The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 67, Ed. 1 Friday, August 21, 2009 Page: 1 of 39
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Friday
August 21, 2009
40 pages
75€
Students head back to school Monday
e A Venue set for high school
JIMS graduation ceremonies
Inside
To Your
Health
To four
Health
- e
A
Find out what to expect
this flu season and what
you can do now to be ready.
BY Dave Pasley________
• Staff Writer
The venue and the date for the 2010 graduation ceremonies for the
Boerne Independent School District’s two high schools have been deter-
mined - but the requirements for graduation itself are in flux.
With only one high school the district’s graduating classes had grown
too large for UTSA and graduation ceremonies were held at the Alam-
odome in downtown San Antonio last year. Now, with two smaller high
schools, ceremonies for both Boerne High School and Champion High
School classes of 2010 can once again be accommodated at the Univer-
sity of Texas at San Antonio’s Convocation Center.
BISD Trustees received a staff report Monday that the UTSA facility
has been reserved for both schools’ graduation ceremonies on June 5,
__________________with tentative times of 10:30 a.m. for the Champion graduation and 4
Ph Vans p.m. for BHS. The last day of classes is June 3.
Superintendent John Kelly said he hopes the times can be adjusted to
bring the ceremonies closer together, but he said the date and the venue
Yas is set.
Kelly also briefed board members on some confusing changes in
graduation requirements that were enacted in the recent session of the
■ Legislature and other changes that are being considered by the State
I Board of Education. The Legislature, the Board of Education and local
================== school districts have overlapping responsibilities for establishing high
Star photo by Mark J. Armstrong school graduation requirements.
_ , ,.... . , . 3 - , ... Kelly said there is still some sorting out to do to resolve conflicts
Backpacks and bags of school supplies fill the floor of Janet D Spain s office at the among those layers. He said BISD may have to - or may want to - adjust
Boerne ISD central office. The supplies are provided to needy families through the its requirements to mesh with the changes imposed by the state, but he
SAM's Kids program, and D'Spain said she expects to help more than 400 families this said not enough is known right now for him to be able to make a recom-
10 0
...Birthday
Aug. 21
Glenn Damstra
Aug. 22
Amy Cayan
Guy Chipman
Elizabeth Markell
Frances Morris
John O’Malley
Shirley Robinson
Aug. 23
Margaret Cosby
Jo Paxson
Lois Widner
Aug. 24
Karen Daly
Judy Groepler
Shirley Smith
Dorothy Walden
...Anniversary
Aug. 22
Rudy and Anita Montez Jr.
Aug. 23
Rudy and Minnie Montez Sr.
year.
End of an era' for Boerne ISD
mendation to the board.
For instance, he noted that one upshot of the changes at the state level
is that the requirements for physical education have been reduced from
one and half credits to one credit. However, he said it now appears the
state rules might also allow a student to earn all of the required elective
credits by taking classes like athletics or physical education.
“I’m sure we’ll hear - statewide - about the state board debating the
By Mark J. ARMSTRONG
■ News Editor
The reopening of Boerne High
School Monday will mark the
“end of an era” for the Boerne
Independent School District,
according to district Superinten-
dent Dr. John Kelly.
“The focus now will be on
where are we going from here,”
Kelly said.
The renovation of Boerne High
School is the final project in a
$99.9 million school bond issue
approved by voters in 2004. The
bond also funded improvements
at campuses across the district,
construction of Cibolo Creek Ele-
mentary and the district’s second
high school, Boerne - Samuel V.
Champion High School.
All together, the district will
have nine campuses when classes
resume Monday - five elementary
schools, two middle schools and
two high schools. Those campuses
will serve nearly 6,400 students
and employ about 450 teachers
plus ancillary staff.
“It’s a new era for Boerne,”
Kelly said. “There should be no
major new construction in the
near future.”
However, that growth does come
with some complications. Starting
Monday, the district’s bus routes
will change again to accommo-
date the reopening of Boerne High
School.
to have angst over that, and we’re merits with regard to those items over which they have independent
hoping they will be patient,” Kelly control, such as health, P.E. and speech,” Kelly said. “Once the dust
said, settles, BISD and other districts can set their graduation requirements
Buses aren’t the only thing that accordingly.”
will be affected by a tighter budget. He said when he realized last week that the state’s interpretations of
The two high schools will share the legislative mandates were still not clear he decided to use Monday’s
some teachers and coaches who board meeting to update trustees on the situation. No action was taken
will go back and forth between the but board members expressed both concern and guarded optimism,
two. Some classes will be offered Trustee Susan Hulett said she liked the idea of giving students more
at only one campus meaning that flexibility in choosing electives, but she said she was concerned about
some students may be bused dur- de-emphasizing physical education.
ing the day. Kelly said it is possible the new graduation requirements could apply
Kelly calls it “economizing,” immediately to all classes, including seniors, but until the State Board
and he said he expects these tight °f Education acts, it is unclear which class of students will be affected
budgets to continue for the next by the changes.
Because of budget constraints, couple of years. “Normally such changes are phased in so that the entering freshman
the district has had to combine “Bus routes are going to be class is the first affected by them,” Kelly said, “but the Legislature was
some routes, which cover 369 tighter, supplies are going to be in an apparent hurry and made them effective immediately - albeit with-
square miles of Kendall County, tighter, technology is going to be out the second half of the equation supplied by the state board.
Many bus routes will start earlier tighter,” he said. Richard Elkins was sworn in by Kendall County Judge Gaylan
in the morning and drop kids While school officials will be Schroeder as the new trustee in Place 4, replacing Erik Thormaehlen
off later in the afternoon. Some focused on getting students to the who resigned in May.
students will also have farther to right schools and the right classes In other matters, board members voted 6-0 to approve an updated
walk to get to their bus stops. ---------------------------—
“We’re expecting some people See FIRST DAY, page 2A
See BISD, page 2A
iths
CVB concerned about future of Dickens on Main
Dorothy Tehas
Full obituaries, Page 2A.
See the latest obituaries at
www.boernestar.com.
Thank a veteran or a
military person every day for
their service to our country.
Index
Business
Calendar
Classifieds
Confessions of a Bookaholic
County Lines
Crossword
Faith
From the Heart
Games
Hill Country Gardener
Home Cookin'
Mary Alice's Potpourri
Real Estate
Records
Service Directory
Sports
Viewpoints
9A-10A
8A
5B-7B
18A
11A
14A
7A
11A
14A
18A
13A
19A
1B-4B, 8B
17A
6B-7B
15A-16A
4A
Volume 103 • Number 67
All contents copyright 2009
The Boerne Star
By Dave Pasley_________
• Staff Writer
The annual Dickens on Main event in
downtown Boerne is having a dickens of
a time this year, or is it?
“I have concerns with where they are
at,” Convention and Visitors Bureau
President Larry Woods told city council
members last week.
He was referring to the Boerne Busi-
ness Alliance, the organization that puts
on the Dickens on Main Event which is
held in downtown Boerne in late Novem-
ber and early December each year.
“They are behind the eight ball,” Woods
said. “We need to make this event hap-
pen. If not it would be a black eye on the
community.”
Woods said an upheaval in the leader-
ship of the BBA is fueling his concern.
The BBA’s new president, Charlie
Hamilton, disagreed with Woods.
“The planning for this event is going
exceptionally well,” Hamilton said.
A few weeks ago Hamilton, who had
been the BBA vice president, took over
as president when Judy Rackley resigned
midway through her one-year term.
“I don’t think the politics in our little
group is going to impact this event,”
Hamilton said. “(Rackley) had some
health issues and is dealing with a death
in the family, and I think she did the right
thing by stepping down.”
Woods also noted that Marsha Hendler,
president of a San
Antonio market-
ing and public
relations firm
known as Mar-
keting-i-, has also
stepped away
from the project.
The company had
been retained by
the BBA to assist
in marketing the
Dickens event.
Woods said the
Woods
next month or so is a critical time for
advertising, promoting and planning the
event.
“(The CVB is) willing to step up and
assist in any way that we can to help
market the event,” Woods said.
Like Hamilton, BBA Secretary Nancy
Holekamp had a sunnier outlook and
downplayed concerns that there is any
crisis.
She noted that the event’s former orga-
nizer, Bob Caran, never started working
on the event in earnest until September.
“We’re not really behind the eight ball,”
Holekamp said.
She also spoke enthusiastically about
three “really cool” new twists that she
said are planned for Dickens on Main
this year.
Holekamp said new events include a
gingerbread house contest, a “stocking
stroll” where participants can move from
shop to shop gathering gifts and a cos-
tume ball where a king and queen will be
selected to ride atop a float in the city’s
annual holiday parade down Main Street
on the first Saturday of December.
She also said the BBA wants to broaden
the focus of the event with an overarching
theme of a “Holiday in the Hill Country”
while continuing with Dickens on Main
as a primary part of the festivities.
At the city council meeting last week,
Woods handed council members a one-
page outline of the BBA’s plans that
included a “wish list” of items the organi-
zation would like for the city to provide.
The list included requests for the city
to provide a large Christmas tree to be
placed in Main Plaza, street banners, por-
table toilets, barricades and trash cans.
However, Parks and Recreation Direc-
tor Linda Cornelius later said she had not
been approached by anyone to assist with
the Dickens on Main Event.
“We have no funds in our parks budget
for the event and have a full slate of spe-
cial events we are planning” Cornelius
said.
She said the city would be respon-
See DICKENS, page 2A
City, county
budgets available
for public review
As planning for the new fiscal year continues,
proposed budgets for the City of Boerne and
Kendall County are on file for public review
prior to hearings later this month.
The City of Boerne’s proposed 2009-10 fiscal
year budget is posted on the city’s Web site and
available for review at City Hall.
The Boerne City Council will hold public
hearings on the proposed budget and tax rate at
7 p.m. Aug. 25 and at 5:15 p.m. Sept. 1. Both
hearings will be held at City Hall.
Kendall County’s proposed budget for 2009-
10 is on file at the Kendall County Clerk’s
office for public review.
The Commissioners Court will hold hear-
ings on the proposed budget and tax rate at
9:20 a.m. Aug. 24 and at 6 p.m. Aug. 31. Both
hearings will be held in the commissioners
court meeting room in the Kendall County
Courthouse.
Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation Dis-
trict board of directors will hold a public
hearing at 6 p.m. Sept. 14 to receive public
input on the proposed 2009-10 budget and
tax rate. The hearing will be held prior to the
board’s regular meeting in the district office,
216 Market Ave., Suite 105, in Boerne.
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Cartwright, Brian & Velvin, Candace E. The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 67, Ed. 1 Friday, August 21, 2009, newspaper, August 21, 2009; Boerne, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1667432/m1/1/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Patrick Heath Public Library.