Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 17, 1988 Page: 1 of 28
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28 PAGES IN 2 SECTIONS
THURSDAY
EDITION
Vol. 24 No. 12
November 17, 1988
BURLESO
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(COPYRIGHT* 1988 BURLESON STAR
TWENTY-FIVE CENTS l
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
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For Mail Delivery
295-0486
Fee—
Student activity fee
to be reconsidered
today in meeting
Tournament Sweepstakes Winners
Hurlrwn Star/nOVm WILSO\
The Burleson High School Drama Department took top honors and in specific areas of competition. Drama Coach Donna Matney
a first place Sweepstakes Trophy at recent drama tournament com- relates honors earned by her talented students in this and three
petition in Desoto, as well as earning numerous individual honors previous tournaments this semester in a story on Page 4.
____ ' ......._..,......... •• •
Public hearing on school dress code
set for Monday by advisory committee
BY DOTTIE WILSON
The committee represents a
'good cross section of those in-
volved and interested in possible
revisions of the dress code for
Burleson schools. The chairman
of the recently-appointed Dress
Code Advisory Committee is
Burleson High School student
David Barber.
The need for the committee
surfaced after the eruption of
considerable controversy earlier
this year over a ruling that
cheerleaders and drill team
members could not wear their
uniforms to school on pep rally
days because of violation of the
dress code. The ruling, made by
Superintendent of Schools Gor-
don Cockerham, was rescinded
with the understanding that lhi4
committee would be established
to study the school dress codes
and present to the school board
its findings on any revisions
necessary for fairness to all
students.
An amicable group of adminis-
trators, teachers, parents, and
students have met twice—Oct. 24
and Nov. 7—to formulate a
recommendation on the dress
codes, which will be presented to
BiSD school board members at
their Dec. 12 meeting.
BEFORE THAT happens, how-
ever, the ad hoc committee will
conduct a public hearing on their
preliminary recommendations,
accepting input from those who
attend. Superintendent of Schools
Gordon Cockerham said the
group advises they have for-
mulated a compromise which
they feel addresses the concerns
of all panics.
That public hearing is scheduled
for Monday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. in
the BISD Board Room. Coc-
kerham indicated that the com-
mittee will set its own criteria for
the public hearing, but that
opinions on the dress code for
Burleson schools will be heard
from citizens attending.
Rev. Bob Young, pastor of First
United Methodist Church, serves
on the committee as well as an
elementary, junior high, and high
school administrator; an elemen-
tary, junior high, and high school
teacher; two high school students
‘and two parents of high school
age students; two junior high
students and two parents of
junior high schoolers; and two
elementary parents. One mem-
ber of the committee ran the
gamut: Judy Moorehead is the
mother of an elementary, a
junior high, and a high school
student.
In addition to Barber (chair-
person), Moorehead, and Young,
other members of the committee
include: Misti Carroll, Naomi
Coontz, Bud Harrison, Nancy
Homell, Sharon Lee, Gina Mat-
ranga, Jeanie Medina, D’Arci
Morgan, Paula Myatt, Susan
Shaha, Charlie Shetter, Billie Sue
Stephens, Mary Stokic, and
Wanda Walker.
COCKERHAM SAID of the
public hearing that it would be
helpful if those who wish to
speak on the subject would give
their names to the chairman of
the committee prior to the begin-
ning of the meeting. In fairness
to all who care to voice opinions,
Cockerham requested that speak-
ers confine their remarks to
three to five minutes. This will
assure that everyone has the op-
portunity to speak.
*
Cockerham reviewed the situa-
tion as it had progressed earlier
this fall. *T understand that they
had dealt with the same question
at the high school before, but it
was the first time / had been
asked the question,” he said.
(The question, as posed by the
parent of a high school student:
“Why were the cheerleaders and
drill team members allowed to
wear short skirts when the
students were not allowed to
wear skirts of the same length to
school?”). “When I was asked
that way, I really didn’t have a
good answer for the question,”
said Cockerham.
After the decision was announ-
ced (that the students not wear
their short-skirted uniforms dur-
ing the day—only while perform-
ing), there was considerable
negative response from parents.
Cockerham contacted Byron
Bl^tck, president of the school
board, and was advised that the
consensus of the board was that
an exception be made. “The
board asked me to consider res-
cinding my position, and I did
that.”
The review of the current dress
code which has been undertaken
by the committee is the hoped-
for resolution of the situation.
The public hearing, again, is
scheduled for this Monday night
(Nov. 21) at 7 p.m. at the BISD
Administration Building. Interes-
ted parties are encouraged .to
attend.
Currently the dress code at
BHS (copies of which were pos-
ted in homerooms and explained
by administrators) reads as
follows:
“ALL STUDENTS are expected
to adhere to common practices
of modesty, cleanliness, and
neatness; and they should dress
in such a manner as to con-
tribute to the academic at-
mosphere, not detract from it.
The student who fails to comply
with this code may be sent home
with qn unexcused absence. It is
the responsibility of the student
and parent to address modesty
and suitable attire for the school
environment. The following guide-
lines should govern such dress
choices:
(The portion of the code dealing
with skirt lengths)
“—Dresses and skirts should
Please see HEM, pg. 4
They came; they spoke; and
they may well have conquered.
A standing room only crowd
attended Monday night's meeting of
the Burleson ISD Board of Trustees,
many of them there to speak—or
show support for those who did
speak—concerning the $30 activity
fee imposed this year on extracurric-
ular activities.
The net result of all that effort
could be a change of heart by the
board. A special school board meet-
ing has been called for this morning
(Thursday) at 7:30 to reconsider the
fee.
Since the fee was not an agenda
item Monday night, no action could
be taken by the board at that time.
The administrative staff has
been instructed to look into the lega-
lity of the fees and its finding may
be one of the keys to the board's de-
cision.
Another possible consideration
could be the public relations factor.
With the specter of a rollback
election now a very real possibility,
the board may .not think it wise to
alienate a large section of voters ov-
er a few thousand dollars.
The school district stands to
lose $1.1 million if the rollback
election is approved by voters.
Larry Shetter was. among those
speaking about the activity fee. He
said that he didn't think the $20 fee
(if paid before the deadline; $30
thereafter) was the issue.
"That's not the point," he said.
"The thing is that the people who
yell the loudest are the ones who
get their way. 1 feel it (fee) was a
compromise to satisfy people like
Mr. Lyles."
The reference was to Ed Lyles,
who has provided the leadership in
the rollback movement. Lyles was
the first person given the opportun-
ity to speak at the meeting, al-
though he made no public state-
ment. He presented Board President
Byron Black with a petition signed
by more than 2,000 people calling
for the roiback election.
Shetter continued his statement
by telling the board that he did not
think it was right "to have to come
up here in big groups and make
decisions by applause meters."
He noted that the students felt
let down. These girls and boys
work hard to represent the school
and the community and many of
them feel something has been taken
from them, he said.
Another man brought up the
record of the football team and
asked if the board thought it was
fair for him to have to pay $20 for
his son to play on a team that has
won four games in three years.
After several other questions to
the board, he was reminded by
Black that the time was to be spent
making comments and expressing
concerns to the board—not as a
question and answer session.
D.P. Ray pointed out that
while grades 9-12 may have ade-
quate athletic facilities, the seventh
and eighth grade teams don't even
have lockers to keep their posses-
sions safe.
He said he could not understand
why funding was cut for programs
that benefited many students while
others, like TAG, that affected only
a few students, were given increased
funding.
"Our tax dollars must be redir-
ected into programs that benefit the
majority of the students," he said.
He added that unessential pro-
grams and staff should be cut and
said that extracurricular activities
should pay for themselves.
Other parents complained that
junior high coaches had told stu-
dents they could not participate in
activities this week if the fee were
not paid. They said this was unfair
since the deadline for early payment
was not until Friday.
"No student will be denied parti-
cipation in any extracurricular event
between now and Friday," Black
assured them.
What happens after Friday de-
pends on the outcome of this morn-
ing’s meeting.
This One's
Kinda Hot!
Richard Lowe, (right) city council member, has second th-
oughts about agreeing to be a Chili Cook-off judge after
tasting some of the entries. John Daniels, also a council
member, writes down his evaluation of the chili with an
undoubtedly scalding tongue. sUr 'Romko mi m:i u
Goodnight reports stats on voter turnout for general election Nov. 8
BY SALLY ELLERTSON
The Nov. 8 election brought
out more voters than Johnson
County Clerk Robbv Goodnight
has seen in the lour years that he
has held that position.
The final count was '^3,514
votes cast, involving 66 percent
of the registered voters of
Johnson County. Almost half —24
percent—of the votes were
done absentee?
"We had three slate inspectors
here arfd they said jhat there was
nothing wrong anywhere,” Good-
night told the count/ com-
missioners before they approved
the canvassing of the votes.
The commissioners approved,
with the exception of Pet. 3 Com-
missioner Jimmie York, revising
the Burleson Federal Aid Urban
System to include Alsbury—from
1-35 to N.W. Renfro—in the
Federal Aid Urban System.
In short, Alsbury will be main-
tained by state money. Burleson
was one of three cities to receive
funding. The other two cities are
Mansfield and Stephensville.
The Mandalay subdivision has
to be resubmitted for a second
preliminary plat because the re-
quired 12 month deadline (from
plat submission to approval) was
up Sept. 18. For more detail see
the story in this issue.
THE ROOFING contractor for
the Johnson County Law Enfor-
cement Center should be finished
this week, according to engineer
Frank Neal., He said that the
JCLEC should be finished bv the
first to the middle of December.
The money spent on it thus far
amounts io $5,647,385.
Neaf asked the commissioners
to approve an additional $79,636
for revisions in an air con-
ditioner contfacl that was in-
itiated under the original engineers
on the project. “ The com-
missioners approved that and
added that the project is still well
under the projected costs.
Neal asked that the com-
missioners consider increasing
his originally agreed-upon fee for
the project.
See COMMISSIONERS, Pg. 3
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Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 17, 1988, newspaper, November 17, 1988; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth761266/m1/1/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Burleson Public Library.