Passmore ES will unveil a special mural tomorrow, made possible by a $10,000 team grant received from the Northside Education Foundation. Part of the unveiling of the mural will be the revealing of 30 students chosen by each level classroom teacher, who demonstrated the traits of the Pillar of Respect during the month of October. Their pictures will be placed in the stars of the mural. Which students were chosen is a surprise to the students.

Onsite contact is Renee Gonzalez, Jefferson MS Texas History teacher.

The Texas Department of Agriculture's "Bring It!" tour is visiting Rayburn Middle School from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Nov. 12.

The Bring It! Tour includes a massive interactive exhibit that is aimed at raising student awareness about the 3 E's of Healthy Living: Education, Exercise and Eating Right.

Rayburn Middle School is located at 1400 Cedarhurst, 78227. The school's phone number is 397-2150.

Ceremonies will be held at campuses all over Northside ISD to celebrate Veterans Day and honor those who have fought and served to protect our country.

Here's a few events that promise to be very special because of the school's connection with a veteran:

David Avila, a parent of two students, will present an American flag that traveled everywhere with him after he was deployed to Iraq in February 2004. In May 2004, the Army corporal was seriously injured by a car bomb and spent more than two years recovering at Brook Army Medical Center. More information about Avila is available on the Salute Heroes web site.

Zachry students and staff will honor and remember one of their own - Marine Reserve Sgt. Cesar Ruiz, who was killed Oct. 31 when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan. Members of the Zachry and Taft grad will attend the ceremony, which include renditions of "Amazing Grace" by San Antonio Pipes and Drums, and "Taps" by Taft High School freshman Justin Raymond.

NISD employees (from all over the district) who are veterans will be individually honored by the Brandeis High School AFJROTC in a special ceremony that also includes the members of the high school's choir, band and orchestra.

Northside will dedicate its 64th elementary school today and will honor a rancher who played an integral role in the education of children who lived in Northwest Bexar County at the turn of the 20th century.

In the late 1800s, Hoffmann and his wife purchased a 1,600-acre ranch on Culebra Road. The ranch already was home to an established one-room school, and Hoffmann donated four acres to the school so that it could expand. Hoffmann and his wife served as the major benefactors to the school, providing water, wood to heat the school, and room and board for the teacher.

The school, called Culebra, eventually became one of the original 11 schools that consolidated in 1949 to create Northside ISD. Hoffmann Elementary School was built on what was once one of the Hoffmann ranch pastures.

John Hoffmann Elementary School was built for 800 students and was constructed for $18.9 million with funding from School Bond 2007. It is one of four new Northside schools to open this year to accommodate enrollment, now at 91,578 and growing by about 3,000 students a year.

A 250-member Citizens' Bond Committee will meet for the first time tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Northside Activity Center, 7001 Culebra Road.

The committee is tasked with tackling the District's classroom and facility needs to develop a proposal for a possible bond election in May 2010. The committee's recommendation will be presented to the Board of Trustees, which ultimately will vote whether to call a bond election.

Members of the bond committee represent 100 schools as well as neighborhood associations, community groups, businesses and previous bond committees. The committee is expected to meet every Thursday night through Dec. 10.

NISD enrollment, currently at 91,578, is growing by about 3,000 students a year. The District opened four new schools this year and will open five new schools in August 2010, including three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.

For more information, call Pascual Gonzalez at 397-8552 (office) or 240-2108 (cell).

Student artists will exhibit and sell their original artwork and limited edition prints at the 14th Annual Los Leones Student Arts Festival Saturday, Nov. 7, at Leon Valley Conference and Community Center, 6427 Evers Road.

A partnership between Northside ISD, the City of Leon Valley, and Jefferson Bank, the free indoor/outdoor festival is from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes dance and musical performances, hands-on art activities, food, and professional artist demonstrations.

Inspired by former Leon Valley Mayor Marcy Meffert, the event attracts thousands in search of unique holiday gifts and family fun. Los Leones ("The Lions" in Spanish) teaches students about "the business of art," while also working to establish an active arts community.

All Northside ISD high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools participate in Los Leones. More than 2,500 pieces of quality student artwork will be on display.

Admission is free, and there will be a free shuttle bus running continuously to and from available parking at Leon Valley Elementary School, 7111 Huebner Road (near the intersection with Evers Road), from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. No parking is available onsite at the Community Center.

Two dozen judges representing area businesses will select their personal "pick of show," awarding $25 prizes in the categories of elementary, middle, and high school art. The awards ceremony will be held at 8:30 a.m.

This year's Los Leones poster and other publicity materials feature the artwork of Morgan Escamilla, a sophomore at Taft High School. Her grand prize-winning piece was picked from record number 268 total pieces of artwork submitted in the competition.

For more information, call the Partnerships office at 397-8599.

Sandra Camerena, the sister of slain DEA Agent Kiki Camerena - in whose memory Red Ribbon Week was established - will be an honored guest at events at Jay High School and Mary Hull ES this week.

A district-wide Red Ribbon Rally will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29 at Jay High School, 7611 Marbach. Camarena will give the keynote address.

She will then serve as the Grand Marshal of Mary Hull's 18th annual Red Ribbon parade, scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30 at the school, 7320 Remuda. A rally will follow at 2 p.m.

For more information about Kiki Camerena and the history of Red Ribbon Week, visit the web site for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Northside will dedicate its 63rd elementary school on Wednesday and will honor a man who was committed to public education, public service and the legal profession.

Langley began his law career in 1937 at a San Antonio law firm that eventually became Langley & Banack. In 1970, was one of eight attorneys who crafted the school law section of the State Bar Association. Soon after, he became one of Northside ISD's first district lawyers and was instrumental in helping the rural school system transition into a large, urban and suburban district.

Langley was equally dedicated to the city of San Antonio, serving at various times as chairman of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the San Antonio Public Library. Langley continued practicing law until shortly before his death in 2003 at the age of 88.

Ralph Langley Elementary School was built for 800 students and was constructed for $19.5 million with funding from School Bond 2007. It is one of four new Northside schools to open this year to accommodate enrollment, now at 91,578 and growing by about 3,000 students a year.

Campuses will be holding celebrations for staff members next week to deliver "bonus" checks funded by the state's teacher incentive pay programs.

Teachers and staff at a total of 29 campuses are receiving anywhere from $100 to more than $5,000, depending on the subject and grade level they teach. The total amount of incentive money NISD campuses are receiving is about $3.8 million.

The grant money comes from the District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) and the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) and is earmarked for schools whose students received high scores or showed significant improvement on the TAKS test.

Recipients must have high percentages of economically disadvantaged students, and all schools must be rated Recognized or Exemplary under the state's accountability system, or show strong performance gains in math and reading.

Middle school named for civil rights pioneer

Northside officially will dedicate its 17th middle school on Saturday and will honor a man who dedicated his life to fighting for justice and equality for Mexican Americans.

Following graduation from medical school - at a time when few Hispanics became doctors - Dr. Hector P. Garcia joined the army during World War II. Upon returning home, he was frustrated by the lack of health care and financial resources for Hispanic veterans and substandard schools for Mexican American children. He subsequently founded the American GI Forum, which successfully pushed for social and political reform.

In 1984, President Reagan awarded Garcia the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by a U.S. President.

Garcia died in 1996.

Hector Garcia Middle School was built for 1,500 students and was constructed for $38.8 million with funding from School Bond 2007. The 192,725 square-foot school sits on a 27.3-acre site on Kyle Seale Parkway outside Loop 1604.

Hector Garcia Middle School is one of four new Northside schools to open this year to accommodate enrollment, now at 91,578 and growing by about 3,000 students a year. The rest of the dedication schedule is as follows:

• Ralph Langley Elementary School, 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 21
• John Hoffmann Elementary School, 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 4
• Charles L. Kuentz, Jr. Elementary School, 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 11

Check out Villarreal's grand finale of Hispanic Heritage month! Students will be wearing traditional Latino and Fiesta clothing for the special celebration. The event will be held outside, weather permitting.

Agricultural lessons will make math and science come to life for hundreds of NISD fourth grade students when O'Connor High School holds the "Ag in Action" fair Oct. 6-8.

Ag in Action runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Oct. 6,7, 8) at O'Connor High School, 12221 Leslie Road, 78023. The fair will run continuously from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. except during lunch, which is 10:30 to 11:20 a.m.

Over the course of the three-day event, about 1,300 fourth graders will visit various stations where O'Connor students will give them hands-on lessons in wildlife and aquatics, soil and water conservation, nutrition and fiber research, plant and animal growth, animal production, and plant systems and germination. About 300 high school students will serve as presenters and tour guides.

The purpose of Ag in Action is to help students connect their classroom experiences with real-world applications, and this year's focus is on math and science. Since 1998, more than 24,600 fourth graders and 5,500 high school students have participated in this annual event and raised $360,000 in scholarships.

CHILDREN AT RISK, a Houston-based nonprofit organization, has researched and ranked the top public schools in the six counties of greater San Antonio.

For four years, CHILDREN AT RISK has been ranking the greater Houston area high schools, highlighting the successes and failures of its public schools. This year, researchers included San Antonio as part of the rankings study.

Researchers based their methodology on 14 measures of performance to evaluate how well San Antonio public schools are preparing students for post-secondary success. Among them was the four-year graduation rate, participation in advanced course work, and performance on college entrance exams.

Northside ISD has been awarded a $50,000 grant to support Project Tumaini, a family literacy project for refugee families. Project Tumaini, a Swahili word that means to hope and believe with confidence, will provide refugee families from various countries with intensive and differentiated instruction focused on English literacy.

The performance, called "Declare Your Independence Through Literacy" celebrates the newcomers at Colonies North and Mead elementary schools. Both schools have a large enrollment of Asian and African refugee students who were brought to the United States through a federally-sponsored resettlement program. Most students arrive in the U.S. with little to no formal schooling or English.

The grant for Project Tumaini is provided by the First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas, a program of the Barbara Bush Texas Fund for Family Literacy. Now in its 14th year, Houston-based First Lady's Family Literacy Initiative for Texas awards grants of up to $50,000 to public and private non-profit organizations that strengthen literacy skills within the family unit.

Members of Holmes High School's athletic teams, drumline, and cheerleading squad will join Mayor Julian Castro and former NFL and Texas Longhorns running back Priest Holmes to fire the starting gun for the San Antonio Sports School Rock Challenge.

To participate, students in kindergarten through fifth grade Antonio will run or walk 25.2 miles over a 10-week period. Their "marathon" will culminate on Nov. 13, when students will complete their final mile and celebrate their accomplishment. The Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Marathon will be held two days later on Nov. 15.

About 160,000 elementary students in 19 San Antonio area school districts are being encouraged to go the distance in the School Rock Challenge. For more information, please contact San Antonio Sports at (210) 820-2100 or go to www.SanAntonioSports.org.

Join us for a "prize patrol-like" event to surprise first grader Michael Gallus and his sister, third grader Victoria Gallus, as the 90,000th and the 90,001 students to enroll in NISD.

The siblings, who recently moved here from Killeen with their mother, think they are going to the library for a "special presentation," but instead they will be showered with gifts donated by local businesses.

This may be a short-lived celebration as enrollment could surpass 91,000 by the end of the September, shattering projections for new students. Northside is the largest school district in San Antonio and the fourth largest in Texas.

Northside's H1N1 Task Force is meeting regularly to review the latest information available from local, state, and federal health and education officials.

The H1N1 Task Force, whose members include district and health officials, is charged with making sure NISD is fully prepared to deal with H1N1 threats.

Northside ISD is now the largest school district in Texas and one of the largest in the nation to become completely wireless.

A network of more than 7,000 access points across 355 square miles has been installed in campuses and facilities, giving students, teachers, and staff access to the Internet anywhere and any time.

The wireless network will be used to augment classroom instruction and increase communication between school staff.

Installing the network cost about $6.7 million, which came from funds approved by voters in School Bond 2004. In the long run, the wireless network will be more cost-efficient than installing cables and hardware every time a campus gets additional computers.

Starting this school year, all middle and high school students will be able to bring their own personal laptops to school and connect to the District's wireless Internet network.

Last year, the personal student laptop initiative was successfully piloted at Brandeis High School and Vale Middle School

Parents must sign a consent form and also accept liability for lost or stolen laptops.

The laptop initiative is one of many programs the district has in place to make sure students and staff maximize their use of technology. Currently, the district is in the process of replacing teacher desktop computers with wireless laptops.

Teachers can use the laptops at school and at home, and those teachers who don't have an assigned desk can access student records and professional resources.

Starting Sept. 1, it will be illegal for anyone operating a motor vehicle to be talking or texting on a cell phone while driving in a school zone in the state of Texas.

The law was passed by the state Legislature earlier this year.

Unless they are using a hands-free device or making a legitimate emergency phone call, those caught using a cell phone in a school zone could be fined by police.

NISD is one of only a handful of districts in Texas outfitting every classroom with a ceiling-mounted digital projector.

The projectors are replacing 27-inch analog televisions that were installed in classrooms more than a decade ago. TV manufacturers no longer make these analog televisions, and replacement parts are unavailable.

The digital projectors are connected to the Internet and will provide teachers another tool to engage students, show videos and other presentations.

The district is about half-way through the process to install projectors in all 6,000 classrooms.

NISD, the largest public school system in San Antonio and the fourth largest in Texas, is once again is expecting record-shattering enrollment this year!

The Northside Prize Patrol will surprise the 90,000th student to enroll in NISD at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 1 at a location to be announced.

Superintendent John Folks and other NISD officials will be part of the Prize Patrol and will come bearing gifts on behalf of the district and local organizations and businesses.

A Citizens' Bond Committee is being formed to study the possibility of a May 2010 bond issue.

The committee will begin meeting Oct. 29 and will issue a recommendation to the Board of Trustees, who ultimately will decide whether to call a bond election.

Though the economy has slowed residential growth in the San Antonio area, NISD enrollment still is continuing to explode by 2,000 to 3,000 students a year and must open 200 new classrooms every year to keep pace.

Wonder what it's like to be a brand new teacher on the first day of school? Contact the Communications Department and we'll find a teacher for you. Of the 450 teachers hired for the 2009-10 school year, about half are first-year teachers right out of college.

Security Service Federal Credit Union is the first company to participate in the adopt-a-class program at Business Careers High School

Thanks to more than $7,500 in donations from SSFCU, a classroom at Business Careers has been revamped with conference tables and other office furniture to provide a professional setting for students in the Academy of Finance.

Security Service Federal Credit Union has a long-time partnership with Business Careers High School, providing mentors, guest speakers, internship and shadowing opportunities as well as thousands of dollars in monetary donations for materials, supplies, and field trips.

Construction Careers Academy, Northside ISD's newest magnet program, opens Aug. 24 at Warren High School with 120 freshman students.

"During the process to develop the School Bond 2007, construction industry executives told NISD that there was a great need in this area for skilled tradesmen," NISD spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said. "As a result of that feedback and citizen input, the magnet school has become a reality."

Construction is underway on the Warren campus for a 42,000 square-foot facility that will be the home of the new magnet program. The facility is expected to be completed next summer.

The facility will include classrooms and specialized spaces geared toward five strands: construction, electrical trades, HVAC, plumbing/pipe fitting and architecture.

Be there on Day 1 of a brand new school! Northside ISD is opening three new elementary schools and a middle school Aug. 24, bringing the total number of NISD campuses to 104.

Please email Karen Adler if you'd like to set up a live feed, photo or interview on the first day of school.

The new schools, all funded by School Bond 2007, will help handle NISD's continuing enrollment growth. Enrollment is expected to hit 90,556 this school year, an increase of about 2,200 from last year.

In addition, NISD also is opening its fifth magnet program, Construction Careers Academy at Warren High School. (See "New magnet program prepares students for construction careers")

About 10,000 teachers and staff members will gather at 10 pep rally-style Convocations to hear Superintendent John Folks' "charge to the troops" and to get revved up for the 2009-10 school year. Each Convocation will last about 90 minutes, but the most visual part is at the beginning.

These rallies are designed to kick off the new school year, which begins Aug. 24. Ten rallies are planned back-to-back at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on August 18 and 19, and at 8 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 20 and 21.

Note to media: Parking is limited so please find an NISD police officer and they will assist you.

On site contacts: Pascual Gonzalez (cell: 240-2108) or Monica Faulkenbery (cell: 669-6105 or 846-4584)

About 500 students will graduate from all 10 high schools in Northside wearing graduation robes of various school colors. Participants also will include students earning a GED certificate through NISD Adult & Community Education.

More than 4,700 seniors will graduate from NISD high schools next month, and for the first time all the graduations will be streamed live on the Internet.

Those who want watch a graduation ceremony live can click on a link on the front page of the NISD web site under "Announcements" at the days and times listed below.

Graduation ceremonies for the District's comprehensive high schools will be held June 9-12 at the Alamodome. Here is the schedule:

• Warren High School: 4 p.m., June 9
• Stevens High School: 7:30 p.m., June 9
• Holmes and Business Careers high schools: 4 p.m., June 10
• Clark High School: 7:30 p.m., June 10
• Marshall High School: 4 p.m., June 11
• O'Connor High School: 7:30 p.m., June 11
• Taft and Communications Arts high schools: 4 p.m., June 12
• Jay High School and Jay Science & Engineering Academy: 7:30 p.m., June 12

Health Careers High School graduation will be held at 7:30 p.m. June 5 at Paul Taylor Field House.

This event, originally scheduled for May 16, was canceled because of bad weather. It has been rescheduled for May 23.

Students from more than 40 elementary schools are hoping for sunny skies on Saturday. That's when the miniature cars they have spent weeks building will be put to the test. One catch - their cars are powered by solar energy and will need help from the sun to go zoom, zoom, zoom.

About 500 fourth and fifth graders who designed and built their vehicles themselves will participate in the 13th annual CPS Energy Texas Solar Car Race Car Event. This year's event will be the largest to date with about 150 cars competing.

NISD Board Member Bobby Blount founded the event as a mentorship project at Rayburn Middle School to give students hands-on lessons in teamwork, renewable energy, problem-solving, and science and engineering.

For more information and to see videos, visit the solar race car event web site.

One of Northside's oldest existing schools will celebrate 70 years of providing education to the Helotes community. Students will perform a musical revue called "Education Rocks" and three teachers will share the rich history of Helotes Elementary, which opened on its current site in 1939.

San Antonio's own Grammy award-winning trumpeter Al Gomez will perform the National Anthem and Taps at Raba Elementary School's annual Memorial Day assembly. The Raba Rattlers Choir will perform with Gomez.

In addition, the school also will be dedicating its new school flag, designed by student Gabby Castillo and commissioned by retiring third grade teacher Sharon Linnartz.

Glass Elementary School will hold its 28th annual Officers in Blue Day to show appreciation and respect for local law enforcement officers.

Units from the San Antonio Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, NISD Police and other agencies will visit students at Glass to share information about the job they do to serve and protect. In return, students will perform their traditional musical tribute, "Officers in Blue, We Love You."

Almost three dozen city and county organizations will be on hand to provide a gamut of helpful information to the public at Glenn Elementary School's first Community Health Fair. Food and entertainment will be provided.

Some of the organizations that will be represented include: San Antonio Food Bank, Bexar County Justice Center, Heidi Search Center, Communities in Schools, Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Koman Foundation, San Antonio Metro Health (WIC & Immunizations), NISD Adult & Community Education, Battered Women's Shelter, South Texas Blood & Tissue, Salvation Army, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and San Antonio Public Library.

Members of the public are invited.

The Ward Wranglers are holding their sixth annual Rodeo Day featuring storytellers, ropers, music, animals, and more.

NISD retirees are paying it forward to brand new teachers who will join the District in August for the 2009-10 school year.

NISD retirees are being asked to box up personally-purchased classroom materials and donate them to new teachers who are starting from scratch. Because of limited funding for education, teachers often use their own money to buy classroom materials.

The effort is called "Passing the Torch" and is being organized by retired NISD teachers.

To participate, teachers simply need to contact organizer Cathy Naiser to schedule a pick up and get labeling instructions and a tax-deductible receipt.

Items will be picked up and stored by NISD over the summer and then made available to incoming teachers at the New Teacher Academy Aug. 4-6.

For more info, check out this flyer about Passing the Torch.

Hundreds of Thornton Elementary students will be captivated by real knights, live horses, music and special effects during a presentation from the Knights of the Guild.

The Knights of the Guild, is a character education program that travels to schools all over south and central Texas. The goal of the nonprofit agency is to teach young people to become ethical, community-oriented, and self-disciplined members of society.

Friday's presentation will take place on the Rudder Middle School football field. For more information, visit The Knights of the Guild web site.

Hundreds of tech-savvy students will compete for a "Digi Award" at NISD's Digital Media Fair 2009. The Digital Media Fair recognizes and celebrates student work created through the use of technology, including desktop publishing, web site design, and video animation. Students have submitted more than 1,200 entries in 18 multimedia categories.

The elementary fair will take place 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, and the middle and high school fair will be 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 21, also at Warren High School. For more information, visit the Digital Media Fair web page.

Northside will salute hundreds of school, business, and community volunteers at the 2009 Partnership Awards reception tonight in conjunction with ArtFest, a showcase of student artwork from across the district.

The event will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Paul Taylor Field House, 7001 Culebra Road, 78238. The program begins at 6:10 p.m.

Students from more than 40 elementary schools are hoping for sunny skies on Saturday. That's when the miniature cars they have spent weeks building will be put to the test. One catch - their cars are powered by solar energy and will need help from the sun to go zoom, zoom, zoom.

About 500 fourth and fifth graders who designed and built their vehicles themselves will participate in the 13th annual CPS Energy Texas Solar Car Race Car Event. This year's event will be the largest to date with about 150 cars competing.

NISD Board Member Bobby Blount founded the event as a mentorship project at Rayburn Middle School to give students hands-on lessons in teamwork, renewable energy, problem-solving, and science and engineering.

To learn more about solar race car event, watch this NISD-TV story.

NISD has become one of the first districts in the nation to reach 1 million views of educational videos provided by local public broadcaster KLRN and Discovery Education. A student or staff member at Clark High School made the millionth view last week of video titled, "Assignment Discovery: An Inside Look at the Flu."

To recognize the milestone, representatives from KLRN and Discovery will make a special presentation to Clark High School. The ceremony will be held during a health class at Clark High School where students frequently utilize videos from the service, called KLRN Connect.

KLRN Connect brings digital video from Discovery Education directly to district classrooms. Districts and schools that subscribe to the service can access more than 5,000 high-quality instructional videos and more than 41,000 video clips correlated to Texas state educational standards.

Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade choir students from all 16 Northside ISD middle schools will sing and dance together in a special collaborative performance Saturday evening.

"Together We Sing" will feature selections from popular Broadway musicals, including A Chorus Line, Grease, Mama Mia, and Hairspray.

In preparation for the concert, students worked with internationally recognized choral music educator, clinician and choreographer, John Jacobson. Jacobson has staged hundreds of music festivals all over the world.

Looking for Earth Day story ideas? Check out Holmes High School's first annual Earth Day Celebration, which actually is the brain child of a student. For more information about the celebration, check out this recent edition of the Holmes student newspaper's e-news.

If you're interested in getting interviews, photos, or footage of the celebration, please call the Communications Department at 397-8550.

NISD elementary school students will get hands-on lessons about taking care of the environment at the Eco Challenge Camp, which culminates their year-long study of biomes, or ecosystems.

Gifted and talented students from Blattman, Brauchle, Carson, Colonies North, Leon Springs, Locke Hill and Scarborough elementary schools will participate in the Eco Challenge Camp.

Students in first, second, and third grades will participate in recycling, wildlife rehabilitation, water conservation, and gardening activities. Fourth and fifth graders will get lessons in nature photography, navigation with a GPS device, team building, and reptile appreciation.

Special speakers include NISD's 2008 Pillar of Respect, Dr. Fred Bryant, who is director of the Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M Kingsville, and Chance Rudder, wildlife ambassador and student scientist/researcher.

The Eco Camp Challenge is funded by a team grant from the Northside Education Foundation.

Travel back in time at the Lewis Elementary School Living Wax Museum.

Third grade students in Andrea Cole and Jean Stone's classes have been studying important figures in U.S. history and want to share what they've learned with the rest of the school.

The students created costumes, props, and a backdrop to represent the era of historical figure they selected. On May 7, they'll pose as "wax figures" in 10-minute intervals while Lewis students visit the "museum."

In the past, students have used Styrofoam to create the Wright brothers' airplane and a refrigerator box to depict Davy Crockett at the Alamo.

Altogether, 44 wax figures will help make history come alive.

NISD high school students may be better prepared to help with the financial crisis facing the nation than their parents.

Since the 2006-07 school year, thanks to House Bill 492, all high school students in Texas receive "Financial Literacy" in their economics classes. The bill requires that personal finance education be a condition for high school graduation.

State Rep. Beverly Woolley (Houston) sponsored the bill "concerned that too many students were graduating high school, attending college, and collecting too many credit cards without understanding the implications."

To comply with the bill, NISD teachers are using innovative approaches to teaching economics, and financial literacy, in their classrooms. Teachers are engaging their students in real-live adventures and practices such as the Stock Market Game. (The Stock Market Game allows students to progress from knowing absolutely nothing about the stock market to learning how to read a stock market report and make fairly accurate predictions of where a particular stock is going.) One Economics teacher began movie nights to view and discuss films that illustrate economics lessons.

If you would like to visit an Economics class, and talk to teachers and students about their thoughts on the economics situation facing them, contact the Communications Dept. at 397-8550.

The "Warren Goes Green 5K Run/Walk," will be held at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, March 21 at Warren High School, 9411 W. Military Drive.

All proceeds from the event will benefit Warren Student Council, Earth Club, and Earth Watchers Institute to help Warren High School become more earth-friendly.

Those who don't want to walk or run are welcome to come and enjoy a day filled with fun, prizes, and entertainment.

Visit the Warren High School web page for more information.

More than 160 Northside ISD teachers will be deemed "Simply the Best" at the district's Educators of the Year celebrations, to be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday nights at Brandeis High School.

Every year, all NISD schools nominate a first-year educator of the year and a veteran educator of the year who are recognized by the superintendent and the Board of Trustees are honored at a special ceremony.

The ceremony has been dubbed "Simply the Best," because the campus winners enter the Brandeis auditorium movie premier-style to Tina Turner's famous song by the same name.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the announcement of the district-wide Educators of the Year and the Northside nominee for the Trinity Prize for Excellence in Education.

Both ceremonies will be held at Brandeis High School, 13011 Kyle Seale Parkway.

About 1,100 athletes will help celebrate 40 years of Northside ISD Special Olympics this week when they go for the gold at the annual Track & Field Meet.

The Special Olympics meet is being held 9:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m today through Friday at Gustafson Stadium, located at Culebra Road and Loop 410.

Events include: 50-meter dash, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter relay, softball throw, running long jump, and standing long jump.

Each day, the Parade of Athletes and opening ceremonies will begin at 9:45 a.m. Competition and the awards ceremony will wrap up by 1:30 p.m. each day.

Parents, employees, and community members can now have access to late breaking news and events about Northside ISD by signing up to receive text message or email alerts.

Simply go to the SchoolCentral web site and click "sign up for a new account" located on the right.

Messages will include emergency alerts, academic notices, and event reminders. For example, subscribers would receive a text message that report cards are being sent home or that school is delayed because of bad weather.

"We see this as an excellent way to keep our parents and employees informed, especially because most people have a cell phone these days," said Kelly Smith, Assistant Superintendent for Technology Services.

In addition to the District alerts, four schools currently are part of a pilot project for "campus alerts," which enables parents, community members, and students who voluntarily subscribe to receive short, quick messages from the school, teachers, or club sponsors.

Beard and Brauchle elementary schools, Rawlinson Middle School, and Stevens High School are the participating pilot schools. Those who would like to receive alerts about any of these campuses can also sign up on the SchoolCentral web site.

If the pilot is successful, campus alerts may be expanded to other schools in the District next school year.

The alert service is funded by advertisers and is free for the District and campuses. Text messaging fees may apply to those who subscribe to the service depending on service plan.

Get moving and get registered for the Northside Education Foundation's annual spring 5K Run/Walk, which will be held May 2 at Del Webb Hill Country Retreat.

Pre-registration is available until April 26 and is $10 for children up to age 18 and $27 for adults 19 and up. Onsite registration is $35 per person.

Onsite registration and check-in the day of the event will begin at 6:30 a.m. at Del Webb, 4550 Del Webb Blvd. All participants must park at Taft High School, 11600 FM 471 West. A shuttle from Taft to Del Webb will be available starting at 6:30 a.m.

The registration fee includes:

• Race entry
• Competitive chip timing
• Technical running shirt (collectible)
• Refreshments after the event
• Goodie bag

Hundreds are expected to participate in the NEF Run/Walk, including NISD campus faculty teams who will vie for the traveling Apple Eddie Trophy for "most spirited" and NISD departments who will compete for the coveted "Spirit Stick."

To register or for more information, visit the NEF registration web site or call (210) 397-8599.

Proceeds from the Run/Walk will benefit the Northside Education Foundation, which raises funds and provides resources to support innovative educational programs for Northside ISD students.

San Antonian Josh Davis, an Olympic swimmer who won three gold medals and two silver medals, will help motivate Zachry Middle School students during a TAKS pep rally at 8:40 a.m. Feb. 26.

Davis was recently in the news when his medals were stolen. The medals have since been recovered and he will share them with students on Thursday.

On March 3 seventh graders will be taking the writing TAKS, and eighth graders will be taking the reading TAKS.

Onsite contacts: Student Council sponsors Terina Heedum or Terri Moreno (phone number at Zachry is 397-7400)

Middle school science students will have both their creative and engineering skills tested when they race hydrogen fuel cell model cars as part of the Texas Region Science Bowl Saturday.

Students designed and built the shoe-box sized cars themselves and will race them down a 10-meter track.

Also Saturday morning, high school teams will compete in the Academic Bowl, answering questions about math, technology, engineering, and science. Two teams will face off at a time, hitting buzzers to answer questions.

Winners will qualify for the National Science Bowl, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, to be held April 30-May 5 in Chevy Chase, Md.

Teams will come from as far away as Denton and El Paso to compete. Local teams are from Northside ISD, North East ISD, Alamo Heights ISD, Boerne ISD, and St. Mary's Hall.

Onsite contact: Bobby Blount (cell—573-3112) or Alice Fiedler (cell—381-1413)

Help is available for Northside ISD families who are feeling the effects of the poor economy. The federal Free and Reduced Meal program ensures that children from low income families have access to a nutritious breakfast and lunch.

Families who meet federal income and family size criteria can apply for free or reduced price meals year-round.

Parents or guardians can request an application from their neighborhood school, through Child Nutrition Services, 7520 Mainland Drive, or by calling (210) 397-4517.

For more information, visit the Child Nutrition web site and refer to the Frequently Asked Questions feature.

A whopping 90,556 students are expected to enroll in Northside Schools for the 2009-2010 school year. The projection is almost 2,200 more students than are currently enrolled.

NISD, the largest public school system in Bexar County and the fourth largest in Texas, will open four more schools this summer, bringing the total number of schools opening between 2006 and 2011 to 25.

Hundreds of additional classrooms are under construction throughout the massive 355-square-mile district that is located in Bexar, Medina and Bandera counties.

Just months after the opening of Brandeis High School, Northside ISD is making preparations to open another new high school to provide much-needed relief to Stevens High School.

Brennan High School will open in August 2010 on Cottonwood Way, outside Loop 1604 and south of Wiseman Boulevard.

Stevens High School currently has an enrollment of about 2,900, but since June 2007, large portions of its attendance zone have been capped to Warren and Taft high schools. That means new students who have moved to these capped areas since June 2007 are attending Warren or Taft high schools. Without the cap, enrollment at Stevens would be 3,600.

When Brennan High School opens, it will end capped enrollment at Stevens.

An expected 1,200 students will move from the Stevens zone to the new Brennan zone. Brennan will open with freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.

The School Boundary Advisory Committee, a group of 32 parents representing all the middle school attendance zones, will review the proposed boundary for Brennan High School at a public hearing at 7 p.m. March 16 at Taft High School, 11600 FM 471 West. Members of the public can sign up to speak beginning at 6:45 p.m.

The SBAC will gather community input before making a final recommendation to the Board of Trustees on March 24. The Board will make the final decision on the attendance zone.

For details about the proposed attendance zone and a list of the 34 neighborhoods that are included in the proposal, please visit the Brennan High School boundary page.

About 300 students from more than 30 counties will present their scientific experimental research Feb. 14-15 at this year's Alamo Regional Junior Academy of Science.

The science fair, an annual event in San Antonio for more than 40 years, will be held at the Loop 1604 campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building.

The Alamo Regional Junior Academy of Science is a unique opportunity for middle school and high school students to give formal oral presentations of their experimental research before judges from the scientific, medical, and engineering communities. Students present their research in two formats - written reports of no more than 20 pages and oral reports of no more than 12 minutes. The students are evaluated on their oral presentation, answers to the judges' questions, and on their written report.

Students select their topics from the fields of behavioral/social science, biochemistry, botany, chemistry, earth/space science, engineering, environmental science, math/computers, medicine/health, microbiology, physics, and zoology.

The top winners in each category of the high school division advance to the state level at the Texas Junior Academy of Science at Texas A&M in College Station, where they compete for awards and eligibility to advance to the national level of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Winners of this year's competition will be announced at the awards ceremony, from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15 in the Main Building Auditorium at UTSA (Entrance from 1604).

For more information:

John and Rose Perez, directors

(210) 736-2716

Alice Fiedler, publicity

(210) 397-8660

Students at Oak Hills Terrace Elementary School are about to get a medieval-style lesson in ethics, thanks to a revolutionary character education program sponsored by the San Antonio Oak Hills Rotary Club.

Students will be introduced to the EarlyAct FirstKnight program via a live-action presentation featuring armored jousting knights, costumed warhorses, a computerized musical soundtrack, and other Hollywood-like special effects beginning at 9 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 5, at Oak Hills Terrace Elementary, 5710 Cary Grant Drive, 78240.

Developed by the educational service organization the Knights of the Guild, EarlyAct FirstKnight is a program designed to pass on Rotary-like ideals to schoolchildren through in-class curriculum and homework assignments emphasizing tolerance, responsibility, confidence, perseverance, discipline, respect, honesty, compassion, friendliness, and service.

With headquarters in Spring Branch, Texas, Knights of the Guild was established in 1997 by Dr. Randall Parr, a decorated naval officer with more than 20 years of experience in creating acclaimed ethics development programs for young people. Based on the historic theme of noble knights and service above self, EarlyAct FirstKnight allows students to achieve rankings of "Page," "Squire," and "Knight" through schoolwide knighting ceremonies.

For more information, contact David Ives at (210) 492-3531. The main number at Oak Hills Terrace is (210) 397-0550.

More than 350 students and coaches from south central Texas will converge at Northside ISD Jan. 30-31 for the Region IV Academic Decathlon competition.

The meet will be held at Stevens High School, 600 N. Ellison Drive. Academic Decathlon teams from all nine of Northside's comprehensive high schools will compete.

Students from 29 high schools will test their knowledge on "Latin America: A Focus on Mexico," the overarching topic selected for the event.

The Decathlon will culminate at 3 p.m. Saturday with the Super Quiz, which will focus on the theme of evolutionary biology.

"The Academic Decathlon competition is the most rigorous academic contest in the US," said Sara McAndrew, Executive Director of Secondary Instruction. "The students who participate are outstanding young scholars."

Academic Decathlon, founded in 1968, is designed to challenge high school students with rigorous academic competition through participation in team activities. The competition consists of events in 10 different areas: essay, speech, interview, math, music, economics, science, language and literature, art, and Super Quiz.

What makes Academic Decathlon unique is the composition of the teams. Each nine-member team must have three "A" students, three "B" students, and three "C" students.

Craig Scott, the brother of Rachel Scott who was the first person killed in the tragic shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, was in the library that fateful day when two of his closest friends were shot beside him. He escaped uninjured and he and his family have devoted their lives speaking to school groups in hopes to motivate students to embrace values of kindness and compassion through a program named for his sister.

Rachel's Challenge is a national campaign and program based on an essay entitled "My Ethics, My Codes of Life" written by Rachel Joy Scott. The program is designed to help school administrators, parents, and students create safer and more productive places to learn and achieve.

Craig Scott and Rachel's Challenge will be presented on Thursday, Feb. 19 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Brandeis High School Auditorium, 13011 Kyle Seale Parkway. Registration is from 6-6:30 p.m. The program is free and sponsored by the NISD Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program.

Parents are invited to get the 411 on resources now available geared toward helping parents learn how to keep their children safe from drugs and alcohol.

The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) Department will hold a kick-off meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. at the Northside Activity Center to view the online training now available through a new community website. Laptops will be available to preview the training and provide immediate feedback and ask questions.

The event is open, free of charge, to the NISD community. For more information, contact the SDFSC Department at 397-1263.

A 9-year-old's birthday party at a local bowling alley was the impetus for a perfect score eight years later.

A.J. Navarro

A.J. Navarro was at a friend's birthday party at the Bandera Super Bowl when he discovered a love for bowling. Afterward, he talked his parents into letting him join a bowling league, and as the saying goes, "the rest is history."

On Jan. 6, the now 17-year-old senior from Marshall High School bowled a perfect game with a score of 300. "I had been working toward that goal for almost nine years," Navarro said. "It was like a relief to be able to finally do it." The previous week, Navarro scored a 299, two highlights for a bowler's career.

Navarro is among the youngest in the area to reach this pinnacle in bowling. "I started out doing it just for fun, but the more I did it, the more competitive I got," Navarro said. Navarro currently has more than $4,000 in scholarships thanks to the sport of bowling. He hopes to eventually attend Trinity University and major in art.

"Bowling is a sport where you don't have to be particularly athletic or special," Navarro said. "Bowling is about opportunities. If you're willing to practice, anyone can do it-it's open to everyone."

Besides the NISD High School Bowling Club League, Navarro is in four other leagues and practices and competes about 20 hours a week, according to his parents Rochelle and Paul Navarro.

The NISD High School Bowling Club League is in its first year, with eight NISD high schools participating with about 130 students. Ashle Reid, a ninth grader from O'Connor High School said that being on the team is fun. "You can do it in any weather, meet students from other high schools, and get to know your classmates," she said. "We may be competitive, but we're doing it for fun."

John Paul Robinson, a student at Clark High School, has been accepted into the People to People Presidential Inauguration program. Robinson will join a select group of returning People to People travelers from around the world to participate in a unique Leadership Conference and attend the celebration activities of this monumental event in Washington, D.C. He will be the only participant to represent San Antonio.

This special delegation will witness the swearing-in of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States and listen to his inaugural address. They will also gain insights into American leaders throughout history, during discussions with political experts (Rudy Giuliani, Tom Brokaw and others), access to the U.S. Capitol and National Archives, exploration of the newly reopened National Museum of American History, and visits to Washington D.C.'s treasured monuments and memorials.

John Paul earned an exclusive invitation to this unique program by being a previously successful People to People Student Ambassador, maintaining the academic, leadership and citizenship goals of the program.

This unique opportunity is coordinated by People to People Leadership Programs to fulfill the vision President Dwight D. Eisenhower had for fostering world citizenship when he founded People to People during his presidency in 1956. For additional information, you can visit the People To People web site.

Corbin Hunter, a 5th grade student at Braun Station Elementary, has been invited through the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, to attend the Presidential Inauguration this January. Selected to participate in the Junior Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference (JrPYIC), Hunter will take part in and share firsthand in the excitement and ceremony of the inauguration.

Participants are exclusively invited to attend private Inaugural Conference events and activities such as roundtable discussions with national journalists, meetings with congressional staff, and point/counter point debates with leading political experts, as well as special events with VIP's. Inaugural Scholars also take part in the traditional ceremony of the inauguration itself, as they witness the official swearing-in of the President of the United States, and view the inaugural parade as the President, Vice President and their families make their way from the U.S. Capitol to the White House.

News media can coordinate interviews or coverage with Corbin's mother, Robin Ahlgren at: 548-0925 (cell); 397-3877 (work), 977-0022 (home).

More than 140 underprivileged children will experience the joy of the holiday season, thanks to students and staff at Jay High School.

On Tuesday and Wednesday (Dec. 16 & 17), Jay students will take children from seven nearby elementary schools shopping from 9:15 to 10:45 a.m. at Payless Shoe Source and Big Lots Discount Store, 1777 SW Loop 410.

Each elementary student will get $25 for shoes and $25 for toys from funds donated by local businesses and Jay students and staff. After the shopping spree, the students will enjoy lunch provided by Jay’s Family Consumer Sciences Department.

The shoe and toy drive is one of the oldest school-based holiday charity traditions in San Antonio. The event has been an annual tradition for Jay since the school opened in 1967. Calvin Buchholtz, Jay science teacher and Student Council sponsor, has organized the event for the past 35 years.

• Super visual and high energy event on FRIDAY and you're invited
• Drum line parade pumps up the energy as Clark High School heads to state football semifinals
• Clark High School wants to make San Antonio proud

Almost 3,000 screaming Clark HS students, staff, and parents will cheer on the Cougar football team at 3:15 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12 as Clark gets ready to play in the state semifinals.

Regional champion Clark will play Fort Bend Hightower in the Class 5A Division I state semifinals on Saturday in Austin. Clark is the only team from Bexar County to make it to the semifinals. And it's the first time Clark has made it this far so the energy and excitement level is through the roof!

Students will cheer from outside their classrooms to pump up the team as football players, cheerleaders, and the drum line parade through the school. Parents and supporters also will line the courtyard to cheer on the players as they pass.

Media who would like to attend should be at the school by 3 p.m. Please check in at the front office of the school, located at 5150 DeZavala Road, 78249.

Clark High School's main phone number is 397-5150.

Please call the Communications Dept. at 397-8550 for more information.

The Puerto Rican Heritage Society will bring traditional artisans, music and dancers to Warren High School from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 21.

About 350 art, social studies and international language students will attend the cultural presentation, which will be held in the auditorium at Warren, 9411 Military Dr. W., 78251.

The event is a preview to the Heritage Society's Festival of Puerto Rico, which is Sunday, Nov. 23 at the Live Oak Civic Center.

Howsman Elementary School has raised more than $1,000 for the San Antonio Food Bank to help families in need during the Thanksgiving holiday. Student Council members will present a check to the Food Bank at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 21 at the school, 11431 Vance Jackson, 78230.

Staff, students and family members raised the money by buying feathers for 25 cents each to "dress" a turkey at the school.

Northside will officially dedicate its 62nd elementary school on Saturday and will honor a woman who was a longtime special education counselor and coordinator for the District. Evelyn Scarborough was instrumental in the development of numerous services for special education students, including On Job Training and the Early Childhood Collaboration.

Scarborough retired in 2004 after 32 years with Northside and more than 45 years in education.

Scarborough Elementary School was built for 800 students and was constructed for $16.8 million with funding from School Bond 2004. The 102,304 square-foot facility sits on an 18-acre site.

Scarborough Elementary School is one of five new Northside schools to open this year to help accommodate enrollment, now at 88,400 and growing by about 3,000 students a year. The dedication ceremonies already have been held for Louis D. Brandeis High School, Robert L. Vale Middle School, Nora Forester Elementary School, and Peggy Carnahan Elementary School.

Northside ISD students overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama and Joe Biden over John McCain and Sarah Palin in the Districtwide mock election.

Obama received 66 percent of the vote, compared to 31 percent for McCain. About 3 percent of students voted for Libertarian candidate Robert Barr or write-in candidates.

More than 64,000 students - or almost three-quarters of the NISD student body - voted in the mock election, which was coordinated by the elementary and secondary Social Studies departments and Academic Technology Services.

Voting at most secondary campuses took place last week, and elementary students voted Monday and Tuesday.

With elementary polling locations still open, the Obama/Biden ticket has a commanding lead in Northside's districtwide mock election.

The results for 26 middle and high schools already have been tabulated, and Barack Obama is ahead with 62 percent of the vote compared to John McCain with 34 percent.

For a complete breakdown, please see campus-by-campus results for middle and high schools.

Voting at most secondary campuses took place last week. Elementary students are voting Monday and Tuesday. Connally and Neff middle schools, and Marshall and Stevens high schools also will vote on Election Day.

All results should be available late Tuesday afternoon.

Just one day before Election Day, John McCain and Barack Obama - or at least pint-sized representatives of them - will get a final chance to duke it out at the Howsman Elementary School mock debate at 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 3.

The debate will take place in front of the entire student body, which will be assembled in front of the school in the parent pickup lane. Howsman is located at 11431 Vance Jackson, 78230.

Students representing McCain and Obama will make campaign speeches, and state representatives Mike Villarreal and Frank Corte also will speak to students. The entire ceremony should last about 45 minutes.

The Northside Education Foundation's annual fall 5K Run/Walk will be held at 8 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1 at Del Webb Hill Country Retreat.

Onsite registration and check-in the day of the event will begin at 6:30 a.m. at Del Webb Hill Country Retreat, 4550 Del Web Blvd. A shuttle from Taft High School, 11600 FM 471 West, will be available starting at 6:30 a.m. Onsite registration is $30 per person.

Proceeds from the Run/Walk will benefit the Northside Education Foundation, which raises funds and provides resources to support innovative educational programs for Northside ISD students.

Northside will officially dedicate its 61st elementary school on Saturday and will honor a woman who has spent her career improving science education for Texas school children. A former science teacher at Jay High School, she became the first (and still only) Northside teacher to be honored by the Texas Education Agency as a statewide Teacher of the Year in 1980. Carnahan spent 20 years at Northside but is still serving the district and its teachers as the director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at Our Lady of the Lake University.

Carnahan Elementary School was built for 800 students and was constructed for $15.7 million with funding from School Bond 2004. The 103,025 square-foot facility sits on a 15-acre site that was previously owned by the Steubing Family and served as a dairy farm until the mid-1980s.

Carnahan Elementary School is one of five new Northside schools to open this year to help accommodate enrollment, now at 88,400 and growing by about 3,000 students a year. The dedications for Louis D. Brandeis High School, Robert L. Vale Middle School, and Nora Forester Elementary School were held earlier this month. The dedication for Evelyn Scarborough Elementary School will be 2 p.m. Nov. 8.

The three grandchildren of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis will help dedicate Northside ISD's ninth high school on Thursday, Oct. 30, and will honor a man who dedicated his life to public service, first as an attorney fighting for the rights of the common man, and later as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Louis D. Brandeis, who was one of the first attorneys to work pro-bono for his clients, was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1916 by President Woodrow Wilson. As a Supreme Court justice, Brandeis argued for an individual's right to privacy, defended the freedom of speech, and worked to reduce government corruption. He died in 1941.

Brandeis High School was built for 2,800 students and was constructed for $85.3 million with funding from School Bond 2004. The 429,667 square-foot facility sits on a 75-acre site.

Brandeis High School is one of five new Northside schools to open this year to help accommodate enrollment, now at 88,400 and growing by about 3,000 students a year. The dedications of Robert L. Vale Middle School and Nora Forester Elementary School already have been held. The rest of the dedication schedule is as follows:

• Peggy Carnahan Elementary School, 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 1
• Evelyn Scarborough Elementary School, 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 8

As Northside ISD wraps up its mock presidential election, newly sworn-in Secretary of State Hope Andrade will visit Holmes and Clark high schools from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24.

Hope Andrade, who grew up in San Antonio, is the first Latina Secretary of State and is the chief elections officer for Texas. She will talk to students about the importance of voting and will entertain questions from students. This is Andrade's first visit to a school since being sworn in as Secretary of State.

Andrade will be at Holmes High School, 6500 Ingram Road, from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m., and at Clark High School, 5150 De Zavala Road, from 2:45 to 3:30 p.m.

Andrade's visit will culminate Northside's districtwide mock presidential election, called Project VOTE, which is sponsored by the Secretary of State's office.

Seventy-five fathers will take part in a new workshop program on Saturday to learn how to bond with their children. "Building the Father Child Relationship through Literacy and Play" will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 25 at the Northside Activity Center, 7001 Culebra Road, 78238.

The program is sponsored by Even Start Family Literacy, Early On School Readiness, Precious Minds New Connections, and The School Age Parenting Programs.

Dr. Ron Klinger, from the Center for Successful Fathering, will lead the workshop, during which the participants will learn about the importance of bonding through play. They will also be introduced to the FRED (Fathers Reading Every Day) Program.

After the workshop fathers and their children will go home with new books to read together.

Mary Hull Elementary School will kick off Red Ribbon Week in style with a parade at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24. There will be several vehicles loaded with special guests, music, characters, and participants will include students in preschool all the way up to high school. Mary Hull is located at 7320 Remuda Dr. 78227.

The mock election at Vale Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 23 will be almost like the read deal. Students must register to vote, and the entire school has been divided into "precincts." Their IDs will be checked before they submit their vote electronically.

Students will vote during their social studies class, so voting will be going on the entire school day, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. Results will be announced Friday morning.

All secondary schools in Northside ISD are participating in Project VOTE, sponsored by the Texas Secretary of State. Vale is located at 2120 N. Ellison, 78251.

Brandeis High School will hold a debate for students from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22 in the auditorium. The Democrats will be represented by state Rep. David Liebowitz, the Republicans by Charles Rodriguez, and the Libertarians by Lani Connolly, who is running against U.S. Congressman Ciro Rodriguez. Students will have an opportunity to ask questions. Brandeis is located at 13011 Kyle Seale Parkway, 78249.

Northside will officially dedicate its 60th elementary school on Saturday and will honor a woman who was committed to making sure every student in the district learned how to read, no matter their challenges.

Nora Forester worked tirelessly to improve reading instruction and literacy, and made it her mission to get every student in Northside hooked on books. Forester began her teaching career in 1950 and joined Northside in 1961, where she later became the district's first remedial reading teacher. In the 1960s, Forester secured a federal grant to put a reading specialist in every school, making Northside one of the first districts in the nation to do so.

Throughout a career that spanned half a century, Forester received numerous awards and served as President of the Texas Association of Reading. Now retired, Forester volunteers with the Northside School Museum Association. Forester Elementary School was built for 800 students and was constructed for $16.5 million with funding from School Bond 2004. The 99,500 square-foot facility sits on a 15-acre site.

Forester Elementary School is one of five new Northside schools to open this year to help accommodate enrollment, now at 88,400 and growing by about 3,000 students a year. The dedication for Robert L. Vale Middle School was held earlier this week. The rest of the dedication schedule is as follows:

• Louis D. Brandeis High School, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 30
• Peggy Carnahan Elementary School, 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 1
• Evelyn Scarborough Elementary School, 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 8

Northside will officially dedicate its 16th middle school on Saturday and will honor a man who worked to improve education, health care, and the environment for the working class of Texas.  

During his 20 years representing San Antonio in the state House and Senate, Vale was instrumental in securing funding for the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and the San Antonio State School. However, he probably always will be most remembered as one of the infamous "Dirty Thirty," a group that pushed for legislative reform, and also as a member of the "Killer Bees," a group of senators who successfully blocked a bill that would have mandated an early presidential primary in Texas.

Locally, three of Vale's four children graduated from Holmes High School, and he was an active participant in the PTAs of his children's schools. He died from brain cancer in 1992 at the age of 60.

Vale Middle School was built for 1,400 students and was constructed for $32.2 million with funding from School Bond 2004. The 190,915 square-foot facility sits on a 30-acre site across from SeaWorld.

Vale Middle School is one of five new Northside schools to open this year to help accommodate enrollment, now at 88,400 and growing by about 3,000 students a year. The rest of the dedication schedule is as follows:

• Nora Forester Elementary School, 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 18
• Louis D. Brandeis High School, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 30
• Peggy Carnahan Elementary School, 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 1
• Evelyn Scarborough Elementary School, 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 8

Staff members at nine Northside campuses will receive more than $1.2 million in "bonuses" this week through the Texas Educator Excellence Grant, also known as the state's teacher incentive program.

Holmes and Jay high schools, Pease and Jones middle schools, and Passmore, Cable, Meadow Village, Powell, and Linton elementary schools were selected as grant recipients because students received high scores or showed significant improvement on the Texas Association of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test.

The grant money is earmarked for schools that have high percentages of economically disadvantaged students. All schools must be rated Recognized or Exemplary under the state's accountability system, or show strong performance gains in math and reading.

Throughout the week, Superintendent John Folks and other administrators will distribute checks to staff at all nine schools.

Each school will receive between $80,000 and $230,000, depending on the size of the school and the criteria met. Individual staff members will get checks for anywhere from $80 to $4,000, based in part on the subject and grade level they teach.

Here is a schedule of when the checks will be handed out to staff members. For more information, please call 397-8550.

Agricultural lessons will make math and science come to life for hundreds of NISD fourth grade students when O'Connor High School holds the "Ag in Action" fair Oct. 7-9.

Ag in Action runs from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Oct. 7, 8, and 9) at O'Connor High School, 12221 Leslie Road, 78023. The fair will run continuously from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. except during lunch, which is 10:30 to 11:20 a.m.

Over the course of the three-day event, about 1,350 fourth graders will visit various stations where O'Connor students will give them hands-on lessons in wildlife and aquatics, soil and water conservation, nutrition and fiber research, plant and animal growth, animal production, and plant systems and germination.

The purpose of Ag in Action is to help students connect their classroom experiences with real-world applications, and this year's focus is on math and science. Since 1998, more than 23,000 fourth graders and 5,000 high school students have participated in this annual event and raised $280,000 in scholarships.

"Pack it Light, Wear it Right." That's the message Northside occupational therapists will be sending to students on National School Backpack Awareness Day, Sept. 17.

To help prevent injuries, the NISD occupational therapy program will hold a "backpack check" event from 7:30 to 8:20 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, in the gym foyer at Jefferson Middle School, 10900 Schaenfield Road, 78254.

Northside ISD occupational therapists and students from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio will weigh students' backpacks and make adjustments to make sure the backpacks are being worn properly. Therapists also will discuss with students how to fill a backpack for safe weight distribution.

Here's a tip sheet for loading and wearing a backpack safely. For more information, call Heidi Schoenfeld, coordinator of the NISD Occupational, Physical & Music Therapy Program, at (210) 397-2428.

At the Northside Education Foundation annual gala, the guests of honor are homegrown.

Six outstanding graduates of Northside ISD will be honored as the 2008 "Pillars of Character" at the NEF black-tie gala, held at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort, 9800 Hyatt Resort Dr. The annual gala raises money to fund innovative classroom programs with teacher grants.

This year's Pillars include a composer, engineer, college softball coach, energy executive, U.S. Army major, and an expert on wildlife research, all dedicated to improving the lives of others.

For the last decade, NEF has selected six NISD alumni and living role models to represent a character trait that is taught in Northside classrooms as part of the District's character curriculum. The six Pillars of Character are: responsibility, citizenship, respect, fairness, caring, and trustworthiness.

Teachers weave lessons about the Pillars into activities throughout the year, and the Pillars themselves also make classroom visits. Posters of the honorees are hung in 6,000 classrooms across the District to remind students that everyone has the potential to be a Pillar of Character - and a classroom celebrity.

The following NISD alumni have been named the 2008 Pillars of Character:

• Pillar of Caring: Charles "Chuck" Booker, Jay High School Class of 1970
  Band music composer/conductor

  Years after graduating from high school, Chuck Booker returned to his alma mater to ask his former band directors, Dan Schreiber and Al Sturchio, "Are you a musician or a band director?" They replied, "We are teachers." Chuck Booker is that and more. An educator and former U.S. Army Bandmaster, Chuck Booker is also a musician and published composer. While in the U.S. Army Band program, the UTSA alumnus marched in the inaugural parades of President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton and played trumpet at the funerals of Presidents Truman and Johnson. Today, high school, university, and military bands around the world perform his music. Because Chuck Booker cares about the musicians of tomorrow, he currently shares his talent with students as the Director of Bands at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

• Pillar of Citizenship: Dr. Geoffrey Orsak, Clark High School Class of 1981
  University Engineering School Dean

  Since earning his doctorate from Rice University, Geoffrey Orsak has focused his work as Dean of Engineering at Southern Methodist University on his two great passions: reforming U.S. science and engineering education and applying innovation to the critical problems of global development. In 1999, he founded the Infinity Project, an award-winning national program in engineering education that today operates in 40 states and six countries. This, along with his work in encouraging women to pursue careers in engineering, earned Dr. Orsak the first-ever Educator of the Year award presented by EE Times magazine. Today, in collaboration with international experts on poverty (like Microsoft's Bill Gates), he has developed a new global initiative to create and deliver ultra low-cost solutions to the problems that affect nearly 1.4 billion world citizens surviving on less than $1 a day. A rare combination of scholar and activist, Geoffrey Orsak demonstrates the ultimate in citizenship.

• Pillar of Fairness: Donna Eckert-Fields, Holmes High School Class of 1983
  University Softball Coach/Administrator

  Being fair and being a winner epitomizes Donna Eckert-Fields. As a child with eight brothers and sisters, the only doll she played with was a sports figure. She grew into such an outstanding teen athlete that St. Mary's University offered her a three-sport scholarship in 1983 for volleyball, basketball, and softball. Following graduation from St. Mary's, she continued her winning ways as a coach at Taft High School for 10 years, and is now head Softball Coach - and senior woman administrator - in the St. Mary's Athletic Department. She is the only St. Mary's Rattler to earn a national championship as both a player (1986) and coach (2002). In 2008, she posted her 500th career win as the head softball coach. She was inducted into the St. Mary's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Holmes High School Hall of Fame in 1999 in recognition of her dedication to increasing opportunities for women.

• Pillar of Responsibility: Tony Pelletier, Jay High School Class of 1971
  Engineer/Energy Executive/Pilot

  Both a "math geek" and a linebacker in high school, Tony Pelletier today is an oil and gas exploration company co-owner and a pilot who flies Angel Flights missions to transport cancer patients and blood and organ donations. Educated at Lackland City Elementary, Rayburn Middle School, and Jay High School, he was elected class President four years in a row and football captain as a senior. A turning point in his life came his junior year when Texas A&M recruited him for a summer National Science Foundation program, and his high school math teacher encouraged him to forego a dead-end summer job to attend. He later graduated from A&M and now is President of Alamo Resources in Houston. A heart attack survivor, Pelletier rides his bike in long-distance (150 miles) races to raise funds for multiple sclerosis research in honor of a fellow Jay graduate. In his spare time, he speaks to high school and college students to encourage them to take responsibility for their futures.

• Pillar of Trustworthiness: Maj. Steven Gventer, Clark High School Class of 1988
  Wounded Warrior Care Leader

  Steven Gventer, a Clark High School scholar and athlete, graduated from Baylor University and was a high school teacher in north Texas until 1997, when patriotism motivated him to enlist in the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School. By 2004, he was a commander in Sadr City, Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhood. Seriously wounded twice, he was awarded two Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars. Next, Maj. Gventer was asked to develop and lead the first U.S. Army Warrior Transition Company at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. His attention to the quality of care at Walter Reed and other military hospitals prompted his promotion to Executive Assistant in the Warrior Care and Transition Office of the U.S. Army Surgeon General. America's fighting men and women injured in the line of duty can trust in Maj. Steven Gventer to help them navigate the health care system and get back on their feet - often saving their lives.

• Pillar of Respect: Dr. Fred Bryant, Marshall High School Class of 1966
  Wildlife Research Institute Director

  A true product of Northside, Dr. Fred Bryant recently attended the 42nd reunion of the first-ever state championship team (basketball) from Northside ISD. Prior to attending Marshall High School, he attended Leon Valley Elementary, and Ross and Neff middle schools. Following graduation, he earned degrees from Texas Tech, Utah State, and Texas A&M. To become an expert on wildlife research, endangered species, range management, and environmental issues, Dr. Bryant worked all over the world - from Peru and Bolivia to Morocco and Australia. However, since becoming Director of the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1996, he says, "We can be world class without doing research all over the world." Calling South Texas "the last great habitat," Dr. Bryant supervises biological research with respect for the environment: the people, animals, and plants in it.

Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott will be at Lackland City Elementary School at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27 to present Northside Superintendent John Folks with a check for $5.4 million.

The money will be distributed to teachers at 22 Northside schools as part of the state's District Awards for Teacher Excellence, or DATE.

Lackland City Elementary is located at 101 Dumont, 78227.

Please call Pascual Gonzalez at (210) 240-2108 or Monica Faulkenbery at (210) 846-4584 for more information.

What: Ten high-energy back-to-school pep rallies, aka Convocations 2008
When: Aug. 19-22 (see times below)
Where: Brandeis High School auditorium, 13011 Kyle Seale Parkway, 78249 (behind Stinson Middle School between Hausman and Bamburger Trail)

About 10,000 teachers and staff members will gather at 10 pep rally-style Convocations to hear Superintendent John Folks' "charge to the troops" and to get revved up for the 2008-09 school year. Student musicians, cheerleaders, and "spirit leaders" representing each school will help pump up the audience.

More than 100 colorful school signs and banners will help decorate the high-energy rallies, whose theme this year is "Northside: We Believe." Campus staff will wear creative outfits to show their school spirit, so there will be great photo opportunities and fun interviews available.

These rallies are designed to kick off the new school year, which begins for students on Monday, Aug. 25. So that Dr. Folks can address the staff from every campus, 10 rallies are planned back-to-back at 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on August 19 and 21, and at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Aug. 20 and 22.

Note to media: Parking is limited so please find an NISD police officer and they will assist you.

On site contacts: Pascual Gonzalez (cell: 240-2108) or Monica Faulkenbery (cell: 669-6105 or 846-4584)

About 500 students will graduate from high school at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday/Aug. 13 at a very colorful summer commencement ceremony at the Paul Taylor Field House, 7001 Culebra Road.

Students will graduate from all nine high schools in Northside and therefore will be wearing graduation robes of various school colors. Participants also will include students earning a GED certificate through NISD Adult & Community Education.

Please call (210) 397-8550 for more information.

Roughly 800 newly hired teachers will learn all about Northside at the New Teacher Academy, held Tuesday through Thursday (Aug. 5-7) at Warren and Stevens high schools.

The new teachers will learn about Northside programs and practices, attend staff development sessions, and visit with their mentors.

Altogether, the District expects to hire about 850 new teachers by the time school starts Aug. 25.

The best time for media coverage is during lunch, when teachers will gather in the cafeteria to get an overview of the "Northside Way" from Superintendent John Folks.

Elementary teachers will lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5 at Warren High School, 9411 W. Military Dr., 78251. Secondary teachers will have lunch 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, at Stevens High School, 600 N. Ellison Dr., 78251.

For onsite information and interviews, please speak with Dr. Folks or Pascual Gonzalez, NISD spokesman. New teachers will be available for interviews. Pascual can be reached on his cell phone at 240-2108.

A helicopter hovering over some NISD middle schools Monday morning will have some folks doing a double take.

A helicopter will be used to assist with the installation of air conditioning units in gymnasiums at Ross, Neff, Connally and Hobby middle schools Monday morning, July 28. (This project originally was scheduled for Thursday but was rescheduled because of weather concerns).

A helicopter is being used rather than a crane because it is cheaper, faster and easier. It takes several hours to set up a crane, which means it probably would take two to four days to place the AC units.

Instead, a helicopter will pick up the AC units from the athletic field at each school and quickly place them on the rooftops of the gymnasium. It is expected to take only about an hour at each school.

Weather permitting, the installation schedule is as follows:

• 8 a.m., Ross Middle School, 3630 Callaghan Road, 78228
• 9 a.m., Neff Middle School, 5227 Evers Road, 78238
• 10 a.m., Connally Middle School, 8661 Silent Sunrise, 78250
• 11:30 a.m., Hobby Middle School, 11843 Vance Jackson, 78230

The air conditioning of middle school gyms is being funded by School Bond 2007.