The Lubbock Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a voluntary early notification incentive during their February 9 workshop. State law allows contract employees until July 1 to notify the school district of their intent to resign or retire.  This voluntary incentive encourages contracted employees to inform their principal early, thereby, enabling principals to make staffing decisions much earlier.
 

Rick Rodriguez, assistant superintendent for human resources said, "We have always encouraged employees to let us know their plans to resign or retire, but the lack of flexibility in our budget makes our ability to plan even more critical."  He added, "This is simply an incentive to encourage employees to notify the district of their intentions as soon as possible in order for us to more efficiently plan staffing for the next school year."
 

The $1,500 incentive is for all full-time contract personnel who announce their intent to resign or retire between January 1, 2012 and February 29, 2012, effective at the end of the current contract year.  The program is voluntary and is available to any contract personnel who submit a letter of resignation/retirement OR the attached form to the Human Resources Office by 4 p.m. on February 29, 2012.  The incentive of $1,500 will be added to the monthly gross pay and will appear on the regular paycheck following the completion of their contract.  Payment is contingent upon the employee maintaining and completing their assigned work schedule in good status through the end of the contract year. While this is the second year that a voluntary early notification incentive has been offered, it has not been made a permanent part of the resignation or retirement protocol. If you have any questions regarding this action, please contact the Human Resources Office at 766-1138. 

Shown above wearing their "Perfect Score" shirts are Evans cafeteria staff members (L to R) Robbie Whitfield, Linda Reyes, Petra Allen, Essie Vasquez, Kami Ray and Phillip Cook.

LISD food service partner, ARAMARK Education, learned late last week that all 52 LISD cafeterias and the ARAMARK's catering facility received perfect scores on their health inspections this semester from the City of Lubbock.

While traditional restaurants that prepare and serve meals in Lubbock are required to be inspected only once a year, the cafeterias on LISD campuses are subject to rigorous inspections twice a year.  These inspections determine, among other things, if the facilities are clean and sanitary, if workers are observing safe and proper food handling protocols and if foods are being stored, prepared and served at the appropriate temperatures. 

ARAMARK Director of Child Nutrition Katie Gossett said, "I could not be more proud of my team and all of the hard work that they have put into reaching this goal.  It's like having 53 restaurants and having them all achieve a perfect score." 

Every two years, the University Interscholastic League (UIL), the governing body of competitive academics, athletics and fine arts in Texas, evaluates public school enrollments to determine if schools need to be reclassified, in comparison to their classification models of 5A, 4A, 3A, etc.  They examine the districts in which schools compete to ensure fair and equitable conditions. For example, similarly-sized schools and travel requirements exist for the competitors.  When changes are thought to be necessary, those districts are "realigned" or slightly re-arranged to accommodate any changes which may have occurred in classification.

On February 2, 2012, the UIL announced its reclassification and realignment plan for the next two years.  In Lubbock ISD, Monterey High School and Lubbock High School will move from the 5A classification into the 4A classification.  Coronado will remain classified as a 5A and Estacado will remain classified as a 3A school.  LISD Chief Administrative Officer Dr. Berhl Robertson said, "There's somewhat of a misconception about realignment and how schools are placed in certain classifications.  Just because you go down in classification doesn't necessarily mean you're losing students.  As schools grow and new high schools come online each year, the cut-off number that UIL sets also increases.  So, you could be a school that's growing minimally or staying the same and still go down in classification." 

Shown above in the front row (L to R) are: Kiante Harris, Victor Gomez II, Ja'kefee Faulk, Kevin Mathis, Chris Alford; in the back row (L to R) are: Janis Christophe, Brittney Dawn, Raquel Lopez, and Monique Douglas (not pictured: Kathy Castro) 

The Estacado Mock Trial team placed second at the regional competition by the narrowest of margins.  The panel of judges had to take two ballots to ultimately declare Lubbock High the winner.  As of this posting, the Estacado team's hopes of competing in the state meet as a "wild card" team are still alive. 

On February 4, 2012, the Lubbock High School (LHS) Pom Squad competed in Keller, Texas, at the Texas Dance Challenge put on by Showtime International, Inc. and earned the following accolades: Sweepstakes and Judges Award; Best in Category: Hip Hop; Best in Category: Kick; Best in Category: Lyrical; Best in Category: Jazz; Solo finalist runner up: Meagan Wilkes; Solo finalist runner up: Sarah Moore; and Grand Champion.

This is the second year in a row that the team has won the Grand Champion Award from Showtime. Last year, the team traveled to Sea World to compete and also won the award.

Members of the squad are: Savannah Baker, Kelsey Clark, Molly Craft, Alyssa Davila, Teklyn Jackson-Davis, Tabitha Keaty, LaShawn Lenord-Smith, Libby

Margrave, Sarah Moore and Meagan Wilkes.

The squad also traveled to the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl in December and performed at half time.   The LHS Pom Squad is under the direction of Jennifer Davis.   

Shown in the photo above (L to R) are: O.L. Slaton Middle School counselors Glenna Payne and Sharman Martin.  Payne and Martin are enjoying cupcakes presented to them by CTE Director Jill Berset (at right).

February 6-10 was National Counselor Appreciation Week. Lubbock ISD salutes each counselor for his or her commitment and dedication to students.  The Career and Technical Education (CTE) department delivered cakes to each of the high school counseling teams and cupcakes to each middle school counselor in appreciation for all they do for CTE.

FOR SALE: Design by LadyBugg has the perfect gift for your special Valentine. Each order is custom made. February specials include bracelets $4 each or 3/$10. Earrings $2 each or 3/$5. Lanyards $10 each or 3/$25. Check out our Facebook page. You may place orders there or email designbyladybugg@yahoo.com.
FOR SALE: Magnavox 27" television. Please 787-4150 for more information.
FOR SALE: Winter Musette mahogany piano. The exterior is in great shape but keys need tuning. $400. Please call 798-3111 if interested.
FOR SALE: Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera DSC-S700. Also, Sony Cyber-ShotU DSC-U30. We sell separately or together, priced to sell. Please call 799-0343 or 544-4365 for additional information.
FOR SALE: Couch and loveseat in excellent condition. Cream colored with floral print. $400. Please email kwebster@lubbockisd.org  or call 928-4891.

WANTED: Volunteer Soccer Coach for U8 boys Lubbock Soccer Association. If interested please call Mari at 632-1484.

CHEERS TO: Irons MS teachers, Lisa Gilbert, computer technologist, and Katheryne Aufil, sixth-grade math teacher, who gave their time and effort to help Junior Girl Scouts from Whiteside ES and Smith ES work towards earning their computer skills and math badges. Great job ladies!--Rene Ann Boyd, Irons MS
CHEERS TO: Maria Leos, human services teacher at Lubbock HS for her work on the "flour baby" project. Students were given a one pound bag of flour and assigned the task of raising it as their newborn baby, feeding, changing and comforting it. Others were given the daunting job of raising "twins"! Nonetheless, the students showed both pride and creativity in their babies. Some placed a photo of themselves as the head of their infant. What a wonderful learning experience for these Lubbock HS students. Way to go!--Silvia Velez, Lubbock HS

SYMPATHY TO: ♦ Catherine Brown, physical education TA at Parsons ES on the loss of her brother-in law, Courtland Whitmore, on January 29. 
♦ Nancy Parker, principal at Ramirez ES on the loss of her father, Carlos Ruiz. ♦ Terri Christensen, assistant principal at Irons MS on the loss of her mother, Neta Jones.