Attention: Rivera HS Parents

June 12, 2013 is the end date for SES Providers to submit SES enrollment forms to the BISD Assessment Department. If a Provider signs-up your child after June 12th (or does not submit your child’s form to the Assessment Department by that date) your child will not receive services. Existing eligible students will continue to be served up until August 25, 2013 or until their per pupil allotment is exhausted, whichever comes first. Rivera High School graduation is on June 11th. A student who has graduated is not eligible for SES services. Please call the Assessment, Research, and Evaluation Department at (956) 554—2806 if you have questions.

Superintendent Announces Scholarship Recipients

Superintendent Dr. Carl A. Montoya has announced the winners of the 2013 Superintendent’s Scholarships. A total of 57 graduating BISD seniors will each receive $1,000 to attend the college of their choice. Over $57,000 in scholarship funds was raised at the 10th Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament hosted by Dr. Montoya at the Rancho Viejo Resort on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Scholarship recipients were selected by a committee of local Brownsville leaders and district personnel. A total of 182 student applications were reviewed. “The participation of our local businesses and community organizations has made this tournament one of the largest in the Rio Grande Valley. I sincerely thank our sponsors for enthusiastically supporting our students and enabling them to continue their education,” said Montoya. In the last 10 years, the Superintendent’s Scholarship Golf Tournament has provided $626,000 in scholarships to 524 deserving BISD graduates.

Garden Park Team Places at Globals

The Garden Park Elementary School Destination Imagination (DI) Team competed on May 22-25 in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Global Finals. Nearly 1,250 student teams from 42 states and 14 countries competed in this international event. Garden Park’s Ram-A-tors Team placed 13th out of 76 teams in the Elementary Section Challenge E-Twist-O-Rama (Structural) category. This is the second time that a DI Team from Garden Park has advanced to the Global Finals. Way to go, Garden Park Ram-A-tors!

View BISD Graduations Live Online

The BISD high school graduations that are held at Sams Stadium will be streamed live on the district’s homepage at www.bisd.us for viewing by friends and family members who are unable to attend the commencement ceremonies. This will also give military personnel from Brownsville who are on active duty an opportunity to see their loved ones graduate. The commencement ceremonies at Sams Stadium will begin at 7:30 pm according to the schedule listed below. Pace High School . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friday, June 7 Lopez High School . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunday, June 9 Porter High School . . . . . . . . . . . Monday, June 10 Rivera High School. . . . . . . . . . . Tuesday, June 11 Hanna High School. . . . . . . . . . .Wednesday, June 12 Veterans Memorial HS. . . . . . . .Thursday, June 13 Brownsville ISD is pleased to make this service available to our community. View the graduation ceremonies here beginning at 7:30 pm on the designated days.

Hanna Varsity Choir to Perform at TMEA

The Hanna High School Varsity Men’s Choir has been invited to perform at the 2014 Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Convention in San Antonio. This invitation marks the first time that a Brownsville ISD high school choral group has been selected to perform at TMEA. The Hanna Choral Department includes Gene Holkup, Head Choir Director; Jesus G. Morales and Selina Charles, Assistant Choir Directors. Alain Fabela is the accompanist. Four BISD middle school choirs have been asked to perform at TMEA over the years, Cummings Junior High Mixed Choir (Twice) in the 1950’s, Vela Middle School Mixed Choir in the 1990’s and Vela Middle School Treble Choir in 2012. The Hanna Varsity Men’s Choir has brought state honors to our school district. Congratulations to these outstanding students on earning this prestigious invitation.

Summer Schedule

Brownsville ISD offices will follow the following abbreviated summer administrative work schedule beginning on Monday, June 17, 2013 and ending on Friday, August 2, 2013. 7:30 am – 5:30 pm – Monday through Thursday 8:00 am – 12:00 noon – Friday BISD offices will be closed the week of July 1, 2013 through July 5, 2013.

Ortiz Student Artist Tops in Doodles

Nia-Isabella Garza, a 5th grade student at Ortiz Elementary School, is one of 250 State Finalists in the 2013 U.S. Doodle 4 Google competition. Chosen from more than 130,000 entries, State Finalists are the highest ranked doodles from each grade group from each state.

Cavazos Scholarships Awarded

Congratulations to the BISD student athletes who received Johnny N. and Nena S. Cavazos Athletic Scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each. The 2013 Cavazos Scholarships were awarded to 5 students from each BISD high school at the Board Meeting held on May 21. The couple generously funded an athletic endowment that has provided college funds to graduating district athletes for many years.

Attention Employees

Meetings for the Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee Leagues will be held on Wednesday, May 29 at 6 pm for Volleyball and 6:45 pm for Ultimate Frisbee at the BISD Wellness Center. Join the fun. For more information, contact Anisa Gonzalez at 698-0194 or agonzalez@bisd.us. Wellness is Hot Stuff in BISD!

Seventeen BISD Students Earn Duke Notice

Congratulations to seventeen BISD 7th grade students who earned State Recognition in the Duke University Talent Identification Program. The program identifies and supports academically talented students who have scored 95% or higher on a grade level standardized achievement, aptitude or mental ability test. Identified students are invited to take the SAT or ACT and must be in the top 25% of the Talent Search Pool to qualify for State Recognition. The pool is highly selective and the scores earned by these students are the national mean averages of those in the 12th grade. These seventeen students earned recognition out of 256 BISD students who participated.

Employee Transfers

The employee transfer period will begin Monday, May 20, 2013. The deadline to submit applications is Friday, May 31 before 5 pm.

Middle School Artists Are Superior

BISD middle school students won 110 superior ratings and 24 silver medals at the Region One Junior Visual Arts Student Exhibition (VASE) competition held at Morris Middle School in McAllen on May 11. Alejandra Carillo, a Stillman Middle School student, received superior ratings and silver medals for both of her artworks. Congratulations to BISD’s middle school student artisits.

Hanna Makes List

Hanna High School made the 2013 Newsweek list of America’s Best High Schools.

Four Teachers Earn Rotary Award

For over 20 years, the Brownsville Rotary Club has honored BISD teachers for their teaching excellence. Selected teachers each receive a check for $1,000 to be used to continue their education or any other educational use which will enhance their classroom skills. The 2013 recipients of the Brownsville Rotary Endowment for Teaching Excellence are Rosalio Garcia and Francisco Sanchez from Veterans Memorial High School, and Antonio Padilla and Martina Rubio from Stillman Middle School. Congratulations to these outstanding educators and thank you to the Brownsville Rotary Club for its support of our educators.

Pace Choir to Perform at Carnegie Hall

The Pace High School Select Choir, consisting of 31 members, will travel to New York City on May 16-19 to participate in the Manhattan Concert Productions’ Octavo Series. Three days of rehearsals and sightseeing will culminate in a performance at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall. Dr. Edith Copley, Director of Choral Activities at Northern Arizona University and Music Director of the Master Chorale of Flagstaff, will direct the performance. Other trip highlights include attending a Broadway performance of “The Phantom of the Opera” and visits to the Julliard School, Central Park, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, and other iconic New York City landmarks. The Pace students have been preparing for the trip in their classes by reading and writing about the history and culture of the city as well as Andrew Carnegie. On their return, the choir students will share their experiences with their peers in a final project.

BISD in the Spotlight

Brownsville ISD and Hanna, Pace, and Lopez High Schools have been selected to participate in the Texas Accountability and Intervention (TAIS) statewide video series. The Texas Center for District and School Support (TCDSS), in conjunction with the Texas Education Agency, is producing this series to highlight effective districts and campuses across our state that have demonstrated outstanding progress in implementing components within the TAIS framework. The BISD videotaping is scheduled for May 21-22.

Local Faulk Teacher selected for LiftOff Summer Institute

Claudia E. Cortez, a teacher from Faulk Middle School in Brownsville Texas, has been selected from across the nation for the prestigious LiftOff Summer Institute to be held at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas this summer. For the first time, the program is partnering with NASA Johnson Space Center Office of Education and the Middle School Aerospace Scholars project. Teachers from across the U.S. will increase their knowledge of space education through the LiftOff Professional Development Summer Institute. LiftOff is a collaborative effort of Texas Space Grant Consortium members and affiliates, NASA, and industry. Teachers apply for LiftOff and are selected competitively. The workshops are organized around an aerospace or space science theme drawn from NASA’s diverse engineering and scientific research programs. The theme for LiftOff 2013 is Rockets to Robots. The program combines the strengths of collaborators to enrich teaching and learning of science, mathematics, technology and engineering.

Outstanding Porter Business Students to Participate Leadership Conference

Top students from Gladys Porter High School will be attending the Business Professionals of America (BPA) 2013 National Leadership Conference, “Uncover Your Magic,” in Orlando, FL, May 8-12, 2013. Gladys Porter High School chapter members, Aolani S. Coello, Herbie B. Eckersley, Jr., Jesus B. Guerrero, Juan J. Moreno, and Jacob R. Benavides will join over 5,000 other conference delegates from across the nation to participate in national level business skills competitions, workshops, general sessions, and the national officer candidate campaigns and elections. Besides having the opportunity to excel, they’ll experience the city of Orlando, FL.

A College-Going Culture

Brownsville ISD high school seniors are applying to colleges in record numbers using the APPLY TEXAS APPLICATION. They are also completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in large numbers. Check out the BISD counts below. The Brownsville Learning Academy, Lincoln Park School, and Brownsville Academic Center are included in the numbers. Current student enrollment numbers are used in the calculation. FAFSA counts are updated every Friday by the Department of Education and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Three BISD Seniors Named Gates Scholars

Three BISD students have been selected for the 2013 Class of Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS). Congratulations to Eduardo Chavez, Veterans Memorial High School; Franco Estrada, Brownsville Early College High School; and Keila Rodriguez, Rivera High School; on this outstanding academic achievement. GMS selects 1,000 students nationwide to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at the college or university of their choice. Recipients are also provided with personal and professional development through leadership programs along with academic support throughout their college career. The GMS Program, established in 1999, was initially funded by a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.