HEATH – Rockwall ISD School Board Member Craig Zurek  announced today that he will not seek re-election for the Board of Trustees in the 2012 election.

Zurek has served on the Rockwall School Board since 2004.  He served as President of The Board from 2008 – 2010,  Vice President from 2006 – 2008 and again from 2010 to 2011. He also served as Chairman of the Financial and Marketing Sub-Committees.

He was a member of The Heath City Council from 1996-2000.

Following is a statement which Zurek issued regarding his decision:

“Serving the Rockwall ISD children, families and community as a Trustee of the School Board has been an incredible and fulfilling experience and a singular honor.  My decision to not run for re-election comes with mixed emotions and only after much personal debate, discussion with my wife, Julie, and considerable prayer.  Throughout my service I have been driven to do all that I could to help deliver the best possible education to our children.  I will miss serving on the Board. That said, even after my term expires, I will continue to stay involved as an active volunteer for the District.”

“I am grateful for the partnership and friendship of all of the fine people with whom I have served as a part of our Team-of-Eight and I am especially grateful for the support that I have received over the past eight years from my family and friends.”

“My three children all attended Rockwall Schools for thirteen years and, as testimony to the fine preparation they received, by the end of this summer all will be graduates of the University of Texas.  Now it is time for me to move on to other challenges and to let new ideas and new energy take over in our District.”

“I intend to endorse Brian Young, a Rockwall resident and parent of four young daughters, whose previous work with and commitment to our youth have convinced me that he will make a great School Board Trustee.”

“Thank you, from the bottom of my heart to all who made this past 8 years of service on the RISD School Board a truly fulfilling experience.”

Brad Lamberth, also a  past Board President and fellow Trustee, had this to say about Craig:

“Craig is an example of what is right in community service and leadership.  His dedication to the District and the young people of this community is exemplary.   Craig served without agenda, other than to make the RISD the best it can be.   His incredible talents and sacrificial giving will be missed.  Please join me in expressing our sincere appreciation for Craig’s unyielding and loyal service.”

“And, please consider our mutual support for and endorsement of Brian Young -someone worthy of the office of Trustee and who can ably fill the large vacancy left by Craig.”

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

ROYSE CITY – Royse City ISD Superintendent Randy Hancock announced this week that he will retire from his position this June.

He informed school board members at their meeting Monday night. Tuesday morning he told staff members, and then he made a public announcement at the Royse City Chamber of Commerce luncheon the same day.

“It has been a phenominal 34 years in the world of education,” said Hancock. “The last five years in Royse City have been absolutely incredible. This is a special place.”

He said he has no plans after retirement.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

(The Texas Tribune) – In 2004, Karla Reséndiz graduated near the top of her class at Rockwall High School outside of Dallas. She was a member of the National Honor Society, captain of the fencing team and the leader of the school’s junior Rotary Club.

From there, Reséndiz went on to earn a doctor of pharmacy degree with honors in 2010 after completing the University of Texas at Austin’s six-year program. She paid the same in-state tuition rate any other Texas student would to attend the flagship public university. Now, Reséndiz and others like her find themselves engulfed in the latest political skirmish to roil the Republican candidates for president.

Reséndiz is the child of illegal immigrants — her family brought her to Texas from Mexico City in 1998 when she was 12 years old. (Story continues after video.)

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ROCKWALL – The five year-old Shannon Elementary kindergarten student who was missing for three and a half hours yesterday after the first day of school was found safe and sound at about 7 pm at the Boys & Girls Club, after he somehow boarded the wrong school bus.

According to Rockwall ISD Communications Director Sheri Fowler (pictured above), Derek Hood was supposed to have boarded the school bus at Shannon Elementary to go to his day care center at the Light House Private School but mistakenly got on the bus to the Boys & Girls Club.

Fortunately, after three hours of searching by Rockwall ISD, police, firefighters and neighbors, another child spotted Derek at the Boys & Girls Club, told his or her parent and the parent then notified Derek’s mother, Joycelin.

Once found and reunited with his parents, his mother said Derek didn’t even realize he was lost.

“He didn’t even know he was lost,” Joyselin told CBS11-TV News. “He’d been there playing, eating.  I was like ‘give me a kiss, give me a hug.’  He said, ‘okay, that’s enough.  What’s the helicopter doing?’  I said “It’s looking for you!’  He said, ‘not really?’”

Derek’s father said it was all a very confusing situation. Different people were tellling him they had him and that led them to driving back and forth between the school, his day care center and another day care center.

The Hoods said they still don’t know how he turned out missing, because on his backpack was a large name tag and the name of the school he was supposed to attend.

Fowler told TheRockwallNews.com last night that the school district apologized to the Hoods and will immediately review their security measures to ensure no incident like this ever happens again.

Brand new Shannon Elementary School principal Carla Bennett met with staff members last night to investigate what happened. Bennett had been the assistant principal at Jones and Amy Parks Elementary Schools and, like Derek, this was her first day of school at Shannon.

The Hoods said that Derek will not be riding a school bus again for a while.

By J.J. Smith

(WFAA-TV News) ROCKWALL — Following his first day of kindergarten, five-year-old Derrick Hood was supposed to board an after-school daycare bus outside Shannon Elementary in Rockwall Monday afternoon.

He never got on that bus.

The incident was reported right away by the daycare bus driver, but Derrick remained missing more than three hours later.

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ROCKWALL – Rockwall ISD has named two new principals for the 2011-12 school year at Sharon Shannon Elementary School and Amanda Rochell Elementary School.

At Shannon, Carla Bennett replaces Katrina Hasley, who has been named the district’s new Director of Accountability, Assessment and Professional Development.

Sherry Packer replaces previous Rochelle principal Terry Peters, who has retired from RISD.

Bennet was most recently the assistant principal at Dorris A. Jones Elementary, and she assistant principal at Amy Parks-Heath Elementary for six years.  She is a graduate of Baylor University with a B.S. in elementary education.  She received her master’s degree in educational administration from East Texas State University. She is currently studying for her doctoral degree at Texas A&M-Commerce.

Her classroom experience includes public and private school in Garland. She served as an instructional specialist in Garland ISD working directly with teachers to review data and align instructional strategies to support academic achievement.  She joined Rockwall ISD as an assistant principal in 2004.

Packer has most recently been principal at RISD’s Quest Academy, the district’s alternative learning program.  She is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a B.S. in education.  She holds a master’s degree in education from Texas A&M-Commerce, where she is currently studying for her doctorate.

In the RISD, she has been a math teacher, coach, summer school principal for middle school students and assistant principal at Springer Elementary School.  During her professional career, she has also been an independent math consultant for Region 10 and a high school math teacher in the Kaufman and Scurry-Rosser Independent School Districts.

By J.J. Smith

ROCKWALL — Anticipating a $15.7 million state funding cut over the next two years, the Rockwall ISD Board of Trustees passed a $101,171,531 general fund budget Thursday night, 5-0, at its board meeting and public hearing.

Two board members were unable to attend.

There were no comments from the public at the sparsely-attended, 30-minute meeting held at the RISD Administration building.

Chief Financial Officer Mike Singleton presented a budget that included $101,171,531 in the general fund, $5,098,611 in the Child Nutrition Fund and $22,675,346 in the Debt Service Fund.

He said in order to meet this budget, the district will need to access an estimated $5,570,032 from the District’s fund balance.

Singleton also noted that the proposed tax rate continues at $1.47 per $100 of valuation. This is the fifth consecutive year that the district has maintained the same tax rate.  It will officially be approved at either the August or September board meeting.

RISD Communications Director Sheri Fowler explained the fund balance is similar to a District savings account.

“The fund balance is a sort of a savings account.  In order to meet the guidelines for operating at the highest level of financial efficiency, it is recommended that school districts have approximately three months of operating costs in their fund balance.  This is very important for our bond ratings, too.”

“The three-month rule means that the district would be able to pay operating costs even if there were an interruption in funding sources,” she continued.  “Also, the district does not receive tax revenue until after the end of a calendar year.  The fund balance allows us to ‘borrow from ourselves’ to pay payroll and other operating expenses until we receive this revenue.  Many school districts who do not have healthy fund balances and actually have to borrow from banks in order to cover this time period.”

“The budget passed on Thursday evening did include a use of some of our fund balance.  However, we do have money available that is over and above the 3-month mark so the board felt this was a good use of ‘savings’ so to speak.  (This is not a precedent–we’ve done this before.)”

“Obviously, we have to continue to find additional reductions and sources of revenue enhancement because we can’t do this every year and still maintain a healthy fund balance, but in an effort to keep programs and staff, this use of fund balance was a good option for this coming fiscal year.”

Rockwall ISD expects to lose $6.4 million during the 2011-12 fiscal year and $9.3 million during the 2012-13 fiscal year.

As a result, a hiring freeze is in effect, staffing levels have been reduced by $3.2 million at the campus and administrative levels and no salary increases will be proposed for RISD employees during the coming school year.

One of the most significant decisions made was to outsource the custodial services and transportation departments. New contracts with private companies begin July 1, 2011.

Singleton also warned the Board that for 2013-14, an $8.5 million annual deficit still must be resolved.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

ROCKWALL – A benefit picnic dinner will be held June 10 for 10-year-old Hannah Rathje, a Celia Hays Elementary School student who was just diagnosed with a rare form of muscular cancer called Synovia Sarcoma.

She is pictured above with her 4th grade teachers Schauna Callaway, Debbie Barineau and Jane Braddock.

The dinner will be held at 6 pm at Celia Hays, in conjunction with the previously-scheduled City of Rockwall “Family Fun Night,” which includes a movie, bounce house, obstacle course and more for families.

The school is located at 1714 Tannerson Dr. Rockwall 75087, at the intersection of FM 552 and FM 1141, just east of Williams Middle School.

Her teachers are organizing the benefit. According to Callaway, Hannah started chemotherapy Monday and will undergo six rounds that will last five days each, 21 days apart. Financial donations will be gratefully accepted for the Rathje family.

The dinner will include lots of hot dogs, bar-b-cue, elk burgers, chips and more, donated by local residents and businesses, including:

• Soulman’s BBQ
• Schieberle’s Elk Burgers
• Tom Thumb Food Stores
• Ben E. Keith Foods
• Wal-Mart
• Marc Heinig at US Foods
• Corky Randolph, John Pierce, Randy Schieberle and Robert Adams at Alliance Bank
• Bart and Sandy Miller at Rockwall Crossing Orthodontics
• Bill Roberson
• John McKinney

For information or to donate, call 469-261-8137 or email Schauna79@gmail.com.

ROCKWALL – Presidential Academic Award Winners, who earned an “A” average in all subjects throughout their elementary school years at Dorris A. Jones Elementary School and a commended performance on state assessments are (from left): Jacob Allen, Jeremi Ntibagaye, Xaviera Hernandex and Kaitlyn Strother, pictured with principal Angela Marcellus.

Click photo to enlarge.

ROCKWALL – In keeping with the spirit of giving back to the community, the students and Math Department at Williams Middle School recently raised $5,342.17 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis TN.

The mission of the 78-bed hospital, founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, is to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.

St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.

The kids completed a Mathathon booklet and received donations for all completed problems.

Students who raised $35 or more received a t-shirt & a complimentary ticket to Six Flags.

By Stacy Hatten, guest contributor