Good morning!  What a great week we had last week with many important activities occurring.  On Friday I attended the "Texas Teacher of the Year" recognition ceremony in Austin.  As I have written to you before, Maricela Alarcon, a bilingual fifth grade teacher at Burke Elementary School, was one of the three finalists for the Elementary Texas Teacher of the Year.  She was honored and recognized at the ceremony and, although she did not win, we are so proud of her accomplishment.  She is the daughter of Mexican immigrants who spoke no English, so bilingual education is very personal to her and she serves as a living role model for her students.  She states, "As a student, I overcame language and socio-economic barriers as a result of parent and teacher motivation.  Through my experiences, my goal is to offer every child access to what is possible.  Passion, determination, desire, commitment, and making a difference in young people's lives - these are the qualities that fuel me."  A valedictorian of Brackenridge High School and a graduate of Rice University, Ms. Alarcon along with her teaching is pursuing a doctoral degree at UTSA.  What is amazing about her being a finalist for Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year is that she is only in her fifth year of teaching.  I am so proud of Maricela and she truly represents the "heart of Northside."  Congratulations, Maricela!  We are very proud of you!

Also, this week was Red Ribbon Week in Northside.  I know that schools all over the district conducted a variety of activities to reinforce the message about the dangers and harm that come from drug use.  Of particular note was a district-wide Red Ribbon Rally sponsored by Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities held at John Jay High School on Thursday evening.  The keynote speaker was Sandra Camarena, the sister of slain DEA Agent Kiki Camarena for whom Red Ribbon Week was started nationwide.  On Friday, Mary Hull Elementary School held their annual Red Ribbon parade with Sandra Camarena participating.  Thanks to all the schools for all they do to stress the importance to our kids of saying "No to Drugs."  Thanks to Kimberly Burke, Coordinator of Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities, and Deborah Healy, Director of Guidance, for all their work in coordinating activities district-wide.

On Monday night our district sponsored our annual College Night at UTSA.  Over 125 colleges and universities were present to provide information and discuss their programs with students and parents.  I am always amazed at the number of students who attend and I get so many positive comments from parents and also the college representatives.  A big thank you to all of our high school counselors who work so hard to make this event such a success!  As we look at preparing students to be college-ready and create a college-going culture, it is exciting to see such enthusiasm on the part of our students and their parents about post-secondary education.

On Thursday evening we began the meetings of the Citizens' Bond Committee to discuss the possibility of a bond election in May of 2010 and what items should be included in a bond proposal.  Northside has historically had a bond election every three years with the last bond election in May of 2007.  Since 1995 Turco and Associates have conducted a research project examining resident attitudes and awareness relative to a potential bond election.  The survey is designed to examine the attitudes of voters with regard to issues impacting a potential bond election.  Topics include facility needs, financing, and other bond-related initiatives.  Ray Turco shared the results last week at our Board of Trustees meeting and the Citizens' Bond Committee meeting.  I was very pleased with the results of the survey.  Nearly 80% of voters sampled acknowledged being satisfied (49%) or very satisfied (29%) with the quality of public schools in their school district.  This was the highest ever satisfied ratings the district has received since the surveys were first conducted.  Especially noteworthy was that 95% of parents of Northside students expressed satisfaction, 88% of parents of Northside graduates expressed satisfaction and two out of three voters who had no children in Northside schools or who never had children in Northside schools expressed satisfaction.  These again were the highest satisfaction ratings we have received.  Seventy percent rated the quality of education to have improved or stayed the same with 41% stating the quality of education has improved.  These results were very positive and it speaks to the great job all of you are doing in helping make this district such a quality school district that believes so strongly in the importance of excellence in our schools.

Issues rated the highest by those surveyed were keeping technology in schools current and up-to-date, constructing new schools to meet expanding student enrollment, installing video security systems at all elementary schools, and constructing additions at campuses.  Renovations, replacing roofs, purchasing school buses, and other infrastructure items were rated very positive.  The work of the Citizens' Bond Committee will be very important as we move forward with consideration of a bond election.  We have done a lot in the past several years in building new schools to address and catch up with the growth we have had, putting classroom additions and libraries on some of our schools, installing video camera systems for safety and security, and keeping up-to-date with the changing technology.  As I have said, if we grew 3178 students this year in difficult economic times, what will our growth become as the economy improves.  We must not fall behind, and thus our Citizens' Bond Committee has some difficult work ahead of them.

As we begin the month of November and move toward the holiday season, let us continue to keep our focus on helping all of our students be successful.  We will always strive to be better and seek excellence in education for each child.  Have a great week!