Fort Bend ISD reveals plans for 12th high school - Page 4
Registration for Harvest Green's second annual OutRun Hunger 5K event is now under way. Read the story inside today's edition on Page 3.
WEDNESDAY • JULY 24, 2019
Jack’s
Fort Bend / Southwest • Volume 43 • No. 49
Stafford murder suspect back in custody
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Briguglio
Outlaw II
One of the suspects in a 2018 Stafford murder who had been wanted by police since allegedly removing his ankle monitor earlier this year is back in custody. Giuseppe Briguglio, 20, was arrested July 16 in
Southern California and brought to the Fort Bend County jail two days later, according to Alfredo Perez with the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force. Briguglio was charged with murder in connection with Wilbert Outlaw II’s death in January 2018 and indicted by a Fort Bend County Grand Jury three months later.
In addition to the murder charge, Briguglio was also wanted for failure to obey a court order. According to Perez, Briguglio was arrested July 16 for obstruction of justice, before L.A. County police discovered he was wanted in connection with
SEE SUSPECT, PAGE 2
Charles in charge
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Missouri City bridge project to begin July 29 By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Those traveling along Highway 6 near Missouri City will need to look out for detours beginning next week. Missouri City will closing the bridge on Glenn Lakes Lane near Highland Lakes Drive to all traffic on Monday, July 29 for a $1.8 million project that will reconstruct the bridge using current engineering design standards. The Texas Department of Transportation has an off-system bridge inspection program. During a 2012 study of Missouri City crossings, TxDOT determined the Glenn Lakes Bridge as having deficiencies. The project was submitted and approved as part of the 2013 Fort Bend County Mobility Bond Program and entails a complete reconstruction of the existing bridge.. Fort Bend County’s Mobility Bond Program will fund 50 percent of the build, which city officials
SEE BRIDGE, PAGE 3
Fort Bend ISD Superintendent Charles Dupre speaks at a June news conference about the abandonded cemetery discovered at the site of the district's James Reese Career and Technical Center. Dupre's professional journey has included more than 20 years of service in FBISD. (Photo by Landan Kuhlmann)
Dupre feeling right at home in FBISD By Landan Kuhlmann LKUHLMANN@FORTBENDSTAR.COM
Charles Dupre was still in grade school when his adoptive father gave up custody, sending him to foster care. He spent much of his childhood in a group home near- Springfield, Missouri before heading off to college and doesn’t want to look back. But that experience has long driven his passion for making a difference in the lives of children. Dupre was born in Morocco and adopted by a U.S. couple on the day he was born. However, his adoptive mother died
when he was 5, two years before he was sent to an orphanage when he was 7.. He said those formative years, however, brought him hope, vision and an opportunity, all courtesy of the teachers he encountered in public schools. “A lot of my journey, I feel, is formed by God’s plan for my life,” he said. “…That’s what a lot of my motivation is for wanting to make a difference as a leader in public schools.” Dupre, who is heading into his seventh year as Fort Bend ISD’s superintendent, was recently named Region 4 Superintendent of the Year by the Texas Association of School Boards.
Dupre
“Throughout Mr. Dupre’s six years as superintendent, Fort Bend ISD has developed a solid foundation for success, with a clear focus on educating the whole child,”
FBISD Board President Jason Burdine said in a statement released by the district. It’s a significant milestone but only the latest stop on Dupre’s long road to making an impact on lives in Fort Bend County. He previously served as FBISD’s internal auditor from 1995-98, its budget officer from 1998-2001 and its chief financial officer and associate superintendent from 2001-06. Then, after serving as Pflugerville ISD’s superintendent from 2006-13, Dupre returned to FBISD. “Education has always been in my heart,” said Dupre, who was president of his high school’s Fu-
ture Teachers of America Club. “…Even when I was associate superintendent in Fort Bend, I always thought, ‘I would love to be superintendent of this district.’ Even after I left the district, it was always in the back of my mind that it would be amazing to be able to go back, never thinking it was really going to happen.” Divergent path Dupre attended Harding University in Arkansas to study education. But with earning power in mind, he switched his major to accounting. “Teachers in 1984 were
SEE DUPRE, PAGE 7
Stafford MSD unveils grand plan for STEM school By Theresa D. McClellan FOR THE FORT BEND STAR
With a plan to have a 12-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio in its new STEM magnet school, the Stafford Municipal School District wants to create something never seen in Fort Bend County. “We want to create a public school with a private-school ambiance,” said Marva Rasberry, the district’s chief operations innovation officer who is heading up the magnet team. As the district builds its new $33 million middle school, which is expected to open in August 2020,
plans are also underway to repurpose the old middle school to create Fort Bend’s first science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) magnet school for grades 3-8. Eventually, the magnet school will be open to grades 3-12. The magnet team – which also includes school board trustee Ashish Hamirani, middle school principal Ginny Gayle and marketing and curriculum leader LaKenya Perry-Allen – recently explained its vision that it plans to culminate with an innovative 2021 program. The district is still in the early stages of planning and hammering out all the details.
“Superintendent Robert Bostic felt this was a way to revolutionize opportunity for our students,” Rasberry said. “We want to expose our students to travel, domestic and international travel, exploring the global economy and looking at STEM from a different lens with team-building opportunities for students where they participate in gradelevel camps and provide some cutting-edge rigorous programming.” The magnet school is part of the $62 million bond voters approved in 2017. The bond also will
SEE STEM, PAGE 5
From left to right in the back row are Stafford MSD spokesman Michael Sudhalter, SMSD trustee Ashish Hamirani and marketing and curriculum leader LaKenya Perry. From left to right in the front row are Stafford Middle School principal Ginny Gayle and STEM program head Marva Rasberry. (Photo by Theresa D. McClellan)