve pay raise
CFISD Trustees approved
a starting salary of $37,000 for beginning teachers and nurses with
a bachelor’s degree and raises for
all other employees during the June
school board meeting.
Employees in the teacher and
nurse pay classification will receive
a structural upgrade of 1.0% of the
midpoint and 3% of midpoint or 3%
of base salary increase, whichever
is greater. This approval results in
a $1,269 - $1,749 pay increase for
each full-time teacher and nurse.
The Board also approved
a 1.0% compensation structural
adjustment of the minimum,
midpoint, and maximum of all other
pay grades. These employees will
also receive a 3% of midpoint or 3%
Legislative
Update
Dr. David Anthony,
advises all employees to
stay abreast of this special
session scheduled to
conclude no later than the
end of July.
He has identified
key issues on the impact
of HB 2 in his letters dated
July 7 and July 13. These
letters were emailed to
all employees and are
posted on the district’s
Website as well as http:
//inside.cfisd.net. You are
strongly encouraged to
review this information
and contact lawmakers to
express your opinion.
of base salary increase, whichever is
greater.
Should the state legislature
pass a uniform pay increase, the
district raise will be inclusive in the
state increase.
All employees will receive a
pay statement in August, showing
their salary for 2005-2006. Board
policy states that employees with
an unsatisfactory evaluation will not
receive a pay increase.
“A priority for the Board
of Trustees continues to be
establishing salaries that attract
and retain quality staff, as well as
recognizing your dedication and
service to the district,” said Dr. David
Anthony, superintendent of schools.
“This pay increase for teachers and
other employees is well-deserved.
However, the 2005-06 budget will
require more than $18 million from
our fast-decreasing fund balance in
addition to some budget cuts and
some efforts at cost avoidance. Our
teachers and other employees are
highly valued resources; however,
if the state Legislature does not
provide adequate additional funding
for the 2006-07 school year, the
district will be forced to review and
implement more significant cost
saving measures. Since we have
had to rely on the fund balance
for three consecutive years to
balance the budget, that source
will not be sufficient to fund a fourth
consecutive deficit budget.”
Campbell Middle School
teacher wins Sunshine Award
Robert Marrs, history teacher at Campbell
Middle School, received a
Sunshine Award and a visit
from News2Houston’s Wes
Hohenstein on May 16.
Marrs
has
been
teaching at Campbell Middle
School for 27 years, all in the
same classroom.
“Mr. Marrs is by far
one of the best, if not the
best educator that I’ve had
the privilege to work with. He
is loved, respected and hon- Robert Marrs was visited by News2Houston’s Wes
Hohenstein.
ored by his students, parents
and peers,” said. Dr. Robert
is given to outstanding individuals who go
Hatcher, principal at Campabove and beyond the call of duty— spebell.
cial people doing extra special things— for
The Sunshine Award
Houston-area students and schools.
PAGE 2
THE CONNECTION
CFISD staff members receive Sunshine Awards
Several
CFISD
staff
members received Sunshine Awards from
News2Houston during the spring semester. According to the KPRC-TV Website,
the Sunshine Award is given to outstanding
individuals who go above and beyond the
call of duty— special people doing extra
special things— for Houston-area students
and schools.
Brenda Pike, cafeteria manager at
Farney Elementary received a Sunshine
Award and a visit from News2Houston’s
Wes Hohenstein on May 12 while Frazier
Elementary School nurse Nedra Ashton received her “Sunshine Award” from
News2Houston Daybreak meteorologist Brenda
Award Pike, cafete
Wes Hohenstein on May 25.
ria
from N
ews2H manager at
Pike marked a milestone as she
ouston
F
’s Wes arney, recei
was the 300th person to receive a Sunve
Hohen
stein o d a Sunshin
n May
e
shine Award since the program’s incep12.
tion.
“Brenda is a wonderful lady who is
completely dedicated to serving our children and making school meals nutritional
and fun for the kids. She is an integral part
of our school staff and even serves as a
homeroom mom for classes who may not
have a homeroom mom,” said Beth Coleman, principal at Farney. “She also bakes
goodies for the entire staff on her birthday
and serves up a wonderful meal for the
staff during staff appreciation week. Brenda always goes above and beyond what
is expected. She donates her time, skills,
and love to all the children and the staff. It
is a pleasure to work with such a wonderful lady. She is loved and respected by all
who know her.”
“Nedra is one of those rare people
e
d a Sunshin
who constantly look for ways to help others,
ry, receive
ta
n
e
m
le
E
zier
ft).
never looking for recognition, reimbursenurse at Fra Wes Hohenstein (le
ra Ashton,
’s
d
n
e
to
N
s
ment or anything in return. She has been
News2Hou
Award from
responsible for coordinating the success of
our Frazier Express, which provides food,
vices for parents and children’s needs to be met with outside
gifts, and other items for needy families in
agencies to ensure that all of our kids have everything they
our community at holiday times,” said Merneed to be healthy and happy. Our staff, kids, and parents
edith Perkins, principal at Frazier.
absolutely LOVE Nedra. She is definitely one in a million!”
“In addition, Nedra coordinates serPerkins added.
PAGE 3
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2004-05 Support Staff Spotlight Winners
In addition to the teaching
staff that was honored during the
May Board of Education meeting,
several support staff personnel
were honored for their dedication
and service.
Pat Lawlor, classroom paraprofessional at Lieder Elementary,
was the Paraprofessional Spotlight
winner.
Joanna Wickham, secretary
for ancillary personnel, was the
runner-up.
Carolyn Reynolds, bus
driver at the Falcon Transportation
Center, was the Ancillary Spotlight
winner while Armando Olalde, chef
at Café Cy-Fair was the runnerup.
Classes of 1936, 1950 have a great time at reunion
A group of approximately
150 graduates, friends and family
members from the Cypress School
class of 1936 and Cy-Fair High
school class of 1950 braved the
scorching Houston summer heat to
gather at the Bear Creek Community Center on Saturday, June 18.
Included in the group were
Ramona Bang and John Falcon
who have district buildings named
in their honor and family members
representing namesakes Roy Metcalf, Jack Emmott and E.A. Millsap.
Mary Arnold, the namesake
of Arnold Middle School, attended
the function.
“Everyone was so happy to
visit with Mary. She and her late
husband, Forrest, were a wonderful
influence on so many students and
were honored by having the first junior high in the district named after
them,” said Willis Beth McWhorter,
PAGE 4
Former teacher Shirley Kirk
(the namesake of Kirk Elementary)
and her husband James also attended the event.
THE CONNECTION
DENNISON
continued from page 2
Award (2003 Lifetime Achievement
attended the movie graduated as Award) and he was named a
far back as 1980 and some came Spotlight Teacher for Jersey
Village.
from as far away as Utah.
He was also a finalist in
Dennison has received
numerous awards during his the 2002 Presidential Awards for
career at Jersey Village, including Excellence in Mathematics and
the H-E-B Excellence in Teaching Science Teaching Program, and
PAGE 5
he was one of only 20 teachers in
the nation to receive the Siemens
Award for Advanced Placement in
2000.
He has also been inducted
into
the
Cypress-Fairbanks
Independent School District Wall of
Fame on four separate occasions.