Clements earns last softball playoff spot: Page 7 Present
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WEDNESDAY • APRIL 25, 2018
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Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 40 • No. 37
Parents upset as FBISD considers zoning, closures By Theresa D. McClellan FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
A complex and comprehensive look at the future of Fort Bend ISD schools in regards to growth patterns and projected school closings and transfigurations as a result of growth will be explored this week. After multiple community sessions where proposed options were discussed, and community input encouraged, the facilities steering committee will discuss their findings in one of two three-hour meetings at FBISD headquarters. The session will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 26, and a new meeting has been added for May 8.
Among the options under consideration are: • Rezoning the schools to create balance in enrollment; • Closing Meadow Brook Elementary • Converting Hightower or Marshall high school into dedicated early college high schools, which would replace all current academy programs distributed among all high schools; • Consider a rezoning process to balance enrollment between Ridge Point, Hightower, Willowridge and Marshall high schools; • Closing and repurposing Blue Ridge, Briargate, and Ridgegate elementary schools with a major renovation at Ridgemont El-
ementary School to create a pre-K-1 building focusing on early literacy. Then creating a new 1,200 student 2-5 grade building on the Shadow Creek Ranch site; • Closing and repurposing only Blue Ridge Elementary with major renovations at Briargate, Ridgegate and Ridgemont elementaries; • Building another elementary school to provide relief for Madden and Neil elementaries; and • Consider additions to Commonwealth, Colony Meadows, Austin Parkway, and Settlers Way elementaries and rezoning to balance enrollment. “These options were developed by the community-based Facilities Steering Committee after a review
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of preliminary facilities assessment data from each school and an initial review of the overall educational environment at each district facility. We are also asking all stakeholders – those with students and those without – to engage and have their voices heard. We are developing a recommendation for the board to consider for approval in May, and these decisions will impact each school in the district for a very long time,” FBISD Superintendent Charles Dupree said in a prepared statement. “Some considerations may involve future attendance boundary adjustments, but as I have stated before, we are not making any attendance boundary changes for the 2018/2019 school year,” Dupree ex-
plained. The community meetings attracted more than 4,000 people, according to district officials. To gauge community input, there were also online surveys. The district noted that “there were organized attempts to flood the survey with duplicate responses. For example, more than 5,400 responses were collected from three IP addresses and all responses were identical and submitted less than three minutes apart overnight,” according to the 25-page summary report. An IP address shows which computer the information came from.
SEE FBISD, PAGE 11
Fort Bend ISD names Teachers of the Year From staff reports FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
New Sugar Land Skeeters Manager Pete Incaviglia has a little visit with one of his players Monday night during practice. The Skeeters open their seventh season in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball Friday night at Constellation Field agains the New Britain Bees. (Photo by Joe Southern)
Fort Bend ISD announced the names of the 2018 District Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year at its annual Teacher of the Year awards dinner and program, held April 19 at Safari Texas Ranch. Leigha Bishop of Lakeview Elementary is the 2018 District Elementary Teacher of the Year; and Shaughn Thomas of Lake Olympia Middle School is the 2018 District Secondary Teacher of the Year. “It is truly a humbling experience to be among so many talented, committed and dedicated educators – I know they represent our entire corps of teachers,” said Dr. Charles Dupre, Superintendent of Schools. “We are proud and appreciative of their efforts, and it is an honor to recognize them for their leadership in the classroom.” A prekindergarten teacher at Lakeview Elementary, Bishop has seven years of teaching experience. Early in her career, she realized teaching is more than reading, writing and math. She earned a masters degree in school counseling and clinical mental health counseling to equip herself with the skills and knowledge to better assist her students. Thomas is an AVID teacher at Lake Olympia Middle School, and has taught for
Fort Bend ISD’s Secondary Teacher of the Year Shaughn Thomas and Elementary Teacher of the Year Leigha Bishop were honored at an awards dinner April 19. (Submitted photo)
four years. He believes educators should be innovative and evolve to meet their student’s needs. He wants his students to be excited every day when they enter his classroom, so he continues to adopt non-traditional learning techniques. As FBISD’s 2018 Teachers of the Year, Bishop and Thomas each received a commissioned piece of art, a monetary gift, a Chrome Book from the Fort Bend Education Foundation and a special Teacher of the Year ring, courtesy of the Balfour Company.
Thanks to a new partnership with the district, Sewell Automotive Company will provide Bishop and Thomas with an Audi to enjoy over the summer and a Perry’s Steakhouse gift certificate. The two honorees will advance to the regional Teacher of the Year competition, with a chance of advancing to the Texas Teacher of the Year Program. Along with each Cam-
SEE TEACHERS, PAGE 11
New historical museum opens Friday in San Felipe By Joe Southern JSOUTHERN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
The new 10,000-squarefoot, $12.5 million museum opens Friday at San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site. Built near the edge of the community that served as the capitol of Stephen F. Austin’s original colony in Mexico in the 1820s and ‘30s, the museum pays tribute to the early Texas pioneers and to the plight and flight of the colonists from the advancing Mexican forces during the Texas Revolution. The event known as the Runaway Scrape was highlighted by the burning of the town by fleeing colonists to keep it and its spoils out of the hands of Antonio López de Santa Anna and his army as they pursued
Gen. Sam Houston and his ragtag Texas Army toward the Louisiana border and the safety of the United States. They never made it, as Houston and his men turned on them and won a decisive victory at San Jacinto. Although San Felipe was a hub of colonial life more than 182 years ago, it became largely forgotten to history as major battlegrounds such as the Alamo, Presidio La Bahia, Gonzales, and San Jacinto garnered more prestige and attention. All of that changes Friday during grand opening ceremonies as the new museum with its touch screen interactive displays, rare historical relics, and volumes of Texas history becomes one of the largest and most modern museums in the state at a
Texas Revolution site. The grand opening will feature comments from State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, Site Manager Bryan McAuley, and Texas Historical Commission Chairman John L. Nau III, among others. The ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. at San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site, 220 2nd St., in San Felipe. “We truly believe the museum experience at San Felipe de Austin will reshape the way Texans think about the Mexican Texas era and the eventual march to Independence,” McAuley said. Although ultra-modern in its design and interactive functionality, the museum has a real 1830s feel to it
SEE MUSEUM, PAGE 11
San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site Manager Bryan McAuley talks about the 1830s cabin built in Columbus by settler Peter Peiper while giving a preview tour of the new $12.5 million museum that will open Friday. (Photo by Joe Southern)
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