Wylie Today

The McMillan Junior High band has advanced to the state level contest in the State Honor Band competition.  Every other year, bands from across the state submit recordings from live performances that are judged at the Region, Area, and State levels.  The ultimate winner is crowned Texas State Honor Band and is invited to perform a concert at the Texas Music Educators Association annual conference in San Antonio.

The Region level contest was held on June 12 at Wylie East High School where a five-judge panel named McMillan and Haggard Middle School of Plano as the top two class CC bands.  The Region level contest involved schools from Wylie, Plano, McKinney and Allen.  There are a total of 28 Regions in the State.  The area level contest occurred on June 21 in Richardson where, once again the McMillan and Haggard bands were selected as the top two bands to advance to the state contest.  The Area level contest included bands from the DFW area as well as East Texas.  There are seven areas in the State.

The state contest will take place on July 27^th in San Antonio.  The fourteen advancing bands will be judged by the five-member panel and the winner will be named State Honor Band.  This is the first time a Wylie ISD Junior High band has advanced to this level.  We are very proud of these outstanding musicians and their teachers.  Band Director at McMillan Junior High is Lisa Fitts.  She is assisted by John Denis.

Written by Mike Lipe

The WISD School Board of Trustees will hold two public forums to seek input regarding the proposed high school attendance zones. The first of these meetings is tonight, June 23rd at 7 pm and will be held at Wylie High School. Next Monday, June 30th, the forum will be at Wylie East High School at 7 pm.

Residents of WISD are encouraged to attended and voice their opinion on proposed future attendance zones for high school students. Below is the map that was approved during the second reading. Click the image for a super-duper large ultra-readable version.

The Wylie ISD Board of Trustees may be asking you to increase ISD taxes this year. Trustees listened earnestly to the WISD finance director during the second budget workshop Monday night, May 18th. The tax relief program implemented by the State of Texas last year is causing serious fiscal concerns with school budgets.

ISD taxes have two parts to them; Maintenance & Operations (M&O) and Debt Service. The Debt Service portion of ISD taxes can not exceed 50 cents per $100 of appraised property value. This portion is used to cover debt incurred by the district through issued bonds. Wylie ISD’s rate is currently 35 cents.

The M&O portion is used for exactly that, Maintenance and Operations of the district. The maximum rate the ISD can use without an election is $1.04. Wylie ISD’s M&O tax rate is currently set at $1.04. The M&O portion of ISD taxes has a ceiling of $1.17. But in order to use the maximum allowed, the voters within the district must agree and demonstrate their agreement at the polls.

Based on the conversation that took place Monday night, I will be really surprised if the WISD Board of Trustees didn’t ask citizens to raise the tax rate with a vote in November. And honestly, it’s not as bad as it sounds because it provides an automatic return on investment from the state.

The first 6 pennies over one dollar mark are referred to as “Golden Pennies” because they are matched by the state at a ratio of approximately 1.25. That means every dollar the ISD generates in taxes using those 6 “Golden Pennies”, the State of Texas gives the ISD $1.25 in return on top of that. Pennies 7 through 17 are also matched, but at a significantly reduced rate.

WISD Superintendent Dr. John Fuller recommended to the Trustees to ask citizens to raise taxes to the maximum amount allowed. Without those additional 13 pennies, teacher and staff raises might be out of the question, resulting in a loss of talented educators to other districts. Dr. Fuller made it clear that he would forfeit his recent raise as well.

Currently, 12% of districts have successfully voted on tax rates higher than $1.04. Dr. Fuller said he expects this number to increase as he thinks many districts will have this item on the ballot in November. His ideal scenario though is for the State legislation to fix the problem they have created.

From February to May 2008, Northern Michigan University students enrolled in an English Education course joined forces with sixth graders from Davis Intermediate School in Wylie, Texas in an Academic Service Learning project focused on writing.  Kim David (6^th grade Language Arts teacher for Wylie ISD) and Kia Jane Richmond, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of English at NMU and former Wylie Middle School teacher) designed this web-based, collaborative project after a similar project’s success in 2007. Richmond’s students acted as writing mentors for David’s sixth grade writing buddies via WebCT, a computer e-learning program.

Using a closed internet system provided by WebCT, sixth grade students shared their written narratives and received peer critiques, suggestions, and assessments from their mentors at NMU.  Davis IS students were charged with the assignment of writing a story from a unique perspective (i.e., telling about a soccer game from the soccer ball’s point of view) and included a problem/solution. 

One student from NMU noted that the best part of the class was being involved in the collaboration, stating, “I have never had so much fun grading and critiquing someone’s paper before. The fact that we as a class made such an impression on those 6^th graders, gives me such a great feeling.”  Other college students noted many benefits from the program: developing strategies for responding to student writing, developing a professional teaching identity, and developing empathy for young writers.

Davis IS students greatly benefited from the ongoing conferencing of their papers via WebCT – continuously revising and editing per their mentors’ advice prior to turning their papers in to Mrs. David for a final grade.  “Throughout this collaboration the students and I were equally anxious to check the website for mentors’ feedback,” said Mrs. David.  “As students could also access the website from home, those with Internet service were able to communicate more frequently with their mentors; moreover, we would receive daily updates from students who volunteered to monitor the incoming email.”  From an end-of-project survey administered to her students, such comments as “They [NMU mentors] helped us a lot, and it was fun” and “I wish it could have been longer” were provided as feedback.

 Click on image above for a large, large, large version.

The Wylie ISD Board of Trustees approved an altered version of the Wylie High School and Wylie East High School attendance zones on Monday night, May 18th. This is the second reading of the new high school attendance zones and again it was mentioned there would be parent forums to solicit feedback from the community before the final reading and approval is made.

There was only one change and it is not that significant. In order to account for the possibility of a large development north in St. Paul, the dividing line has been straightened out a bit. To see the previous map, click here.

Congratulations to the 20 teachers who have been selected as members of the WISD Teacher Leader Academy Class of 2009.  The selection committee reviewed the applications of more than 40 teachers; criteria included evidence of leadership abilities as demonstrated in current and previous positions as well as commitment to ongoing professional growth.  Good luck to the members of this new Teacher Leader Academy Class!

Class of 2009 members are:

Mindy Allen, Draper IS

Tracey Baskeyfield, Birmingham ES

Suzanne Burnham, Cox ES

Carma Gay, Akin ES

JoAnn Elliott, McMillan JHS

Barbara Gilmore, Whitt ES

Jennifer Gustavson, Dodd ES

Tiffany Cook-Harrod, Cooper JHS

Andrea Henderson, Wylie East HS

Kathryn Lee, Draper IS

Lynda Maynard, Birmingham ES

Michael McAloon, Wylie HS

Sharla McCrary, McMillan JHS

Elizabeth McDorman, Birmingham ES

Michelle McGaughy, Wylie HS

Cassie Nickel, Harrison IS

Diana Pecorino, Whitt ES

Lindsay Pitts, McMillan JHS

Beth Schara, Davis IS

Jessica Taylor, Wylie East HS

The Wylie ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously on new school hours for the 2008-2009 school year on Monday night. During the end of March, Dr. Fuller was recommending that high school students start school at 7:30 am. But tonight Dr. Fuller relayed what he had heard from the community that prompted the change in high school start time to 9:00 am.

Dr. Fuller mentioned the countless amount of studies showing that later start times contributed to better students as they got older. He also talked about the concerns of parents regarding teenagers out of school and on the roads driving while the younger kids are walking and biking home. I recalled the discussion on the Wylie View about the school hours and seeing those exact points brought up. It’s fantastic to see Dr. Fuller and the Board listening to the concerns of parents.

The new start times:

Elementary Schools: 7:30 am - 2:30 pm

Junior High and Intermediate Schools: 8:15 am - 3:15 pm

High School: 9:00 am - 4:15 pm

On Monday night, May 19th, 2008, the Wylie ISD Board of Trustees elected officers for the next year, voting unanimously to keep Susan Shuler as President and Ralph E. James as Vice-President. Sam Satterwhite was elected Secretary. The evening began with newly elected Trustee Lance Goff taking his oath of office along with Ronni Fetzer and Ralph E. James.

I’m still amazed at the results of the Fetzer/Goss race. Five votes. Wow. The people still have faith in Ronni Fetzer. And the people believe that Barbara Goss is the right type of person needed on the School Board. Maybe the time will come where everyone can be happy and support both Ronni Fetzer and Barbara Goss. Personally, I have no doubt that they will both put our children’s education as the top priority in each decision they make.

After the election, Ronni Fetzer said, “My sincere thanks to all the voters who made an effort to have their voice heard on the Wylie ISD elections, and to those who supported me during the campaign. Thanks also to Barbara Goss and all the candidates who put their hats into the ring to serve the students and families of Wylie ISD. We are in an important time for our district, and the dedication and commitment of many people is vital to our success. Please stay involved with your local schools.”

I also think it’s real funny (sorry, Sam) that they elected Sam Satterwhite as Secretary, even after Ronni Fetzer told everyone he said he didn’t want to be. It’s too bad Mr. Satterwhite was doing his job as WEDC Executive Director in Las Vegas today and wasn’t there to nominate someone else as Secretary. You know, Stacie Gooch, or someone like that.

From the Wylie Community Newsletter:

Congratulations to the 22 Wylie High School graduating seniors who have been selected as Birmingham Scholars. On Monday the students completed the interview phase of the scholarship process and attended a celebratory banquet with their parents. Those 11 scholars who have been awarded $11,000 each are: Yasmin-Pei Chau, Lauren Dennis, Maggie Emerson, Heath Gipson, Sheila Hobbs, Jennifer Lipe, Brittany Murrie, Stephanie Oliver, Robin Reininger, Allie Spillyards and Monica Wyrem.

Students receiving $1,500 awards are Joey Bartley, Joshua Burkhart, Katherine Griggs, Zahidul Haq, Jace Lington, Wesley Murack, Rachel O’Steen, Charles Partridge, Korey Stephens, Blake Stevens and Erica Wickett. The scholarships are funded annually by the Pearl Birmingham Scholarship Trust Fund which was formed in 1947. From that initial gift by the former WISD teacher, students today continue to receive benefits.

Saturday, May 17th @ 9 am @ Pirate Stadium

Proceeds will benefit the William Henry Smith, III fund at Inwood National Bank

Will is the son of BJ and Lajuana Smith. BJ is a coach and teacher at Wylie East High School. Lajuana is a teacher at Hartman Elementary. Will has been diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Phelan-McDermid Syndrome/22q13 Deletion Syndrome. Specific developmental and physical features are affected by the loss or deletion of a small amount of genetic material from chromosome 22. Fewer than 300 people worldwide have been diagnosed as of 2006.

Please help support the wonderful teachers and contributors to our school district by walking on Saturday or sending in a donation.

More details can be found on the flyer distributed by the WISD.