Past TTHS Articles
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Student attendance nets bonuses for 62 Fort Worth schools
By Cynthia L. Garza Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH - Sixty-two Fort Worth schools received more than $340,000 in incentives Monday for increasing their student attendance last year. Federal and state money that goes to school districts is tied to average daily attendance rates, so if too many students are absent, a district can lose money. New Lives School, which serves pregnant and parent teen-agers, got the biggest incentive, nearly $20,000, for its attendance increase of nearly 4 percent. Because of their situations, many of these teens might be more likely to put school on hold to deal with things such as family emergencies or doctor's appointments, said school Principal Evelyn Collins. School officials dangled incentives, such as gift certificates and baby clothes, to get the students to come to school regularly. "They have a lot of things going on in their lives, and we have to keep them focused on school and on their child," Collins said. Schools decide how they will use the award money. Collins said the money New Lives received will be used for student incentives for the upcoming year and for items for the school nursery, where mothers drop off their children while attending school. Incentive money Other schools that received more than $10,000 in incentive money: • Trimble Tech High School: $16,896 • Paschal High School: $13,720 • William James Middle School: $11,813 • Western Hills High School: $11,141 |
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Trimble Tech grad begins pro career By Carlos Mendez Star-Telegram Staff Writer Trimble Tech graduate Yovani Gallardo has no complaints about professional baseball so far, aside from a few jitters. "They scored one off me the first inning the first time I threw," he said. "I was nervous." Gallardo, a second-round draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in June, made his professional debut last week with the Arizona Brewers in the Arizona Rookie League. He struck out four in two innings, allowing one run and no walks. He is scheduled to pitch again Friday. "It's going pretty good," he said. "I'm really enjoying it." Gallardo signed in early July with the Brewers, agreeing to a $725,000 signing bonus, according to his agent, Bobby Witt. Gallardo, who had signed a letter of intent with TCU, said it was not a difficult decision to sign a professional contract. "It was something I was really looking forward to," Gallardo said. "I wanted to get started right away. They knew that I wanted to get started and start playing." Gallardo said the Brewers are not rushing him. He expects to pitch about once a week, two to three innings at a time. "I tried to throw strikes. I threw fastballs," he said. "The first batter got a base hit off me. I was a little nervous. I think I tried to do too much. I settled down in the second inning and did a lot better. I should be a lot more comfortable for my second start." The Brewers and Rangers are among the major league teams with entries in the Arizona Rookie League, the lowest level of the minor leagues. "It's a lot different," Gallardo said of pro ball. "It's better competition, I'll tell you. Some of the hitters are pretty tough." |
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Perry tours Trimble's dropout prevention lab By MARTHA DELLER Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH - Miriam Reza acknowledges that she didn't take school seriously when she started at Trimble Technical High School. Before long, she had failed so many classes that she considered dropping out. Instead, Reza enrolled in her school's credit recovery program and completed most of her graduation requirements. She now expects to graduate in May and pursue a nursing career. On Thursday, Reza, 17, introduced Gov. Rick Perry, who visited Trimble Tech to promote his dropout prevention plan and tour what he considers a model program to keep students in school. Perry praised Reza and other students who are taking advantage of the PLATO® software lab, the computer-assisted program that allows them to make up lost credits at a much faster pace than is possible in regular classes. "The first lady is also a nurse," Perry told Reza. "She'd also be very proud." Perry's dropout prevention program is part of his $200 million education proposal, which he said will be financed mostly with federal money. His other proposals include early childhood and technology education. He said keeping students in school is important for the state's future because dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, earn less, live in poverty and collect welfare payments than high school graduates. Perry toured Trimble Tech's PLATO lab, where he talked briefly with 14 students working individually to finish classes they need to graduate. "The PLATO program is doing great," Perry said. "Places like Trimble Tech are an example of what we can do if teachers, parents and the community focus on making a difference." Perry was accompanied by Felipe Alanis, the new state education commissioner who helped cut the dropout rate in Odessa when he was superintendent there. Perry said he has asked Alanis to establish a dropout prevention division with existing personnel at the Texas Education Agency to help districts develop programs to keep students in school. That would include sharing information about successful programs with other districts. The state reports that 23,457 students dropped out during the 2000-2001 school year. While critics say the state underestimates the number of dropouts, Perry said he is more concerned about prevention programs than about statistics. "Hopefully we can come up with a measurement that we all can agree with," Perry said. "But I'm more concerned about concrete programs to help real students. "Miriam is a real face with a real future because of what we did." |