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Our FRIENDS NETWORK is 168 districts strong and growing!
Welcome to our newest network members:
Carlisle ISD
Crane ISD
Crystal City ISD
Donna ISD
Fabens ISD
Goose Creek ISD
Hearnes ISD
Honey Grove ISD
Leander ISD
Pine Tree ISD
Seguin ISD
Simms ISD
For information or questions, email our Executive Director, Amber Fulton, at
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Click HERE to join online.
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School districts can piggyback on money-saving contracts available through two national cooperative purchasing programs under one roof, The Keystone Purchasing Network and PEPPM Technology Bidding and Purchasing Program. Both programs advertise and solicit sealed bids, which are awarded to the most responsive and responsible bidders. The result is higher quality at lower prices. |
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Leslie and Jane,
Thank you for all the encouragement this year. There have been a lot of changes this year and you both have helped me have a positive outloook about it. It is good to be reminded why I became a teacher and how great it can be. Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Alyssa Cash,
2014 participant, Ambassador Training Academy
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"Our people are our single greatest strength and most enduring long-term competitive advantage."
--Gary Kelly, President and CEO, Southwest Airlines
Change the conversation about Texas public schools from the inside out! Prepare each member of your staff to step up as ambassadors for their students, themselves, campuses, district, and profession. The Ambassador Training Academy helps participants avoid common issues rooted in ineffective communication practices that inadvertently undermine parent and public confidence in their work. Participants learn how the power of professional unity profoundly impacts the profession and why this culture of brotherhood is an essential element of any successful organization. The forces that weaken public trust and confidence in public education are discussed, as well as strategies for restoring public pride, hope, optimism, and confidence in our public schools.
Now is the time to budget and make plans to include the Ambassador Training Academy Staff Development Series as part of your strategic mix for 2015-16! Contact Leslie Milder at lmilder@fotps.org, or by phone at 214-498-7680 to get started.
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DK Haney Roofing is a certified TIPS and TXMAS vendor dedicated to helping schools get roofing projects done. Schools have been our specialty for 23 years, so we can help you navigate insurance claims and board approvals. Our state-of-the-art roof management portal provides instant access to all your roofs and reports. Call 866.379.4846! |
Friends of Texas Public Schools Scott Milder 830 Shores Blvd.
Rockwall, TX 75087
smilder@fotps.org214-497-6411
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Below is a facebook post from Angela Wrigglesworth (Blackshear Elementary Teacher and Klein ISD Ambassador Training Academy participant) that will make you proud to be a public school employee.
So I have bus duty. All week our assigned bus had a substitute bus driver. Well today as we walk out all in a line to the bus, the kids can already see that Mr. What's his Name is back. And honest to goodness, it was like JJ Watt was driving.
My life suddenly flashed to slow motion as the children began cheering and high fiving. "He's baaaaaaack!!!!!!" They all shouted. They were hugging each other! They RAN TO THE BUS and couldn't wait to get on! FIFTH grade BOYS were hugging this man! The news to the back of the line spread and the joy was so contagious to the point that all other buses stopped to watch ours!!!!!! I honestly wanted to cry.
After they all boarded and were smiling from ear to ear, I peeked in and shouted, "Sir! You are loved!!!!! I've never seen anything like that in my life!" He said watch this....
He grabs the radio and says "Here we go guys!!!!!" Then sings Boy George (in perfect pitch, I'll have you know...) "Do you really want to hurt meeeee" And all of the children raise their arms in a choreographed moment, "Yes!" He goes through the entire chorus and the children are singing and doing their hand motions and laughing and loving it!!!
I'm not doing this justice at all, but I would count this as one of the top 5 most amazing things I've ever seen at school. Ever!! I want to be an awesome school bus driver when I grow up.
The bus driver, Mr. Foley, is to be commended for making a difference in the lives of the students under his charge. We all have these stories to tell...share yours with friends and neighbors.
Share a story with us...
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By Sarah Blaine, from parentingthecore blog
We all know what teachers do, right? After all, we were all students. Each one of us, each product of public education, we each sat through class after class for thirteen years. We encountered dozens of teachers. We had our kindergarten teachers and our first grade teachers and our fifth grade teachers and our gym teachers and our art teachers and our music teachers. We had our science teachers and our social studies teachers and our English teachers and our math teachers. If we were lucky, we might even have had our Latin teachers or our Spanish teachers or our physics teachers or our psychology teachers. Heck, I even had a seventh grade "Communications Skills" teacher. We had our guidance counselors and our principals and some of us had our special education teachers and our study hall monitors.
So we know teachers. We get teachers. We know what happens in classrooms, and we know what teachers do. We know which teachers are effective, we know which teachers left lasting impressions, we know which teachers changed our lives, and we know which teachers sucked.
We know. We know which teachers changed lives for the better. We know which teachers changed lives for the worse.
Teaching as a profession has no mystery. It has no mystique. It has no respect.
We were students, and therefore we know teachers. We denigrate teachers. We criticize teachers. We can do better than teachers. After all: We do. They teach.
We are wrong.
Read more...
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Texas lawmakers urged to restore funding for public education
Soon after Texas Comptroller Glenn Hager released a revenue estimate projecting lawmakers will have about $113 billion available for general-purpose spending over two years, a group of Texas pastors and school administrators heard a clear call to restore cuts the Texas Legislature made in public education during the last session.
George Mason (left), pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, and Kyle Henderson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Athens, visit during a Pastors for Texas Children gathering at Baylor University's Truett Seminary. (PHOTO / Robert Rogers / Baylor University)"We have the money to do it. Do we have the will to do it?" Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Texas Pastors for Children, asked about 200 ministers and educators during a luncheon at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary. Texas Pastors for Children, an advocacy group that encourages churches and their leaders to support quality public education for all students in the state, sponsored the event.
In 2011, Texas lawmakers cut funding by more than $500 per child. In 2013, they restored only a portion-about 60 percent, leaving a continuing deficit in public education funding, Johnson noted.
"More money is not the entire answer, but quality education is not happening without proper funding," he said, calling for an additional $7 billion in public school funding.
Church leaders should raise their voices in opposition to any efforts to privatize public education or divert public money to private schools, Johnson insisted. Texas has a constitutional obligation to provide free education to all children, he noted.
"All means all. Every child is accepted," he said, contrasting public schools that educate children of varied abilities and low socio-economic backgrounds with private schools with selective admissions criteria.
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Worth Ave. Group offers insurance policies perfect for K-12 schools wanting to insure electronic devices. Policies provide replacement cost coverage and protect the devices on and off school grounds. Insurance works perfectly for schools with 1 to 1 programs, designed to issue laptops, iPads or tablets to students and teachers.
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By Andy Welch
A Service of the Texas School Public Relations Association
February 19, 2015
On the 35th day of the 140-day legislative session, Governor Greg Abbott delivered his first State of the State address to the Texas Legislature and proclaimed five emergency items that he wants state legislators to expedite: early childhood education, higher education, transportation, border security and ethics reform.
"It was a something-for-everyone speech, hitting on all the major initiatives he laid out in the 2014 governor's race and then some," wrote Jay Root of the Texas Tribune.
The "emergency" designation signifies what the governor considers to be his top legislative priorities, and it also means the bills can be acted upon immediately, rather than later, when hundreds of bills die in a legislative logjam. It was no surprise that border security and transportation were declared as emergencies, but Governor Abbott shocked some when he included expanded pre-kindergarten programs on his quick-action list.
Mr. Abbott said that his proposed state budget for 2016-2017 includes $182 million for new early childhood programs and specialized training for teachers in Pre-K through third grade. Another $164 million is proposed for digital instruction, targeting low-performing schools and to help struggling high school students pass state end-of-course exams.
Read full article on TSPRA website... |
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With more than a million hits annually on its website and more than 22,000 e-news subscribers, Friends of Texas Public Schools is making advertising/sponsor opportunities available to organizations wishing to reach school leaders across Texas.
For information on getting your organization's message out to Friends of Texas Public Schools followers and readers, please email Amber Fulton at Afulton@fotps.org.
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