Moving On Up, Rachel Jones

  The past few years of Rachel ance counselor, an assistant

Beaumont Independent School District

Jones’ career have been exem- principal and principal. As the first
plary. In fact, her accomplish- educator in her immediate family,

A Weekly Employee Publication

ments can be seen she knew early that she
driving by Price wanted to be in the field.
Elementary School “It’s been my goal since
where she now high school. I wanted to
serves as princi- impact students’ lives,”
pal. “We’ve been she added.
exemplary for the   According to Jones,
past six years,” Beaumont schools laid
she said. It’s safe the foundation for her
to say her experi- education. A graduate
ence and work of Charlton Pollard High
ethic are what School, she went on to
landed her the new attend Lamar University.
title of staff devel- Upon graduating she
opment director for returned to Beaumont
the BISD 2011-2012 school year. Charlton-Pollard, this time as a
  Jones has been an educator teacher.
for more than four decades. Her   Jones believes she’s been able
career experience ranges from to make her greatest impact as
March 17, 2011 being a teacher on the frontlines an elementary school principal.
in the classroom to being a guid- “Since being with the smaller
continued on page 3

School Bus Safety

“Road-e-o” to
be held at the
Thomas Center
  On March 26, 2011 the Dr. Carroll A.
“Butch” Thomas Educational Support
Center will be crawling with school
busses and their drivers. The Region-
al School Bus Safety “Road-e-o” is an
annual gathering of area bus drivers to
enhance drivers’ skills, while learning
new techniques to use in their day to
day operation of the school bus. The
Bennie Huckabay, Transportation Shop Manager and continued on page 3
Accident Investigator
Our Vision: Striving for excellence. •  Expectation of success for each person;
Our Mission: The mission of the Beaumont Independent School District, as the unify- •  Optimum application of technology;
ing force of the community, is to guarantee that our graduates possess the necessary •  An appreciation of various cultures;
skills, values and knowledge to compete successfully as productive citizens in a •  Full involvement of parents, teachers and the community;
diverse global society through an educational system characterized by: •  Respect and care for each other.

Nuggets
of Wisdom
Dr. Carrol A. Thomas
BISD Superintendent
March is a time for
renewal; celebration
  In a few days, our students and
employees will embark on “Spring
Break.” Beaches, tours of fa-
mous and historic cities, cleaning
sprees, visiting friends and family,
catching up on those ‘honey-do”
lists, relaxing and having fun are
just some of the things on the
minds of many students, employ-
Permanent School Fund hits $25 billion level
  A strong return on its invest-
ments has allowed the Perma-
nent School Fund to rebound to
a fair market value of $25 billion
after posting a return of 13.14
percent in 2010.
  The fund, which is the second
largest educational endowment
in the country behind only Har-
vard University, beat its bench-
mark by 0.40 percent.
  Created in 1854 with a $2
million investment, the fund
benefitted from the global finan-
cial recovery and continued to
provide strong support to the
state’s public schools. The fund
was last valued at $25 billion in
2007. The financial upheaval
in the market caused the fund’s
ees and parents. Let’s do just
that, take a break. It has been a
pretty tough fall and winter. Em-
ployees have been hard at work
teaching, evaluating and doing
what they do. Students have stud-
ied hard, endured and overcome
many academic challenges. Let’s
now take a break. Just do it—take
a break and enjoy it.
Remember, Daylight Saving Time
kicks in this week, too. Spring
forward is the key to staying on
time. Set your clocks ahead by
one hour at 2 a.m. Sunday, March
11or before you go to bed on Sat-
urday. The advancing of clocks so
that evenings have more daylight
and mornings have less will give
us all more time to take in the sun
which puts winter blues on the run.
Clocks are adjusted forward one
hour in late winter or early spring
and adjusted backward in autumn.
Across the state, people are
celebrating Public Schools Month.
We here are flattered because the
theme “One Vision” is so similar to
value to plunge to $16 billion in
2009. The PSF quickly began
to recover, with the total value
of the fund growing by about $9
billion since 2009. Over the last
two years, the fund return has
been 18.99 percent per year
and, for more than 20 years, the
average annual return was 9.0
percent.
  The fund, which is overseen
by the State Board of Educa-
tion, benefits the schools by
helping to pay for basic educa-
tion costs, including the pur-
chase of textbooks and other
instructional material. The PSF
is scheduled to provide about
$1.9 billion to the state budget
for education during the 2012-
this newsletter – OneVision. Ap-
preciation of public education runs
deep in my soul. Without it, my
world and surely the world of most
people would be quite different.
The words of young girls in South
Africa who are fortunate enough to
gain admission to the Oprah Win-
frey Leadership Academy for Girls
resonate just how blessed we are.
When we look at life globally, so
many children don’t have access
to a public education.
Speaking of girls, March is also
Women’s History Month. I join the
National Education Association
(NEA) in placing an emphasis on
the future of women. More than
73 million girls (two of every three
children) in developing countries
don’t receive a primary education.
I applaud Miss Winfrey for her
work in this effort and encourage
us all to not only appreciate our
opportunities here but to remem-
ber those who are less fortunate—
in our prayers, volunteer work and
philanthropic contributions.
2013 biennium.
  The financial strength of the
fund is also used to guarantee
school district bonds issued by
public schools. Districts that
issue bonds backed by the PSF
qualify for a AAA rating from the
three major rating agencies,
which in turn means the districts
pay lower interest rates when
they issue the debt, saving
Texas taxpayers a significant
amount of money.
  “The State Board of Educa-
tion in recent years has taken
steps to diversify the fund’s
portfolio and reduce risk. The
results announced today show
that this strategy is working
well,” said Gail Lowe, chair of
continued on page 3
Moving On Up, Rachel Jones
children, I understand the prob-
lems on the secondary level
more. [I like] having the oppor-
tunity to mold lives and teach
them appropriate behavior to
get [students] going in the right
direction.”
  However, Jones’ new posi-
tion is taking her out of the local
school and into the administra-
tion building where she’s going
to help teachers help their stu-
dents. She adds, “Now my fo-
cus is on students, but next year
it will be on training adults…
There is a new test that’s pretty
rigorous. We need to make sure
we provide teachers training to
provide the right instructions to
make our students successful.”
  The new test, the State of
Texas Assessments of Aca-
demic Readiness or STAAR, will
Bus “Road-e-o”
continued from page 1
event also tests drivers’ knowl-
edge of the Texas State Drivers
laws, as well as first aid and
safety of students and adults as
well.
  This year there are a total of
nine local districts participat-
ing and the event usually has
around 25 competitors. Some
of the skills tested in are: gen-
eral knowledge, vehicle in-
spection, offset alley, railroad
crossing/clearance, straight line,
diminishing clearance, backup
alley, right turn, parallel parking,
elementary student loading, stop
line test, and curb line parking.
  Beaumont ISD’s own Rob-
ert McManus has placed 1st in
regional competition for the past
6 years, and has placed 1st or
be implemented into the 2011-
2012 school year for grades 3-8
and the exit level. The STAAR
replaces the current TAKS test
which was installed in 2003.
Jones says, “There’s also new
legislation for students to be
career ready when they leave
high school.”
  While she’s excited about
her new opportunity to “al-
low people to grow to become
better at what they do,” Jones
admits she’s given little thought
to her new position. “I’m more
focused on finishing up this
school year and going out with
a bang. We’ve been exemplary
for six years and I want to make
it number seven.”
  She attributes the school’s
success to her faculty and staff.
“I’m going to miss my staff and
2nd in the state competition,
which earned him the right to go
to the international competition.
He has traveled to Washington
D.C., St. Louis, Missouri, High
Point, North Carolina, and 3
years ago McManus and fellow
bus driver Bennie Huckabay fin-
shed 1st and 2nd in the regional
competition, and in the state
competition; both went to Cal-
gary Canada to compete in the
international competition being
the first two drivers from BISD to
achieve that accomplishment.
  The top three in each cat-
egory will advance to the state
level “Road-e-o” in Galveston on
June 23, 2011.
  The event is free and open to
the public.
continued from page 1
they are going to miss me!”
Secretary, Earnestine Gaines,
seconds that, adding “We are
sad to see her go, but we un-
derstand.”
  Jones replied, “They are a
wonderful group of people. The
school is successful because
they work as a team.”
  Confessing that there will
probably be days when she’ll
drive to Price Elementary’s cur-
rent location in an attempt to
go to work after the new school
year, the 43-year-veteran is
comfortable stating her new
position as staff development
director will be exciting too.
Jones is sure to continue mak-
ing a positive mark on the entire
district.
Permanent School
Fund hits $25
billion level
continued from page 2
the board.
  Holland Timmins, chief in-
vestment officer of the fund,
said, “The fund is not im-
mune from the uncertainty
of the global markets but it
has made a strong recovery
in recent years and con-
tinues to be a great asset
to the Texas public school
system. Over the past year,
each asset class has out-
performed its benchmark.”
Kudos
  Superintendent Dr. Carrol A.
Thomas has been tapped to
serve on the Texas Education
Agency Advisory Committee to
review the agency’s proposed
standard for the new superinten-
dent certification exam.
  In other news, the Prairie
View A&M University Whitlow R.
Green College of Education is
honoring Thomas as a LIVING
LEGEND as part of its Celebrat-
ing the Legacy of Education.
The gala will be held at 7 p.m.
April 16 at the PVAMU Tempton
Memorial Student Center. The
seventh U.S. secretary of edu-
cation, Dr. Rod Paige, will be
the keynote speaker. ESPN’s
Sports Center anchor Jay Harris
will emcee the event.
  Lloyd Crosby, advanced
placement chemistry teacher
at West Brook, is proud of his
students who captured seven of
the top 10 places in the recent
Chemistry Olympiad. Sponsored
by the American Chemical So-
ciety, West Brook will have five
of Crosby’s students appear-
ing in the National Chemistry
Olympiad. The top 20 scorers of
the national competition will be
invited to an all-expenses paid,
two-week intensive study camp
in Colorado Springs, CO, to pre-
pare for the international compe-
tition in Ankara, Turkey.
  Ramona Locke, girls’ basket-
ball coach at Ozen Magnet High
School for the Arts, recently an-
nounced that her daughter, Asia
Booker, has been named to the
Texas Association of Basketball
Coaches All-State Team. Asia is
a junior at Ozen.
  Juaune Saveat, a sixth grade
writing coach at Marshall Middle
School is proud of one of her
students who won second place
in the Texas Future Problem
Solving Scenario Writing Con-
test. The student’s scenario, The
River’s Water, will be submitted
to compete on the International
level and the student will attend
the State Bowl in Austin on April
8th to receive her award.
  Saveat is also pleased to an-
nounce that eight of the teams
that she coaches qualified to
compete in the Future Problem
Solving State Bowl in Austin on
April 8-10, 2011.
  Six intermediate teams
coached by Marshall’s Pam
Johnson will also be competing.
Future Problem Solving is part of
the curriculum for the IHP Read-
ing classes in BISD.
  Sgt. Danny Moore and Of-
ficer Michael Trahan have been
commended by BISD Police
Chief Clydell Duncan for out-
standing investigative work.
  Nicole Baker (ELA teacher/
Central), announces that her
daughter Lora Baker (a West-
brook student) was recently
named Cheer Power’s Best
Cheerleader High Point Cham-
pion for 2010-2011 and also
earned the Best Cheerleader
National Champion.
  The U.S. Department of
Education has asked Director
of Title Programs Cathy
Chavis and Parent Involvement
Coordinator Michelle Kibbles
to present on the importance of
successful family engagement
strategies and practices at
policy briefings in Washington,
D.C., on June 23.
  Chip Scott, supervisor of
printing at BISD, is proud to an-
nounce that his daughter Bri-
anna Scott has been selected to
attend the National Youth Lead-
ership Forum on Medicine. She
earned the honor based on her
exceptional scholastic achieve-
ment and will be working with
Dr. Connie Mariano of the White
House. Also, she will be able
to achieve college credit from
George Mason University upon
completing the forum. Briana is a
student at the Central High School
Medical Magnet Program.
March Calendar
17
• Regular Board Meeting 7:00 PM BISD
Board Room, 3395 Harrison Ave
18
• Fehl Career Day 9:00 AM
19
• 1st Annual “We are Family” Community
Picnic 10:00 AM -1:00PM Charlton_pol-
lard Community Center & Park on Irving
Street – Food, Prizes, Moonwalks & DJ
21-25
Spring Break
29
• Special Informational Meeting
For BISD Families 5:30pm at
the Beaumont Housing Authority
Central Office, 1890 Laurel
OneVision:
Newsletter for the employees of
Beaumont Independent School District
3395 Harrison Avenue
Beaumont, Texas 77706
(409) 617-5000 fax (409) 617-5181
www.bmtisd.com
email onevision@beaumont.k12.tx.us
Board of Trustees
Woodrow Reece, President
Janice Brassard, Vice President
Terry Williams, Secretary
Gwen Ambres
Dr. William Nantz
Tom Neild
Bishop Ollis Whitaker
Office of the Superintendent
Dr. Carrol A. Thomas
  Superintendent of Schools
Jessie Haynes, APR,
  Special Assistant for Communications
Janice Teel, Executive Assistant to the
Superintendent for Board Affairs
Georgia C. Antoine, Interim Executive
Assistant to the Superintendent
Eughia Simon, Office Clerk
Department of Communications
Joy James, Education Partnerships Supervisor
Todd Madden, Graphic Artist
Pat Knox, Administrative Assistant
Chip Scott, Printing Manager
Evelyn Fontenot, Media Center Interim Manager