Board says Diboll schools up .5 percent in attendance

By MARCELLA HERNDON - Staff writer

Diboll ISD Board of Trustee's reported Thursday, November 15, 2007, an increase in student attendance, up by .5 percent. The tracking of attendance is a crucial aspect of determining if students are meeting the required hours of educational instruction.

Teachers in the Diboll school district will soon see the implementation of staff ID badges. School officials say that ID badges for staff will assist in making Diboll schools a safer place. The Board of Trustee's will be scouting the Fall Teacher's Job Fair at SFA, with intentions of filling vacancies within the district.

Charlotte Morris, Diboll ISD Family Literacy Center Director, entertained board members with her presentation of the annually sponsored, "Enviro-Math Summer Camp." "This is the 10th year of Enviro-Math summer camp and it is associated with, Project Learning Tree and Project Wild," said Morris. "Children have a week long experience with nature while incorporating math. The first day we do introductions and on other days we do arts and crafts. We also do woods and crafts, predator and prey games, water safety, canoeing, races, Dutch oven cooking, soil and water testing and much more. The children are taught math skills with environmental activities to assist with TEKS assessment. To find out more about Enviro-Math Summer Camp, please call Charlotte Morris at (936) 829-3744.

Newly awarded "Teacher of the Year" Heather Bergman presented to the board, a model for the continued work on improving students "Core Skills" for TEKS assessments. Bergman identified the 10 weakest TEKS areas for students and the skills needed to master those areas. "Routine assessments will assist in identifying individual weaknesses in students, so that teachers will be able to change or implement new techniques in order to assist students in problem areas," said Bergman.

The board will meet again on Tuesday, November 18, 2007 at 7 p.m.