Posted on Jul 6, 2010 | Tagged in: Friendswood ISD , education
Friendswood Independent School District is making some attendance policy changes for the 2010-2011 Student Handbooks.
“The biggest changes are for elementary and intermediate,” Deputy Superintendent Sherry Green said at the FISD Board meeting on Tuesday, June 8.
“High school and junior high take attendance by period and elementary and intermediate don’t do that,” Green said. “What we’ve done is we’ve added a part of day attendance procedure that is going to be brand new that we know we’ll get phone calls on.”
The changes boil down to tougher part of day absence rules, which according to both teachers and administration, are out of hand. The students will now only be allowed three parts of day absences per semester (9 week period) and on the fourth part of day absence, lunch or after school detention will be given to the student.
“Part of the day absence is coming 20 minutes after the tardy bell rings, or picking your child up 20 minutes before the end of the day. These are un-excused,” Green said. “Doctor’s appointments, being sick, those things don’t count. These are un-excused personal business.”
Posted on Jun 25, 2010 | Tagged in: honors , Friendswood ISD , education
The Friendswood Independent School District is again earning attention for its outstanding schools with the most recent focus on Friendswood High School, just ranked among Newsweek magazine’s list of America’s Best High Schools 2010.
Newsweek selects the best high schools in the country each year, based on the hard work of school staffs and their challenge to students with advanced placement college level course and tests. This year, just over 1,600 schools – only 6 percent of all public schools in the United States made the list.
Friendswood High School was developing its AP program less than 10 years ago, and today, according to the magazine, the percentage of students enrolled in the AP courses compared to the number of seniors, earned the school its coveted ranking.
The Friendswood Independent School District reports that what Newsweek did not measure that is equally important, is how well students perform on the exams.
An impressive 77.4 percent of the total of Friendswood High School AP test takers (831) earned a 3 or better on the AP exams, thus qualifying to place out of college level classes.
Friendswood Junior High artist, Brooke Bartholomew has been named as a named a regional finalist for her entry into this year’s “Doodle 4 Google” contest. Making it to the Top 40 isn’t too shabby for a nationwide contest with more than 33,000 entries!
Doodle 4 Google is a competition open to K-12 students of US schools to create their own Google doodle inspired by the theme, ”If I could do anything, I would…” Bartholomew’s theme is “…Repair All the Worlds Breaks”.
Google simultaneously announced the regional winners across the 40 locations of their finalists. To win the contest, the artists must receive online votes. From May 18-25 the public can vote online for their favorite doodle.
Her Top 40 status was announced in an FJH assembly hosted by a Google representative who explained the importance and many uses of the internet. Google also handed out shirts to the students with their classmates winning doodle and presented Brooke with a life-size copy of her design.
Posted on May 4, 2010 | Tagged in: Friendswood ISD , education
Two Friendswood students were honored at the 2010 ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair held in San Antonio at the Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center. Madeline Landon, a 10th grade student at Friendswood High School, received first place in her environmental sciences and analysis category and Gabriella Quintana, a ninth grade student received honorable mention in the same category.
With more than 1,100 entries, it was an honor to be selected to compete, but to achieve first place requires true skill and knowledge in their field. Senior division Grand Prize winners received all-expense paid trips to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair May 9–14 in San Jose, Calif.
Posted on Apr 6, 2010 | Tagged in: events , education
On Saturday, April 18th, the FISD Alumni Association is teaming up with the Friendswood Chamber of Commerce and hosting the 2nd Annual F.I.G. Festival Fun Run on Saturday, April 18th at 8:00am. This is our only annual fundraiser. The proceeds from the Fun Run will benefit both the Friendswood Chamber of Commerce and two deserving high school seniors.
The FISD Alumni Association was formed in 2001 as an extension of the FISD Education Foundation. Our function is two-fold. The primary objective is to raise money to provide deserving Friendswood High School seniors with college scholarships. At the May 2008 school board meeting, we were very pleased to present graduating seniors Ryan Berry and Brooke Brantley with these scholarships. Our second objective is to be a source of information and communication for all Friendswood alumni.
To become a F.I.G. Festival Fun Run sponsor and receive great benefits including your name or company name on the back of the F.I.G. Fest Fun Run t-shirt, in all advertising for the F.I.G. Festival and Fun Run, and on the sponsorship board displayed at the Fun Run, please fill out a sponsor form and make your $200 donation to either the FISD Alumni Association or the Friendswood Chamber of Commerce. For questions or comments visit the chamber website and view upcoming events at www.friendswood-chamber.com, email the chamber at fwdchmbr@swbell.net or call 281-482-3329.
Posted on Mar 1, 2010 | Tagged in: Friendswood ISD , education
Tech-savvy West Ranch parents interested in keeping up with their Friendswood I.S.D. students will find recent updates in New Media useful for staying informed. In addition to maintaining their consistently updated Web site and newsletter, Friendswood I.S.D. now has a Twitter page and YouTube channel for your convenience.
Friendswood I.S.D. launched their Twitter account to help inform the community of events and important news. The YouTube channel has been launched as an outlet that is even of use to students, who can practice communication skills and experiment with technical creativity in a supervised environment.
Follow Friendswood I.S.D. on Twitter @friendswoodisd.
Sign up for the Friendswood I.S.D. newsletter. [http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001PhdQ1BjzXNRjm5Y6hvgaCw==]
Posted on Feb 2, 2010 | Tagged in: education , community
One Friendswood High School Student and former Girl Scout returns as a Daisy Scout Leader.
Kelly Hickman is familiar with the girl scouts as well as the commitment and hard work it takes to succeed. She was a girl scout for 13 years and received the Gold Award – the highest award a girl scout can receive. After graduating from Friendswood High School, this Friendswood native made her way to the University of Texas where she obtained a dual degree in government history and Spanish. Now she plans to take some time and make a difference in young girls’ lives and give back the support and care that was given to her own.
Posted on Jan 26, 2010 | Tagged in: education , community
Something that starts small can often grow big, and that’s the case with ‘The Mustang Spirit Store’ – an online store offering “unique spirit apparel” to the Friendswood community, letting each person show their own Mustang Pride.
Jennifer Burris and Delia Dao, two “Friendswood soccer moms,” were talking during a game one day and had the thought of opening a store for the Friendswood community that would sell items residents could wear displaying their school spirit and show their team pride. What started with a “crazy thought” grew into an online store which launched in April 2009. Inventory is now overflowing their one room space. As Burris put it, “It’s fallen into place. It’s exciting and kind of scary at the same time.”
Posted on Dec 18, 2009 | Tagged in: education , community
All those catalogs everyone gets in the mail, plus phone books, newspapers, school and office papers, magazines, paper back books, and junk mail, but no cardboard please .... these are all what is expected to belong in the recycle bin at FRIENDSWOOD HIGH SCHOOL.
Friendswood High School is working hard to be environmentally friendly. Their recycle bin is there for the whole community to use at no cost. They actually earn money for the paper they collect.
This is one of the easiest ways to support FHS monetarily without taking money out of your pocket. Encourage recyling.
“Thanks so much for recycling with us. We hope you will make it your New Year’s Resolution to be diligent about recycling throughout the year,” FHS Pirncipal Mark Griffon said. The bin is sponsored by the FHS Student Council.
Source: Friendswood ISD e-Newsletter, December 15, 2009
Posted on Dec 4, 2009 | Tagged in: events , education , community
The Friendswood Community recently had the chance to tour the finest Holiday homes from City Hall to gardener’s homes chosen for their Holiday décor. The 43rd Annual Christmas Home Tour, hosted by the Friendswood Heritage Gardeners Club, took place Saturday November 21 and Sunday, November 22. A Bazaar, Bake Sale and raffle started at 10am, with delightful lunch and assortment of desserts served in an old fashioned tea room at high noon. The afternoon followed with a tour of Friendswood homes and gardens dressed to impress for the Holiday season.
The bake sale was a hit, with more than 300 pies and cakes for sale, and the raffle awarded lucky winners with a cash prize of $99, a gourmet food basket and a chiminea donated by H-E-B. Raffle and Bake Sale Chairman Carlotta Garza shared that she baked six cakes, 10 loaves of pumpkin bread, and several dozen homemade macadamia nut cookies. “They sell really well every year,” she said.
This was one of two main fundraising events to support the educational and charitable activities hosted by Heritage Gardeners. Throughout the year the club gathers at their garden center for plant exchanges, field trips, craft workshops, flower shows, luncheons and much more. They even sponsor a garden club for children ages 6-12 where they learn a curriculum developed by Texas A&M and become certified Texas Jr. Master Gardeners.
Heritage Gardeners, Inc. was founded in 1966 and “is dedicated to the horticultural enhancement of home and community.” They are best known for their Christmas and Spring Home Tours. The Spring Home Garden tour will take place the last weekend in April, from 12pm-4pm on Saturday April 24 and 1pm-5pm on Sunday April 25, 2010. The Spring tour will also include a bazaar, raffle and bake sale but will also feature a plant sale and flower show. The cost for the Spring tour is $10 (or $7 advance purchase) and kids 10 and under are free.
For more information on the Home Tours or on Heritage Gardeners Inc. please visit them online at www.heritagegardeners.org
