SHISD Mid-Week Message
Promoting Great Things in a Great School District
National School Board Month
January 2016 is School Board Recognition Month, a time to thank the more than 7,100 locally elected citizens who deeply care about the success of all Texas children. These dedicated men and women serve without pay on local school boards. I would like to take a moment to thank the Spring Hill “Super Heroes", our Board of Trustees.
The SH board of trustees is deeply committed to making sure Spring Hill ISD lives up to its vision to “be a premier district with engaged learning and student success". They work behind the scenes for many hours to ensure the financial and academic conditions in the district are optimal for the staff and students. They work many hours behind the scenes to make sure our students have what they need to be successful, donating their time and talents to ensure that all of our children have the best educational experience available.
The board sets the expectations and vision to prepare our students to graduate from Spring Hill ISD with the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful. They have shown through their efforts that they value the teachers, staff, and students of Spring Hill and the Texas public school system.
It’s been my pleasure to work with this highly motivated and passionate team of people. Allow me to introduce our heroes in education:
- President, Mark White. Mark has served on the board for 4 years. Mark works in real estate, has a background in education and had a successful career as a teacher, head coach, and athletic director. Mark brings leadership and an unmatched passion for the success of Spring Hill ISD. His wife teaches at Spring Hill High School and all three of his children attend Spring Hill Schools.
- Vice President, John Borens. John is a lifelong resident of Longview and has served on the board for 8 years. John brings leadership and attention to detail to the board. His wife is a graduate of SHISD and they have 2 daughters that attend SHISD.
- Secretary, Karen Wright. Karen is the longest serving member of the current board at 13 years. She owns her own business and brings a strength in finance. Her husband is a Longview City Council member and all of their children graduated from SHISD and she now has grandchildren who attend SHISD.
- Claudine Giffin has served on the board for 6 years, 2 of those years as board president. She has a servant’s heart and is dedicated to the academic and fiscal health of the district. She and her husband have a daughter that attends SHISD.
- Traci Wallis has served on the board for 6 years. Traci is very active in community service and has a passion for academics, special needs children, and making sure SHISD is pushing the envelope academically. She and her husband have children that graduated from SHISD.
- Jason Holt has served on the board for three years. As an attorney, Jason bring a unique and much needed expertise to the board. He and his wife actively serve as volunteers in the Spring Hill community and they have three children that attend SHISD.
- Frank Bufkin is new to the board this year. He brings a wealth of business knowledge in the oil and gas industry. Frank is a big supporter of SHISD, involved with supporting the district through booster clubs before joining the board. He and his wife have two sons who attend SHISD.
Collectively, the board has more than 40 years of service to Spring Hill ISD attending countless school events, board work sessions, public forums, board walks and numerous academic and athletic activities. Each January, we pause to say thank you to these dedicated heroes. We appreciate their generous sharing of time and energy on behalf of our children.
Join me in celebrating School Board Recognition Month by expressing your support and gratitude to the Spring Hill Board of Trustees. We are indebted to their service.
Speaking of Super Heroes, here are some kudos:
- I want to thank Tony White, B.J. Benton, Reese Schriver, Jimmy Adkinson, Becky Smith, Randy Kiser, Amy Teague, Janna Freeman, Leann Holder, Kelly Mercer, Chris Peurifoy. These eleven staff members drove to Decatur, TX on Monday to pick up the buses we purchased from Decatur ISD.
- Thank you to Cathy Reed and Leann Holder for decorating the board room for school board appreciation month.
- Thank you to Caroline Cole, Emmie Drueckhammer, and Charlotte Kincy for preparing a delicious dinner for the board.
- Thank you to all campuses for making the evening special.
Even More Kudos:
Christa Thomas's Reflections art entry, An Imaginary Vine in My Mind, has been advanced to state-level judging! This is a wonderful achievement as nearly 60,000 students participate in the program annually and less than 3% of those advance to Texas PTA.-Mr. Moore
The Math/Science team placed 2nd in last weekend's competition in Pine Tree with multiple students placing in the top three in their individual events. - Mr. Moore
I'd like to give a 'shout out' to some fabulous teachers that made presentations for our "Expert Next Door" professional development on January 18th! Becky Patak presented Project Based Learning, Amy Beth Kennedy and Donya Denman presented writing tips and strategies across the curriculum, Taylor Cloud and Kristi Hopkins presented creating engaging stations for students and our Title 1 (Kristi Linthicum, Cindy Blevins, Karla Jones), Content Mastery (Carol Procell and Iris Simpson) and Special Education teachers (Kris Wardlaw and Kathleen Aleman) presented ideas for working with struggling students! Our faculty learned a lot and I feel like this has helped to unify our team! Way to go Intermediate! - Mrs. Doron
I wanted to share the exciting news that Mr. Morgan has been selected as Spring Hill Teacher of the Month for January, and Ms. Wolverton has been selected as Spring Hill Support Staff of the Month. Both of them are a strong part of our team here at the Jr. High and have had great success at their job. Mr. Morgan has done a great job building student involvement in district and community art contests (with recent winners in both the district Christmas card contest and the area Recycling in Longview art contest). Also, Ms. Wolverton has done a great job taking on her challenging, new position as front desk receptionist. Her work has played a big part in our campus having such a great first semester as she works to support our students, staff, and families. - Mr. Moore
Staff of the Month for January
Panthers of the Month
Texas Tennis Coaches Association Coach of the Year
Digital Learning Day is February 17
Spring Hill ISD plans to join thousands of schools and communities and will celebrate the fifth anniversary of Digital Learning Day on February 17, taking part in the transformation of teaching and learning powered by technology. It is a day that challenges everyone to be actively involved in re-imagining the education system.
On February 17, celebrate education innovation by sharing how you will re-imagine learning in your classroom, program, school or district. This could involve pairing up less experienced educators with more experienced ones to do a joint digital lesson or trying out new ways of using technology in classrooms. Whatever you do—however small—makes a difference!
The link to official registration for local Digital Learning Day events is now open. Share how you plan to celebrate the day and your event will be added to the map of events across the country (and the world).
SH High School Student Wins City-Wide Art Contest!
Her card made 1st place!
Congratulations to Shayla and Mr Dunn!
SH Primary Continuous Learners
SH Primary Continuous Learners
Character Ed at Primary
This month's character trait is Self-Control.
Lone Star Leadership Academy
Call for Outstanding Student Nominations
Nominate your outstanding 4th-8th graders for summer 2016 Lone Star Leadership Academy camps! Participants travel to the Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin/San Antonio, or Houston/Galveston area to join delegations of other distinguished students from across Texas for a week of fun, learning, leadership development, and visits to significant Texas destinations. Each day participants explore notable Texas sites, learn about unique careers from professionals, and work in small groups to develop specific leadership skills. In addition to improving their leadership abilities, participants gain self-confidence and independence and develop new friendships with other high-achieving students from across the state.
Nominees must be in 4th-8th grade, maintain an 85 or higher average, demonstrate leadership ability, and be involved in school/community activities.
Nominate your outstanding 4th-8th graders online at: http://www.educationinaction.org/educators/nominations.php
Nomination Deadline: Friday, February 5th, 2016.
SH School Board Honors the State 3rd place Tennis Team
Spring Hill ISD
Email: superintendent@shisd.net
Website: www.shisd.net
Location: 3101 Spring Hill Road, Longview, TX, United States
Phone: 903-759-4404
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spring.hillisd?ref=hl
Twitter: @s_snell