Summer FACTS 2008 - Lamar Consolidated ISD

LCISD Celebrates Volunteer Appreciation Week
LCISD honored its outstanding volunteers during Volunteer Appreciation Week, celebrated in April. More than 4,300 parents,
businesses and community members have dedicated their time and talents to LCISD students and staff this year.
Organizing the campus volunteer programs are the 2007-08 Volunteer Coordinators bottom row (l-r):
Amanda Hudson (Terry HS); Elizabeth Mercado (Bowie); Josefina Camacho (Bowie);
Michelle Chavez (Huggins); Ceci Dane (Pink); Lori Blackburn (Huggins) and Jean Spencer (Navarro MS). Second row (l-r): Mary Juenger (Austin); Jane Veazey (Williams); Gloria
Sanchez (Travis); Melissa Cantu (Jackson and Smith). Third row (l-r): Lauren Guerrero
(Austin); Kelli Hoover-Kastner (Long); Colette Lock (Ray); Tancy Williams (Meyer);
Lynette Pierce (Frost); Brenda Smith (Lamar CHS); Karen Rosenbaum (George JH).
Top row (l-r): Jennifer Santa Ana (Wessendorff MS); Jelena Winnicki (Foster HS); Katy Czaikowski (Lamar JH); and Holly Hayes (Briscoe JH). Not pictured are: Doris Mikolas (Beasley); Ami
Dorian (Dickinson); Joy Buettner (Hutchison); Jennifer Berry (Meyer); JoEllen Michalec (Travis);
Sharon Baldwin (Velasquez); and Jennifer Lester (Lamar JH).
Volunteers of the Year from each LCISD campus are bottom row (l-r): Caryn Duncan (Austin); Benita Sebesta
(Terry HS); Melia Boyer (Hutchison) and Lilia Villarreal (Travis). Second row (l-r): Anadelia Arredondo
(Pink); Eliseo Flores (Navarro MS); Soraida Gonzalez (Bowie). Third row (l-r): Louise Lawrence (Frost);
Shelley Burke (Meyer); Miriam Garcia (Long); Guadalupe Fuentes (Smith); Gabby DeLuca (Huggins).
Fourth row (l-r): Sally Foster (Lamar JH); Debbie Tran (Williams); Rene Cargile (Dickinson); Alice Kleinheinz
(Foster HS). Top row (l-r): Karla Ducayet (Wessendorff MS); Liz Sulak (Velasquez); Kris Sweet (George JH);
Debbie Senior (Briscoe JH); and Griscelda Gutierrez (Campbell).
Not pictured are: Kathy Hunt (Beasley); Judith Tomita (Jackson); Roy Hausler (Ray); and Pam Robertson
(Lamar CHS).
Check out the LCISD Website;
www.lcisd.org for all of your
2008 Back to School updates
Celebrating Excellence In Education
Lamar CISD
Board of Trustees
Michael Richard, President
Sam Hopkins, Vice President
Kathy Hynson, Secretary
Jack Christiana • Richard McCarter
Julie Thompson • Jesse Torres
Dr. Thomas Randle, Superintendent
FACTS is a publication of the Community Relations Department of
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FACTS
Tyler Teykl is the valedictorian for the
Class of 2008 at Terry High School.
He is the son of Tim and Brenda Teykl of
Rosenberg.Tyler graduated with a 109.43 grade
point average and plans to attend Purdue
University where he will major in Chemical
Engineering.
While at Terry Tyler participated in
football and track for four years, was on the
Student Council for four years, including President his senior year. He participated in UIL competitions, the National
Honor Society, broadcast journalism, Academic Decathlon and the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
His academic honors include Advanced Placement Scholar with
Distinction, National Merit Commended Student, Texas High School
Coaches Association Academic All-State Elite Team, academic awards
in Advanced Placement Human Geography, Pre-AP Calculus, Pre-AP
biology, AP Calculus, Pre-AP Physics, AP English and AP Chemistry. Tyler was also a finalist for the Houston Touchdown Club Scholar Athlete
of the Year. Tyler’s scholarship awards include Reliant Energy/Houston
Texans, Houston Touchdown Club, Purdue University Trustees, Purdue
University Valedictorian, Purdue University Burton Memorial, Texas
A&M University McFadden, Texas A&M University Badgett Memorial,
District 7 Student Council, Texas High School Coaches Association,
Greater Houston Football Coaches Association and the Terry High
School National Honor Society.
SUMMER 2008
Cara Clark is the valedictorian for the
Class of 2008 at Foster High School.
She is the daughter of Danny and Barbara Clark of
Richmond.
Cara graduated with a 110.8093 grade point average and plans to attend Texas A&M University, where
she will major in Nutritional Sciences.
Among her academic accomplishments are All A’s
Honor Roll every year, 19 Top Student Awards, National Honor Society and Who’s Who Among American High School Students.
Cara was in marching band for four years and was drum major her
senior year. She participated in UIL State Solo and Ensemble Contest each year and earned the John Philip Sousa Award. She received
her Microsoft Office Specialist Master Certification, the Service Cord
Award, a UIL Scholar Award and was secretary of Interact.
She was also active in the Class Leadership Team, Students With A
Testimony and Student Council.Among her scholarship offers are the
President’s Endowed Scholarship from Texas A&M, the Comcast
Scholarship and the Charles Tovar Memorial Scholarship.
Olive Hsiao is the Valedictorian for the Class of 2008
at Lamar Consolidated High School.
She is the daughter of Tom and Mary Hsiao of Sugar Land. Olive
graduated with a grade point average of 111.5607 and plans to attend
the University of Texas in Austin and major in Business.
While at Lamar she was a National Forensic League Academic AllAmerican, an Advance Placement Scholar with Honors and a member
of the National Honor Society. She was also active in Amnesty International, Speech and Debate, Young Democrats, UIL competition, Lamar
Playhouse and the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Committee.
She was the Tzu Chi Foundation’s Volunteer of
the Year, received National Forensic League Outstanding Distinction, attended the YMCA Mock
Trial State competition, qualified for the Texas
Forensic League State competition four times,
and was a National Forensics League National
Qualifier.
Olive has earned the American Legion
Oratorical Contest scholarship and the C.R.
Smith Endowed Scholarship.
Learn about our Salutatorians inside.
THE LAMAR CISD FACTS
THE LAMAR CISD FACTS
PAGE 7
PAGE 2
S
Superintendent’s
Message district is funded on a per student basis, using
New
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In discussions
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our school district is getting more money under
the new school finance system that was set in
place in 2006. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite.
Because of growth in property tax revenues in
Lamar CISD, we estimate that in 2008-09 budget
year, given the same set of circumstances as the
2007-2008 school year, the district will get $10
million less from the state.
What happened to the $10 million? The state
has the option to re-distribute the funds it no longer pays to Lamar CISD to other school districts
and even to programs other than public education. So whatever growth in property values we
are experiencing does not end up in our local
classrooms. We might be getting new revenue,
but it is offset by less money coming from the
state. Plain and simple, the local taxpayer will
bear more of the cost of educating our students.
LCISD will receive the same amount of money
per student in the coming year as it did last year.
No provisions have been made for inflation, salary increases, or the numerous unfunded
mandates passed by the Legislature last year.
Under the current finance system, every school
Houston Athletic Club honors
three LCISD scholar-athletes
Three Lamar CISD students were honored by
the Houston Athletic Committee at the annual
Scholar Athlete of the Year banquet.
Terry High’s Stephen Koen (basketball)
and Chris Ondrey (tennis) and Lamar Consolidated’s Jeff Haver (swimming) were all honored
for their accomplishments, not only in the athletic venues, but also in the classroom.
All were finalists for Scholar Athlete of the Year
in their respective sports.
what is called “target revenue.” Target revenue is
the combination of the amount of local (property
taxes) and state funding a district received per
student for either the 2005-06 or 2006-07 school
year, whichever amount is greater. For Lamar
CISD, it’s the 2006-07 figure, which is $5,333 per
student.
To complicate things even further, every school
district has a different target revenue figure. The
formula used to establish a district’s target revenue is very complex and confusing, and much
of the logic applied to setting a district’s target
revenue is based on conditions that existed as
many as five years ago.
In looking at districts across the state, Lamar
CISD fared much better than some, but there
are still many districts that have a target revenue
figure higher than ours. To put this in perspective,
if LCISD had Tomball ISD’s target revenue, we
would collect $2.2 million in additional funding for 2008-09. My point is that the system not
only is unfair, but it’s inequitable as well. Why are
some school districts expected to make do with
less?
The only way for a school district to increase its
revenue is through an increase in student population or an increase in the tax rate. Student growth
will generate more funds, but not at a rate that
covers the actual cost of educating each student.
With regard to tax rates, a Board of Trustees can
only increase the tax rate by four cents per $100
of property value. Any increase beyond $1.04
must be taken to the voters for approval.
Chris Ondrey
Jeff Haver
Stephen Koen
So far, Lamar CISD has not accessed any of the
additional four pennies. Several years ago, the
LCISD leadership made several difficult decisions
in order to keep our finances sound by making
many budget cuts that did not impact instructional programs. Since then, we’ve enjoyed a stable
budget and have been able to give good salary
increases to staff members. Unfortunately, under
the current school finance system, the good times
soon will be over.
In a nutshell, the effort to overhaul the way
public education is funded was about property
tax relief; it was not about reforming school
finance. In fact, the current finance system we
have may be more inequitable than the previous
system, which was ruled unconstitutional by the
Texas Supreme Court.
The Select Committee on Higher and Public
Education Finance, established by the Legislature, is examining the way the state funds education and is expected to make recommendations
to lawmakers. I recently submitted testimony,
and I encourage community members to share
thoughts or concerns with your state elected representatives as well.
Sincerely,
Thomas Randle, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Mustang baseball comes up just
short of state tournament
The Lamar Consolidated Mustangs reached the Class 4A
Regional baseball finals for the first time in the school’s
history, before losing in a13-inning thriller to Friendswood High, 8-6.
Pitcher Brady Rogers was named to the first team of
the Houston Chronicles’ Greater Houston baseball team,
with outfielder Cody Robinson making the second team.
Both players are juniors and will return to Coach Greg
Kobza’s 2009
team.
2006 BOND UPDATE
Two campuses to open in fall;
School Trustees name
more on the way
future campuses
Lamar CISD’s next junior high school will be
named after a long-time teacher; while the district’s 21st elementary will carry the name of a
former state representative.
Antoinette Reading Junior High, located on FM 762, will open in 2010, while Joe
Hubenak Elementary is scheduled to open in
2009. The site has not been chosen, but it will be
located in the northern part of the district.
Reading taught social studies in Lamar CISD for
more than 30 years. She also served as a librarian
and was on the Fort Bend County Library board
of directors for many years. She was Lamar Consolidated High School’s first ever Teacher of the
Year. She was descended from the area’s original
settlers.
Hubenak served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1968-1979. He also served on the
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, as well as
a deputy commissioner at the Texas Department
of Insurance. While in the legislature, Hubenak
helped create Brazos Bend State Park. Hubenak
also served on the Lamar CISD Board of Trustees.
A“fence-cutting” ceremony was held to celebrate
the beginning of construction for Lamar CISD’s
fourth secondary complex, which will be home to
George Ranch High School.
The high school and Antoinette Reading Junior
High, will both open in 2010. A sixth-grade only
campus, Polly Ryon Middle School, will be built
at that location as the need arises.
Projects are on schedule for two new campuses
that will debut debut in the fall.
Wertheimer Middle School will open next
to Foster High School and Briscoe Junior High.
McNeill Elementary will open in the Lakemont
subdivision in the northern part of the district.
Two more elementary campuses will be opening in the fall of 2009. Cora Thomas Elementary
will open in the Walnut Creek subdivision, while
Joe Hubenak Elementary will open in the northern
part of the district.
Questions about the coming
school year? Go to lcisd.org!
The Lamar CISD website – lcisd.org – has all
the information you need regarding the coming school year, including the school calendar, school supply lists, dress code and much
more.
You will also find a link to the LCISD
Transportation Department, so that bus riders
can register for the coming school year. All
bus riders, whether new riders or returning
riders, must register before the 2008 school
year. Call the Transportation Department at
832-223-0280 for more information on riding
the bus.
LCISD Principals are
Harvard Bound
Raise Your Hand Texas selected three Lamar CISD
principals to attend the Summer Institutes at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education. Lamar
Junior High principal Victoria Bedo, Velasquez
Elementary principal Beth Dow and Ray Elementary principal Diane Parks will all spend a
portion of their summer at the Ivy League school
in Cambridge, Mass.
These principals will meet with the foremost
national and international experts in the fields of
education and leadership, and work alongside
renowned educators from across the country.
Only 100 principals in the entire state were
chosen for the program. More than 400 principals
applied to the Raise Your Hand Texas Leadership
Program. For the 100 principals who were selected, Raise Your Hand Texas is covering the full cost
of the program, which includes tuition, travel,
room and board and a daily stipend.
Three Lamar CISD elementary schools
honored by the Texas Education Agency.
Three Lamar CISD elementary schools were
honored for their history of success by the Texas
Education Agency.
Bowie, Ray and Travis elementary schools
were all honored as 2007-2008 Title I, Part A
Distinguished Performance schools. Out of the
thousands of schools in Texas, only 134 received
this honor, with only 14 in the Greater Houston
area.
The schools were recognized at a reception at
the Region IV Service Center in Houston.
Under criteria set by the agency’s No Child Left
Behind division, a Title I campus qualified for the
honor if the campus:
• met Adequate Yearly Progress standards under
the federal accountability evaluation system both
this year and in 2006;
• earned the state’s highest accountability rating
of exemplary in 2007; and
• earned an exemplary or recognized rating,
which is the second highest rating in the state
accountability system, during the two previous
school years.
Each campus is serving a population that is 40
percent or more low income in the 2007-08
school year.
Title I, Part A is a federal program under the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
THE LAMAR CISD FACTS
THE LAMAR CISD FACTS
PAGE 6
Lamar CISD named among
tops for library Search
Lamar CISD is ranked in the Top 50 in the nation
for keeping students safe during Internet searches.
The Educational Safe Search Index was administered by Thinkronize, a leader in the digital
delivery of K-12 educational content and developers of netTrekker d.i., the #1 safe educational
search engine. netTrekker d.i. is now used by
over 11 million students, 600,000 teachers, and
20,000 schools in all 50 states in the United
States.
Two Lamar CISD schools
earn A+ For Energy grants
Two campuses have been awarded $10,000
each in BP’s A+ for Engery Grant Program.
Wessendorff Middle School earned
$10,000 for Leigh Ann Blair’s “Energy, Will
We Run Out?” project.
The team of Debra Jordan, Gloria Garcia,
Daryl Esswein and Katrina McLean at
Smith Elementary will be getting $10,000 to
continue the after-school robotics program.
BP is awarding up to $1 million in grants and
scholarships to teachers to teach children about
energy, energy conservation and alternative energy.
PAGE 3
Three seniors earn National
Merit Scholarships
Three Lamar Consolidated ISD seniors have been
awarded college-funded National Merit Scholarships.
These awards provide between $500 and
$2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the
scholarship. Another group of Scholars will be
announced in July, bringing the total number of
college-sponsored Merit Scholarship recipients in
the 2008 competition to about 4,600.
Foster High Schools Nathan Dietert and
Lamar Consolidated High’s Danny Galicki both
received National Merit Scholarships from Texas
A&M University. Dietert will major in Petroleum
Engineering, while Galicki will study Aerospace
Engineering.
Jeff Haver, also graduating from Lamar
Consolidated, received a scholarship from Baylor
University, where he will study Business.
Wessendorff wins $60K in
Samsung electronics
Lamar CISD’s Wessendorff Middle School is one
of only 30 schools to receive $60,000 in prizes
from Sansung Electronics and Microsoft in Samsung’s Hope for America program.
Art teacher Charlene Tevis wrote the winning essay that earned her school the top prize.
The focus of Tevis writing was what wellknown geniuses had the advantages of modern
technology.
“What if DaVinci had a laptop, or Mozart an
electronic keyboard?” she queried as part of her
essay.
The school will use $30,000 for hardware, as
well as $30,000 for software.
Valleé Ross is the
Salutatorian for the
Class of 2008 at
Lamar Consolidated
High School.
She is the daughter of
Marie Maltbie of Sugar
Land.
Valleé graduated with
a grade point average of
110.440 and plans to attend the University of
Texas in Austin.
While at Lamar she earned academic honors in
Human Geography, World History, U.S. History,
Economics, Biology, English and Spanish. Valleé
is an Advanced Placement Scholar with Honors
and earned the National Honor Society Shining
Star Award.
She was in band her freshman, sophomore and
junior years, a member of the National Honor Society, the Young Democrats, Academic Decathlon
and the NEMOS Environmental Club.
Chris James is the
salutatorian for the
Class of 2008 for
Foster High School.
He is the son of Mike
and Kim James of
Fulshear.
He had a 110.2776
grade point average
and plans to attend
the University of Texas at Austin before attending
medical school at Stanford or Johns Hopkins.
Chris was on the Academic Honor Roll and
earned multiple course awards including Outstanding Debate and
Outstanding English Student.
He was Top Honors Team Captain on the
Academic Decathlon. He received gold medals
at the regional and state levels for his individual
performances on Academic Decathlon. Chris was
also a member of the National Honor Society, the
Foster High Band and the Debate Team. He also
participated in the national Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine. He was also named to Who’s
Who in American High School Students.
Eli Buck is the Salutatorian for the Class of
2008 for Terry High
School.
He is the son of Tom and
Marcia Buck of Rosenberg.
Eli graduated with a
106.5804 grade point
average and plans to
attend Texas A&M where he will major in Chemical Engineering.
While at Terry, Eli was in Marching Band, Student Council, National Honor Society,
Academic UIL and Academic Decathlon. He was
Academic
Decathlon team captain his senior year.
Eli is a National Merit Commended Scholar
and an Academic
Decathlon Silver Medalist.
Among his scholarship offers are the Boeing
Engineering Scholarship, the Texas A&M Alumni
Scholarship, the Southwestern University Cody
Scholarship, the Southern Methodist University
Rotunda Scholarship, The SMU Distinguished
Scholarship and the SMU Engineering Fellow
Scholarship.
HEB honors two
Lamar Educators
Hubenak received $1,000, plus another $1,000
for Long. As a finalist in the principal’s category,
Dow received $1,000, with another $2,500 being
given to Velasquez.
Both Hubenak and Dow traveled to The Woodlands for an awards celebration and final interviews. Each year, only 40 educators in
the state of Texas are chosen as finalists for these
elite honors.
Deborah Hubenak has been teaching the
children of Lamar CISD since 1979. During
that time she has taught students in kindergarten
through 5th grade. She taught at Smith Elementary for 14 years before moving to Long, where
she has taught for 15 years.
Hubenak has her bachelor’s from Sam Houston State University and her master’s from Prairie
View A&M, both in Elementary Education.
Deborah was chosen as Teacher of the Year at
Deaf Smith Elementary for the 1990-91 school
year. She was named Sam Houston State University’s Distinguished Elementary Educator of the
Year in 2004-05. In 2005-2006, she was Long
Elementary’s Teacher of the Year, the Lamar CISD
Elementary Teacher of the Year and a finalist for
the Region IV Education Service Center Teacher
of the Year. In 2006-07, Deborah was a Statewide
Semi-Finalist for the HEB Excellence in Education
Award.
Beth Dow has spent her entire career in education serving the children of Lamar CISD.
Beginning in 1981, she taught at Crockett Intermediate, served as a Gifted and Talented facilitator at Long and Ray elementary schools and
Lamar Junior High, as a teacher, assistant principal and principal at Travis Elementary and in her
current position, leading Velasquez Elementary.
She was named Teacher of the Year while at
Crockett and was the Lamar CISD Elementary
Principal of the Year for 2006.
Beth is a graduate of the University of Texas
and has her master’s from the University of
Houston-Victoria.
She serves as an ad hoc professor for the
University of Houston master’s program and on
the Texas Education Agency’s Texas Principal’s
Excellence Program. Under her direction, Travis
elementary 2001-2005 received the TEA Distinguished Title I School Award. Her current school,
Velasquez was Exemplary in its first year of
existence.
Ray nominated for NCLB
Blue Ribbon Lamar CISD’s Ray Elementary
has been nominated as
a 2008 U.S. Department
of Education’s No Child
Left Behind Blue Ribbon
School. Only 26 schools
in Texas were nominated
for this prestigious award.
Lamar CISD’s Austin Elementary earned a Blue
Ribbon in 2006.
The No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools
Program recognizes outstanding public and private schools that are either academically superior
in their states or that demonstrate dramatic and
consistent gains in student achievement.
To be nominated for the honor, schools must
either:
• Have 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds who show dramatic
improvement in performance on state tests over
the previous three years in reading or English
language arts and mathematics; or
• Have students, regardless of demographics,
achieve in the top 10 percent on state tests in
reading or English language arts and mathematics.
Winners of the Blue Ribbon Schools designation
for 2007-2008 will be announced in the fall by
the U.S. Department of Education.
Two principals among Texas
Distinguished Principal Finalists
Two Lamar CISD elementary principals were
among the eight finalists for the Texas National
Distinguished Principal.
McNeill Elementary principal Ken Davis and
Velasquez Elementary Principal Beth Dow were
chosen as finalists out of the thousands of elementary principals in the Texas.
Last year’s Texas National Distinguished Principal was Ray Elementary’s Diane Parks.
Each year, Texas recognizes one National Distinguished Principal from the elementary school
level. Criteria for selection of the principals are
set by the National Association of Elementary
School Principals and the U.S. Department of
Education.
Since 1917 TEPSA has served Texas principals
and supervisors. TEPSA has more than 5,300
members. These administrators supervise 153,000
teachers who direct the activities of 2.3 million
PreK-8 school children.
Deborah Hubenak
Beth Dow
Two dedicated Lamar CISD educators were
named state finalists for the HEB Excellence in
Education Awards.
Long Elementary’s Deborah Hubenak was a
finalist in the Lifetime Achievement Award
category, while Velesquez Elementary’s
Beth Dow was a finalist in the Principal of the
Year category.
The Lifetime Achievement award is limited to
teachers with more than 20 years of classroom
experience. One elementary and one secondary
teacher will each receive a $25,000 cash prize
plus a $25,000 grant for his/her school.
THE LAMAR CISD FACTS
THE LAMAR CISD FACTS
PAGE 4
PAGE 5
Employee Banquet
honors our heroes
Maus and Nutt named Teachers of the Year
Two members of the staff at Smith Elementary took top honors at the annual Lamar
Classroom Teacher Association Banquet.
Smith 5th-grade teacher Ruth Ann Maus was named Elementary Teacher of the Year,
while Smith teacher aide Ingrid Ireland earned Elementary Paraprofessional of the Year honors.
Foster High English teacher Karen Nutt took home Secondary Teacher of the Year honors.
Lamar Junior High’s Becky Melendez, secretary to an assistant principal, earned Secondary
Paraprofessional of the Year.
Elementary
Austin Elementary
Beasley Elementary
Bowie Elementary
Campbell Elementary
Dickinson Elementary
Frost Elementary
Huggins Elementary
Hutchison Elementary
Jackson Elementary
Long Elementary
Meyer Elementary
Pink Elementary
Seguin Elementary
Ray Elementary
Travis Elementary
Williams Elementary
Velasquez Elementary
Teachers
Farrell Hoelzel
Rita Hedt
Stephanie Kolacny
Jane Rudat
Patricia Johnson
Karin Gisi
Michael Ramos
iffany Garcia
Amy Vyvial
Barbara Bullen
Jayla Allen
Priscilla Cole
Rhonda Gerke
Mishelle Ehrig
Jo Ellen Michalec
Willie Mae Lykes
Sarita Koop
Paraprofessionals
Jessie Koontz
Glydene Bedford
Gloria Ramirez
Beverly Williams
Ann Williams
Mary Taylor
Sandra Cordova
Kavita Jasani
Delia Palacios
Audrey Jones
Sharon Vyvial
Marle Garza
Natalie Gonzalez
Olga Baker
Monica Arroyo
Ana Sanchez
Lidia Camacho
Secondary
Briscoe Junior High
George Junior High
Lamar Junior High
Navarro Middle School
Wessendorff Middle School
Lamar CHS
Terry High
Foster High School
The Community Center
Alternative Learning Center
Sarah McBride
Helen Daniels
Billy Hardin
Karen McGhee
Janice Campbell
Dr. Fred Guess
David Viaclovsky
Mary Marcuccio
Mary Baker
John Oikeh
Katie Clayton
Patti Castro,
The Legendary Legions of Lamar were on display for
the annual Lamar CISD Employee Banquet,
honoring those who have reached service
milestones in the District.
The evening featured an All-American Heroes
Dinner, prepared and served by the Lamar CISD
Food Service Department. The George Junior High
Cafeteria was transformed into a super secret hideaway, thanks to the Maintenance and Operations,
Human Resources and Community Relations departments.
30-year veterans Helen Daniels, Terry Felcman, Alfonse
Harris, Fran Kelly, Rosie King, Mary Lopez, Mary
Magallan, Estella McGill, Raymond Missler, Mary Pardo,
Amalie Perales, Louise Phillips, Beverly Richard,
Patricia Stupka, Gerald Thompson, Gene Tomas, Lydia
Torres, Delia Villarreal and Minerva Zepeda;
Employee Banq
Banquet
nquet
35-year
employees Maria Martinez, Linda
3
Pochyla
and Sherry Roehling
P
Anita Gray
Debbie Jones
Cecilia Rodriguez
Betsy Foster,
40 years of service at LCISD,
Kathleen Rude and Bernice Schmidt
PPrincipals
rrincipals and Asst. Principals named
Barbara Mayo
2008 Principals of the Year
Victoria Bedo and Ken Davis are the 2008 Principals of the Year for Lamar CISD.
Davis is the principal at McNeill Elementary, which opens in the fall. Bedo is the principal at Lamar Junior High.
Bedo began her career in Lamar CISD in 1991 as an assistant principal at Terry High School. She has been the
principal at LJH since 1998. She has a total of 28 years in education.
She is a graduate of Alma College in Michigan, with her master’s from Houston Baptist University. She taught
journalism at a private Houston school and high school Spanish in Michigan prior to coming to LCISD.
Davis was principal at Pink Elementary for six years. Prior to Pink, Davis was an assistant principal and math
specialist in Aleif ISD.
Davis is a 1991 graduate of Rockford College in Illinois and earned his master’s in Elementary Education in
1999 from St. Thomas University in Houston.
25-year employees Manuela Cantu, Irma Ganious,
Rhett Gray, Troy Kettler, Jeffery Kimble, Carol Koeppen,
Carla Kueck, Wilma Mayberry, James Matthys,
Delia Moreno, Marlene Napps, Patricia Neal,
Irma Nurre, Jan Payne, Juan Salazar, Cynthia Salch,
Dietra Smith, Nancy Stasney, Ken Walla and Eileen Wildy;
Veronica Williams
Ken Davis
Chandra Woods
Mary Ellen Rocha
Victoria Bedo
Mark Melendez
Amber Schulens
Veronica Williams is the new principal at
Huggins Elementary. Williams has been an
administrator in Lamar CISD for three years,
serving as an assistant principal at Briscoe Junior
High and Lamar Consolidated High School. She
has five years teaching experience and two years
as an instructional specialist in Fort Bend ISD.
She is a 1998 graduate from Texas A&M University and received her master’s degree from the
University of Houston.
Chandra Woods is the new principal at Pink
Elementary School. Chandra has five years teaching experience and nine years administrative
experience, serving as an assistant principal at
two schools in Alief ISD before coming to Lamar
CISD. Chandra has been the Assistant Principal at
Pink Elementary for three years. She is a 1993 graduate from the University of Houston and received her
master’s degree from Prairie View A&M University.
Mark Melendez is the new principal for
Smith Elementary.
Melendez has been the Assistant Principal at
Smith Elementary for three years and began his
tenure as principal in May.
Melendez is a 1983 graduate from Texas A&M
University-Kingsville with a Bachelor of Science
degree. He has master’s degrees from Troy
State University and Columbus College. He has
six years previous teaching experience and four
years administrative experience.
Mary Ellen Rocha and Amber Schulens
are the two newest assistant principals in Lamar
CISD.
Rocha will be the assistant principal at Pink
Elementary and is a 2002 graduate of Houston
Baptist University. She received her master’s from
the University of Houston-Victoria. She has five
years of teaching and administrative experience,
all with Lamar CISD. She most recently served as
an administrative intern at Pink Elementary.
Schulens, the assistant principal at McNeill
Elementary, is a 2002 graduate of Sam Houston
State University. She received her master’s in
2005, also from Sam Houston State. Schulens has
five years of teaching experience in the Sealy and
Lamar CISD schools. She has most recently been
teaching third grade at Hutchison Elementary.