2014 Mansfield ISD National Signing Day

Mansfield ISD congratulates student-athletes on signing national letters of intent to compete at the college level. National signing day is traditionally the first day a high school senior can sign a binding National Letter of Intent for college football, field hockey, soccer, track & field, and cross country. (Thanks to the Athletics Department for compiling this list. This list will be updated as additional students make decisions.)

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Lake Ridge High School

Football
Keith Breckenridge – Southeastern Oklahoma State University

Cross Country
Hunter Wamack – Northeastern State Louisiana

Boys Golf
Carlos Headland – Thomas University

Baseball
Scottie Kelton – Central Christian College, Kansas

Boys Soccer
Jessie Diaz – Dallas Baptist University

Legacy High School

Girls Soccer
Madison Brinkman – Oklahoma Christian
Danielle Hightower – Central Baptist College
Alyssa Pios – St. Gregory’s

Boys Soccer
Daniel Moore – Florida Southern

Football
Everett Williams – Minnesota
Chad Pursley – SMU
Jared McGee – Northwestern
Terrance Ivery – Tulsa
Kijana Amous – Northern Colorado or Navarro (Undecided)
Harris Tafah – Navarro
Chris Smith – Texas A&M Commerce
Mike Sanders – Texas A&M Commerce
Bryson Sheffield – Texas A&M Commerce
Josh Conrad – Texas A&M Commerce
Kenton Mayberry – Southern Nazarene

Baseball
Corey Murray – Weatherford Junior College

Mansfield High School

Girls Track
Kami Stockett – SFA

Girls Golf
Rachel Dahl – Angelo St.

Boys Golf
Hunter Johnson – McMurry

Softball
Taylor Spurgin – Austin College
Marlee Boyd – Greyson Community College

Football
JT Ibe – Rice
Hunter Ponder – Rice
Nick Hall – Southern Nazerene University
Noble Leake – Southern Nazerene University
Maurice Isuo – Langston University

Girls Soccer
McKayla Paulson – Texas A & M
Sidney LeRoy – Dayton
Taylor Rotto – Northeastern State

Summit High School

Seven football and one baseball signing to play with colleges today. Go Jags. pic.twitter.com/lKZlzUt4HW
— Summit Football (@SummitFB) February 5, 2014

Football
Jordan Hester – Minnesota Crookston
Chase Snyder – Southwest Oklahoma State University
Samuel Armardi – Dordt College
Jordan Smith – Texas A&M University-Commerce
Johnson Ubani – Southeastern Oklahoma University
Christian Taylor – Angelo State University
Chris Logan – Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Baseball
Austin McLaughlin – Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Timberview High School

Our signees with their parents. #NationalSigningDay #gowolves pic.twitter.com/mmQc0vLbnI
— TimberviewHighSchool (@TimberviewHigh) February 5, 2014

Football
Ed Paris – LSU
Brandon Simmons – Stanford
Brandon Garner – UNT
Rashaad Burton – ACU
Dorian Brown – Sam Houston
Jacob Addison – McKendree University
Tevin Muse – Tyler Junior College
Damian Walker – UTEP

Girls Track
Kelsey Johnson – San Jose State University

Boys Track
Branden Perry – UTSA

Superintendent Update - February 2014

Watch the February Superintendent Update on YouTube:

Dr. Vaszauskas shares info on the following: iStart Collegiate Program for Accelerated Dual Credit; dramatic changes to public education in Texas as a result of House Bill 5; 2nd Annual MISD iPad Summit; and a special thanks to the community for supporting the Toys For Tots event in December.


Additional updates:

An Attendance Zone Review for MISD intermediate, middle and high schools will begin in February http://t.co/DDKcSEniDS
— Mansfield ISD (@mansfieldisd) January 30, 2014

Parents: Please take the parent survey and share your valuable feedback for educational improvement http://t.co/T7ZxlWpAWu
— Mansfield ISD (@mansfieldisd) January 30, 2014

Kiwanis-sponsored student clubs help Meals on Wheels

Last fall, the Asa Low Jr. Intermediate School Builders Club discussed community projects they wanted to support during the holiday season. The club agreed to help organize the annual Kiwanis of Mansfield/Afternoon holiday baskets for Meals on Wheels (MOW) recipients in Mansfield. Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County “promotes the dignity and independence of older adults, persons with disabilities, and other homebound persons by delivering nutritious meals.”

Calling on ideas they found on the MOW website, the members decided first on a fundraiser. All Asa Low students were invited to make a cash donation that would be used to purchase useful gifts. Over $230 was donated by students; the club purchased lighted magnifying glasses and long-handled grabbers for the MOW clients in Mansfield. Students that made a donation decorated paper cars, which are displayed on a club created paper road near the Asa Low Builders Club meeting room. Next, the club solicited help from several other Kiwanis-sponsored clubs in Mansfield. The Timberview High School Key Club members made fleece scarves that would be attached to the grabbers. The Erma Nash Elementary K-Kids and the Legacy Key Club members made Holiday cards. When it was time to put everything together, the Mansfield High School Key Club members joined the Asa Low Builders Club at a meeting to help out. Finally, Kiwanis of Mansfield Afternoon members assisted at the Wesley Mission Center in distributing the gifts to the local Meals on Wheels drivers.

A card from Meals on Wheels offered thanks from the Mansfield clients who received these gifts: “Thanks to each and every one of you who made it possible for our Meals on Wheels clients in Mansfield to receive such lovely gifts this holiday season.”

This project truly exemplified the Kiwanis Builders Club vision to develop competent, capable, caring leaders through the vehicle of service.

Guest post submitted by Cheryl Litke, Kiwanis of Mansfield Afternoon
www.kanmansfield.org

Toys for Tots 2013 Community Event brings in over 19K toys

You did it again. Thank you so much to everyone in the Mansfield ISD community who donated toys and/or came out on Wednesday, December 11 to The Center for the DFW Toys for Tots drop-off event with FOX 4.

We had another huge crowd of parents, students, staff, and people throughout the community who came by to support this effort. FOX 4 personnel and DFW Toys for Tots organizers were once again impressed with the magnitude of our toy drive and community event.

Our 2nd Annual community-wide event at The Center was held on Wednesday, December 11, from 5:00-10:30 p.m. Starting the event was a Parade, followed by free Santa photos, a pair of real reindeer to pet, indoor crafts, inflatable bounce activity, music, hot cocoa, onstage student performances inside and out, food trucks, and much more. The district exceeded our toy collection from last year; early estimates indicate that over 19,300 toys were collected this year and over $8,000 for DFW Toys for Tots!

 

Special thanks go out to the Mansfield Police Department, high school mascots, Mansfield High School Drill Team, Summit High School Band, James Coble Middle School Cheerleaders, Legacy High School Drill Team, Mansfield Fire Department, Peter Ponce, MISD Fine Arts, MISD Police, MISD Athletics SAMS Club in Mansfield, Top of Texas Photography, Mansfield Mayor, David Cook, Savvy’s Bistro, MISD volunteers, Huckabee, Inc., Ben Barber Career Tech Academy Auto Tech, BCB Transport in Mansfield, Lone Star Irrigation Association, Shepard Intermediate assistant principal, Josh Roberts, MISD Warehouse crew, Texas Trust Credit Union, Home Depot, Mansfield Methodist Medical Center, Starbucks, Frost Bank, Two Men and a Truck, Mattress cleaning dudes, , Sports Clips, and all MISD schools and departments for promoting and participating at the event.

Superintendent Update - December 2013

Watch the December Superintendent Update on YouTube:

Dr. V discusses the latest on the December 11 2013 MISD Toys For Tots community event, holiday concerts and events throughout the district in addition to winter weather notification procedures.

Winter Weather Transportation and School-closing Decisions

What happens in Mansfield ISD when temperatures drop and our area has inclement winter weather?

I checked with our leadership team and the Transportation department to help explain some of the procedures, considerations, and decision-making during winter weather events. Here is what I found out:

1. At or before 4:00 a.m. a decision is made to deploy the Transportation weather team staff.
2. Before 4:30 a.m.., the weather team visually inspects various areas across the district of streets for icy, wet, or dry roads along with monitoring the weather information channels.
3. The weather team contacts the Director of Transportation with their road information.
4. Road conditions are analyzed along with other related information available from other school districts.
5. If roads are questionable, the Superintendent is contacted after 4:30 a.m. (but before 5:00 a.m.) to discuss findings and recommendations.
6. The Superintendent makes a decision by 5:00 a.m. whether or not to close schools.
7. We use our standard communication channels if any changes to the district schedule require adjustment including the District homepage, weather info webpage, our phone and e-mail notification system, DFW radio and TV news outlets, and via the district's Twitter profile, @mansfieldisd.

Other considerations and notable information

• Many area school districts' transportation directors have a local phone network so they can stay in communication and provide insight to what is happening road-wise with each other.

• How does weather forecasting play a part in the decision-making process? While the weather team reports actual conditions, what is expected to happen weather-wise is just as important to the decision process.

• What about early dismissals? If winter weather conditions worsen during the school day, we determine if an early release is needed to get the students home sooner and bus drivers back to the bus barn safely prior to darkness. We try to make that decision prior to 10:00 a.m. in order to adequately coordinate the dismissal process. As soon as it is determined to dismiss early, the dismissal times for each grade level will be posted immediately on the District's website.
• How many different bus routes run every day? Each of our MISD buses run three or four schools. We run 165 buses, including Special Needs, but with three bell schedules, that is approximately 660 individual bus trips each morning and then again each afternoon.

We hope this helps provide a little insight into this process.

Transportation Teams up for Food Drive

From Assistant Director of Transportation, Brian Merchant:

I wanted to take a moment and share something that has been truly wonderful here at the Transportation Department. This year, Mr. Scott Shafer [Director of Operations] introduced several new team concepts to our employees here that has been very beneficial to our morale, and co-worker relationships. We have two locations where we have six Route Specialists at 6th Avenue, and six Route Specialists at Main St. All of the full-time drivers and attendants have been placed on these 12 teams and divided up into to 12 different colors that are apparent by the lanyards they wear each day.

This month the team challenge was a canned food drive where the winning team would win a trophy to proudly display where the winning team is located.

The drive ended this week and the teams from 6th Avenue and Main Street donated a combined 4,300 items for First Methodist Mansfield 's Wesley Mission Center food pantry. 

I wanted to share this with you because the generosity of our teams has truly been a blessing to everyone here and to the recipients they will never meet.

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Editor's Note: There are food drives going on across the school district. Please check with your school for details on how you can support our local food pantries.
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T.A. Howard Middle School and Cross Timbers Intermediate School Stuff the Bus Food Drive benefiting Harvesting International Ministry Center.