Austin Board of Trustees Election Tomorrow

The Austin Board of Trustees Election is tomorrow, Saturday, May 8th.
Polling Station: Mills Elementary
Time: 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.

We can vote in two races: District 7 (Southwest Austin), and District at Large 9.

District 7:
Robert Schneider
Warren Faulkner

District 9:
Tamala Barksdale
Cassandra Enoch Brown
Julie Cowan
Dianne T. Mendoza
Mike Reed

The Austin Statesman reports that Julie Cowan, and Tamala Barksdale are in a close race, and that PTA groups have the power to decide who will win. So, get out there and vote!!!

Community Dialogue about Austin ISD School Facilities

Austin Independent School District

The Power of Your Voice Will Help Guide the Emerging Facility Master Plan for Austin Schools

Thursday, May 20, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Travis High School, Cafeteria
1211 E. Oltorf St.

Refreshments and child care provided.

Please forward this information to friends and colleagues who may be interested:

Use the Power of Your Voice to Create a New Generation of Schools

Community Dialogue about Austin ISD School Facilities

Discuss issues that directly impact our public school facilities with
educators, parents, students, civic and business leaders, and other engaged
community members.

Your insights and opinions will help shape the future of public education
in Austin. Please attend, listen, and speak up. Bring your neighbors and
friends.
For more information, call AISD Facilities Management, 414-2667, or check
the website, www.austinisd.org

Check out the new candidate video presentations from AISD.

http://www.austinisd.org/inside/board/election.phtml

AISD Board of Trustees Early Voting

Early Voting:
Monday, April 26, 2010 - Tuesday, May 4, 2010

SOUTHWEST
Randalls South Mopac and William Cannon
6600 South Mopac @ William Cannon
Mon–Sat 7 am–7 pm, Sun Noon–6 pm

Randalls Brodie and Slaughter
9911 Brodie Lane @ Slaughter Lane
Mon–Sat 7 am–7 pm, Sun Noon–6 pm

Community Impact SW Austin article on Candidate's Forum

http://impactnews.com/southwest-austin/144-news/7925-aisd-candidate-forum-at-mills

AISD candidate forum at Mills Elementary

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By Yvonne Lim Wilson Thursday, 08 April 2010

Budget priorities dominated the conversation at candidate forum hosted by the Mills PTA on April 7 held at the Mills elementary school cafeteria. The forum was for Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees candidates running for District 7 (Southwest Austin) and At-large District 9.

Incumbent Robert Schneider and retired educator Warren Faulkner are running for the District 7 seat. Tamala Barksdale, Cassandra Brown, Julie Cowan, Dianne Mendoza and Mike Reed are running for the at-large seat. All listed candidates except for Mendoza and Reed attended the forum.

The district’s $7.1 million shortfall was a source of many of the audience’s questions. All the candidates expressed reservations for a tax increase, saying they would prefer looking at budget cuts first.

“I have not heard a lot of support for a tax increase right now,” said Cowan, who supports first examining programs that are not working and could be cut.

Brown added that the board needed to give superintendent Meria Carstarphen a chance to look for efficiencies before going to voters to ask for a tax increase. However, she did say that she believed a tax increase would be needed at some point in the future.

“Tax cuts are the very last thing to me,” Barksdale said.

Schneider also said he is not in favor of tax cuts at the moment and said that structural deficits need to be addressed.

Faulkner echoed similar sentiments about looking for program cuts and efficiencies first, but also added that a small tax increase to support the strategic plan and salary increases for teachers could be approved by voters.

“We don’t need to sell our citizens short,” he said, adding that the last tax increase was approved by 60 percent of voters three years ago.

Other topics discussed included plans for a new high school in southwest Austin, school closures and ideas to improve school boundary processes.

Currently, District 1 incumbent Cheryl Bradley, District 4 incumbent Vince Torres and District 6 incumbent Lori Moya have no challengers. District 1 encompasses East and Northeast Austin and District 6 encompasses South Central Austin.

Early voting takes place April 26 through May 4 and Election Day is May 8. For more information, visit http://www.austinisd.org/inside/board/election.phtml.

AISD Board Candidates Info

If you weren't able to attend our recent Candidate's Forum at Mills Elementary, here is a few of the candidate website addresses and Facebook pages. This is not an endorsement, but information for you to learn more about the candidates and the events they are having. I am following these, and have learned the most about the candidates on Facebook.

Tamala Barksdale
http://www.tamalaforaisd.org/
Facebook: Tamala Barksdale for AISD

Jill Cowan
http//www.juliecowan2010.com
Facebook: Julie Cowan for AISD School Board At-large Place 9

Warren Faulkner
Facebook: Friends of Warren Faulkner

Bowie Makes the List

Group ranks Central Texas schools

by KVUE News

Posted on April 19, 2010 at 4:12 PM

Some local schools are celebrating after being ranked among the best schools in Austin.

The group Children at Risk released its rankings Monday morning at Canyon Vista Middle School in Northwest Austin.

The group evaluated dozens of campuses in seven Central Texas counties --- considering graduation rates, scores on college entrance exams, and other factors.

Among high schools, Westwood tops the list. Other schools that made the grade include Westlake High School, Wimberley High and NYOS charter school.

Two Austin ISD campuses made the list -- Anderson and Bowie high schools.

Trustees Name New Southwest Elementary

April 6, 2010 - Trustees Name New Southwest Elementary School
Austin School Trustees have voted to name the new Southwest Austin Elementary School for Ross Baldwin, a long-time AISD student mentor, successful business owner, and community leader.

Austin School Trustees have voted to name the new Southwest Austin Elementary School for Ross Baldwin, a long-time AISD student mentor, successful business owner, and community leader. Mr. Baldwin was an active mentor at Joslin Elementary School for nearly 30 years, mentoring several students each year, and supporting their success by attending games, plays, scout meetings, and other activities. In 2005, he was named AISD Mentor of the Year. A World War II veteran, he was also the founder and owner of Baldwin Beauty Schools, as well as an active member of the Oak Hill Rotary Club for more than 25 years. Mr. Baldwin died in 2007 at the age of 82.

Ross Baldwin Elementary School, located at 12200 Meridian Park Blvd., will open in August, and is a project of the District’s Apple at Work Bond Program.

Naming New Southwest Elementary

The Austin ISD Board of Trustees will be naming the new Southwest Elementary School at tonight's board meeting. Check out all the possible name ideas at:

Board Agenda

Kiker Transition Details

This information is in Mrs. Butler's column this week:

Kiker Transition Activities


For those families who will be attending Kiker Elementary next year, there are some transition activities planned for Thursday, April 15. They will start with Principal Lori Schneider hosting a coffee for parents at 8:00. Mills students will visit Kiker from 9:30-10:30, and Kiker will host an open house for Mills families at 6:00. More information will be provided to the families affected by this move.
 
As we get more information, I'll post it here.

Candidate Forum

Not sure how many of you out there are still following the blog.  We'd really like to invite all of you who were so active during the boundary process to participate in a candidate forum scheduled for Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30pm. 

Here are the details:

The Mills Elementary PTA is sponsoring a candidates’ forum for those seeking District 7 and At-Large District 9 seats. We will hold the forum on Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30pm in the Mills Elementary School cafeteria. The event is open to the public and will be widely publicized in the District 7 area.


Questions will be solicited from the audience and screened by a question screener for appropriateness. The moderator will ask the question of each candidate and a time keeper will ensure each candidate gets the same time to answer. After about an hour of questions, we will allow each candidate to give a summary of no more than five minutes. Our goal is to end the event at 8pm.

------------------------------
 
Both of these races are contested...so your vote really counts.
 
District 7:
Robert Schneider is the incumbant - was first elected to the Austin ISD Board of Trustees in May, 2002 and re-elected in 2006. He has recently retired from fulltime work on massively parallel computing systems at The University of Texas at Austin after 30 years of research and departmental work. Mr. Schneider has a long history of community involvement serving on numerous neighborhood, environmental, and school committees and task forces. His primary interests include site-based decision making, promoting academic achievement, and studying models of board governance. Mr. Schneider serves as chair of the Board's Audit Committee. Mr. Schneider has been married to his wife, Kathleen, since 1986, and has four children who attend AISD schools.



Challenger Warren Faulkner is retired from AISD in May 2009 after 29 years of service as a teacher and administrator. He is currently a substitute teacher and administrator, a weekly mentor, and serves on the advisory board of a local child development center. His primary interests are improving AISD’s high school graduation rate, supporting cumulative examination of student knowledge with a goal of 100% passing rate, representing all students of AISD, remaining abreast of district growth and planning accordingly, being a good steward of district money, and fair compensation and retention of teachers, administrators, and classified district employees (office staff, teaching assistants, custodians, cafeteria servers and monitors). Mr. Faulkner has lived in District 7 since 1983. To learn more about Mr. Faulkner, visit friendsofwarrenfaulker.yolasite.com, or email him at friendsofwarrenfaulkner@yahoo.com.
 
We've been assured both of these candidates will attend the forum.
 
The at-large position is fairly crowded with 5 different candidates - Tamala Barksdale, Cassandra Enoch Brown, Julie Cowan, Dianne T. Mendoza, & Mike Reed.  More on these candidates to come.




So bring your questions for the candidates for Board of Trustees, and be ready to vote in the election that comes up Saturday, May 8!

Parents Transitioning to Kiker

This note came out today from Mrs. Butler and contains some information from Kiker Principal Lori Schneider about their letter writing/class placement process.

If you will be going to Kiker next year, please see the following letter that Kiker sent home regarding input for class placements. If you would like to provide input, the forms are available in our front office - Ms. Butler


--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Parents and Guardians,

It is hard to believe that we are already thinking about the next school year when there is so much yet to do for the remainder of this one. After we return from Spring Break, we will begin our process of placing students in classes for the 2010-2011 school year. This process begins at the end of March with input from you and input from all of your children's teachers. This process lasts approximately five months and will not be final until August. It is critical that we are diligent and purposeful as we create classes that will lead to success for all.


We consider many criteria as classes are formed. First and foremost, we consider your child and the best teacher and environment for him or her. Other criteria include: gender, general achievement levels, student behavior, special needs, academic programs and services, etc.


If you would like to provide input for your child’s placement, you are invited to do so by completing the form that is available in the school office. Feel free to come and pick one up anytime between March 2nd (Tuesday) and March 12th (Friday). The form will not be available after that date.


As you begin to provide us information about the many gifts and talents of your child, as well as any struggles you wish us to consider, please do not request a specific teacher by name. Although it is incredibly tempting, there are so many factors to consider during this process. The administration and counselor know best each teacher's style, strengths, skills and talents and will work with your child's teacher to make the best placement for your child. Please do not ask your child’s current teacher or possible future teacher to arrange a particular placement for your child or to request one teacher to recommend another teacher. This can be awkward for our faculty and may not provide the outcome you are seeking.
Again, the teachers, administration and counselor will work together to assign students to classes. Each child is hand placed into a class. In addition, although teachers of prior siblings may seem like the best option, remember that all children are different with unique talents, strengths and needs and must be assigned accordingly.
Final placement will not be complete until August 2010; some students leave us, and new students enroll.
Completion of the form is optional—it is NOT required. If you decide to complete it, please return it to your child’s teacher or to the school office no later than Friday, March 12. Let us know if you have any questions. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Lori Schneider



Kiker Elementary Principal


(512) 414-2584

Plan 3 Approved

Congratulations to everyone who spoke, came to meetings, got up early to wait in line, created petitions, signed petitions, filled out surveys and followed this crazy boundary process over the last 6-7 months.  I, for one, am glad it's over.

Plan 3 was approved last night by the Board of Trustees. 

In one way, I feel elated that our community came together with one voice, created a plan and saw it through.

In another, I'm selfishly sad because my family has to leave Mills. Thankfully, I'll have lots of familiar Mills faces at Kiker as we transition to a new and wonderful school community.

Mrs. Butler is working with Mrs. Schneider to create some transition events - I'll post those plans here, if there are specific things you want to see, feel free to post a comment.

BUT WAIT!  There's more!

On May 8, the School District will hold elections for some current Board of Trustee members.  Since we've gone through this process, Lisa and I feel it's important that parents and community members have an opportunity to meet the candidates for the District 7 Board position - the position that represents SW Austin.

We're working with the PTA to set up a candidates forum in March, where you'll be able to submit questions for the candidates to answer - so look for details on that coming soon!

We made it. 

REVISED AGENDA FOR TONIGHT

PUBLIC COMMENTS START AT 6:10PM

REVISED AGENDA:


I. CALL TO ORDER

6:00 PM

II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

6:02 PM

III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

6:05 PM

IV. PUBLIC HEARING: SOUTHWEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

BOUNDARIES

(90 Minutes)

6:10 PM

V. BOARD DISCUSSION

(60 Minutes)

7:40 PM

VI. ADJOURNMENT

8:40 PM

Come one, Come All

To the Final Elementary School Boundary Forum

This is your last chance to publicly support the Boundary Plan before the AISD Board of Trustees. A public forum will be held Thursday, February 11, at 6pm at AISD headquarters.

We need as many parents and residents as possible to show up wearing Mills T-shirts, carrying Pro-Plan 3 Signs, and ready speak publically in support of the task force plan. Other schools are coming out strongly in opposition to the plan.

Interested in speaking? Come to a meeting TONIGHT, Tuesday, February 9 at 6pm in the Mills Library. Or, contact Lisa Chatham at lisadhc@yahoo.com for more details.

The Board of Trustees will vote on the plan at their February 22nd regular meeting.

New Article:
http://impactnews.com/southwest-austin/258-recent-news/7043-public-comments-on-southwest-school-boundaries-sought

KVUE Interview with Dr. Carstarphen

She talks about the Strategic Plan - and also the "turnaround" plan which is looking at addressing underperforming and under utilized schools.

HEADS UP: Community Meeting Feb. 11

The Board of Trustees will have a public meeting February 11 at 6pm.  This meeting will strictly be for the board to hear from community members regarding the current FUBTF recommended boundary plan.  Sign up proceedures are the same for the speaking at a regular board meeting.

We will hold a meeting for Mills parents Tuesday, February 9 at 6pm in the Mills Library.  Can't make the meeting?  Email millsrep@gmail.com for more information.

------------------------------------------------------------

Just got this from Joe Silva with AISD...More information on how to sign up coming soon.  But please, mark your calendar's now.  We will need a solid turnout.
---------------------------

HI Everyone,


Just wanted to let you know that the District will releasing a press release later today (if it hasn't gone out yet) that the Board of Trustees will be holding a public forum on Thursday February 11, 2010 in the Board Auditorium to get community input regarding the FUBTF final recommendation that will be presented to them on February 8, 2010.

The process to sign up to speak will be same as Citizen Communications. Signup for speakers will start at 7:45 on 2/11/2010 in the Superintendent's office.

New schools in Austin despite empty classrooms

Mills parents,

Read this new Statesman editorial:

New schools in Austin despite empty classrooms

Please don't let this editorial go unanswered. It's time to be clear why this plan is sound, while being respectful of other schools. After you comment on the editorial, don't forget to sign the petition:  http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/FUBTFrecsupport/

Kiker Transition Meeting

Ms. Butler and Ms. Schneider are in touch with one another and plan to have a transition meeting for the Mills students who will be moving to Kiker next year. 

However, we need to wait until after the Board of Trustees votes on the plan in order to get the meeting together.  That happens Feb. 22. 

Please hold off on calling Kiker to ask about the meeting - I promise I will post information here as soon as something is decided.

Thanks!

Oak Hill Gazette: The community newspaper for Southwest Austin

Another reason to have people who support Plan 3, the plan recommended by the FUBTF attend the Feb. 8th Board of Trustee meeting. Wear your t-shirts, bring signs.

Oak Hill Gazette: The community newspaper for Southwest Austin