Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 70, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 13, 1985 Page: 1 of 50
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Overall TABS
results good
PBr'*r
BuHctan Sfv/TERRY M EVXNS
!So Stone
Unturned
This Burleson girl proves she’s as brave as her male counterparts—
maybe a little braver—as she turns over stones In Little Booger
Creek looking for crawdads. Those Burleson children who escaped
summer school have enjoyed plenty of warm days already and the
weekend probably holds more of the same.
Photo delivery prevented
5: /
BY TERRY M. EVANS
More than 200 graduates of V'
Joshua Middle School (JMS) will
haw no pictures of their ceremony
unless they contact the photo-
grapher directly or the man gets
the cooperation he seeks from
the J1SD
Burleson photographer Jim
Hughes said he is not mad at the
principal of JMS, but he does not
understand why R.C. Loflin would
not allow cards to be filled out that
were intended to identify each stu-
dent. Hughes said he has the in-
formation necessary to deliver
contact proofs to 10 students’
families only
The photogiapher said he had a
verbal agreement with JMS of-
ficials that he would photograph
each of the eighth-graders as they
received their certificates. The 5x7
cards he provided to the school
were to be filled out by the
students and returned to their
teachers, who would then return
the "photo cards" to the office to
be picked up by Hughes.
"We did this (photo-card promo-
tion) there last year so 1 assume
he (Loflin) knew wc had to have
the cards back," Hughes said.
Hughes said a teacher at JMS
told hint the cards were given to
only one teacher who then passed
them out to the students at a
graduation rehearsal assembly
with virtually no explanation. The
students took the cards home—the
last thing Hughes wanted to
happen—and in five attempts to
retrieve the cards from JMS, only
eight were returned. With two
other cards brought in by families,
the studio has received 10 out of
240 cards.
The only list of students Hughes
obtained is the program used
graduation night. He said that if
he were able to get a list of
graduates with their addresses,
and a list of students who were not
present for graduation, he and his
staff could compare the lists and
the program with the 25-feet-long
roll of one-and-one-half-inch con-
tact proofs and make a try at get-
ting the contact probfs mailed.
After it became obvious that the
first set of cards were not going to
ied, Hughes decided to
obligation and have a
otographer and assistant
ahead with the shoot He said
two, Lariy Richmond of
Hughes Studio and Loren Poulsen
of Maisel Photochrome Corpora-
tion, arrived at the ceremony 30 to
45 minutes before it was to
commence—as
to
No one’s about to take anything
for granted, but the excellent
results scored by Burleson students
on the Texas Assessment of Basic
Skills (TABS) testing program cer-
tainly came as no surprise to
BISD administrators or school
board members.
Students in the third, fifth, and
ninth grade were tested and the
results were "just about what we
expected," according to Superin-
tendent of Schools Gordon Coc-
kerham 'The overall results were
good,” he told the school board,
“but there are some skill areas
which we will be working on as we
plan for the 1985-86 school
year.”
Some scores were down some-
what from last year, but that is to
be expected, he said, since the
degree of difficulty or the criteria
for passing was increased this year
on most phases of the testing pro-
gram. The number of students
mastering the concepts can be ex-
pected to decline until the district
upgrades the minimum skills of
students, he said. That’s the basic
purpose of the testing program in
the first place, however, and that
method of finding weaknesses in
the curriculum has already been
put to good use by the BISD.
Since putting the current five year
plan into operation, test results in
the BISD have soared, generally
putting the district's students
above state and national averages
in Cverv single category.
SJfcTtSOtMH THE TABS testing
is a statewide program, com-
parisons are not immediately
available. Statewide and regional
results won’t be available until
September, according to Bob
Spurlin, assistant superintendent
for curriculum. Spurlin also noted
that beginning next year, the scope
of the testing program would be
expanded here to include evdry
odd-numbered grade.
The ultimate goal of the state is
to have 85 percent master* of
every concept, said Cockerham.
Burleson is not far from that goal
already. Of 10 mathematics con-
cepts, Burleson third graders only
twice failed to reach a composite
score of 85 percent mastery. Fifth
graders hit that plateau on eight of
12 and ninth graders on seven of
11 In reading concepts, the third
grade was above 85 percent mas-
tery on six of eight; the fifth grade
on five of 11; and the ninth grade
on only two of 11 .In writing, third
graders scored 85 percent mastery
on four of five concepts and just
missed the fifth one with an 84
percent mastery . Fifth graders had
an 85 percent mastery on four of
six, and also just missed with one
other. Ninth graders also scored
four of six.
Third graders actually had a 100
percent mastery of one mathema-
tical and one reading concept as
well as a 98 and a 99 percent on
two others. Fifth graders showed
as high as a 98 percent mastery on
spelling and interpreting graphs
and ninth graders had a high of 97
pet cent mastery in one of the 11
math concepts.
Next year’s tests will have the
name TEAMS instead of TABS,
but the change merely reflects a
name change and not a change of
testing programs.
TENTATIVE PLANS are to have
a preliminary budget ready by the
end of the month with a budget
workshop scheduled for the
school board meeting in July. So
far, the administration is not far
advanced on budget preparations,
Cockcrham noted, since it’s still
anybody's guess just how much
will be available in state funding.
He said he had two different es-
timates from statewide organiza-
tions and there was a discrepancy
of about a quarter of a million
dollars.
The school district apparently
will also lose its finance director at
the end ot the month.
A number of citizens were at the
meeting to speak on behalf of the
choral program. There seems to
he some concern on the part of
parents that the program might
not be maintained at its present
level since the resignation during
the year ol Jim Crocker as choir
director. The district is presently
looking tor a replacement for
Crocker, but Cockcrham said that
there are no plans to operate thf*
program on a reduced level.
NO CITIZENS SPOKE at the
public hearing on the use of
federal block grant funds which
would be available to the BISD
during the 1935-86 school year.
Much of that money will be used
tor the purchase of library books,
explained Spurlin. He said thal
$10,000 had been set aside for
books for the middle school lib-
rary since that school would have
the addition of the ninth grade
next year. All school libraries are
fully accredited and have the
minimum number of seven
volumes per student, he said, but
an effort is being made to equalize
the libraries by putting funds into
those with the fewest volumes.
Computers for the elementary
schools will also come front these
funds, which total $35,017.
The annual update of the dis-
trict’s five year plan was also ap-
proved by trustees. This is the fifth
year of the current plan and a new
five-year plan will be formulated
next year. Four years ago there
was some skepticism that the am-
bitious goals of the current plan
could be realized, but Cockerham
noted that the district was ahead
of projections in that original
plan.
Another multi-year plan ap-
proved by trustees was a three
year priority plan for the Talented
and Gifted program. That program
is no longer operated on a grant
basis and that spells fewer state
funds for the BISD to operate the
program. The same amount of
state money is available, Coc-
kerham explained, but the current
funding formula includes all dis-
tricts in the state which choose to
operate such a program. That
means that Burleson, one of the
pioneers of the TAG concept, will
have about half as much state
money as before. “We’ll continue
to operate and expand the pro-
gram as planned using more local
funds,” Cockerham said. Current
committments call for expanding
the program into the upper secon-
dary grades over the next few
years.
IN OTHER ACTION Monday
night, the board:
— Ratified contracts for the con-
struction project at A.E. Frazier
Elementary School. The revised
cost of the project, $ 150,000, is
about $10,000 more than original
estimates, but other summer con-
struction jobs are running below
estimates, so the total expen-
ditures should just about even out,
according to Cockerham.
—Awarded a contract for ap-
proximately $4,425 for insurance
for football players. Football is the
only student activity which re-
quires an additional premium in
order lor a student to be covered
by student insurance.
—Took no action on a policy up-
date which would have required a
student's legal guardians to live
within the BISD in order for that
student to attend schools here.
That's how the policy was original-
ly written but had been changed
so that all thal was necessary was
a notorized letter of authority
assigning full responsibility for the
.student’s conduct to a focal resi-
dent. Apparently that has created
some difficulty in that students
who may have caused problems in
other districts are able to attend
school here. Before changing the
policy, however, board members
wanted to know exactly how many
students attended schools here by
that method and what percentage
of them created any problems for
the district.
—Awarded a contract for paper
to Olmstead Kirk Paper in the
amount of $43,861.80.
—Set June 21 at 4 p.m. as the
deadline for accepting appeals for
placement on the career ladder.
—ACCEPTED THE resignation
of one teacher; approved leaves of
absence for two others; and em-
ployed five. Resigning was Ashley
Rutherford, coach at Burleson
High School. Granted leaves were
Julie Howerton, educational leave,
and Susie Herren, maternity leave.
New teachers are Mary Elizabeth
Ely, Maty Lee Berry, and Paul Ed-
ward London, all elementary; and
Jacquelyn Annette Gattis and
Helen Haddox, both middle
school. Additions to the substitute
teacher list were also approved.
—Approved four resolutions to
be presented to the Texas Associa-
tion of School Boards.
—Approved budget amendments
involving no expenditure of ad-
ditional funds and the monthly
reports from the business office
and the tax office.
MHMR tops court list
BY BYRON TRAVIS
The main topic of discussion at
the June 10 meeting of the
Johnson County commissioners'
ly
Mental Health-Mental Retardation
center, which at-the beginning of
fully
Photographer Stymied
Buffo
pher 11m Hughes fomp over ■ 25-foot roll of con-
-as agreed—and at-
complete the photo
Identifying photo etude. Hovering over him Is a portrait of
who.wu mysteriou.ly reluctant to allow
cuds end thereby prevented the photo
court was the newly established
Mental Health-Mental Retard
center, which at-the beginni
September will have to be tuny
functional and independent of the
Texas State Hospital in Austin.
Representatives of the slate hos-
pital were in attendance at the
meeting, as were members of the
recently appointed Johnson County
MHMR board of directors.
Before this year, the county has
not had its own MHMR facility,
but instead, has used the services
of an outreach clinic operated by
the state hospital.
A few monins ago, however, the
commissioners decided to es-
tablish their own MHMR unit.
Their reasoning was that the con-
tinuing rapid growth of Johnson
County’s population, with a cor-
responding increase in the num-
ber of mental health/mental
retardation 'clients, warranted
the change.
Other forces have also been at
work to encourage the decision:
First, federal courts have issued
rulings in recent years concerning
staff-patient ratios at state mental
hospitals, and mandating in-
creases in overall state funding of
MHMR programs.
Second, the Texas legislature it-
self, in response to federal prod-
ding, recently passed a new law:
SB-633. This law establishes cer-
tain “core services" to the men-
tally ill and mentally retarded
which must be provided within
each countv.
The result of all this has been
pressure on the state and on the
individual counties to increase
spending levels for MHMR pro-
grams. Also, there is pressure on
the Texas State Hospital system to
reduce the number of hospitalized
patients by providing more com-
prehensive at-home and out-
patient care.
Therefore, the creation of
Johnson County MHMR, which
presumably will be able to provide
better, more cost-effective MHMR
services closer to home.
Bascom Hodges, representing
the state hospital, told thq com-
missioners, “We want to do anyth-
ing wc can to make the transition
(to the Johnson County program)
without a break in service.”
He added that he had “enjoyed
doing business with you gen-
tlemen,” and called the relationship
between representatives of the
state hospital and the county com-
missioners “very good.”
After Hodges concluded his
remarks, Willard Robertson, chair-
man of the Johnson County
MHMR board of trustees, read a
prepared statement to the com-
missioners from the board. In the
statement, the board members
said, “It is the consensus of our
group that you appointed us to
help secure better (services for)
mental health/mental retarda-
tion.” The statement went on to
add that it is the board's intention
to play a strong role In planning
MHMR programs, setting policies
and hiring staff.
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Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 70, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 13, 1985, newspaper, June 13, 1985; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth760772/m1/1/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.