It's Winter: Time To Review Our Inclement Weather Procedure

Now that it's winter in North Texas, it's time to remind C-FB ISD staff, families and the community about our district's procedures if schools are closed or delayed.  With the unprecedented number of days missed last year because of the unusual cold weather, the district wants to make sure you have the information early if we have icy roads or conditions.

If schools are delayed or closed due to inclement weather:

• Families and staff will be notified through the district's mass notification message system called Blackboard Connect.   For families and staff, it is extremely important that you keep your telephone numbers up-to-date so that you receive these calls from the district, and any other calls that are made during the year. 
  
  Please check with your campus to get your information up-to-date before an emergency occurs; it takes time for our Technology team to get data updated for 26,000 students and just over 3,000 staff members.

• A Special Alert email newsletter will be sent to subscribers advising them of the decision. If you wish to subscribe, you can sign up here: http://www.cfbisd.edu/enews

• An announcement will be posted on the district's website, http://www.cfbisd.edu/, as soon as the decision has been made. 

• The district will post messages on our Facebook page, Twitter feed and blog.

We also encourage C-FB ISD families and residents to listen to the local radio or television stations for updated weather reports. Local media outlets also post information on their websites, so families and other residents may want to check those sites for the latest weather information.


Media Notified about Inclement Weather Closings
We will inform television and radio stations about the district's decision to close schools or delay the start.  Please note that it is the local media station's decision to air the information. Many media outlets are now posting the information on their websites instead of reading the information on air.

Local Television Stations Notified:
 KDFW-TV Channel 4
KXAS-TV Channel 5
WFAA-TV Channel 8
KTVT-TV Channel 11
Univision 23

Local Radio Stations Notified, include:
KRLD
KVIL
WBAP
KDMX
KHKS
KZPS
KDGE
KEGL
KTRA
CBS Network
Metro Radio Network
Total Traffic Network

The district does post closing information on its TV station. CFB-TV is now digital. It can be viewed on a digital TV on channel 15.5 without a cable box in Carrollton and Farmers Branch. If you have a cable box, you can view CFB-TV on channels 95 & 98 on Time Warner in Carrollton and Farmers Branch. It is also available on Verizon Channel 38.  CFB-TV is also streamed lived on district's website.


C-FB ISD Bad Weather Days
April 6 and April 9 are designated as bad weather/emergency make-up days for any days missed. These days are not considered holidays; they will be used as instructional days if the district closes for inclement weather or an emergency situation.

2011-2012 C-FB ISD Approved Academic Calendar

Have You Shared Your Thoughts About Next Year's Calendar?

Our school district is closed for the Winter Break, and we hope that you and your family are having a joyful holiday season. Just a reminder to our staff, parents, and community that you have until January 2, 2012, to give the district your thoughts about next year's Academic Calendar.

Designing an academic calendar for a school district is a complex issue; however, in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, we keep student achievement in the forefront when making decisions.

At the end of this week's Focus Points are two links: a link to a survey and a link to the proposed academic calendar.

The proposed academic calendar is very similar to this year’s calendar in terms of the following:

• The same basic holiday schedule including Thanksgiving and Winter Break
• Ending the first semester before the Winter Break (that means our middle and high school students will take their first semester exams before Winter Break)

When we develop an academic school calendar in C-FB ISD, there are criteria that the district must follow. These include:

• State law requires that we cannot start school before the fourth Monday in August. (Texas Education Code 25.0811) This law went into effect with the 2007-08 school year.

• Texas currently requires that the public school year contain 180 days for students; however, districts may obtain waivers for up to five fewer student attendance days for professional development purposes.

• The 2012-13 school calendar proposal includes 177 days for students, and the district will ask for a waiver for three student days for professional development time for staff. These days are Oct. 8 (Fair Day), Nov. 19, 21 (days before Thanksgiving). This request is consistent with previous C-FB ISD calendars. 

• Under the expedited waiver system, a school district may apply for six early release days. These days are allowable through Texas Education Code 25.082. The current calendar proposal has six early release days already scheduled (two days at the end of each semester) and two for staff development (October 3 and February 3 – consistent with this year’s calendar dates).

The Texas Education Agency has not provided a testing calendar for 2012-2013 at this time. We don’t know when the agency will determine state testing dates. As soon as the state’s testing calendar is available, we will make it available to the campuses, parents and community.

That is the basic information about the 2012-2013 C-FB ISD Proposed Academic Calendar.  We hope that you will take time to review the proposed academic calendar and then give us your input.

Link to the 2012-2013 C-FB ISD Proposed Academic Calendar

 

Link to the calendar survey

C-FB ISD Has Much To Celebrate

It's hard to believe that the year 2011 is almost over and we are wrapping up the first semester of the 2011-2012 school year. We have much to celebrate in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School District.  Focusing on the single goal of "high achievement of all students," we have had many successes.  While working on our goal, we also have taken time to help others and emphasize the district's character values. (See our video)

I spend every Wednesday in schools visiting classrooms seeing our outstanding teachers and students. We have many "Bright Spots" in our schools. We want to thank the principals, the teachers, and all of our staff for the work they do to help our students achieve academically. These academic "Bright Spots" would not be possible without their tremendous effort. And, of course, we know that effort produces achievement so the time our students spend on their own learning is invaluable.

Just a few academic "Bright Spots":

• For the second year, C-FB ISD earned a Recognized Rating under the Texas Education Agency (TEA) Accountability Rating System; 12 campuses received Exemplary ratings; 19 campuses, Recognized ratings. The district received Gold Performance Acknowledgments on the percentage of students who earned commended status on the Social Studies TAKS and the percentage of College-Ready Graduates in the Class of 2010.

• Davis, Kent, La Villita, and McCoy Elementary Schools were among the schools named to the 2011 Honor Roll by the Texas Business and Education Coalition (TBEC).The schools were recognized for consistent, high performance in all subjects compared to other schools serving similar student populations for three years.

• The Education Resource Group (ERG) annually measures the academic and financial performance of all Texas school districts. By using multiple data, ERG determines the educational productivity of individual school districts in three areas: overall educational value, academic performance and finance performance. For 2010: C-FB ISD ranked 11 out of the 200 Texas largest school districts in overall educational value. For 2010, C-FB ISD ranked 17 out of the 200 largest school districts in academic performance and 49 in finance performance. What this tells our community is that C-FB ISD is achieving at academically high levels while spending tax dollars wisely.

• In early 2012, we will have updated information from ERG with 2010-2011 data.

• Newman Smith’s International Business Academy students J. J. Echaniz,Stephanie Nguyen, David Chi, Shannon Lu, Brian Ng, Mitchell Powell and Mariko Nakamura won the New Venture Creation Contest from the Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of North Texas. This team was the first high school group to win the New Venture Creation Contest, a prestigious entrepreneurship competition. They received the grand prize of $30,000 for the development of Forward Tutoring, an online tutoring program.

Just a Few Arts and Athletic "Bright Spots":

• For the fifth time, C-FB ISD was named one of the Best 100 Communities for Music Education in 2011. C-FB ISD was also chosen in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Newman Smith Band

• The Newman Smith Trojan Band, one of the top 24 4A Marching Bands in Texas, finished fourteenth overall at the UIL State Marching Band competition in November. This was the Newman Smith's marching band's second consecutive trip to the state contest.

• Our music students continue to excel on the competition road to the All-State Music performance groups which perform at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) conference in February.    You can keep up with their success as well as our other Fine Arts students who are excelling in theatre, debate, art and other areas on our website's Accolades page or our district blog,  Blogabilities. In the 2010-2011 school year, 12 C-FB ISD students performed in the All-State groups in February 2011.

Courtney Okolo

• Newman Smith High School junior Courtney Okolo was the 2011 UIL State Track 400-meter champion for the second year in a row. She also placed third in the 800-meter dash. Courtney was named a Gatorade Track and Field Female Athlete of the Year Nominee.
• The Newman Smith High School 1600 meter relay team of Kaila James, Mia James, Adriana De LaRue and Courtney Okolo won the 2011 UIL State Championship with the time of 3:39:75, a personal best for the team.
• R. L. Turner High School athlete Christina Machado was named All-American Female Wrestler and Texas State Wrestling Free Style Champion in 2011.
• Creevkiew High School’s Bobbi Navarrete was named Free Style All-American Female Wrestle in 2011.

• Creekview High School’s Melissa Gonzalez ran one of the top two 300-meter hurdle times in the country in 2011.

• Our C-FB ISD athletes continue shine this school year.  Our athletes involved in fall sports have already begun receiving recognition for their efforts.  Some of the links from Blogabilities are below; however, but to keep up with the successes of our athletes, check out our website's Accolades page or our district blog,  Blogabilities.
  All District Volleyball, All-District Team, All-District 4-A Team

Just a few Character Values "Bright Spots":

June R. Thompson staff help at
the Navidad Holiday Wrap at Fair Park.

Over the last year, Focus Points has featured our students and staff helping others.  The most recent post was late November 2011.  Other posts were (March 29 and November 4 ). In those writings, you learned how our students honored our veterans and the men and women serving in the armed forces.  Our students also helped local service agencies by donating canned goods, clothing items, toys as well as volunteering their time.  They also raised funds for Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless.

Congratulations to the Blalack Middle School students, parents and community.  The school was named as one of the top 10 schools in the state of Texas for raising money through Hoops for Heart for the American Heart Association. The campus raised $8,086.22.

In 2011, our students helped with Special Olympics and Kacie's Run, and they are already making plans for the 2012 events.  So mark Sat., March 24, 2012 on your calendar, and make Kacie's Run one of your "favorites" so you will be knowlegeable about the event notices and scheduling.

In the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School District, we have a rich legacy of parents, educators and the community-at-large working together for students.  This commitment gives us a great road map to follow as we help our students achieve at high levels and learn about helping others.  As we continue this holiday season, let's take time to celebrate the many "Bright Spots" that abound in C-FB ISD.

The District's Bilingual and ESL Programs

For the December School Board meeting, our student achievement presentation focused on the district's Bilingual-English As A Second Language (ESL) programs. Each year, the district provides a review and presents an assessment of our programs in accordance with the state commissioner's rules.

Dr. Isabella Pina-Hinojosa, director of the district's Bilingual-ESL programs, outlined how C-FB ISD's programs are organized to meet our district's goal of high achievement for all students.

In studying the research of  Dr. Wayne Thomas and Dr. Virgina Collier on dual language instruction, the district's instructional team learned that the English reading performance of English Language Learners dramatically improved in dual language classrooms.  That is why we began moving to those models in our Bilingual classrooms.

In our elementary schools, we offer a one-way dual language Bilingual program for fluent Spanish speakers. In these classrooms, our students receive instruction in both English and Spanish.  

We also have elementary classrooms where English-speaking students and fluent Spanish-speakers receive instruction in two languages (English and Spanish). Our two-way dual language classes are available on two campuses:  Janie Stark and June R. Thompson Elementary Schools.

We have many different languages spoken in our Bilingual-ESL classrooms, and the primary objective of the teachers is to help our students learn the English they need so they can be academically successful in math, science, social studies and eventually become productive citizens.

The most recent survey indicated that other than English, our Bilingual-ESL students and their families speak 52 different languages.  Of course, Spanish is the language that most of our families speak other than English; the top three languages most frequently spoken are Vietnamese, Korean, and Telegu.

We provide multiple learning options for our English Language Learners.  In our elementary schools, most teachers have taken additional coursework to earn their ESL certification. By becoming ESL-certified, our teachers have learned additional strategies that helps understands the needs of English Language Learners. The ESL program provides intensive instruction that develops academic vocabulary orally, reading vocabulary as well as written comprehension skills in English.

In middle school, the district has a newcomer's course for students who have been in the country for less than 12 months.  We also provide ESL I, II and III classes as well as Read 180, a intensive online reading intervention program. In high school, we also provide a newcomer's course and specialized coursework for students who have been in an American school for four years or less.

The Learning the Language summer school
program is part of the district's |
Bilingual-ESL offerings.

C-FB ISD is known for its professional development.  In our annual staff survey, 93% of our staff said that the district provides the training they need to do their jobs effectively. And, the Bilingual-ESL Department has been offering such training to our staff who teach our students in these programs.  The STELLAR and GLAD professional development programs are designed to assist our teachers to improve the achievement of our English Language Learners in all subject areas.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has designed the PBMAS (Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System) to monitor the achievement of the English Language Learners.  C-FB ISD met the minimum standard for each testing group and content group for 2011.  In our district, we will analyze these results to see how we can improve the academic achievement of our English Language Learners.

We continue to make great strides in our Bilingual-ESL programs. We are committed to support the learning needs of our English Language Learners so they can achieve at high levels.  Remember in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School District, we believe in high achievement for all students.

Department of Bilingual-ESL webpage


Bilingual Report