MWP-ISD Receives Grant For Tobacco Education
    by Myrtleann Anderson, Staff Writer~~ The Monahans News, October 24, 2006

The Monahans-Wickett- Pyote ISD Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, October 10 for their regular monthly meeting.  In attendance were Superintendent Keith Richardson, President, Larry "Bear" Bryant, Dave Poynor, Kay Rankin and Bill Clayton.  Members not present were Bo Rose, Donna Garcia and Patsy Carrasco.

Assistant Superintendent Glenna Applewhite told the board the MWP-ISD had received a $3,000 grant to help with the enforcement of the law concerning minors in possession of tobacco.

The grant which started in September, will be available for use by the school district by the school district through September of 2007.  The new law concerning tobacco use by minors will go into affect on November 1, 2006.

Students at Monahans High School, Monahans Education Center, and Walker Junior High School will be informed about the district's policies for the use of tobacco by a minor, and they will be required to sigh a statement affirming they have been informed about the law, the consequences of breaking the law and the enforcement of the law.

They will also participate in classes that provide education and information on the harmful effects of smoking and the use of all tobacco products.

The policies under the grant provisions are:

Any student under 18 years old of age that is enrolled in the MWP-ISD that possesses, purchases, consumes, sells or delivers a tobacco product, smoking or smokeless on or with 300 feet of school property as measured from any point of the school's real property is in violation of state law.

 A student having this item in a privately owned vehicle that was driven to school and parked on district property is deemed as in possession.

Disciplinary action applied to all students regardless of age will include the following:

"We will also use high school students to teach elementary students about the tobacco issue," Applewhite explained.  "Most of the grant money, $2,100 will be used on educational materials.  Our counselors have purchased posters that will be displayed at difference campuses."

"We can apply for the grant again," she added, "in subsequent years, and we can bump in down and pickt up the lower grades."

Principals from Tatom, Walker Junior High School and MHS attended  the meeting and gave a report concerning their campus goals.

Jeff Jones, principal at Tatom, told the board last year's goal for Tatom and Sudderth are similar to this year's goals.

"We are still working on those goals," Jones said.  "We want to move our accountability rating up from a "Recognized" campus, to an "Exemplary" campus.  It will be tough, with the standards being moved up, but the teachers and students are working hard toward that goal.  We have a new program this year, the Ellis grogram for our special needs kids, and we are hoping that will bring scores up."

Jones said attendance has been good in spite of a good deal of sickness this year.  "Incentives for perfect attendance are helping.  The campus is working to get volunteers to help on campus and  to improve communication with parents, students, teachers, cafeteria workers and custodians.  Curriculum and technology were combined from Tatom and Sudderth labs, and the projects and research are going great.  Our counselor is working with the kids to promote citizenship and respect," Jones told the board.

In his report, Walker Junior High School principal John Horak stated, "Our goal is to be a bridge between elementary and high school.  It is a big transition.  We strive to create lifetime learners and maintain or improve our current accountability status.  We are a "Recognized" campus with 99 percent of our students passing writing, 90 percent passing math and English and 80 percent passing science."

Horak said WJHS is excited about meeting their goals.  The campus has increased staff development and used diagnostic testing in order to tailor things to the individual student's needs.  The school has implemented tutoring before and after school Monday through Thursday.

"Math is one of the subjects we really have to struggle to help them keep up with their grades.  Our teachers work to see what can be done to help those students that are not up to speed."

He told the board that home meetings were being held, and the Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) is working on ways to improve the campus.

"We are trying to educate these children in junior high and encourage them to have a goal after high school.  We bring high energy to junior high, and we want the kids to be excited about school," Horak concluded.

In her presentation, Monahans High School principal Kellye Riley, said, "You will notice the goals are very similar between high school, junior high and elementary.

"If you are teaching TAKS curriculum, your students should be able to pass the TAKS test.  Students now have to master the TAKS test in the fall and spring in order to be exempt from final exams."

Riley spoke on the different classes at the school, which are providing for the different needs of the students, and the newsletter the school sends out to parents every six-weeks.  She also explained that MHS has a website that keeps parents informed on what their children are doing.

"The students are actually doing the work on the website," Riley told the board. "We are working to keep parents, businesses, local churches and the community informed about our activities."

In conclusion, Riley said, "This year we have taken on the task of visiting with each senior and helping them get on the computer to fill out college registration forms.  So far we have 50 students that have applied for college online."

After hearing the presentation by the principals, Richardson informed the board that MWP-ISD received  "Superior Achievement" from the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas.  According to the report from FIRST, MWP-ISD gave a positive response to all 21 indicators used to determine a district's rating, the highest possible rating.

"Student enrollment is still down 65 students," Richardson announced during his Superintendent's Report, "but it is up 12 students from last month."

He reminded board members they needed to complete their requirement to take the "Open Meetings-Open Records Act" and that they could go online and take the course. "The only board member to complete the course so far is Donna Garcia," Richardson said.

In his construction update, Richardson told the board that the work at Cullender Kindergarten was finished and there were only a few minor details that needs to be done before the Complex was completed.

"If you drive by Sudderth," he said, "you will see that construction has already begun.  They've removed the windows and the air conditioning from the roof of the buildings, and they are bulldozing.  Right now Sudderth is on schedule, and that is important so we won't be lagging at the end."

"In other business, Richardson told the board that TEA now requires that the Regional Day School for the Deaf establish a management board.  He recommended that the board approve the Shared Services Agreement with Ector County Independent School District as the designated fiscal agent.

"If we contract with a shared regional program for the deaf," Richardson explained, "we won't have to pay anything unless we send students over there to them.  There are about eight other schools in our area that send their deaf students to this program."

The board approved the Shared Services Agreement for deaf students.

The board also approved a substitute teacher policy requested by Richardson.  "Our problem right now, he said, "is we are really, really, low on substitute teachers.  Currently, they are required to have 30 hours to be able to substitute, so Glenna came up with this idea to increase the number of substitutes available.

After being assured the change to the current substitute policy met TEA requirements, the board approved the change.

Board members discussed changing the regular monthly board meeting from the second Tuesday of each month to the third Tuesday of each month.

"If there is no conflict of interest, I would like to change the meeting date for the board meeting," Richardson told board members.  "It would give Glenna another week to get her financial information in."

The request to change the meeting date of the board to the third Tuesday of the month, beginning in December, we approved by the board.

The next meeting is scheduled for November 14, 5 pm, at the Administration Office Board Room.

The Board approved bids for the sell of property from the following individuals:  Noe Meza bid $300 for N. 100' of Lot 6, Blk. 3, Neill Subdivision, Corner of W. 2nd and Kate Streets; Patricia Thomas bid $100 for Lot 1, Blk. 17, Original townsite Addition, 301 W. "B" Street; Bob and Sue Rice bid $1000 for Lot 1, Blk. 2, Fred Gibson Addition, 500 W. 6th Street and Daniel Meza bid #200 for Lot 9, Blk. 13, between Janice and Katy Streets.

The 2006 Tax Roll was adopted by the board, and a budget amendment was approved for the $3,000 tobacco grant received by the school district.