Joshua Star (Joshua, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 5, 2013 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4 ★ Joshua Star ★ Thursday, September 5, 2013
www.joshuastar.net
TEA: Accountability reports recognize excellence ofJISD Schools
FROM PAGE 1
“We’re thrilled,” said JHS
principal Mick Cochran. “We
work real hard at being the
best school we can be.”
The high school has had
an emphasis on academics,
Cochran said.
Not only has it been a
U.S. News and World Report
bronze award winner for the
past two years, but JHS has
also been recognized for their
performance in UIL academics.
“We’re very proud of our
high school,” Marek said.
“That’s one of the things I’m
most proud of. We’re add-
ing value, we’re showing that
progress.”
For the past six years in a
row, JHS has won the title of
district UIL Academic Cham-
pions. In the past nine years,
they’ve held the accolade sev-
en times, and were runners-
up the two other times.
“I think one of the main
components in our success is
that the school board allowed
me to put together the best
teaching staff possible,” Co-
chran said. “It was sure fun
to share the results with my
teachers on the first day. It
gave them a little boost!”
He also credits the test-
takers.
“I’m very pleased with our
students,” Cochran said. “It’s
a credit to their hard work, as
well. We would not be much
of a school without them.”
He’s calling for the school
to step up its attendance rat-
ing - it was at 95 percent - to
garner a third distinction.
“Even though our atten-
dance rate is at 95 percent, I
think we can do better,” Co-
chran said.
This spring was the sec-
ond year for schools to take
the STAAR test, but it’s the
first year for their scores to be
used for a school’s account-
ability. Like the TAKS tests
that it replaced, the STAAR
test measures student learn-
ing and progress at the end of
the school year.
“This is a very different
system. It’s a whole new ball
game,” Marek said.
The STAAR tests in-
clude annual assessments
for grades 3-8 in reading and
math; assessments in writing
at grades 4 and 7; in science
at grades 5 and 8; and in so-
cial studies at grade 8; and
end-of-course assessments
for English I, English II, Al-
gebra I, biology and U.S his-
tory, according to the TEA’s
website.
“Now that we have this
information, we are bet-
ter informed about what we
need to accomplish and how
to meet our goals next year,”
said Joan Boyd, JISD’s exec-
utive director of curriculum
and instruction.
The new accountability
system has an increased focus
on student progress and high
performance. There are four
performance indexes: student
achievement, student prog-
ress, closing performance
gaps and postsecondary read-
iness, according to Boyd.
Student achievement
measures performance based
on satisfactory achievement
across all subjects, according
to state standards. Student
progress measures student
growth from year to year.
Closing performance gaps
looks at the two lowest per-
forming ethnic and socioeco-
nomic groups, and measures
the percentage of students in
these gaps that pass the state
assessments. Postsecondary
readiness takes into account
the percentage of students
who graduate and receive
their diploma, and their
foundation for performance
after high school.
It all factors into campus
ratings. Districts can’t get
distinctions this year, but the
TEA is considering awards of
letter grades in the future, ac-
cording to Boyd.
GOLF: Vandals still wanted for extensive damage to MVCC golf course
BURLESON STAR/PAUL GNADT
B.J. Denson, left, interim manager at Mountain Valley Country Club
and board member Ron Combs examine a $400 ball washer on tee
box No. 17 that was destroyed Aug. 4 by vandals.
FROM PAGE 1
had incidents where vandals
have driven over the greens,
but this time it was serious
and, I believe, planned to
cause considerable damage.
This is more than the usual
overturned portable potty.”
Other damage that night
included multiple tire “do-
nuts” spun in a couple of
fairways, the destruction of
multiple $85 Igloo water
coolers using the spike on tee
box markers, 25 tee markers
thrown in the lake, destruc-
tion of $400 ball washers and
destruction of a sand bucket
by what appears to be a ve-
hicle driven over the buckets,
head groundskeeper Mark
Lepori said.
Total damage is estimated
at $3,200.
“Those sand buckets are
strong,” Lepori said. “They
wouldn’t break just by kick-
ing. They had to be run over
with a vehicle.”
The vandalism shocked
Denson to the point she
wrote a letter to the editor
in the Aug. 25 edition of the
Burleson Star, asking for the
assistance of residents who
live along the course to be
on the lookout for activity at
night.
“We’re asking parents,
neighbors and walkers that
live on or near the golf course
to be aware of suspicious be-
havior,” Denson wrote.
“When the vandals are
caught, we will prosecute,”
said Denson, who is consid-
ering posting a reward for
information leading to the
arrest of the perpetrators.
The vandalism is the lat-
est in a series of hazards the
course has faced lately, Den-
son said.
“It’s very important that
our greens be in good shape
and that takes water,” Den-
son said. “The drought in
Texas has been damaging
because when we run low on
water from our lake, we have
to purchase water for the
greens.”
Mountain Valley CC has
also had trouble with resi-
dential development up-
stream of the club’s creek,
whereby runoff has caused
flooding and washing away of
property on the course, Den-
son said.
The economy has caused
some newer members to
drop their membership as a
way to cut expenses, Denson
said. The long-term members
are maintaining their mem-
bership, she added.
“Our younger members
have had to decide between
buying childcare and gaso-
line, to get to the second job
or something really nice like
a golf membership,” Denson
said. “The last thing we need
is vandalism that was com-
mitted purposely to cause
harm.”
The latest vandalism fol-
lows a similar incident that
occurred in November, but
this time the damage was
more costly, Lepori said.
“The police have urged us
to call anytime we see any-
thing suspicious,” Denson
said. “We’re also asking our
neighbors to call 9-1-1 any-
time they see suspicious ac-
tivity on the course at night.”
Also, members have vol-
unteered to patrol the course
at night, a daunting task con-
sidering the courses’s 3.2
miles with many holes sur-
rounded by woods that are
hundreds of yards from any
light provided by nearby resi-
dential homes.
Mountain Valley, which
celebrates its 50th anniversary
next year, reserves its morn-
ing tee times for members, but
does welcome nonmembers
during off-peak hours, usually
in the afternoon.
The layout is the home
course for the Joshua Owls
and Burleson Elks golf teams.
Membership is $210 per
month per houseold ($190 for
age 65 and older) for unlim-
ited access to the course. The
initiation fee has been waived
for a current membership
promotion, Denson said.
Nonmember green fees
are $29.50 for weekdays and
$19.75 after 4 p.m. On week-
ends the nonmember rate is
$39.50 after 12:30 p.m, vol-
unteer accountant Annie El-
lis said.
“We’re a hidden gem,”
Combs said. “We have a
beautiful course, the three
toughest par 3s in Johnson
County, nice surroundings
and friendly people.”
He just doesn’t appreci-
ate the vandals making the
course any harder.
CAUSE: JHS senior girls support fighting cancer by shaving their heads
FROM PAGE 1
On June 10, Brooke Big-
ley, McKenzie Harlin and
Jordan Jones shaved their
heads to raise money for
cancer research through St.
Baldrick’s Foundation, born
through an idea in 1999
among three colleagues to
increase research funding for
childhood cancer. In the first
three years, $1 million was
raised. By 2012, $100 million
had been raised.
The Joshua High seniors
even had the head-shaving
process recorded to show
cancer patients that being
bald is beautiful.
“A lot of people ask me
why I shaved my head and
my answer to that is kids
don’t get to choose when
they’re going to have cancer,
so why not shave my head my
senior year,” Jones said. “It’s
just one year, one year that I
can make a difference.”
The girls discovered St.
Baldrick’s one day while surf-
ing videos over the Internet.
St. Baldrick’s is a foundation
made up entirely of people
who record having their heads
shaved for cancer patients,
while others donate money
to them for cancer research.
According to the foundation’s
website, police and firefight-
ers have been some of the
most loyal participants from
the start of the project.
“I saw videos of people shav-
ing their heads, so I did some
research and found I loved St.
Baldricks,” Harlin said.
She had a personal con-
nection to St. Baldricks while
researching the foundation.
Harlin had one woman on
her mind the whole time.
“My aunt, who [I’ve]
never met, passed away due
to cancer,” Harlin said. “My
mom tells me all the time that
I’m like her, so I have always
had a connection to her even
though I have never met her.”
When it came time to
meet the hairdresser, differ-
ent thoughts and emotions
were going through each of
the girls’ minds.
“Honestly, I wasn’t nervous
or scared waiting for my turn
[to have my head shaved],”
Bigley said. “ I [knew] I was
doing the right thing.”
The girls were not alone
when having their heads
shaved in Harlin’s living
room.
“We got a lot of support
and it really helped me get
through the night,” Harlin
said. “The living room was
full of people there to sup-
port us.”
Jones’s parents were a bit
concerned for their daughter,
but kissed her bald head after-
wards, adding encouragement
like explaining how beautiful
she was, inside and out.
“My mom wasn’t com-
pletely sure at the very be-
ginning, but then decided it
would be OK,” Jones said.
“My dad was completely in
denial the entire time, until
he saw my head shaved and
decided it was OK.”
They found it very impor-
tant that they were all having
their heads shaved together.
“I couldn’t have done it
without my two best friends,”
Bigley said.
And life lessons were
learned.
“I have no regrets,” Harlin
said. “Shaving my head helped
me see who my true friends
are. Some people just stopped
talking to me because they
didn’t want to be around me
for some reason, but I would
do it again in a heartbeat.”
The girls have raised $600
and donations are still being
accepted. Anyone can donate
or learn more about St. Bal-
drick’s by either contacting
the seniors on Facebook or
by donating to St. Baldrick’s
from their site.
“I think honestly this expe-
rience has made me a better
person,” Jones said. “You can
do anything as long as you have
[a] strong support group.”
Anika Bigley is the former
editor of the Joshua High
School student newspaper.
STATE: New bans in place for hallucinogenic drugs and underage tanning
FROM PAGE 1
old-fashioned way, from a
bottle or in some other way
other than from a salon. Pre-
viously minors between ages
16-18 could tan in a salon
with parental consent. Sen-
ate Bill 329 outlawed minors
from tanning in a salon. Some
lawmakers expressed their
opposition to the law because
it banned minors from par-
ticipating in a lawful activity
their parents had authorized.
The state’s position on
inmate weddings has also
changed - both participating
parties must now be pres-
ent. Inmates used to be able
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to participate in “proxy wed-
dings,” but HB 369 reserves
that right now only for mem-
bers of the armed forces serv-
ing in a combat zone overseas
and wishing to enter into a
marriage by “proxy.”
HB 1421 provides for a
confiscated firearm to be sold,
in addition to using them for
law enforcement activity or
destroying the firearm. The
sale would have to be autho-
rized by the court which heard
the case involving the confis-
cated firearm.
A school resource officer
won’t issue what has been re-
ferred to as “school tickets,” fol-
lowing the passage of SB 393.
Instead of a ticket for some
Class C misdemeanor offenses
being written by a school re-
source officer, it will go to a
judge to determine if the issue
merits a misdemeanor ticket.
At Burleson High School, for
example, Officer Mike Alley
won’t write the ticket, but it
would be referred to Justice of
the Peace Jeff Monk.
Most motorists are famil-
iar with the “move over or slow
down” law in Texas, protecting
emergency responders on road-
ways. SB 510 expands the law
now to include Texas Depart-
ment of Transportation workers
operating vehicles with flashing
blue or amber lights.
The expansion of the law re-
quires motorists to move from
the lane nearest the emergency
vehicle or TxDOT worker, or
to slow to 20 mph below the
posted speed limit - that’s to
45 mph on Interstate 35W in
Burleson. On roadways with
posted speed limits of 25 mph
or less, drivers must reduce
their speed to 5 mph. Violators
can be fined up to $2,000.
A couple of other expanded
transportation laws could land
motorists in jail, if violated.
HB 3668 expands the re-
quirement of a motorist in a
traffic accident to stop and ren-
der aid. According to the law, a
motorist must stop to render
aid if the accident “results or
is likely to result” in injury or
death to a person. Previously,
the law did not require a mo-
torist involved in a traffic ac-
cident to render aid based on
consideration that the crash is
“likely to result” in bodily harm.
An offense is punishable by up
to 10 years imprisonment.
SB 275, co-authored by
state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-
Fort Worth, increases the
penalty of someone fleeing
from a fatality crash to match
the penalty for intoxication
manslaughter, punishable by
up to 20 years imprisonment.
Proponents of the law cited
the possibility that an intoxi-
cated driver might flee a fatal-
ity accident because it could
result in a lesser punishment.
Additionally, state law-
makers proved they want to fa-
cilitate use of technology by the
passage of SB 181, which now
allows for a motorist to show
proof of insurance to a law
enforcement officer through a
cell phone photo, or “wireless
communication device.”
According to the expanded
law, the law enforcement offi-
cer may not access the device,
other than to confirm finan-
cial responsibility informa-
tion. Additionally, the vehicle
owner could still be required
by a court to produce paper
evidence of financial responsi-
bility. Motorists should make
sure their devices are charged
and operational, because a
communications provider
cannot be found liable if the
device fails to display financial
responsibility information.
A couple of other bills that
are now law pertain to SB 1191,
also by Davis, the requirement
of every Texas emergency
room to have a rape kit, and
HB 5, lowering the number of
end-of-course tests students
will take from 15 to five.
MAREK: High hopes for the new school year
FROM PAGE 1
finally to superintendent.
“It’s always been a great
district, but you hear more
about it now,” Marek said
“I’ve heard parents tell me
that they want to live in Josh-
ua for the schools. People
want to be here.”
In fact, Dan Steblay of
Best Homes, in a 2010 story
with the Joshua Star, pro-
claimed the reputation of
Joshua schools as the preem-
inent reason new residents
were moving to the large
area of Burleson and Joshua
served by the Joshua ISD.
Marek said there has been
a significant increase in the
number of transfer students
to the district, and that there
is even a waiting list. She
thinks that is a testimony to
the district and that parents
like what JISD is doing.
“I’m so proud of what we
do here in Joshua. There is no
place I would rather have my
own kids be,” Marek said.
“I want us to be continu-
ously improving and to never
give up,” Marek said. “I’m
looking forward to a great
year.”
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Sorter, Dave. Joshua Star (Joshua, Tex.), Vol. 43, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 5, 2013, newspaper, September 5, 2013; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823142/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Burleson Public Library.