Superintendent Update - January 2013

Dr. Bob Morrison discusses the upcoming Celebration Rally for Texas Public Schools, campus safety and the district calendar approval process in this month's Superintendent Update video.

CyberSafety Awareness Week

This is cross-posted from the misdtechnotes blog:

 

During the week of May 16–20, Mansfield ISD Technology will be hosting the first MISD CyberSafety Awareness Week to provide a focus for students, teachers, parents and community about online safety and our students. Topics include safe surfing, cyberbullying, messaging, and how to protect personal information when online.

 

K-4 students will focus on age appropriate topics during their Technology Applications rotation:
Grades K-2

• Ways we use the Internet
• Basic rules for online safety

Grades 3-4

• Cyberbullying (what it is and what you can do about it)
• Safe Surfing (ways to protect yourself online.

5th – 8th grade students will be participate in related learning activities during their advisory period.
Grades 5-6

• Text Messaging (safety, etiquette)
• Keeping personal information safe when online

Grades 7-8

• Smart Surfing (research tools, copyright, viruses/spyware)
• How to handle Cyberbullying, protecting yourself and your information online

Parents, teachers, administrators and community members are invited to attend an event on Thursday, May 19, in the MISD Administration Building Great Room at 605 East Broad Street from 6:30 – 8:00 PM.

A panel of guest speakers will be presenting information with time at the end for questions from the audience.

Topics include:

• UT Arlington Admissions – Social Networking and College Admissions
• MISD Human Resources – Social Networking and Future Employment
• MISD Police – Cyberbullying
• Technology Department – What Parents Can Do

Download the printable information sheet. (PDF)

Saving Lives Is Everybody's Business: Every 15 Minutes Program

The following is from an email sent from the local community sponsor of an event that will serve as a fundraiser for the 'Every 15 Minutes' program:

Community Comes Together For Our High School Students
by Daryle Perez, Alternative Funeral Services
March 10, 2011

As funeral professionals in our community, we have had to experience the difficult process of making funeral arrangements for a student that has died due to an alcohol related collision.

We as a community feel the loss and come together to greive in our own way and at times thinking that it could have happened to my family.

Life's lessons are best learned though experience. Unfortunately, when the target audience is teens and the topic is drinking and texting while driving, experience is not the teacher of choice.

So what can we do? Educate.

Every 15 Minutes Program
The Every 15 Minutes Program offers real-life experience without the real-life risks. This emotionally charged program, entitled Every 15 Minutes, is an event designed to dramatically instill teenagers with the potentially dangerous consequences of drinking alcohol and texting while driving. This powerful program will challenge students to think about drinking, texting while driving, personal safety, and the responsibility of making mature decisions when lives are involved.

Historically, only two high schools in the Mansfield ISD participated. The decision was made to share the experience with all four MISD high schools. Funding is provided by the Mansfield Police Department's "Every 15 Minutes" program and the addition of two more schools created the need for additional funding from the individual schools.

We believe that this program greatly impacts our high school students and that it is the responsibility of our business community to ensure that these types of programs continue in the future.

Benefit Art Show
We would like to invite your to an evening of art and music as we help to raise monies for the "Every 15 Minutes" program.

Saving Lives: Benefit Art Show
3/26/11  5:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Alternative Funeral Services

1556 W. Heritage Parkway at HWY 287

Admission is Free - Donations will be accepted

Donated artwork will be auctioned and all proceeds will be given to the Mansfield Police Department's "Every 15 Minutes" fund.

Get directions and information about AFS Gallery Night Benefit Art Show.
Donations can be made payable to: AFS-1556 Heritage Parkway, Mansfield, TX 76063

Peers Making Peace at Shepard Intermediate

Twenty-two fifth and sixth grade Donna Shepard Intermediate School students have completed nine hours of conflict resolution training to officially become drug-free role models and neutral third-parties through a program called Peers Making Peace. The program is designed to help students provide peer mediation services for their peers who lack the skills to successfully resolve their conflicts. The goal of the Peers Making Peace program is to improve the school environment by reducing violence, assaults, discipline referrals, and increasing academic performance.

The program was purchased through an innovative teaching grant awarded by the Mansfield ISD Education Foundation in the fall of 2009. The project title of the grant: Mustang/Colt Care Team - Mary Jo Sheppard Elementary (Colt Mascot) and Donna Shepard Intermediate School (Mustang Mascot) teamed up to submit this grant to address school leadership and character on both campuses.

On Friday, November 12, 2010, twenty-two students received their certificates of completion in a graduation ceremony in the Donna Shepard Intermediate School's library. Parents, teachers, and administrators were on hand to congratulate these students for successfully completing the Peer Mediation Training to become a Peer Mediators at Donna Shepard Intermediate School. (Photo: Jerry Cooper, Shepard Assistant Principal, shakes hands with a new Peer Mediator at the graduation ceremony.)

For more information about the Peers Making Peace program, visit paxUnited - The National Mediation Center website.

Help to reduce gangs and youth violence

Arlington and Mansfield area leaders launched a new collaboration called Our Community, Our Kids to support strategies that reduce gangs and youth violence.


Our Community, Our Kids is a newly formed collaboration that is working toward a coordinated and comprehensive plan for addressing the needs of youth. Its purpose is to address gangs and violence, and increase support for youth in southeast Tarrant County.


According to a release by the City of Arlington, the initiative grew out of a 2006 United Way Arlington study on child abuse and neglect. The effort was renewed when area leaders agreed to focus their collective strengths and resources on providing at-risk youth with alternatives to gangs as part of a Gang Summit and Gang Intervention Committee hosted by the Arlington school district in 2008.


The collaborative effort held a kick-off breakfast on September 30, 2010 at the Mac Bernd Professional Development Center in Arlington ISD. MISD Superintendent, Dr. Bob Morrison, was unable to attend the event, but sent the following supportive video message:

Our Community, Our Kids from MISDTV on Vimeo.

The partners in the effort include the City of Arlington, Arlington ISD, City of Mansfield, Mansfield ISD, Arlington Police Department, Arlington Chamber of Commerce, YMCA of Arlington, Arlington Alliance for Youth, Boys & Girls Clubs of Arlington, Cornerstone Baptist Church, United Way of Tarrant County, Tarrant County Juvenile Services and the University of Texas at Arlington.

In case you are wondering why MISD is involved in this effort since it seems primarily focused to our north, 40% of the students in the District come from the city of Arlington.

We'll provide more information as this initiative developes. Check out the program flyer (PDF) for more information.

Related: "Our Community, Our Kids" Launches to Support Youth

National Take-Back Day in MISD

On Saturday, September 25, 2010, the Mansfield ISD community is invited to join the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Mansfield Police Department, and Cook Children’s in a local and nationwide effort to halt the disturbing rise in addiction caused by the misuse and abuse of drugs.

Collection activities will take place from 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM at sites established throughout the country. The Mansfield drive-by drop off location will be at the Mansfield Public Safety Building located at 1305 E. Broad Street Mansfield, TX 76063.

The National Take-Back Day provides an opportunity for the public to surrender expired, unwanted, or unused pharmaceutical controlled substances and other medications for destruction. These drugs are a potential source of supply for illegal use, and present a poisoning danger to children as well as to public health and safety.

This one-day effort is intended to bring national focus to the issue of increasing pharmaceutical controlled substance abuse.

• Participants will be held anonymous and will not be subject to arrest.
• Prescription and over the counter solid dosage medications, i.e. tablets and capsules accepted.
• Intra-venous solutions, injectables, and needles will be accepted.
• Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine will be accepted.

Many Americans are not aware that medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are increasing at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, many Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medicine, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away – both potential safety and health hazards.

"With this National Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign, we are aggressively reaching out to individuals to encourage them to rid their households of unused prescription drugs that pose a safety hazard and can contribute to prescription drug abuse," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler. "The Department of Justice is committed to doing everything we can to make our communities safer, and this initiative represents a new front in our efforts."

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Please note: You can search other collection-sites for locations near you.

Inclement Weather Procedures

In keeping with our desire to keep the community informed of some of the behind-the-scenes procedures of general interest, the Administration would like you to be aware of our procedures and preparations relating to weather-related issues.


When bad weather is predicted, administrators pay close attention to forecasts, stay in close contact with neighboring district administrators, and work in coordination with transportation to keep bus drivers on standby in case of early school closings or bus route delays.

During a typical springtime-like weather event (i.e. tornado or severe thunderstorms), Mansfield ISD will take measures to keep students and staff safe:

• MISD will keep students safely in the building until inclement weather passes;
• Safe places have been established for each MISD campus and building, students and staff will gather in these safe places;
• MISD Police stays in constant communication with local emergency services and advises campus administrators when the need arises to implement school procedures such as duck and cover, red alert, and shelter in place (lockdown);
• Any buses in the immediate area of inclement weather will be stopped at the nearest school, and the students will be kept in that campus until the danger passes;
• Since the district covers 94.5 square miles, measures will be taken based on the needs of only the affected campus(es).

Before the school day: The decision to cancel a school day will be made by the district administration as early as possible and the radio and TV stations listed on the weather information page will be notified. They, in turn, will help us announce the closure along with the rest of our communication efforts.

During the school day: If a significant weather event occurs while school is in session, campus administrators are the assigned decision-makers for appropriate action as need to ensure the safety of students and staff. Campus administrators stay in contact with MISD Police and District Administrators to help make the best informed decisions for their school.

Please do NOT call school offices or teachers for such information. Weather and road conditions can vary greatly from area to area. As a result, parents are the decision-makers on whether or not their students will attend school. Parents need to notify the school office if student will not be in school or if they should be dismissed early due to weather conditions.

Mansfield ISD conducts routine drills to reinforce proper weather procedures. Just like when inclement winter conditions occur, weather severity and road conditions can vary greatly from area to area so we plan and adjust accordingly.


As always, your patience is greatly appreciated during these times as we work to keep students and staff safe.

(Image credit: pixelroiber)

We missed 'Love the Bus Day'

Thanks to last week's snow day, we had a variety of school and athletic events or activities that had to be rescheduled, moved, or otherwise altered in some way. We've made an adjustment to the calendar to make up the day at the end of the year. The flexibility from our District community has helped us get back to needs at hand.

However, there was one item that was overlooked from Friday, February 12 - Love the Bus Day.

The MISD Transportation Department team provided some great information about the work that they do in honor of Love the Bus Day:

• Annually, Mansfield ISD buses transport students 2,479,445 miles.
• Mansfield ISD has 210 buses within its fleet.
• It takes an average of 3 weeks of training before a driver can drive a bus by themselves.
• Each morning, we actually deliver students to campuses 430 times prior to the campus initial bell. During the day, we have nearly 100 buses shuttling students from campus to campus or from home to campus or campus to home. In the afternoon, we take all the students home again.
• With a fleet of 32 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses, MISD is the largest district in the state to use CNG.
  
• We have received grants from Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, Department of Energy, North Central Texas Council of Governments, and the Texas Comptroller (State Energy Conservation Office) in addition to grant funding for emission reduction trap program and for seat back cover education program.
• A modern school bus has the structural strength to hold twice its weight on the roof to prevent a crushing effect if there is ever a rollover. The bus is designed to absorb a side impact in such a way as to channel the impacting car to the area below the floor of the bus, thus protecting the student riders. Our buses generally have 2 roof exits, 2 door exits and 4-6 window exits, should emergency occur.
• Our drivers have a combined 937 years of driving experience.
• All school buses must meet noise level requirements that prevent passenger compartment noise levels from exceeding 85 decibels, consistent with the advice of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to prevent hearing loss.
• According to the Transportation Research Board, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, a child is 13 times safer in a school bus than in other modes of travel. Children driving to school or riding with other teenage drivers are 44 times more likely to be fatally injured than in a school bus. (“The Relative Risks of School Travel,” 2002).

What can parents do to help keep kids safe on and off the school bus?

• Walk your child to and from the bus stop. If possible, wait with him or her until the bus arrives.
• Be alert to traffic. Check both ways for cars before stepping off the bus.
• Wait for the bus driver’s signal before crossing the street.
• Walk in front of the bus; never walk behind the bus to cross the street.
• While waiting for the bus, stay in a safe place away from the street.
• Before leaving the sidewalk, look for the flashing lights.
• Never go under the bus to retrieve something you’ve dropped.
• Teach your child the importance of staying seated on the bus.
• Get to know your bus driver. He or she is a trained professional who sees your child every day; he or she would be happy to tell you about the safety features on the bus and the responsibility drivers have for keeping their young passengers safe.
• Get to know the parents of other riders. You will learn about the other children your riding along with your child.
• See the MISD Transportation bus safety page.
  

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The Love the Bus program, founded in 2007 and coordinated by the American School Bus Council (ASBC), is celebrated throughout February in school districts across the country as a way to raise awareness and appreciation for the hundreds of thousands of school bus drivers who safely transport more than 26 million school children to and from school each day. It is also an opportunity for parents and children to learn more about the safety and environmental benefits of school bus transportation.