IISD Boasts Five All-State Musicians

Five IISD students have reached the highest level of recognition available to high school musicians in Texas. Each year, the Texas Music Educators Association selects the best high school band, choir, and orchestra members to participate in All-State performances. These students will attend the Texas Music Educators Convention in San Antonio in February. While music teachers are attending in-service events, the students will rehearse for three days and then present concerts on Saturday, February 14.

Irving’s 2004 All-State musicians are: Kalena Davis, orchestra, viola, Nimitz High School, director Marla Maletic; Marcus Jauregui, choir, tenor, Nimitz, director John Wayman; Ryan Williams, band, tuba, Irving High School, director Phil LaRocque; Theola Henry, band, contrabass clarinet, MacArthur High School, director Will James; and Julie Curry, band, French horn, Nimitz, director Mark Poole.

De Zavala Pilots New Technology

AlphaSmart, a technology company that supplies computing devices for IISD elementary schools, has chosen de Zavala Middle School to host a pilot program for a new computing device called DANA. As the district searches for a computing device somewhere between elementary AlphaSmarts and high school laptops, one team of de Zavala eighth graders will get a 12-week test drive of the DANA devices next semester. Students will use them every day in class and check them out to take home. DANA runs on the Palm Operating System. It has a full size keyboard and a four-inch screen. It will support software such as a calendar, word processor, spreadsheet and PowerPoint. It will also have a keyboarding program to provide typing practice for middle schoolers. The DANAs will also come with limited wireless internet access and infrared communications capabilities allowing students to beam their work to teachers, other students, or classroom printers.

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Nursing Host Healthfit Expo Booth

Several IISD nurses showcased the district’s health practices at the annual Healthfit Expo sponsored by NBC5 at the Dallas Convention Center last week. The nurses manned a booth sponsored by Score A Goal In The Classroom January 10 and 11.

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Lee Librarian Honored by TCEA

Lee Elementary School Librarian Heather Lamb has been named one of the top three finalists for the Librarian of the Year award from the Texas Computer Educator Association (TCEA). The announcement of the final winner will be made February 5 at the TCEA annual convention in Austin.

Lamb is the second IISD library media specialist to be named a finalist. Lea Bailey received the same recognition.

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Barton Teacher Published

Barton Elementary School special education teacher Ginger Baker recently joined the ranks of published authors from IISD. Baker’s book, Walking Home Alone, was published by Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc. as one of the new titles in that company’s Books for Young Learners collection aimed at readers in the Kindergarten to second grade level.

Baker said she was inspired to submit her story after attending a summer institute offered by The Learning Network several years ago.

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Retirement Workshop Set For This Month

Gilbert Elementary School will host a retirement workshop on Monday, January 26, for any IISD employee planning to retire in the next two years. A retirement counselor from the Texas Retired Teachers Association will present a general overview of the retirement process and its options from 4 to 6 p.m. followed by a question and answer period from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Gilbert’s cafeteria.

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Brown Fund Drive Benefits Wildfire Victims

Leslie Pantoja’s class at Brown Elementary School combined their knowledge of current events with a touching concern for others this month. Students took it upon themselves to conduct a fundraiser to benefit relief efforts for the victims of Southern California wildfires.

Students placed collection boxes throughout the school and promoted the fund drive to other classes. The effort netted $199.42 which was sent to the American Red Cross and designated for the Southern California Wildfire Relief Fund.

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Houston Teacher Founds International Education Effort

For Jenna Coventry, English classes at Houston Middle School represent only half of her teaching ambitions. The other half is half a world away…in Zambia.

Coventry is the founder of a nonprofit organization called Teach Zambia whose goal it is to improve education and lifestyles for students in the south African country of Zambia. The organization, which, for the most part consists of Coventry and her husband right now, is the product of an immigrant family and a teacher’s heart.

"I went to Zambia the first time for a holiday in 1999 with my boyfriend," Coventry said. Her boyfriend introduced her to his family, who had immigrated to the rural village of Mazabuka, Zambia from the United Kingdom more than four generations before. "Somehow, I ended up going to the little school house on their farm in the mornings just to be around the kids."

But while her experiences with those children were fond, Coventry could not forget the inadequacies of their school. When she and her boyfriend returned to Mazabuka last summer to get married, the children started to ask when she would come to live there and be their teacher. Their childlike request was one that Coventry could not ignore. Upon returning to the states, she set out to register a nonprofit organization and start to collect funds to bring such luxuries as running water, electricity, desks and books to that school house in Mazabuka and hundreds like it across Zambia.

This spring, Teach Zambia will hold a "Grass 4 Class" fundraising even in which volunteers will mow lawns to raise money for the project. For more information visit the Teach Zambia website.

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Thomas Haley Students to Compete In Texas Youth Art Month

Seven students from Thomas Haley Elementary School have been chosen to participate in a statewide art exhibit and competition in observance of Texas Youth Art Month. Their art will be sent to Austin to compete against other works from their peers across the state. Youth Art Month is a statewide celebration for public schools sponsored by the Texas Association of Art Educators and endorsed by the governor and other state officials.

The seven Thomas Haley students whose work was selected are: Gi Ju Lim, fourth grade; Rhea Dabas, fifth grade; Joan Garcia, first grade; Janelle Taylor, first grade; Leah Henderson, first grade; Holly Juber, kindergarten; and Zachary Nugent, third grade.