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March 23, 2009

Board says good-bye to Bird, hears report on improved TAKS

By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Jacksonville Independent School District trustees said an unofficial good-bye Monday night to Superintendent Stuart Bird and presented him with a plaque commending him on his 38 years in education and six-and-a-half years as the head of JISD.

“This is probably Stuart’s last board meeting, so we wanted to present him with the plaque and express our appreciation of the job he did,” President James Houser told the group attending the meeting. “Thank you so much.”

Bird, visibly moved by the gesture, had a few words to say, after pausing several long moments to get his emotions under control.

“This has been one of those places that it’s just been fun to come to every day,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it and I’m glad we were able to do all the great things we did.”

JISD’s next superintendent, Dr. Joe Wardell, attended the meeting and was invited to sit with the board at the meeting table.

“(Bird has) been the only superintendent I’ve worked with since getting on the board and those are some big shoes to fill,” Houser told Wardell with a laugh.

Also during Monday’s meeting, Assistant Superintendent Judy Terry presented the board with the district’s results of the first round of TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) tests Jacksonville’s third-, fifth- and eighth-graders took recently.

“We really want to commend our teachers, principals, parents and students for all their hard work,” Terry said. “Everyone did an excellent job. We only had seven students district-wide miss testing day.”

Third-grade testing saw 97 percent district wide meet testing standards. By campus, East Side saw 97 percent pass — up from 91 percent last year; West Side saw 100 percent — up from 96 percent last year; Joe Wright saw 94 percent pass — up from 88 percent last year; and Fred Douglass saw 96 percent of students pass — up from 92 percent last year.

On the fifth-grade level, 85 percent of all students tested passed — up from 83 percent last year and 63 percent from 2004-05, the first year the grade-level tested.

For the second year JISD’s eighth-graders tested, 91 percent passed — down from 93 percent last year.

“This year’s eighth-grade class is smaller than last year’s class,” Terry explained.

Students who missed the test or failed to pass will get a second chance to take the test before the end of the school year. Those who fail the second test will have to enroll in summer school.

In other business, JISD candidate Todd Travis drew for his position on the ballot in the upcoming trustee election. He’ll be listed second and his opponent, Belinda Simms, will appear first. Simms did not attend the meeting.

The JISD election is May 9.

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