Every day is a digital learning day in SBISD, but on Feb.6 we'll be taking time to share how we're using technology with other educators and students around the nation. You can too! Join the wave of education champions who seek to engage students, celebrate and empower teachers, and create a healthy learning environment, personalized for every child. Participation is free and easy. Click here to find out what you can do to participate.
What is Digital Learning Day?
Digital Learning Day is a national campaign that celebrates teachers and shines a spotlight on successful instructional practice and effective use of technology in classrooms across the country. The inaugural Digital Learning Day boasted tens of thousands of teachers representing nearly 2 million students.
The second annual Digital Learning Day is gaining momentum with ongoing activities, ideas, and collaboration opportunities leading up to Feb. 6.
Did you know there's a section of the SBISD district website dedicated to students? Visit the FOR STUDENTS section of the district website for more information. It's updated weekly - so don't miss it!
SBISD partners, volunteer and community members who give their time and talent to our students and schools are urged to join us on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 8-9 a.m. for the 10th annual SBISD Celebration of Sharing.
Doors will open for the appreciation breakfast at 7 a.m. and followed by a planned program that will include performances by the Stratford High Playhouse players from the musical production of Crazy for You and special music by the Pine Shadows Elementary Choir.
Please RSVP online by Feb. 15 at www.springbranchisd.com/rsvp, or phone 713-251-2468. This annual event is held to in appreciation of your support for SBISD.
A top officer in a nonprofit foundation that educates families on how to make online experiences safe and responsible told about 100 parents and community residents Jan. 23 that one of the best ways to protect youth is to talk to them openly and honestly – and whenever possible.
But parents should educate themselves about the Internet, too.
“Home-grown communication and collaboration is the way to go,” i-Safe Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan King said during a district meeting on social media and technology held in the Board Meeting Room of the Wayne F. Schaper Leadership Center.
During an hour-long session, King talked about the positives of modern technology and the need to understand the potential hazards and consequences of online harassment and bullying, as well as other troubling trends in social media and online communication.
A former FBI special agent in the cyber crimes division, King is responsible for the development of all technology and materials at the nonprofit foundation. The i-Safe curriculum is now used in SBISD libraries and classrooms.
“We want to educate and empower students to be safe online, and Spring Branch ISD is a leader in promoting progressive and innovative use of technology,” he said. SBISD is working to be an area leader in online safety and education efforts, too, he said.
King’s remarks were broadcast online live for those unable to attend the meeting in person. To view his presentation, click here.
About 100 juniors at Westchester Academy for International Studies visited with and followed around engineers, early childhood teachers and technology industry employees earlier this month to learn more about real occupations.
Westchester Academy partnered with Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas on Jan. 8-10 to take students on a complete career path with job shadowing events at nine separate locations during the three-day period.
Employees from nine companies in three separate fields – information technology, service, or engineering and business – taught Westchester Academy juniors about careers in their fields.
Students observed day-to-day operations and learned details about skills required to succeed in a particular industry. In addition to department tours and mentoring sessions, students learned resume writing and building, interview best practices, and networking skills.
Job shadowing visits occurred at Microsoft, Phillips 66, GE Oil & Gas, Group 1 Automotive, Junior Achievement, Lion Lane School for Early Learning, Bridgeway, ExxonMobil and Omron Oilfield Marine. Westchester Academy leaders picked the job-shadowing activity with juniors as one way to connect with SBISD’s five-year goal to double the number of district graduates who pursue technical, two-year associates, or four-year university and college degrees. This goal is called T-2-4 in SBISD.
“Our goal as a campus and a district is to dramatically increase the number of students completing a technical, two-year or four-year degree,” Westchester’s leadership team told parents.
“For many students, identifying one or more career paths that interest them creates a high level of motivation that can support them as they strive to succeed in their advanced course work. To that end, we have partnered with Junior Achievement to create a special week of activities and experiences,” school leaders Mechiel Rozas, Beverly Martin and Andrea Andrews told parents.
Registrar Andrews said that the connections students made by seeing engineers in action, or observing workday events, was priceless. “It sounds cliché, but students had an authentic opportunity to connect what they are learning every day in school to real work, real people and real careers,” she said.
As a result of the job shadowing program’s success, some students will present at a February Junior Achievement meeting. Campus leaders hope to make this program an annual event.
About 100 second- and third-graders at Ridgecrest Elementary School were given free dental exams and teeth cleanings on Jan. 22 when a mobile dentistry lab from the University of Texas-Dental Branch visited the campus.
The campus mobile lab visit, coordinated by Communities in Schools, offered free preventative and restorative care, oral health education and referrals. Students who had extreme restorative needs were also referred to the UT Dental Branch Pediatric Dental Clinic.
A supervising professor and dental students work in the mobile dentist lab, funded by a special donation from Ronald McDonald House.
Ridgecrest Elementary, with about 800 students, has partnered with the Dental lab for many years now. “Many of our parents don’t have access to dental care. These visits help our children in need to take care of their teeth. Proper dental health is a lifelong need, and proper health in this area can affect student learning, especially during middle school and high school,” Principal Trish Thomas said.
In the past year, longtime Spring Branch FFA volunteer Joe Yarbrough has received both state and national recognition for helping the district’s FFA program remain supported and financed properly.
Last summer, he was awarded the Honorary Lone Star Degree at the state FFA convention. His volunteer efforts in Spring Branch FFA were honored again last October when he received the Honorary American FFA Degree at the national FFA meeting in Indianapolis.
“Joe Yarbrough has been an active, involved community member in the Spring Branch FFA chapter for more than two decades, helping the Agricultural Science students and program in many ways,” Guthrie Center Principal Joe Kolenda says.
At 80, Joe can look back decades and recall the day that two FFA students solicited him for a small program donation. They walked away elated with $400 to support two student teams for that year’s charity FFA golf tournament.
The turning point for involvement by Joe, a successful local businessman, was 1994. Back then, he wasn’t sure that Spring Branch ISD should support a local FFA program. By year’s end, he had helped raise $10,000 to construct a new pig barn. He then raised $8,000 from 50 local donors for the Agricultural Science program.
Today, the Guthrie Center-directed program has about 70 FFA students, more than 100 students enrolled in classes, two teachers, and an updated center with student classrooms and labs.
For Joe, it’s a long way from the hard-scrabble Georgia farm where he was raised. He began an air-conditioning business here after earning an associate’s degree at the University of Houston. He ran that successful firm for 26 years.
“I grew up on a farm. We were poor. I stayed out of school to work and didn’t have really good schooling or education. I did well for myself, but I’ve always wondered what I could have done with more,” he says, looking back.
“I know that through FFA I have kept some students in school, rather than dropping out. It does make a difference for students who might have low self-esteem, or never to have belonged, to be in this kind of program. They really do change when you give students responsibility,” Joe adds.
Over the years, Joe has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the local FFA program, and been a successful program advocate. He donates regularly to the FFA chapter for student scholarships and facility improvements.
“During a typical week, Joe will come by the farm to help students with their projects, repair animal pens when needed, check on the operation of farm equipment like tractors, and more. During growing season, Joe is the first one there to till and make ready the 5,500 square-feet vegetable garden, which students plant and tend,” Kolenda adds.
A Spring Branch resident for 44 years, Joe has been married to Loveern Yarbrough for 50 years. They have one adult daughter and two grand-daughters.
Students and district leaders celebrate with ribbon cutting.
About 300 school and community members celebrated the grand opening of Spring Branch ISD’s 10th new, rebuilt elementary campus during a special event held Jan. 22 at Housman Elementary School. This new school is located at 6705 Housman at Silber.
Housman Elementary is one of 13 elementary schools that have been rebuilt under the $597 million 2007 Bond Plan.
Remaining schools in the design or construction phase are Frostwood, Valley Oaks and Rummel Creek elementaries.
The original Housman school opened in 1950. The new Housman Elementary is a two-story, 100,500-square-feet building with a wide central hallway and exterior façade of brick, Texas limestone, split face concrete block, glazed curtain walls and shiny aluminum canopies.
The new Housman Elementary School - A 2007 Bond Program Project
The new elementary has 32 regular classrooms, in addition to resource, special education and fine arts classrooms, for a capacity of about 650 students. Key features of the new building are two large, colorful murals of the school’s mascot, the Housman Mustang.
Students and area families enjoyed tours of the new facility and refreshments.
In addition to school colors of purple and white, Housman has “crayon box” accent colors of red, blue and purple. The color scheme creates a vibrant, upbeat mood.
After more than a year in a transition building, students and staff returned to their east-side neighborhood on Jan. 8. Several hundred people gathered Jan. 22 for an after-school celebration in the new cafeteria.
Superintendent Klussmann thanks student leaders for their participation in the grand opening celebration.
Superintendent of Schools Duncan F. Klussmann, Ed.D., delivered the welcoming remarks and introduced several special guests. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Board of Trustees member Katherine Dawson delivered greetings from Trustees. A former Housman third-grade teacher, she recalled past memories and asked the students and others to make new special ones.
Other Trustees who attended the Housman Grand Opening were Board President Pam Goodson, Mike Falick, Wayne Schaper, Sr., Chris Gonzalez, Bob Stevenson and Chris Vierra.
“Great things have occurred for years at Housman, and now you have a building that exemplifies this excellence of today and the hopes and promise of tomorrow. This is a new beginning and a time to celebrate. So what memories will you begin making today, and moving forward, in this new Housman Elementary building?”
She told gathered students: “This is your time to shine in this awesome new building and to show your Mustang pride by keeping the building nice, coming to school every day to learn, working hard, studying hard, and making memories. The memories that you make starting today and all the important things that you learn while at Housman will help you become what you want to be as a grown up.” (Read below for full statement)
Housman Principal Mary Lou Davalos noted that the old building held special memories, but new ones are being made. “The new Housman is beautiful. It is stunning. I get choked up by it. The new Housman will spark our children to do well in the future, too,” she said.
Student performances and presentations included a Zumba Fitness Dance by kindergartners set to the music of “Baila de Emociona Calypso;” poems by two fourth-graders; and special Words of Gratitude readings by fifth-graders. (Read below for student statements)
A video, titled “A Visual: Housman from Old to New,” was also shown. After the program, cookies were served to event guests.
Bay-IBI Group Architects provided building design services. Gamma Construction was the project contractor. SBISD Planning and Construction’s Kris Drosche was the project director.
Greetings
from the SBISD Board of Trustees President Katherine Dawson
It is a privilege to bring you greetings
from the Spring Branch ISD Board of Trustees. Also, it is a special honor
for me to stand here and deliver this welcome because almost sixteen years ago
I began my teaching career here at Housman.
I have some incredible memories, those
special things you remember for a lifetime. I remember the smiling faces
every morning when I picked up my students from the main front hallway and our
brisk outdoor walks to the back part of the building and being the lone third
grade teacher on the amazing 5th grade wing.
I remember being thankful that my room
had carpet where other classrooms did not. I remember our lessons on the
rainforest and our parents who shared about their jobs during our community
lessons. I remember our awesome HUG volunteers of the past who continue
today to truly make a difference in our students' lives.
I remember our Community in Schools
staff who continue to provide our kids the tools and resources that help them
succeed in school. I even remember thinking about running for the Board
of Trustees because I wanted to represent our Housman kids and make
opportunities for all our kids to succeed.
Most of all I remember the strong
community and amazing parents, students and facility that make up the Housman
family. This strong community continues to be part of today's memories
and the reason we are here to today to celebrate the grand opening of the new
Housman building.
Today, I stand here making a new memory
in a new building. Our community believed in the importance of passing a
bond so we could build schools for our future. Spring Branch believes in
our future and your potential as seen in our ambitious goal to double
the number of students completing a technical certificate, military training,
two-year degree or four-year degree.
We call this Spring Branch T24. Our
community and district have given you a structure and a goal. This new school
is an investment in you. What you do within this building determines your
future and will help you achieve you goal. You have transitioned from a sixty
year old building to a transition campus and now with great excitement and
anticipation you are back home in this new, bright, open and colorful
building.
Great things have occurred for years at
Housman and now you have a building that exemplifies this excellence of today
and the hopes and promise of tomorrow. This is a new beginning and a time
to celebrate. So what memories will you begin making today and moving
forward in this new Housman building?
To our community, one must begin by
saying thank you. Thank you for having the confidence and belief in our
kids and SBISD as we "build our future in Spring Branch." This
is a community school, a partnership with those in this room, and your
investment in Housman assures our kids a bright future. Utilize this
cheerful, beautiful and functional space to mentor, provide programs and find
new ways to get involved. Let the contagiousness of something new spill over
into your efforts and energize you to do more. Community members are a
key factor to helping our kids believe and succeed in our Spring Branch
T24. May this be the beginning of many celebratory memories you have at
Housman.
To our parents, this is your
neighborhood school. May you feel welcomed at all times and may you
actively participate in the education of your children. Join your PTA,
become a volunteer, find ways to become active at this school. Even the
smallest effort and a little bit of time can make a big impact, create a
special memory and have a lasting effect on your child's education.
To the Housman staff, you inspire your
students daily to learn and grow, to dream and hope and see the importance of
today's efforts in shaping their future. May you be inspired by this new
facility and may you pass on that inspiration to your students. Enjoy the
things a new building brings such as cubbies for the kids' belongs, well
designed rooms, planning spaces and from what I have heard consistent
temperature control; all factors that affect a day of learning. Beyond
these things know that this new building reflects the greatness that has been
occurring daily in your teaching and may you continue to perpetuate your
strengths will enjoying and incorporating the benefits this new school has to
offer. You are true memory makers in the minds and hearts of our students.
Finally and most importantly, to the
Housman students, take a moment and look around this room. The people
that fill this room are here because of you. Today, we will cut a ribbon
that is meant to create a memory regarding the opening of this school.
This is your school and you are the reason this new building was
constructed. We believe in you and your bright future.
Just raise your hand if you have thought
about what you want to be when you grow up. Whatever you decide, it starts here
in this building. Learn those math facts, take time to discover new
places and things through reading a good book, dream and imagine then share those
thoughts through your writings, listen to your teachers they are here for you
and choose to do your best.
This is your time to shine in this
awesome new building and to show your mustang pride by keeping the building
nice, coming to school every day ready to learn, working hard, studying hard
and making memories. The memories you make starting today and all the
important things you learn while at Houseman will help you become what you want
to be as a grown up.
In closing, I ask you again what memories
will you make here in this spectacular building. It is truly humbling to
think about what this building holds for today and tomorrow and the memories
that will be made in the next sixty years. Enjoy this new beginning and
start making those special memories.
At this point in time, I am going to
share another memory and that is walking into this school for a tour during
construction and meeting an energetic, smiling individual who beamed with pride
for her school and her mustang community. This is individual is Mary Lou
Davalos, your Housman Principal and it is my privilege to introduce her to you
today. Mary Lou.
Words
of Gratitude from Housman 5th Grade Class Representatives
Kassandra
Ortiz
When
I came to Housman Elementary in second grade, I quickly felt at home because my
teacher made me feel welcomed. I thought it couldn’t get better than this. When
I was in 3rd grade, however, I received the exciting news that we
would have a new school built. Ms. Davalos and Mr. Mendizabal showed us an
example of what it might look like.
In
what seemed like a blink of an eye, it was announced that we would finally be
coming back ‘home’. My imagination ran wild with what to expect and I got that
cool nervous feeling inside me.
When
I walked into my new school, the first thing I saw was the mustang painting
made up of a thousand Housman words. Everywhere I looked was simply amazing.
During lunch time I sit and stare at our beautiful stage picturing me graduating
in May.
This
is the first of many dreams coming true. Thank you, Dr. Klussmann, School Board
Members, Principals and Teachers, so much for all the hard work.
Vanessa
Barrera
After
long months of waiting, for this magnificent transformation and the many
efforts and sacrifices of our families, teachers and builders, the day to
return to Housman was finally here. We could not sleep thinking about the big
day and our new school that would welcome us with open arms. Many remember the
emotions when the bus stopped in front of the school and we looked at each
other with big smiles. Everything was like a dream come true. We could not
believe it, we felt like it was a university.
This
beautiful work inspires us for the future, with a library as the central point
to dream big, this school is the result of our achievements and it will help us
take on new roles in life.
We
will be the first class to graduate from this colorful and wonderful building.
Thank you for the opportunity to learn in the most modern of facilities. It is
a real pride to belong to this school and be a part of the Spring Branch
Independent School District.
Jackie
Hernandez
My
name is Jackie Hernandez-Ortiz and I’m a 5th grade student. First of
all I need to say about the new school is that I’m very impressed with the size
of this school. My jaw dropped when I walked in for the first time. I couldn’t
believe that this was going to be my new “home”.
Yet
a part of me is saddened knowing that I will be graduating in a few short
months. But on the other hand, I get to be the first to walk across our
gorgeous stage. This new building will allow me to get closer to achieving my
dreams of becoming a doctor someday. I want to thank you, Dr. Klussmann, School
Board Members, principals and teachers for your endless hours of work.
Jonathan
Romero
As
a fifth grader I am honored to be a Housman Mustang and one of the first to
graduate this new school. I hope my classmates feel the same way about this
building as I know how much work was put into it.
We
as students should try to keep it clean for the next generation of kids to
enjoy it. I want to thank the teachers, workers, students who helped in the
making of this school. I hope the next generation’s future is as bright as
mine.
This
building is a gift to all of us. I would like to thank Ms. Davalos and Mr.
Mendizabal for being our principal and assistant principal in guiding us to our
future and lives. Thank you teachers for teaching us and maturing us for the
future.
