Alief ISD Points of Pride Alief ISD Purchasing Department earned the Texas Association of School Business Officials Award of Merit with Recognized Status for Purchasing Operations. The department was honored for its commitment to professional standards in the acquisition of goods and services. Only 17 districts statewide received the Purchasing Award of Merit with Recognized Status. Districts receiving this designation are considered the most innovative in Texas.

Alief ISD Superintendent of Schools HD Chambers was presented the Golden Apple Award by the Texas Association of Mid-Size Schools (TAMS). Mr. Chambers received this award, which is TAMS’s highest award, for his active role in pushing for graduation plan flexibility and a reduction in mandated testing at the state level. Mr. Chambers is one of only two superintendents in the entire state to ever receive the honor.

Eighteen Kerr High School students’ works were published in the fall/winter 2012 edition of English in Texas , a journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. Submissions from Kerr, which focused on Informational Texts of the 21st Century, accounted for more than 70 percent of the publication’s submissions.

Bush Elementary Principal Gloria Price was selected as a finalist for the 2013 National Distinguished Principal Award by the Texas Elementary Principals & Supervisors Association. Principals serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade are nominated by their peers, employers, faculty members or members of their communities for their commitment to excellence, educational leadership and other criteria. The recipient will be announced in late May.

Eleven Youens Elementary students were awarded certificates for the 2013 Reliant Student Recognition Program. These students were nominated by staff members and were recognized in the areas of Academic Achievement, Most Improved Academic Performance and Outstanding Citizenship.

Landis Elementary transitional/bilingual teacher Laura Pena’s poem was recently featured in the 2013 Texas Poetry Calendar by Dos Gatos Press. Pena has been published in several anthologies and is currently president of Gulf Coast Poets Chapter of the Poetry Society of Texas.

Alief Taylor High School and Principal Dr. Walter Jackson were spotlighted in Dr. Frederick M. Hess’s book, Cage- Busting Leadership . Dr. Hess, who is the resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, researched some of the best instructional practices of school leaders from across the country and highlighted Taylor’s hiring of Reading/English Language Arts teachers to teach struggling learners.

Alief FFA students Eduardo Bustos, Bryan Molina and Uriel Diaz participated in the Calf Scramble competition at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. Bustos came out a winner by catching a calf during the Rodeo Houston performance and will now have the opportunity to purchase, raise and show a heifer or steer of his choice at the 2014 show. Charlotte Sturm showed a Longhorn heifer in the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America Show (TLBAA) and the International Texas Longhorn Association Shows (ITLA). She received first place in class at the TLBAA show and received Grand Champion Heifer at the ITLA show

Alief Learning Center staff members have lost over 243 pounds together as part of the campus’s version of The Biggest Loser . The staff began the wellness initiative since returning from Winter Break.

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