Plano ISD eNews - April 7, 2006

April 7, 2006

APRIL
4.6	Employee Service & Retirement Event
4/14	Student/Teacher Holiday
4/16-4/22	Public School Volunteer Week & National Student Leadership Week
4/17	Secondary Report Cards Distributed (ParentView)
4/18	School Board Work Session
4/20	Parent Seminar on Internet Safety
4/23-4/29	Administrative Professionals Week
4/26	Administrative Professionals Day
4/30	Plano East 25th Anniversary Event

Student Competitions & Performances Calendar

View Full Calendar

Top Story

		Science Fair Record Breakers Advance to International Event Plano ISD students who competed in recent science fair competitions at both the regional and state levels broke records for the numbers of grand prize awards that they brought home. Top winners will advance to the International Science and Engineering Fair to be held in May. Winners and their photos are posted on our district web site.

Other News

		Destination ImagiNation! Teams Win State Events, Head to World Finals Teams from Hughston and Wyatt elementary schools and Haggard Middle School will compete at the Destination ImagiNation! World Finals in June in Tennessee. Repeat state winners from Hughston and Haggard, and the Wyatt team won top titles at state recently to advance to the global event.

		Art Students Recognized Through Local, State and National Contests and Exhibits Two art compositions designed by Plano ISD students were selected among the Texas Governor's Top 10 Picks for exhibit in her office during the 2006-07 school year. View the artwork on our web site, along with a list of more than 200 students whose art was selected for exhibit at the Plano Art Centre and three students' work selected for "2006ARTS" awards by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

		National Library Week Celebrations This week in schools across our district, students and staff celebrated National Library Week with celebrity readers, presentations by nationally recognized authors, special story times, book swaps and talks, and daily announcements relating to books and reading. See our web site for a school-by-school list of activities, plus links to related events in Plano and Dallas.

		Connecting Libraries & Learners in Plano CLLIP is a cooperative project involving Plano ISD libraries, City of Plano Public libraries and the library at Collin County Community College-Spring Creek campus. The 70+ CLLIP libraries provide more than 140 databases covering subjects from art to medicine, plus academic search engines that connect to hundreds of relevant web sites. CLLIP is a service available to all – pre-school children to adult lifelong learners.

		700 Metroplex Bilingual Educators to Conference April 8 in Plano ISD Plano ISD will host the Bilingual Education Association of the Metroplex's (BEAM) annual conference on April 8 at Plano West Senior High School. More than 700 educators and university students are expected to attend the event. Keynote speaker Dr. Carlos E. Cortes, University of California Riverside professor emeritus of history, will address the group on past and current social imperatives in the education of English language learners and related opportunities for our society.

School Board Update

The Plano ISD Board of Trustees took the following action at their April 4 business meeting. (Select links for more information.)

Technology Plan - Trustees adopted Plano ISD's 2006-07 Technology Plan, a one-year update of the 2003-06 plan produced by the district's technology steering committee. The update includes status of initiatives for the earlier three-year plan as well as 2004 technology bond projects. The technology committee will begin formulating a new three-year plan this fall.

National Library Week - Adopted a resolution honoring National Library Week.
Grievance - Upheld administrative ruling re: employee grievance. Budget Report - Heard a report highlighting budgets from PASAR, Athletics and Summer School programs. Also reviewed the debt service budget, which reflects a proposed 1½ cent tax rate increase. Department budgets and programs such as Head Start, Even Start and Practical Parent Education will be discussed on April 18.
Policy - Approved TASB Localized Policy Update 77 on second reading.
Consent Agenda - Approved all Items on the consent agenda.

The next school board meeting will be a work session on April 18, 2006, at 6:00 p.m. at the Sockwell Center. An edited version of the April board meeting can be viewed on both Plano and Richardson Comcast Cable Channel A-31 at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays and at noon on Saturdays.

Thought for the Week:

"Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives."

~Maya Angelou

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eNews Staff

Doug Otto, Superintendent of Schools
Karla Oliver, Executive Director for Government and Community Relations
Mary Gorden, Public Information Officer / eNews Editor

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