The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 296, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 11, 1988 Page: 1 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
®fje Paptoton i>un
_MORE THAN 70,000 READERS EVERY DAY _
Volume 66, No. 296 422-8302 Tuegday, October 11, 1988 Baytown, Texas 77520 25 Cents Per Copy
More first-graders
here pass TEAMS
Outdoor smoking areas designated
Until school trustees can con-
sider adopting a policy, the use
of tobacco products at Baytown
school district outdoor athletic
facilities will be confined to
designated areas through a
superintendent’s directive.
Superintendent Bill Kennedy
stressed that designated areas
for tobacco use by citizens
doesn’t change the rule that
students cannot use tobacco pro-
ducts on school property.
Under a recommendation by
legal adviser Rick Peebles,
school district workers will post
signs designating Stallworth
Stadium, Memorial Stadium and
other outdoor facilities with
bleachers as “no smoking”
sites, except in designated
areas.
Kennedy noted some fans at
the Ross S. Sterling-Beaumont
Central game last Friday con-
tinued to smoke after an an-
nouncement was made that ask-
ed smokers to smoke only in the
walkway beneath the stands.
Stadium ushers now will ask
people smoking in the bleachers
to do so in the designated areas,
Kennedy said. He noted this
already is the custom in school
district gymnasiums in which
smoking isn’t allowed.
Kennedy said he thinks the
majority of fans who smoke will
comply with the directive.
School officials put the item on
the agenda at the request of
Trustee Tom Gentry, who
reported a number of fans have
commented this year about
cigarette smoke being a
nuisance at varsity football
games.
At their Oct. 24 meeting,
school trustees are expected to
consider a policy that would pro-
hibit tobacco use at the district’s
sports facilities, except in
designated areas.
By DAVID MOHLMAN
A higher percentage of
Baytown school district first-
graders passed all three sec-
tions of the TEAMS in spring
1988 than first-graders did the
year before, but the percen-
tage increase here didn’t keep
up with the statewide in-
crease.
Seventy-two percent of the
Baytown district’s first-
graders passed the math,
reading and writing sections
of the TEAMS (Texas Educa-
tional Assessment of
Minimum Skills) in spring
1987. Statewide, 72 percent
also passed all three sections.
Last spring, 75 percent of
the district’s first-graders
passed all three sections, but
the statewide figure increas-
ed to 79 percent.
On the writing portion of the
test, 82 percent of black first-
graders passed last spring,
compared to 64 percent in
1987. Hispanics passing
writing increased from 79 to
80 percent, while whites
mastering writing decreased
from 92 to 89 percent.
In reading, 76 percent of
black and Hispanic students
| passed last spring. In 1987, 68
percent of blacks and 67 per-
cent of Hispanics passed
reading. The figure for whites
also increased — from 82 to 86
percent.
The percentage mastering
math climbed slightly for
blacks and Hispanics and
dropped slightly for whites.
The district’s bilingual
first-graders, who attend
Carver, San Jacinto, Ashbel
Smith and Travis elemen-
taries, had the option of tak-
ing TEAMS in Spanish.
Students here who took
TEAMS in Spanish topped
statewide Spanish results in
all areas.
Overall, performance by
first-graders here last spring
showed a slight increase from
spring 1987, concluded Jimmy
Elliott, the district’s testing
coordinator. “Obviously, it’s
not as high as we’d like it to
be,” he said.
Students take TEAMS in the
odd-numbered grades. Sum-
marizing 1987-88 results for
all grade levels, Elliott said
the percentage of the
district’s students achieving
mastery topped the state
percentage in 11 of the 17 sub-
ject/grade areas.
In grades three, five and
seven, the district tied or top-
ped the percent mastery
statewide in all areas. In first
grade, the district fell below
the state’s percent mastery in
all areas.
In ninth grade, the district
equals the state’s percent
mastery in writing, but falls
below the percent tnastery
statewide in math and
reading.
On the exit level TEAMS,
llth-graders exceeded the
state’s percent mastery for
math, but scored below the
percent mastery statewide in
language arts.
“Yes, there are some areas
where we do not equal or do
not succeed the state scores,”
Elliott acknowledged, “but
we are close to them.”
Elliott also reported on
10th-graders’ CTBS (Com-
prehensive Test of Basic
Skills) scores.
Scaled scores, which are
based on the number of test
questions answered correctly,
increased slightly in all areas
for Robert E. Lee sophomores
and decreased slightly in all
areas for Ross S. Sterling
sophomores, Elliott said.
Taken together, scaled
scores were about the same in
spring 1988 as they were the
previous year, according to
Elliott.
But Elliott cited a number
of reasons why spring 1988
CTBS results might be
unreliable.
The RSS a.m.-REL p.m.
schedule ended Jan. 15, 1988.
RSS students took CTBS in
February, but REL students
didn’t take it until April.
In retrospect, school of-
ficials might have done better
to wait and test both groups in
April, Elliott suggested. Both
groups would have been tak-
ing the test at the same time
and neither group would have
taken the test soon after a
dramatic schedule change, he
indicated.
Scores lag behind state
Tunnel cleanup will delay traffic
Traffic through the Baytown-
La Porte Tunnel will be inter-
rupted for half-hour intervals
from 10 p.m. Wednesday until
about 4 a.m. Thursday.
Harris^ County Precinct 2
workers will use new water
blasting equipment to clean in-
side the tunnel, a state highway
Pearce Street Journal-
Common language
They say Mikhail Gorbachev
went to Siberia the other day and
was greeted by boos and cat-
calls. Now the new USSR presi-
dent can sympathize with Mike
Dukakis and George Bush.
-FH
department spokeswoman said.
The tunnel will be closed at 10
p.m. and will reopen from 10:30-
11 p.m. The crew will re-enter
the tunnel at the top of each hour
and leave the tunnel at the bot-
tom of each hour to refill the
water tank on the truck.
Workers are expected to enter
the tunnel for the last time at 3
a.m. Thursday, but will remain
inside the tunnel to clean up as
needed from 3:30-4 a.m., she
said.
If the equipment proves effec-
tive, it may be used, regularly to
clean the tunnel, according to
the spokeswoman.
It’s not “out of line” that Baytown school
district students exceeded the state’s percent
mastery in only 11 of 17 subject/grade areas of
the TEAMS test, according to the district’s
testing coordinator.
Jimmy Elliott indicated students’ ability
levels and expected performances should be
considered along with standardized test results.
“I would be pretty interested to find out what
ability groupings there are in other districts,”
Trustee Tom Gentry said.
The district has received such information
from other districts, but school officials haven’t
yet studied the figures, Deputy Superintendent
Mike Madison told Gentry.
On the CTBS (Comprehensive Test of Basic
Skills) last spring, Baytown school district
sophomores who were expected to perform at
above average and average levels met or ex-
ceeded those expectations, according to Elliott.
Test results indicate below average students
performed even lower than their ability level, he
said.
Gentry said he’d like to see figures on the
number of below average students in districts
such as La Porte, Spring and Spring Branch.
Test scores from other districts might appear
worse than Baytown’s, but students in those
districts might not be expected to perform as
well as students here, he said.
Answering a question from Trustee Richard
Heyen, Elliott said the district identifies
students expected to perform below average us-
ing achievement test scores, classroom per-
formance and other objective and subjective
factors as observed by teachers.
Trustee Manuel Escontrias noted it’s impor-
tant to consider trends when evaluating per-
formance and to avoid using only the test
scores.
Troops kill at least 25; Algerian leader pledges reforms
Around Town
BILL BOYETT, Dayton
Volunteer Fire Department
chief, recovering at Methodist
Hospital in Houston after triple
bypass heart surgery Monday.
Ben Gollehon coordinates an
impressive Marching Festival at
Stallworth Stadium . . . Kelly
Martin suggests a fun way to fill
up some extra time . . . Holly
McQuitty gets a nap that doesn’t
last long enough.
Ann Oyler talks about how
long she’s been watching Sterl-
ing football games . . . Sandra
May chauffers to lunch... Dana
Harper complains about being
caught without a hall pass too
often. *
Jay Stailey demonstrates the
lesson cycle ... Carla Davis
says she hasn’t done anything
newsworthy ... Mike Butts says
he prefers the view from up
above.
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - President
Chadli Bendjedid promised Algeria that
reforms will be made hours after troops
fired machine guns into a crowd of more
than 10,000 in the capital. Witnesses said
25 to 30 people were shot to death.
Making his first public appearance
since violence erupted a week ago, the
president said Monday night he was “bit-
terly sorry for the material and human
losses” in the street violence.
“My duty as the person with supreme
responsibility for this country was to
make the decisions necessary to protect
the nation, whatever the circumstances,
and whatever the difficulties,” the presi-
dent said in a national radio and television
speech.
“We have the courage to recognize our
mistakes and to restore the situation. I
would like you to help me.”
Hours before Bendjedid’s speech was
broadcast, troops machine-gunned a
crowd of more than 10,000 in the Algiers
district of Bab-el-Oued.
Witnesses estimated that 25 to 30 people
were killed.
Dozens of others were wounded, some
very seriously. One witness said there
were bodies lying around everywhere.
“The soldiers were piling them into
trucks, one body on top of another,” he
said.
The government has provided no
casualty figures, but reliable reports from
police, hospitals and other sources in-
dicate that as many as 300 have died in the
week of unrest.
Monday’s demonstration was to be a
“peaceful protest march” organized by
the Islamic fundamentalist Movement for
Algerian Renewal. The organization has
demanded that the government resign. It
was not immediately clear how the
violence began.
Algerie Presse Service, the official
news agency which has had little to say
about the disturbances, reported Monday
night that the presidential speech had
been “favorably welcomed” in several
Algerian cities.
The agency said “spontaneous” mar-
ches started in Oran, Algeria’s second-
largest city, with citizens chanting “Vive
Chadli” and "Chadli, the people are with
you.”
APS said there were similar demonstra-
tions in Sidi Bel Abbes and Mostaganem
in the west and in Constantine in the east.
The agency reported that cars honked
their horns in the streets and people wav-
ed flags and shouted from balconies.
Sun dial
WEATHER
TUESDA Y NIGHT: dear and
cool with a low temperature
expected near 50. Wednesday:
Slimy and a little cooler, with
a bigb in the upper-70s. From 8
a.m. Monday to 8 a m. Tues-
day, a high of 90 and a low of 52
were recorded. At 8 a.m. Tues-
day the temperature was 65
degrees.
Hearing tonight on LC tax rate increase
Citizens may speak Tuesday
on Lee College regents’ intent to
raise the LC tax rate by slightly
more than a penny.
The Board of Regents will host
a public hearing starting at 7
p.m. at Moody Center in Rundell
Hall.
The proposed increase would
raise the tax rate from 13.75
cents to 14.86 cents per $100 pro-
perty valuation. *
& a $50,000 home with no ex-
emptions, this 8 percent rate in-
crease will raise the annual
assessment from $68.75 to $74.30.
During August, the board ap-
proved a 1988-89 budget that in-
cludes the tax increase. The
budget projects $17.3 million in
spending, with $15.5 of that
amount earmarked for the
operating fund.
The budget projects an
operating fund balance of $2.7
million by the end of 1988-89.
That amount is within LC of-
ficials’ recommendation that the
college maintain enough of a
fund balance to operate 1*4-2^
months with no income.
tHTLLER RUUM
mkUbm m •hnyi fm
finite.
hoh nnm QftRAltD
Wotch for
Silver Dollar
Days!
Coming Soon
GfOCttOUNDiai ASSOC
ATTORNEYS at LAW
kjoits- FwlylM -Cr»«l
427-1791 424-451*
Weekly T.V. Us*** I
Ron Craft
Chevrolet-Subaru
3401 N. Main
427-9525
♦ aiK
WaptoUm feun
To Advertise
Coil 422-1302
Baytown
State
Bank 427-5841
U-SAVE
Auto Rental
trr
The demonstrations of approval could
not be confirmed, but journalists noted
there was no such movement in central
Algiers, where the atmosphere remained 1
extremely tense after the day’s killings.
Some observers feared that a combina-
tion of the ultimatum given by the Move-
ment for Algerian Renewal for the
government to resign, which was to ex-
pire Tuesday, and funerals for the victims
of the army’s gunfire, might become a
volatile mix.
Bendjedid hinted he might step down at
the end of his second five-year term next
year. It had been widely expected that tire
congress of the ruling National Liberation
Front would amend the constitution to
permit him to be nominated for a third
term. As the sole candidate, his election
would be a certainty.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View 14 places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 296, Ed. 1 Tuesday, October 11, 1988, newspaper, October 11, 1988; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1052867/m1/1/?q=j+w+gardner: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.