Brockett Elementary Video for the Troops.

Third graders from Brockett Elementary in Mansfield ISD recently had the unique opportunity to record a special holiday video for soldiers overseas. The video was made in partnership with the Dallas/Fort Worth USO. Enjoy the MISDTV video below.

Want to share? Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys7TuanSSTo
More MISD Videos available on the MISD YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/misdtv

Failing and Missing Grades Notification

We are pleased to announce a couple of new capabilities for our parents using the Infinite Campus Parent Portal regarding student failing and missing grades.

• Starting at the beginning of the 3rd Six Weeks (Monday, November 17) parents will receive e-mail notifications anytime a teacher places a failing grade (69 or below) in the electronic gradebook.
• Coming soon will be the capability for parents to receive similar e-mail notifications for missing work.

These notices will go directly to you instead of you having to log in and check for failing or missing grades.

These additions to the Infinite Campus Parent Portal are a part of our ongoing effort to provide parents with more (and more timely) information regarding student performance. We are committed to engaging parents in the academic process and hope you find these features helpful.

Parents, if you are not using Infinite Campus yet and would like to, please contact your student's school to get your Activation Key (GUID). Also, as a reminder, most of the questions and problems concerning Infinite Campus can be handled at the campus.

Students remind us to vote

Mary Orr Intermediate School took an opportunity during Red Ribbon Week to gather outside on a beautiful day to create another reminder to all Americans to exercise their rights and vote.


(This photo first appeared on the MISD Web site and was then shared with CNN for their iReport.)

Also, here is a related short video that you might enjoy:

Electing a US President in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

Success in School Summit: A Dialogue on Dropout Prevention

Did you know every four minutes a student drops out of a Texas public school? This isn't a problem, this is a crisis.

On Saturday, November 1, Arlington ISD will host The Success in School Summit: A Dialogue on Dropout Prevention.

MISD Superintendent Vernon Newsom will participate in this worthy event to engage the community in discussions and presentations addressing the drop-out crisis.

Saturday, November 1, 2008
8:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Fielder Road Baptist Church
2011 S. Fielder Road, Arlington Texas

From Dr. María Robledo Montecel, president of the Intercultural Development Research Association:

“It is high time that Texas take a new course...[i]nvestment in change must go beyond discrete dropout prevention programs. It must reflect our full commitment to providing for quality public schools in all neighborhoods for children of all backgrounds.”

Please consider taking action and attend the summit.

Highlights include:

• The Success in Schools Summit will strengthen existing collaborative efforts relative to drop out prevention.
• This summit proposes the development of work plans to address three strategic focus areas: Crime; Youth Physical and Mental Health; Youth Focus on the Future.
• Arlington Human Service Planners will serve as the facilitator/recorder and city, school district and other state and local officials will serve to establish collaborative networks involving key community stakeholders. In addition to the monitoring of action steps and data, Human Service Planners will hold a minimum of two networking sessions annually around the strategic focus areas.
• The City of Arlington Mayor and Superintendents from AISD and MISD have given their full support to the summit.
• The summit will have representation from a variety of representatives and stakeholders such as but not limited to: Mayor, City Council, City Manager’s Office, City Agencies, Arlington Human Service Planners, Youth, Corporate Representatives, Education, Nonprofit Partners, Other Elected/Appointed Officials, Faith-Based Organizations
  

MISD Speakers include:

• Vernon Newsom, Superintendent
• Yvonne DaVault - MISD Coordinator of Other Languages
• Sgt. Greg Minter - MISD Police

MISD is a Partner in the Success in School Summit. Over 40% of MISD students live in the City of Arlington.

Superintendent Profile Development Process Announced

The following post is on behalf of the MISD School Board:

Dear Mansfield ISD district community members:

The MISD School Board has secured Horn, Smith, Wood and Preston, Educational Consultants, LLC to conduct activities to help develop the profile for seeking a new superintendent.

The board is seeking observations and suggestions from a variety of stakeholders within the district community to finalize the superintendent profile. We would appreciate your feedback and observations as members within our district community.

Please take a few moments to read through some additional information and be a part of the process. Your best ideas and suggestions are sincerely sought and valued.

Get more information and see the Meeting Schedule for Monday, October 27, 2008.

Download the Superintendent Profile Development Process Form.

From the editor: The comment feature has been turned off for this particular blog post in the hopes that readers will consider using the form to give feedback and suggestions to the MISD School Board.

Related: MISD Superintendent announces his retirement

Infinite Campus Questions Answered

Thank you to all of the people who continue to provide comments here on the district blog. We have seen some very interesting negative and positive responses so far.

Today I want to address some commonly-themed questions/concerns/issues with Infinite Campus.

The following questions and answers come from the collected comments, e-mails, phone calls, and other correspondence we've received:

• How do I get an account?
  Where do I get an activation key?
  How do I change my password?
  What do I do if I lost my password?
  These are all bunched together because they have the same answer: contact your student's home campus. Most of these types of issues can be resolved by speaking with the school receptionists.
  
  
• Why can't we see lesson plans in Infinite Campus?
  We were aware when we purchased Infinite Campus that it did not have the "lesson plan" feature. Some campuses are using the newsletter function for teachers to post their lesson plans, but so far this is a campus choice. The Instructional Technology team provided and will continue to provide training on using the newsletter feature for those campuses interested in providing lesson plans. Please note: Parents can see upcoming assignments by clicking on their Infinite Campus calendar. (See parent portal screenshots page #3)
  
  
• Will teachers ever be able to send mass email reminders to parents and/or students?
  We didn't have that feature activated, but it is now activated. Teachers will be trained on how to use the Messenger feature soon.
  
  
• Why are students no longer able to set up their own accounts to access their grades?
  Again, this is a feature that hasn't been activated yet. After we get parents logged in and settled into the system then the student portal will follow.
  
  
• How is Infinite Campus better than eSembler at meeting our needs?
  It give teachers and parents much more student information than eSembler. It's one large information system with multiple modules to help many departments.
  
  
• It seems that MISD has taken a step back rather than forward with this new system.
  Actually we've taken a great step forward. People need to remember that this isn't just a gradebook that we're implementing. Some people think that because that's the only part they see, when actually the gradebook is only a tiny piece of the big system. Please also remember that this is our implementation year. It took a couple of years to get everything activated and working correctly in eSembler.

(Photo credit: jbelluch)

Hey Anonymous, I want to talk to you

We appreciate all of the comments that are coming in to the Your Mansfield ISD blog and hope you all continue to engage in this activity. I want to encourage you to consider leaving behind the "Anonymous" moniker when you come by and comment and let us know who you are. It is difficult to address concerns when we don't know who is asking the questions or leaving their nuggets of wisdom.

Anonymous Commenting
I understand that there certainly times you may feel like not wanting your name tied to a comment. Anonymous commenting is still being allowed on this blog because we understand you may not want to have your name tied to some controversial topics and/or comments for the world to see. But, some of the commenting has come in and would have been great to have a name attached so we could rerspond via further comments or even a separate post.

Why are you here in the first place? If you want to bash the district for decisions (like switching to Infinite Campus recently) you can do so constructively. Some of you are getting that this is an area where we share and you are open to give us your thoughts. It would just help to know to whom we are talking.

This Blog's for you
We named this blog Your Mansfield ISD for a reason, because it belongs to the district community of parents, students, community, and staff. Your comments are important to us and we appreciate the constructive criticism along with the praise we receive.

(Photo credit: Matt Westervelt)

Student Attendance at Athletic Events

It's a good to have a sense of humor.

In today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, editorial cartoonist Dick Collier provided a clever and pretty funny representation of the district's new guidelines for student attendance at athletic events:Of course, the district does not have student-sized pet carriers nor would we condone such treatment.

We would prefer for parents to come to the games with students to help build and maintain a safe environment for family enjoyment.

What are the changes?

• High school students will have to show their student ID to attend any MISD athletic event.
  
  
• High school students, who fail to provide their student ID, will not be admitted into the stadium without a parent.
  
  
• Students, eighth grade and below, must be accompanied by parent.
  
  
• Students are expected to be picked up no later than 30 minutes after the end of any athletic event. Failure to pick up students within the 30 minute grace period may result in students being restricted from attending future athletic events.
  
  
• MISD Stadium - Students will be held in the first floor community room until they are picked up by an adult.
  
  
• R.L. Anderson Stadium - Students will be on the home side in front of the ticket booth until they are picked up by an adult.

Why are we doing this?

• We want our MISD athletic events to have a family atmosphere.
  
  
• MISD is attempting to provide a safe/secure environment for all individuals attending athletic events.
  
  
• Students have been left after the conclusion of athletic events for over an hour.
  
  
• Businesses are now open in the area of MISD Stadium. If students decide to visit these businesses after a game, they will have to walk across Highway 360 at night. For their safety, it is our opinion students should not leave the stadium area at the conclusion of games without proper supervision.

---
By the way, this is the real community room:


(Thanks to cartoonist Dick Collier for granting permission to reproduce his work.)

First Day Photos for 2008

On a whim, we decided to put a call out to the MISD community for some photos from the first days of school.

We have been pleasantly surprised by the response from parents and teachers submitting photos to share.

Take a look at some of the faces that should be reminder of why we are all here. Check out the First Days of School 2008 Photo Gallery.

Welcome to Infinite Campus

We are ready to introduce to the MISD community the Infinite Campus Parent Portal. A Web page dedicated to Infinite Campus has been created to start us off by providing FAQs, Campus Contact Matrix (who to go to with issues and questions), Reference Documents, and other related information.

The Infinite Campus Parent Portal Information page will be the dedicated location for updates, announcements, and future documentation as deemed necessary by the district.

We encourage parents to be patient as our teachers learn this new system.

The attendance site will be open in the Parent Portal on the first day of school (Monday, August 25, 2008.) There may be a delay of up to a week before actual daily attendance is posted to the Portal. This will allow for class leveling and schedule changes which occur at the opening of each school year.

The grade site will also be open on the first day of school. Again, there may be a delay of a week or two as schedules finalize and assignments are made and graded.

[Update August 22] Ok, so it would appear that with the new program, comes new problems. Here's what we posted to the Infinite Campus Info page earlier today:

We are experiencing some issues with Infinite Campus related to the volume of users. This problem is being addressed by MISD, Region 10 and Infinite Campus. We expect some continued issues and delays into next week.

Thank you for your patience.

Before people start commenting about how "bad the system is" or the "see I told you it wouldn't work" let's all take a deep breath and remember that Infinite Campus is very large program and we are a comparatively large school district. Let's allow for a reasonable amount initial glitches and issues while we all adjust to the new system.

Back-to-Back "A" Days?

We started to get some questions from a few teachers, administrators, and from the community who were concerned and/or curious about the back-to-back “A” days on the 2008-09 A-B Student Calendar. This calendar anomaly was actually done on purpose and here’s why:

• There are nearly equal number of A and B days scheduled in our 177 instructional day calendar.
• The A-B Student Calendar has 89 “A” days and 88 “B” days.
• The end of the first semester has double “B” days followed by two “A” days that were scheduled for final exam review and testing.
• The second semester begins on a “B” day.
• April 17 is the end of the 5^th six-week grading period.
• April 20 is the beginning of the 6^th six-week grading period
• The end of the second semester has double “A” days followed by two “B” days that were scheduled for final exam review and testing.

We hope this clears up any confusion on this calendar and demonstrates the consideration that goes into setting calendars that affect students, teachers, and the administration.

Related: You can also get your printable 08-09 District Calendar.

Goodbye eSembler, Hello Infinite Campus

New for 2008-2009...

MISD transitioned to a new student records program last year (Spring 2008) and we look forward to offering new features for parents and students in the upcoming school year.

The district will no longer offer eSembler for student grades and attendance. This information and much more will soon be offered through a new parent portal system through Infinite Campus. Parents and students will be able to go to one place and find student information on grades, attendance, schedules, fees, class assignments and other pertinent information.

[update July 24, 2008] The expectation is to have the Infinite Campus portal system provide Attendance and Lesson Plans (assignments) starting on Day 1. Then, as our teachers get used to the new system and start adding in grades, parents will have access near the end of Week 2.

We realize this is a major shift for teachers, parents, and students and will require heightened levels of patience as we move forward.

[update August 18, 2008] More information is now available: Welcome to Infinite Campus blog post as well as the dedicated Infinite Campus Parent Portal Information Page.

We will also send information via the district's e-newsletter, the MISD Messenger. Do you subscribe to this free e-newsletter?

MISD Superintendent announces his retirement

July 9, 2008 - Superintendent Vernon Newsom announced today that he is retiring from Mansfield ISD in June 2009. Newsom has served as the Superintendent of Mansfield ISD since 1996. In that time, the district has grown from one high school to four. The district has also opened the Ben Barber Career Tech Academy, and 23 other school facilities. He oversaw the creation of the Mansfield ISD Education Foundation, which has now raised over $1 million to support innovative education projects in the district.

"This was a very difficult decision for me," said Superintendent Vernon Newsom. "I have invested a great deal of my working life in Mansfield ISD and the entire journey has been extremely rewarding. This is a great place and a great school community. I want to thank students, parents, and the entire community for affording me the chance to serve this school district.

The time is right for me to move on in June of next year. I look forward to retirement and spending more time with family. For anyone who might be concerned about the coming transition, I want them to know that we have an excellent executive staff in the district and an exemplary school board to take on this task. "

An integral part of this plan was the creation of the Deputy Superintendent position in 2007. With the support of the Mansfield ISD Board of Trustees, Newsom has created a transitional leadership team within the district. The Mansfield ISD School Board will now begin drafting a process to hire a new superintendent for Mansfield ISD. There is currently no established time line or process defined. Details will be made available to the public and MISD Staff as soon as they are available.

"We will certainly be sorry to see Mr. Newsom go next summer," said Gale Moericke, MISD Board President. "As someone who grew up in Mansfield ISD, it is impressive to think back on his accomplishments. He was truly the right leader at the right time, as he was able to guide the district through a time of tremendous growth and change. I am confident that the district will move through the transition well, and the board will select the right person for the job."

Newsom's legacy will continue on in the programs of Mansfield ISD and at the state level. A few highlights include:

• In June, he embarked on a trip to China with Dr. Bob Morrison as a guest of the Chinese Hanban Agency on the eve of the MISD offering Mandarin Chinese as an elective for the first time next year.
• The district has passed six successful bond elections. The most recent, a $241.5 million election in 2006, will fund the construction of the district's fifth high school and other school projects.
• Newsom has served as the past study group chair of Region XI Texas Association of School Administrators, TASA Executive Committee; previous Chairman of UIL Legislative Council, current chair of the UIL Legislative Council Athletic Committee, and past President of Texas Association of Suburban and Mid-Urban Schools (TASMUS.)
  

Mansfield ISD is currently one of the fastest growing school districts in Texas. The district currently operates four high schools, a Career Tech Academy, and a variety of other schools and programs. The district will open its 20 th elementary school, Louise Cabaniss Elementary, in Grand Prairie this fall.

Scheduled Downtime

MISD Web site and GroupWise Update

The MISD Web site and GroupWise e-mail servers (for district staff) will be down intermittently Thursday, July 10 through Sunday, July 13, 2008 for some required maintenance.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Summer is a considerably slower time and provide the opportunities for system updates such as these. We've received e-mails and calls concerning the webmail system issues from staff and wanted to share what is going on. As stated before, this will have an impact on the district Web site as well.

This is actually good practice for if/when something happens and our district Web site is unavailable, our hope is that our community will turn to Your Mansfield ISD Blog for updated information. (Plus, this will force our hand to work at keeping this blog a dynamic or at least interesting read for you.)

Thank you in advance for your patience.

Updated: Just in case anyone is interested in what's going on technically speaking:

Mansfield ISD Technology will be relocating servers from the Central Administration Building (current main core MDF) to the Police Technology building. The new Core location has more space to accommodate servers and equipment. It is also equipped with a diesel backup generator to keep core equipment running during power outages.

Mansfield ISD has 2 blocks of Public IP (Internet Protocol) addresses provided by AT&T, our Internet Service provider. The location of the network device is how the IP address of that device is determined. Public access servers such as webmail and the MISD website will have new IP addresses because they are being moved to a new location.

Our public servers have a domain name registered with AT & T that is associated with an IP address. An example would be: The MISD web site’s domain name is mansfieldisd.org. It resolves to an IP address on the World Wide Web. Because we are changing the IP addresses of the servers, it may take a couple of days for the Internet to resolve the new IP back to the domain name.

- From the MISD Academic Technology & Networks Department

Blogging from China - Day 7

Day seven is our final day that I will be reporting back to let you know what we are doing. We leave tomorrow, but this is my last day with computer access. We spent today visiting high schools in Tianjin. We started our day visiting Tianjin Nankai High School. This high school is the birthplace of the Nan Kai schools. Tianjin Yaohua High school is a traditional Chinese High school whose motto is diligence, simplicity, loyalty, and honesty. There are 5200 students and over 400 staff members in the high school. Teachers teach three classes a day with 50 students in each class. School begins at 7:30 am and ends at 5:20 pm. All extra curricular activities occur after school. All students take the same classes. Students do not move between classes. Teachers move from classroom to classroom and each class last 45 minutes.

We then visited the Tianjin Experimental High School. It was established in 1923 and is directly under the Educational Committee of Tianjin. The first Confucius classroom in the world was set up by the Experimental High School. The length of the school day is the same, but there are only 25-30 students in each class. The Experimental High School is for gifted and talented students. Ninety Eight percent of their students are accepted into a University in China. (photos)

Our trip to China has been a once in a lifetime experience. Mr. Newsom and I would like to extend a special thanks to the College Board and the Hanban association for their sponsorship of this trip. China is a country with a rich history. The educators that have been our guides this week are wonderful people committed to providing quality educational experiences to their students.

---

Even though I am the pickiest eater you will ever meet, I thought the last day I would share with you a typical menu from one or our meals. As you will soon see, our group was truly treated to a wonderful cultural experience through food.

Menu

• Six kinds of cold dishes
• Steweddrie mushroom with abalone sauce
• Prawintheshaprofpho enix tail with golden shreds
• The glutinous rice steams the young bone
• Pineapple ancient meat
• Crispgrain with salt and paper
• Spicy diced chicken with peanuts
• The black fries with the shelled fish shrimp
• Steamed tench with scallo
• Crispy chicken
• Boiling Vegetables
• Dessert
• Yangzhou style fried rice
• Vegetable soup
• Fresh Fruit
  

A typical dinner takes about 1 ½ hours. The food comes out in stages allowing you time enjoy your dinner.

Signing off from China for the last time...


Bob

Blogging from China - Day 6

Today was the first full day in Tianjin. We started the day with a boat sight seeing trip down the Haihe River. The Haihe River is the mother river of Tianjin. The river is a major source of recreation. There were people swimming and fishing in the river. The river is much like most of the water in China in that it is somewhat polluted. Everyone in China drinks bottled water.

Exercise is a major part of the Chinese people’s lives. They bicycle ever where as well as spend a great deal of time working out in the local parks. I have found the Chinese extremely friendly. They want to know just as much about us as we do about them. You can clearly see cultural difference between the generations of the Chinese. The youth look like they would fit into any major city in the United States.

We then traveled to the “Five Main Roads” which were a concession of the nine foreign powers and now is the major area for International Architecture. After lunch we traveled to the Tianjin Museum. The Tianjin Museum hosts over 200,000 pieces of cultural and historical relics. The museum allowed everyone to really learn about the industrial development that has taken place in Tianjin over the past 100 years

We ended the day with a formal banquet hosted by the Tianjin Educational Commission. One of the purposes of this trip is to establish relationships that may provide opportunities for English speaking Chinese teachers to travel to the United States and teach for a year at a time. Mr. Newsom is our group's leader and has performed the official duties anytime there has been a ceremony or a presentation.

On the search for food front…
My Chinese hosts are beginning to worry about me. They are trying very hard to find foods that they think I would eat. What gets lost in translation is that I have always been a picky eater and it matters not what country I am in at the time. We went to a Chinese Restaurant where they specialize in Western cuisine. As you can see in the photos, there needs to be some work between our cultures on what is considered Western. I am thankful that they are concerned, but they don’t understand the amount of food I brought with me and that I am really not going hungry. Word on the street is that there is a restaurant around the corner that has French fries. I will give you a report tomorrow on my efforts to find American food.

Update…I found some French fries…All I can say is they were great!!!!!

Signing off for now…Bob

Blogging from China - Day 5

We started the day with a trip to the Emperor's Summer Palace. It was home to several Emperors. I've sent back several photos so can see the beauty. Today the Summer Palace is a tourist attraction as well as a place for the locals to come and spend time with their families to relax, reflect and meditate.

We left the Summer Palace for our next city, Tianjin. Tianjin is China’s third largest population with just over 10 million people. Several of the summer Olympic games will take place in Tianjin. There is currently only one highway connecting Tianjin and Beijing. A new highway and a new fast rail system will open in the next few weeks for the Olympic games.

Tianjin has over 2000 K-12th grade schools. There are 45 universities in the city. We asked our guides who by the way are teachers in the schools that we will be visiting on Monday, what percentage of students pass the eight grade test and move on to high school. The answer is 90%. The other 10 percent go to vocational schools or begin to work in the factories for 80 cents a day American currency. As I learn more about the Chinese educational structure, I will be sure to let everyone know the similarities and differences to our educational system.

Well…on the food front it was…can you guess?…wait for it…Chinese for lunch and dinner. Yesterday’s cheese pizza is a fading memory. So it’s back to the pop-tarts and peanut butter and crackers for me. Good news though, the area in and around our hotel looks a bit more promising for the exploration of food. Tomorrow will be a day to find a place so I can begin eating from time to time.

Still loving those pop-tarts...Bob

(Blogging from China - Photo Gallery)

Blogging from China - Day 4

Day Four from China:

The adventure to the Great Wall of China was truly a once and a lifetime experience for several reasons. First, words cannot express the true brilliance of the wall. It was overwhelming to think that the Great Wall stretches over 5600 kilometers in length. The final reason that the Great Wall will always be a memorable experience is because after climbing up what seemed to be an endless number of steps, I’m sure the soreness I feel right now in my knees and legs will linger for several days.

We left the Great Wall and traveled to the Ming Tombs. There are 13 Ming Tombs but only three are open to the public. From the Ming Tombs we traveled to the Sacred Way. The Sacred Way was the most peaceful place we have traveled to date.

The Chinese culture is steeped in rich historical traditions. As a former history teacher, I spent a great deal of time telling students about historical events and the places they occurred. Seeing China and experiencing its culture and people has provided me a perspective that can only be achieved through observations.

Good news from those individuals that are following “what in the world is Bob going to eat in China” subject. Lunch today at was a traditional Chinese restaurant. However, the group voted on pizza for dinner. They say it was for my benefit, but I think they were all growing a bit weary of Chinese food for the 8th straight meal. So for whatever the reason, I ate dinner for the first time since I was in China. Cheese pizza never tasted so good……

Tomorrow we leave Beijing for Tianjin.

Bob

(Blogging from China Photo Gallery)

Great Wall photo courtesy of Fred Hsu (Wikipedia:User:Fredhsu on en.wikipedia).
Ming Tombs photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons User: Ofol.

Day 3 - Blogging from China

Day Three from China:

We started the day at Peking University, which is one of Beijing’s 65 universities. Peking University was established in 1898. Peking University is one of China’s oldest universities. Our group was there to hear a lecture on Chinese history. Professor Kristofer Schipper from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences was the guest lecturer. Professor Schipper outlined in detail an account of Chinese History and allowed our group to ask questions ranging from historical perspectives to current policies of the Chinese Government. Today was graduation at Peking University. I have attached a photo of the graduates. Their students look just like ours and the smiles on their faces are not unlike those of United States students.

We left the university for lunch (comments to come later…). After lunch we went to Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. The rich history of the Chinese people is clearly visible when you are able to experience these cultural and historical treasures. If the photos from these get published on the blog you will notice a haze in each picture. The pollution in Beijing is noticeable, as well as disturbing. In an attempt to reduce the pollution, the government has restricted vehicle use to every other day for those who own cars. I am not sure if we will ever see the sun while in Beijing. It will be interesting to see how the air quality impacts the Olympic Athletes.

Now for the food….. Well today I will retract one of my previous comments I made on Day One. I stated that I like everything chicken. Well as you can see in the photo, there is one chicken and its head that I could not eat. I will say that every meal begins with 5 to 6 appetizers and then anywhere from 7 to 10 courses. According to our interpreters, eating out in a restaurant is considered a special treat. I will take some photos of an entire meal to give the readers some perspective. Since I came well prepared not to eat, I brought with me a bag of candy. I passed out Reese’s peanut butter cups to our Chinese hosts. They all range from 25-30 years old. It was their first Reese’s they had ever had. That was my contribution to cultural exchange.

Jerrod has a TV endorsement for Subway. After this week in China, I should be on every Pop Tart box in the United States.

Having a great time in China….


Bob

Blogging from China - Day 2.

Day Two from China:

As I sit here at the end of the day eating my Pop Tart (my eating for the day will be covered in a later paragraph), I have to say it was an eventful day for our group. We began the day attending a celebration at The Office of Chinese Language Council International. Their mission is to promote the Chinese language and culture throughout the world. We were able to tour their building and browse through their language materials that they provide to schools. If you would like to learn more about the efforts of the Chinese educators, you can go to www.hanban.org .


The afternoon was our official greeting from officials of the Chinese Government. Dr. Zhou Ji, Minister of Education of China, was the keynote speaker. Our meeting was in the Great Hall. The great hall is adjacent to Tiananmen Square. We will be touring Tiananmen Square tomorrow. American students studying for the summer in China performed for our group. We left there and attended a dinner and cultural celebration from Chinese high school students. The Chinese culture is very rich in its history and ceremonies. The student’s performance was the highlight of the day.

Everyone is feeling the effects of the 13-hour time difference today. The jet lag has caught up with all of us.

The day starts off with a western breakfast. For me that is the best part of the day. By now the entire group is well aware of my eating habits. They are all taking bets on whether I will lose more than 10 pounds this week. Even though I do not like Chinese food, those in the group continue to go on about how good the food has been. Today’s menu choice that I just could not eat included sautéed honey bean and yellow fungus and celery. Those at my table said it was delicious. I will just have to take their word on that. I have sent a few pictures of the food.


In one picture you will see what I thought and was told by the group as a Chinese cheese stick. Come to find out it was fried sweet corn. As I took a bite the entire table got a big laugh that they had tricked me into taking a bite. The other picture is a fish with it eyes clearly focused on whoever was brave enough to eat the fish. The hand in the picture that is just about to dive right in is Mr. Newsom.

Our Chinese hosts have been very gracious. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s adventures.

Hungry in China…..

Bob

(See more of Bob's photos here.)

Day 1 - Blogging from China

The following is the first in a series of blogs posted by Dr.Bob Morrison, Mansfield ISD Deputy Superintendent, from his current educational tour of China.


Day One from China:

Mr. Newsom and I arrived in Beijing at 4:00 am on Tuesday morning. There are over 400 educators from all over the United States going through this week’s activity. Since we are coming from both coasts and arriving at various times throughout the day, the first day’s activities are sight seeing and trying to get you adjusted to the 13 hour difference in our time.

I think on the first days post it would be appropriate to let everyone know who is sponsoring educators from around the United States to China. The Chinese Bridge for American Schools is our host group. The College Board, who is the organization promoting college readiness courses in MISD and throughout the United States, is in partnership with our week's activities. There will be times of cultural experiences throughout the week, as well as several visits to local schools. This is especially exciting for all the educators in the group. I am interested in how other countries reach out to their students and make academics a priority to students.

For those who know me and my eating habits, I feel a blog describing my experiences with the local food would be entertaining. Let me back up for those that don’t know me that well. I am one of those people who could eat pizza (Mama’s), burgers (The General Store in Rendon), and fried chicken from just about anywhere on any day and be completely content. So it matters not what country I am visiting, finding something that I will naturally want to eat would be difficult. My mother always told me that I would grow out of it. I will be turning 45 this year and she is still waiting. Additionally, I don’t like my food to touch or remotely being mixed together. I joke with those who know me and tolerate my eating habits, that my stomach is divided into compartments so it never touches even after I eat it. So everyday, I will attempt to tell you of a dish that I tried, as well as those that there was no way I would give it a try.

I am looking forward to sharing my as well as our group’s adventures and observations. The Chinese people have been wonderful and are outstanding hosts. I believe this will not only be a tremendous learning experience, but will provide opportunities to understand how education is impacting the global world.

Dr. Bob Morrison

Photo of Tiananmen Square courtesy of Shizhao.

Blogging from China

One of the most common assignments in the first week back to school is to write an essay titled "What I did with my Summer Vacation." Mansfield ISD Superintendent Vernon Newsom and Deputy Superintendent Bob Morrison will have a great answer to that question this fall.

Newsom and Morrison are currently traveling to China on an educational trip. While there, they will visit Chinese schools, meet with Chinese school officials, and other activities. They will be touring as guests of Hanban (Office of Chinese Language Council International) to learn about Chinese culture and language. Their trip comes on the heels of the Mansfield ISD's announcement of a Mandarin Chinese program for 2008-09.

Dr. Morrison will be blogging about their daily travels in China. Stay tuned here for those updates. Here are a few fun facts until we hear from Dr. Morrison...

What is the date and time in Beijing, China?


Population of China: 1.4 billion
U.S. Population: 304 million

Read more about China here.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user: user:snowyowls/gallery.

2008 High School Graduations

This is a great time of year for MISD. We've just completed another academic year and we have the pleasure of sending students out into the world. Some will go on to higher education or trade schools. Some will serve our country in the military. Others will enter the workforce. Whatever there paths, it is our hope that the lessons they've learned throughout their careers in the Mansfield ISD have had a positive impact.

The smiles on the faces of the graduates says so much about why teachers and administrators work in education. We congratulate our graduates and wish them all well in their future.

Graduation Schedule
(Note: Photo Galleries will be available later this week)

Thursday, June 5, 2008

• Alternative Education Center (AEC) - 7:00 PM
  Willie Pigg Audtorium - Photo Gallery
  

Monday, June 9th, 2008

• Mansfield Timberview High School - 2:00 PM
  The Potter's House - Photo Gallery
  
• Mansfield High School - 7:00 PM
  The Potter's House - Photo Gallery
  

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

• Mansfield Legacy High School - 2:00 PM
  The Potter's House - Photo Gallery
  
• Mansfield Summit High School - 7:00 PM
  The Potter's House - Photo Gallery
  

Thank you MISD employees

On Monday, May 19, 2008 the Mansfield ISD family of employees gathered to celebrate the district's annual Employee Reception. The event was hosted by Fort Worth's Four Day Weekend Improv Troupe who presented the lighter side of school district life.

The reception was held in Mansfield Summit High School. The district honored 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 years of service recipients as well as the 2008 retirees. Also presented were the Shining Star and Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year. (Photo gallery)

Please join the administration and school board in thanking the employees for the dedicated service to the students and community of the Mansfield Independent School District.

MISD Shining Star Awards

(Updated Monday, May 12, 2008 - The nominations are now closed for the 2008 Shining Star Award.)

Did you ever wish you had a good way to thank the bus driver that has meant so much to your child? How about a principal or administrator that went above and beyond to help you?

Now is your chance. Mansfield ISD is currently taking nominations for the 2008 Shining Stars Award. The deadline to nominate someone is May 9. Teachers are the only group not eligible for this award, as they are recognized via the MISD Teacher of the Year program.

Official wording on the award is below. Six winners will be selected, and awarded at the district's employee reception held May 19.

"The Mansfield ISD Shining Star Award honors any individual non-teaching staff(secretaries, aides, bus drivers, custodians, maintenance, directors, principals, etc.) for exceptional efforts in being "a shining star" in their contributions and service to the students and staff of the MISD."

Party 101: Consequences

The Mansfield ISD high school PTSA groups will host an event to help address the problem of teen alcohol and drug abuse. Party 101: Consequences will be shown at the newly refurbished Willie Pigg Auditorium on Thursday, April 10 at 7:00 PM. The Mansfield ISD community is not immune to this serious health and safety concern.

Unfortunately teen alcohol and drug abuse is problem that we face. This is a community problem and MISD will continue to do what it can to inform students and parents of the consequences of making unhealthy (and illegal) choices. The district can't do it alone, parents and the greater community need to have ownership of this problem as well and look for continuous ways to combat it.

Look who's using Twitter

Psst...Hey, have you heard of Twitter. Chances are, if you have a high schooler living in your house, at least they have. Twitter is a free social utility that is all based on a simple interface asking users to answer the question, "What are you doing?"

Mansfield ISD now has a Twitter account. If you already have a Twitter account or are just curious, you can follow our account here. We plan to offer comments here on what is going on within Mansfield ISD, and is also a great "real-time" source to find out about weather closings, breaking news, etc.
If you're still not sure about all this, watch this great video about Twitter. Many families are also using it to stay in touch with each other amidst their busy lives. Enjoy.

Side note: The Common Craft site also has some great videos about other new media, or Web 2.0, apps like online photo sharing, Facebook, etc. As always, their site is an outside Web site and we do not take credit for any of their content.

Rumor Mill #2 - Timberview HS Threat Tomorrow(False).

We have received a few calls today regarding a potential threat at Timberview High School tomorrow (Thursday, March 13, 2008). In this particular case, Mansfield ISD police have confirmed that there is no credible threat to the school tomorrow. This rumor actually ties to a rumor that began circulating in January.
Several parents that called asked if this is just students who "want an extra day off before Spring Break." I cannot verify what exactly is behind this rumor, but rumors often get heavier on high school campuses near holidays and school breaks.
Please know that we take all threats, rumors, etc., seriously and we will notify parents and students as soon as possible in the event of an actual credible threat.

Rumor Mill#1 - 5A Teams Get Preference at New Stadium?

We asked, and you sent us some rumor mill items. Thanks for those, and keep them coming. Below is the first installment of our blog feature Rumor Mill where we answer some of the common rumors on the street.

Will the 5A high schools get a preferred schedule of more games at the new MISD Stadium than the 4A high schools?

False. We double-checked with Athletic Director Debbie Weems to be double-sure, but there is no such system in place. Actually, coaches from all high schools get together to determine the schedules.

Thanks again, and send us your other Rumor Mill items by clicking on Comment below or email them directly to morate@mansfieldisd.org .

Rumor mill.

We were talking in the office(we've obviously had a little time to talk since my last post), and we thought a fun thing to tackle on the blog would the rumor mill. We're often amused, surprised and occasionally amazed by the things we hear while out in the community. One of our personal favorites last year was the rumor that a Starbucks was going to be built inside Legacy High School.
That said, we have an assignment for you. Send us your rumor mill items and we'll take them on here. You can send us one by clicking on the comment tab of this blog or by emailing me at morate@mansfieldisd.org . If you send it by email, be sure to let me know it is a rumor mill item in the subject line.