Lifestyle

   Focusing on improved student outcomes, purposeful professional growth, and collaboration, Matagorda ISD Superintendent Susan Phillips and Assistant Principal Kyle Thurman partnered with Region 3 Educational Service Center (ESC) to adopt a new framework for collaborative professional development called Texas Lesson Study.  
   Texas Lesson Study is inquiry-based, job-embedded professional development that allows teachers to work collaboratively to develop, teach, and assess research-based lessons.  
   In professional learning communities, teachers collaborate to identify a concept that students have difficulty understanding. Teachers then examine educational research to determine best practices and spend weeks skillfully designing an exemplar lesson.  
   After the lesson is taught to students, teacher teams reflect, refine, reteach and plan for intervention and enrichment, to ensure mastery by every student. 

   Howdy all! I hope this finds all of you well and staying dry. There is no point in trying to make some crafty comment about all the water and rain. 
   Water is a gift in many instances but right now most of us are screaming UNCLE! 
   Crops are nearing the time to plant, and we still have cotton stalks standing from last year! Take a little time to read through the items included in this newsletter and if you plan to attend, please call and RSVP.
   Some of the items that will be included in this newsletter will include information pertaining to state-mandated Auxin training. Trainings and training requirements have changed since the 2018 season so don’t let the new changes trip you up. 
   The training is now 2 hours and required for dicamba and Enlist. Matagorda and Wharton have established a training schedule for the spring in which 4 trainings will be held in Matagorda County with 5 trainings occurring in Wharton County. 

   Bay City Junior High hosted a “meet and greet” on February 7th to introduce the new mentor program to both the mentors and students they are mentoring at BCJH.
   Principal Dollie Coleman heartily greeted and introduced her staff: Associate Principal Rudy Rios, and Assistant Principals Deborah Cooper, Dr. Krystal Christenson, Laura Leones and Instructional Dean Jessica Estlinbaum.  
   Coleman next introduced each mentor in attendance, and each told the group a little about themselves. 
   Several of the mentors expressed how much being a volunteer for such a deserving program and its students meant to them on a personal level.  
   A few of the mentors shared that they had been mentored themselves in their younger years, and that their mentors had helped shape and influence their lives.  
   The team-approach among the mentors, their mentees, the BCJH staff and Bay City ISD Police Department was evident at this initial gathering. 

   EDITOR’S NOTE: Cherry Elementary School posted an advisory Feb. 6 about action taken to respond to a possible weapon on campus issue. The following is the school’s post on Facebook.  
   At approximately 2:40 today (Feb.6), a Cherry Elementary fifth grade student reported to front office staff that he had overheard some of his peers state that someone said that there was a weapon on campus. The student could not give any details about who made the statement, or who had the weapon. 
   Principal Dodd immediately contacted the Bay City ISD Police Department, and officers along with Cherry Elementary administrators conducted a swift backpack search in all four of the fifth grade classrooms. During the search, a CO2 BB gun was discovered in one of the backpacks. 
   No bb’s or CO2 cartridges were found. 
   Appropriate disciplinary procedures were implemented swiftly, following the guidelines outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. 

City Council unanimously approved overriding Mayor Mark Bricker’s veto of the ordinance calling three city charter change propositions at a special meeting Tuesday night, Feb. 5. 
   Bricker wasn’t present Tuesday for the override vote, nor did he attend a workshop Monday night to discuss Ordinance No. 1630 that he vetoed. 
   Council Member Becca Sitz had an excused absence Tuesday night. 
   Mayor Pro Tem Chrystal Folse presided over the special meeting with all four council members present voting for the override and setting May 4 election on the propositions back on track. 
   The three charter revision propositions include changing the mayor-council form of government to a council/mayor-city manager government. 

   Time is running out to file for city council, mayor or Bay City school board positions. 
   The deadline to file in the city and school races – and to get their paperwork submitted - is at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15.  
   Mayor Mark Bricker has indicated on Facebook that he does not intend to seek re-election. 
   Recently, however, some council members aren’t sure that he won’t run again. 
   Current Council member, Julie Estlinbaum has filed to run for mayor and was given assurances from Bricker that he wasn’t seeking re-election. 
   Robert Nelson also has filed for the mayoral race. 

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   Commissioners Court approved a resolution Monday to keep in place the 23rd District Court boundaries that include Matagorda, Wharton and Brazoria counties. 
   Brazoria County Commissioners Court earlier passed its own resolution asking the Texas Legislature to remove the 23rd District Court from that county. 
   “This presumably would result in the 23rd District Court serving only Matagorda County and Wharton County,” reads the Matagorda County resolution. 
   “This would cause a severe hardship to the citizens of Matagorda County,” the resolution also said. 
   State Senator Joan Huffman has filed Senate Bill (SB) 414, where Brazoria County would be removed from the 23rd District.