COUNTY LIFE
Forestburg, Saint Jo adopt hybrid form of four-day school week
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Forestburg and Saint Jo Independent School District Board of Trustees both approved a hybrid or blended four-day school week schedule last week, joining other county districts that are making the change in the next year or already using the plan.
Forestburg Superintendent Jason Briles said it has been a long process that began back in January when he offered the board a traditional schedule and a hybrid four-day schedule. Trustees wanted to get community input so the administrators initiated a survey and a public meeting.
During the forum, the survey results with 67 responses showed they preferred the four-day and 27 preferred the traditional. When it was sent to just student parents, 48 prefer four-day and 23 preferred traditional.
The state mandates districts have a calendar with at least 75,600 minutes and the new calendar is 765 minutes below that. Principal Trey Cumby explained they have “front-loaded” the calendar for core subjects with students at school more from August to mid-February when the Friday off schedule begins. They also made an effort to avoid making the school day longer.
Saint Jo ISD adopted a hybrid/blended calendar last week where the district will operate with a five-day week until spring break and then go to four days a week with Friday off.
The district improvement team and administration recommended a hybrid model they feel “is the best fit” for the district. Superintendent Katie Morman said the initial feedback was not in full support of four-day.
As they talked to other schools they did not find a lot of academic impact data. Morman added there were concerns about the district’s high extra-curricular participation and how it could be impacted. All those factors led to the blended calendar as they gather their own data.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
When we were going through my grandmother’s house in Nocona after it sold, I found a few neat keepsakes, but the biggest treasure I thought I had found was her biscuit cutter. I was so excited to show my mother (her daughter) and just knew she would be happy it was found and would still be used after all this time.
My mother, however, had a different thought about my precious biscuit cutter. She said, “Suzanne, you know that biscuit cutter is just an old tomato paste can that has both ends cut out.”
I was still no less delighted with my cutter. I continue to use it today. My husband has bought me vintage, new and fancier cutters, but this cutter is something I go back to time and again.
My Memaw was recruited to be a lunch lady from 1952 to 1958 at Nocona Elementary, back when lunches were cooked, not “fixed.” Lenora Brown Burnett was an excellent cook and everyone knew it. She went on to work at the Nocona Major Clinic kitchen from 1958 to 1969.
You could only use shortcuts if you knew how to do it the long way. That is how I still approach cooking. You can only use a cake mix if you know how to make a cake with lots of ingredients, time and effort.
Read Suzanne’s Love & Luck column in the Thursday Bowie News on the On the Table page.
Top photo – Grandmother’s biscuit cutter and hand written recipes. (Photo by Suzanne Storey)
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
It’s a bitter cold January week, so it must be time for the Montague County Youth Fair, which opens Wednesday running through Saturday.
More than 330 students from across the county will compete in everything from golf ball art work to top dairy goat in this annual event where there are 1,160 entries. Almost every contest saw an increase in entries from the prior year.
Scheduling was still in flux at presstime due to pending weather. Watch the fair’s Facebook page for any late changes.
The All Together Show was moved to 5 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the show barn. It had been set for Thursday.
There were no changes for leadership day on Wednesday at presstime.
Read the full story on the fair in the Thursday Bowie News.
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