Two Thumbs Up For "Once Upon A Lilly Pad"

The Dee Turner PTA enjoyed the sights and sounds of frogs, egrets, turtles, snakes, alligators, fireflies, and one wise-old owl, as the Luverne Elementary first graders performed the play, "Once Upon a Lily Pad."   The occasion marked the 30 annual performance of first grade play.  All proceeds are used to support the Elaine Goodwin Scholarship.  Much thanks to the first grade personnel, Mrs. Lisa Lawrence, Mrs. Shea Simmons, Ms. Judy Wilson, Mrs. Jill King, and Mrs. Barbara Free.

HHS Juniors & Seniors Featured in StageofLife.com Essay Contest

Congratulations to the following 29 students of Ms. Rebecca Sims’s 11^th & 12^th grade English classes at Highland Home School, who are featured online in the Stage of Life® January 2013 essay contest that asked, "Where do we go after the Newtown school shooting?" 7,525 teens and college students from across the US (all 50 states) entered the contest to voice their opinions about gun rights, gun control, mental health, media influence on violence, school security. Stage of Life® is an award-winning, international, educationally based blogging community of people ranging from teens to Baby Boomers who want to help make the world a better place through writing. Please join us in celebrating our HHS winners, who placed in the top 200 of their writing categories!  Their names and essays are listed below; please be encouraged to visit the website and read some of their thoughts!

1. Essays Calling for No Policy Change

• 1 Jerika Shepherd -- Guns in Evil Hands (Pray for the families hurt by this tragedy)

2. Essays about Media Influence (TV, Video Games, Movies, etc.)

• 1 Jade Stovall -- Gun Control and the Conflicts (Teens should stop listening to violent music and playing violent games)
• 2 John Dunn -- Guns don’t kill people, people kill people(Violent video games make you feel a part of the violence)

3. Essays about Gun Rights/Protection

• 1 Stacee Edwards -- The shooting was a tragedy, but it’s not the guns it’s the people (Guns should not be banned)
• 2 Jenna Dorman -- Our Rights (We should keep the right to bear arms)
• 3 Catyln Mann -- Reason is Protection (There should be a limited number of guns per household)

4. Essays About School Security

• 21 Brandy Cauthen -- Gun Control (Armed officers should stand at every entrance to every school)
• 24 Sarah Wood -- The Gun does not Control the Shooter (Students should have an anonymous way to report suspicious activity)
• 27 Abby Stephenson -- Look Behind the Trigger (She highly doubts gun control will work)
• 32 Shannon Taylor -- No it is not because of a gun; it is the psychotic person (Schools should have stronger security)
• 37 Jordan Roll -- Guns don’t kill, people do (Students should be searched upon entering school)

5. Essays about Gun Control

• 87 Brianna Hebert -- Limitations of Gun Control (People shouldn’t be able to handle guns before they are 21)
• 91 Austin Norris -- Gun Control (Bad background checks mean that people shouldn’t get guns)
• 92 Maitlyn Barton -- Guns do not fire without a person behind it (This teen suggests limitations to gun ownership)
• 96 Wesley Allen -- Guns are not Evil (Guns should not be permitted in public places)
• 97 Anqunese Bennett -- What’s new to gun laws (Assault weapons belong on the battlefield)
• 99 Jenice Foster -- The Shooting (Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have guns)
• 101 Jessica Sexton -- Guns should be restrained, not detained(“Americans have taken the inch given to them with the second amendment and ran for miles with it”)
• 103 Jonah Vitollo -- How many massacres does it take? (There have been too many shootings in the US)
• 105 Brittany Hurley -- Guns are not evil, people are (Not all guns should be restricted, but some should)
• 111 Shutarra Williams -- We shouldn’t kill (Only cops should carry guns)
• 112 Sara Killough -- People are evil, guns are not (There’s not much we can do besides enact laws to try to prevent violence)
• 113 Randale Harris -- Another tragedy that will never be forgotten (“Get right with God, because you don’t know when your time is coming”)
• 114 Colby Searight -- Limitations on Firearms for the Tragedy in Newtown (Guns are problematic machines)
• 117 Madison Lancer -- Not the guns, the people (People must better understand guns)
• 122 David Rogers -- And the key to preventing it (Stricter gun laws and more security in schools)
• 123 Courtney Chandler -- Gun Control (Teachers should have guns in their desks)
• 124 Gabby Lee -- Guns don’t kill people (Guns may make you feel safe, but they can also do a lot of harm)
• 125 Cassidy Balkcom -- A Tragedy (Military style weapons should be restricted)

LHS Students to Attend Youth Tour

Congratulations Jon Hayden Sanders, Amanda Fang, Virginia Allison and Luke Boyd on being selected to represent Luverne High School at the 2013 Alabama Rural Electric Association’s Youth Tour.  These students competed with other juniors from Pike, Coffee and Crenshaw County and were judged on leadership skills and an essay on “cooperatives.” The tour is March 5-7 at the Renaissance in Montgomery and an interview competition will be held for a chance to participate in the Washington Youth Tour this summer.  Best wishes to our students.

JAG To Move On To State Competition

The Crenshaw County JAG members attended the South District Conference at the Marriot Resort in Opelika, AL this past Tuesday. The students had a wonderful time and once again finished with positive results. Each JAG career association in the county walked away from the competition with two awards..

From Brantley: Katie Colquitt, Matthew Hall, Nastachia Hurst, and Marco Rios won 4th place in the JAG Bowl and Lakordra Downie, Taylor Hancock, Tre-Z'ahn Hibbs, and Dustin Motes placed 3rd in Creative Problem Solving.

From Highland Home: Darren McGhee won 1st place in Public Speaking and Darnell Oliver received 2nd place in Math Skills.

From Luverne: Bronze Green, Kenedi Gregory, Frank Harris, and Zaria Wilson won 1st place in the JAG Bowl and Michael Pike placed 4th in Employability Skills.

We are very proud of these students as well as the other participants! Each student represented Crenshaw County well and worked very hard on  all of the competitive events!  Darren McGhee and the two JAG Bowl teams will move on the compete at the State Competition on April 1st!  Once again, thank you to the JAG participants for making Crenshaw County proud!

New Diploma FAQs Posted

The New Diploma WebEx (Feb 19-20, 2013), PowerPoint with notes, and the most recent version of the New Diploma FAQs has been posted and may be accessed at:

http://www.alsde.edu/general/New_Diploma_FAQs_Revised_2-22-13.doc

http://www.alsde.edu/general/New_Diploma_Requirements_Feb_19-20_2013_WebEx.pptx

https://alsde.webex.com/alsde/k2/j.php?ED=216414007&UID=0&HMAC=b1fa268e51df951094d829503d3dbcdf55f95d7c&RT=MiM3

High School Graduation Rates and the Path to Prosperity

How does Alabama stack up when it comes to producing high school graduates?  Last month, the U.S. Department of Education released the first report using a new method of calculating high school graduation rates. PARCA has analyzed and mapped the data to compare Alabama with other states. This analysis also explores the relationship between educational attainment in states and median household income. Read the full analysis here. Reading advances; Math needs additional help  When you measure performance, Alabama schools don't measure up in math.                                                                                          Click image for larger version The 2011 National Assessment of Education Progress found Alabama's 4th graders barely beating out Mississippi students, who posted the lowest scores among the 50 states. Alabama 8th graders tied their Mississippi competitors for last place in the U.S. But Alabama is not doomed to remain at the bottom. Earlier this month at PARCA's Annual Meeting, Executive Director Jim Williams presented the evidence that Alabama elementary students have bolted from the back of the pack in reading. Alabama 4th graders are now reading at the national average.      Click here for more about Alabama's improvements in reading and lingering challenges in math.    Closing the achievement gap      Alabama may seem at a disadvantage when competing with other states because of its relatively high poverty rate. In Alabama and across the nation, students from poverty backgrounds score between 20 and 30 percentage points below their more affluent peers on standardized tests. However, PARCA's school-by-school analysis of the state's ARMT scores shows that demographics don't determine its destiny. Many schools in Alabama are beating the odds.                                 To measure performance, PARCA uses the percentage of students at each school that score at Level IV on the state standardized tests. In effect, that's the                                Click image for larger version percentage of students earning an 'A' on the tests.        Research presented by Williams highlighted high-poverty schools that are posting results that are among the best in the state.Research Coordinator Joe Adams pointed to high poverty schools that have made big gains in performance in recent years, demonstrating the progress public schools are making in closing the achievement gap.

Congratulation Marisa Shepard

Marisa Shepard of HHS is a finalist for the Bryant-Jordan Achievement Scholarship. Marisa, along with four guests, will be attending the banquet in Birmingham on April 8.  Congratulations Marisa.

BHS Student Council Seek Funds for Leukemia

Brantley Student Council is collecting change through the month of February for Pennies for Patients, a campaign for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  LLS's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma and to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.  Change boxes were sent home with each elementary student the first week in February.  Students were asked to collect spare change through out the month.  Personal donations in cash or check can also be made.  Donations and change will be accepted through next week.  Pictured are Student Council officers (L to R) Erica Daniel, president; Stefan King, treasurer; Wesley Person, vice president; Lauren Johnson, secretary.  

LHS Spelling B Winners

Congratulations to LHS Spelling B winners.  They are:  Autumn Bullock, JiHee Choi,  and Marcus McLeod.

Congrats to HHS Poetry Writers

Congratulations to juniors Austin Norris and Dana Moore, students of Ms. Rebecca Sims, at Highland Home School, on winning Poetry Certificates of Merit in the 2013 Alabama Writer’s Forum High School Literary Arts Awards. The Alabama Writer's Forum recognizes young writers, grades 9-12, and their teachers and schools each year for their work in creative nonfiction, drama, fiction, and poetry. Both are invited to attend a ceremonial luncheon at the Old Archives Chamber in the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery on March 13, 2013. Afterwards, they are invited to speak and be photographed with Alabama legislators on behalf of arts education across the state. Please join us in celebrating our two newest Young Alabama Writers!”

Austin Norris and Dana Moore

Three to Final Four

The Luverne Boys', Brantley Girls', and Brantley Boys' basketball teams all claimed regional championships this weekend!  The teams will all play this Tuesday in Birmingham.  Respectively, tip times are 1:30 PM, 3:00 PM and 4:30 PM.  Congratulations to all!  Click below for brackets.

Girls Brackets
Boys Brackets

BHS Girls

BHS Boys

LHS Boys

Roundballers Take On the Ambassadors

Five-star family entertainment was enjoyed by all in Samuel M. Carr Gymnasium this past Saturday night.   The Crenshaw County Roundballers, who were mostly CCBOE employees, gave the Harlem Ambassadors all they wanted.  Trust me, it was closer than the 30 point deficit; okay, maybe not.  Words almost elude me as how to describe our colleagues, but here are  a few:  spontaneous (dance moves improv style, or was that Gangnam style...no, no, it was "Hawth" style... yes, it is surely the new dance craze), humorous (one of newest employee pantsed, or is that shortsed, their 6' 9" big man),  and athletic (seem to recall a few NBA threes...we were not afraid to "fire it up").   

Thanks to our guys and gals who so willingly gave back to the community.  All proceeds from the event will be used to award 5 scholarships to Crenshaw County students this spring.  The event was sponsored by the Luverne Kiwanis Club.  Thanks Mr. Pittman and LHS for hosting the event.

Left to Right:  Andrew Kilcrease, Ashley Kilcrease, Kemp, Romeq Harris, Bridget Free, Jessica Andrews, Titus Averett, Andre Parks, Les Sanders,
John Hoffman, AZ Burnett, and Dodd Hawthorne

The Officials For Tonight's Game
Coach Doug Brown, Coach Joe Proctor, and
Locker Room Employee Tom Pinkston (Coach Pinkston)

A Star is Born

Why You Should Not Text

Our friend, "from lofty heights" (AKA Mr. Tony Stallworth) shared this with me.

Why I Don't Text

A wife texts her husband on a cold winter morning: 

"Windows frozen, won't open."

The husband texts back: 

"Gently pour some lukewarm water over it."

Five minutes later the wife texts back: 

"Computer really messed-up now."

HOSA's List to Nationals Finalized

Congratulations to the following students for making Nationals:

• Creative Problem Solving-  Mallory Jones, Morgan Taylor, Jon Hayden Sanders, & Luke Boyd
• HOSA Bowl- Morgan Baines, Edwinna Johnson, Taylor Grant, Shakia Brantley
• Career Health Display- Janae Lowery & Briana Odom
• Pin Design- Amanda Fang 

Nationals will be hosted in Nashville this summer.  Please support their fundraising efforts as they occur.

HOSA Recognized by Board this Past Monday Night

BHS Spelling B Winners Announced

Kudos to our BHS Spelling B winners.  They are:

• 1st place - John Ross Folmar
• 2nd place - Ashlynn Rayburn
• 3rd place -  Gracie Smith 
• 4th place -  Emory Bush

Sub Bus Drivers To Get Increase

The Crenshaw County Board of Education approved  an increase for substitute bus driver rate-of-pay from $17.50 per morning or afternoon route to that of $25.  Effective date for said increase is March 1, 2013.

100 Apps Every Educator Should Be Familiar With

When it comes to searching for educational apps to install on your iPad, it feels like you get drowned in an avalanche of apps and resources from which you emerge empty-handed. Everyday new apps go viral and to keep up with the updates in this field is really a daunting challenge. Thankfully, there are many trusted educational resources where educators and teachers can get to discover and learn about new  useful apps to use in education.  Read More