Colleagues,

In our one-year edition edition of Inside FWISD, you will find information about:

• FWISD To Dedicate I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA
• Gold Seal Applications Due Friday
• FWISD Remembers President George H.W. Bush
• Former TABS Student Becomes UNT’s Youngest Known Ph.D Graduate
• District Advises Employees of Email Phishing Scam
• New Area Elementary School Named for FWISD Educator June Davis
• Board Extends Superintendent’s Contract
• Ask Elsie: Does the District Plan to Upgrade or Replace Aging Portables?
• This Week in FWISD Photos

And more stories and information about and for FWISD employees 

Young male students from Fort Worth ISD rap about their aspirations to graduate high school and college in a new music video titled G.O.A.L.S. (Greatness Overcomes All Life’s Obstacles.)

Written by Thomas Mayfield, a fifth-grade teacher at FWISD’s Leadership Academy at Como Elementary School, the music video also features some District male educators and mentors.  Dressed in black tuxes with red bow ties, the students featured in the video tout that they’re more than their circumstances and that attending the country’s top universities is where they aspire to be one day.

“I’m more than video games and broken dreams, more than your thoughts or your opinions,” one student says in the video’s opening sequence. “I’m what success looks like before the wrapping is torn because greatness overcomes all struggles.

Check out the G.O.A.L.S. music video below.

Are you a Fort Worth ISD teacher interested in reviewing instruction materials and making recommendations for districtwide adoptions?

Nominations are currently being accepted for the Fort Worth ISD Instructional Materials Advisory Committee.

The committee will begin meeting January 10 to review the following areas:

• English & Spanish Language Arts and Reading; Kindergarten – Grade 2
• English & Spanish Language Arts and Reading; Grade 3 – Grade 5
• English Language Arts and Reading; Grade 6 – Grade 8
• Spanish Language Arts and Reading; Grade 6
• Handwriting; Kindergarten – Grade 2
• Handwriting; Grade 3 – Grade 5

Candidates must meet the following criteria:

Educators interested in being considered for the committee are encouraged to email the required aforementioned information to maria.phillips@fwisd.org and susan.hyman@fwisd.org by December Wednesday, December 5.

Nominees will be notified of their status by mid-December.

For more details, call 817-814-2465. 

Colleagues—

In our latest edition of Inside FWISD, you will find information about:

• Gold Seal Application Help Sessions Continue December 3-7
• FWISD Stakeholders Survey Underway Until December 21
• Adopt A Child From Early Learning’s Angel Tree
• FWISD Schedules Additional Flu Clinic December 5
• Registration Still Open for Conference on the Education of Hispanics
• Ask Elsie
• This Week in FWISD Photos

And more stories and information about and for FWISD employees 

The O.D. Wyatt Alumni Association needs help contacting former faculty members for its 50^th anniversary celebration next spring.

The event “Past, Present … the Legacy of Wyatt Nation,” slated for April 13, 2019, will recognize former principals, faculty and students. 

Alumni members are looking to involve past educators in the celebration and need their mailing addresses to notify them of the event.

Former school faculty or individuals with information on how to contact them are encouraged to email Mary Wahle Balch, a O.D. Wyatt Alumni Association board member, at mbalch@att.net.  

The following communication is from the Early Learning Department

Adopt an angel today at: www.fwisd.org/angeltree

The Fort Worth ISD Communications Department is resuming its website open lab training sessions for campus web managers.

Five Blackboard open lab sessions are scheduled through Friday, December 14 at the Board Conference Room, 2903 Shotts St.

The scheduled sessions include:

• 1-4 p.m. Friday, November 16; November 28 and December 14
• 3-7 p.m. Wednesday, November 21 and December 5

The labs are open to Web managers appointed by their campus principals. Attendees must bring their own laptop to open lab sessions.

Attendees will be trained on the use of the Blackboard content management system, how to update faculty pages and calendar items and upload pictures to campus webpages.

Web managers interested in attending a session must email Thomas Ketchersid, web communications coordinator, at thomas.ketchersid@fwisd.org, no later than one day prior to the scheduled lab to reserve a seat.

For more details, visit www.fwisd.org/websitetraining.

The following communication is from the Fort Worth Public Library:

On Tuesday, December 4 the University of North Texas Special Collections Department, the TCU Press and the Fort Worth Public Library will host a book signing and discussion with accomplished local journalist Bobbie Wygant. 

The free event will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Tandy Lecture Hall  at the Fort Worth Central Library, 500 W. Third St.

Ms. Wygant will discuss her memoir, Talking to the Stars: Bobbie Wygant’s Seventy Years in Television. She will share stories about her experiences, and also her observations on how television broadcasting has changed during her career.

Colleagues—

In our latest edition of Inside FWISD, you will find information about:

• FWISD Recognizes 2018-2019 Chairs of Teaching Excellence
• Dr. Scribner Named Communicator of the Year
• Support SHHS Alum Tylan Wallace In Bid For College Football’s Biletnikoff Award
• Adopt A Child From Early Learning’s Angel Tree
• Thanksgiving Week Details
• Ask Elsie: Has the District Considered Adding a Fall Break?
• This Week in FWISD Photos

And more stories and information about and for FWISD employees 

 Inside FWISD will resume Thursday, November 29.

Freezing temperatures are here to stay through mid-morning Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.  

A freeze warning is in effect for north and central Texas from 6 p.m. Monday to 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to the weather service.  Temperatures are expected to dip into the mid to low 30s with wind chills in the upper teens tonight.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service are encouraging residents to turn off sprinklers to prohibit the formation of ice patches on roads, sidewalks and driveways.  Additionally, people are encouraged to protect their plants, cover exposed pipes and ensure people and outdoor pets have warm shelter.

Tuesday’s forecast is sunny with a high of 41. Below-freezing temperatures are in the forecast Tuesday and Wednesday nights.