Month: November 2011

2nd Six Weeks – By the Numbers

The decrease in enrollment became even more evident during the second six weeks. Although we had a great attendance percentage (over 96% for the district), we simply do not have enough students right now to generate the revenue that was used to build our 2011-2012 budget. Below you can see the numbers through the 2nd six weeks.

Budget
vs. Payment vs. Actual 2011-2012
Difference
Earned (Est.) Budget Earned v. Budget
ADA 1357.3337 1378.276 -20.9423
High School
ADA		 369.721 399.689 -29.968
SE FTE 45.9067 47.339 -1.4323
Mainstream
ADA		 35.453 41.949 -6.496
CATE 54.884 55.941 -1.057
GT Students 50.5 56.167 -5.667
Comp 1081 1072.8 8.2
Bilingual 10.24 8.893 1.351
Reg Block $6,013,568 $6,099,522 -$85,954
SE $930,298 $989,835 -$59,537
CATE $383,801 $391,044 -$7,243
GT $31,103 $34,612 -$3,509
Comp $1,119,916 $1,110,992 $8,924
High School
Allotment		 $101,673 $109,914 -$8,241
Bilingual $5,306 $4,605 $701
Trans $147,504 $147,504 $0
Total Tier I $8,733,169 $8,888,028 -$154,859
Less Local $5,100,455 $5,100,455 $0
Tier I $3,632,714 $3,787,573 -$154,859
Tier II $313,959 $325,466 -$11,507
Additional
State Aid For Tax Reduction		 $390,877 $384,938 $5,939
Staff
Allotment		 $49,500 $49,500 $0
$4,387,050 $4,547,477 -$160,427
Less
Available		 $339,056 $339,056 $0
Total
Foundation School Fund		 $4,047,994 $4,208,421 -$160,427
Available
School Fund		 $339,056 $339,056 $0
Tech $0 $0 $0
EDA $0 $0 $0
Total State Aid $4,387,050 $4,547,477 -$160,427

The two areas with the biggest differences are in the Regular Program and Special Education. Overall, we are currently earning about $160,000 less than what was budgeted. However, with adjustments to the budget and the use of Instructional Materials Allotment, we have currently made up this difference and are once again operating with at least a balanced budget.

At this time, our enrollment has stabilized around 1430. We will continue to monitor the budget situation carefully and make any other necessary adjustments. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at cholcombe@eustaceisd.net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Week

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break! Counting today, we have 15 days left in the first semester. Those 15 days will go by fast!

This Week

Monday – MS basketball – girls at Teague & boys v. Teague – 5:00

Tuesday – HS boys and girls basketball at Fruitvale – 4:30

Thursday – MS All Region Band; Varsity girls basketball at Teague Tournament; JV boys at Grand Saline Tournament; Varsity boys at Cedar Creek Lake Tournament

Friday – Varsity boys at Cedar Creek Lake Tournament; Soccer at Sunnyvale

Saturday – Varsity boys at Cedar Creek Lake Tournament

I hope everyone has a great week!

 

WatchKnowLearn – Free Videos

via Engaging the Digital Natives by Jerri Davis

WatchKnowLearn is a great site with thousands and thousands of free videos organized into a directory categorized into subject areas. All videos included in this directory were based on teacher suggestions. All videos include titles, descriptions, age level suggestions, and ratings. WatchKnowLearn resources include videos from YouTube, Google, Hulu, National Geographic, and various other sites.

WatchKnowLearn offers high quality videos that are kid safe. The videos cover all subject areas covering grades PreK to 12. WatchKnowLearn requires no registration and is free to teachers for classroom use and to students for home use.

WatchKnowLearn is definitively worth spending time and finding the perfect videos.

Football Honors, EASA, and Happy Thanksgiving

Several members of the Eustace Bulldogs received all-district honors. Below is the complete list:

EUSTACE
1ST TEAM 1 Fr. DL #64 Zach Hughes
2 Jr. TE #88 Ramon Ramirez
3 Jr. RB #33 Tyler Folsom
4 Sr. OL #54 Caleb Wonhas
5 Sr. RB #8 Jacob McCarter
6 Sr. DB #8 Jacob McCarter
7 Sr. LB #55 Justyn Warner
2ND TEAM 1 Soph DB #4 Steven Stine
2 Jr. OL #52 Kyle Purselley
3 Sr. OL #66 Ethan Tennyson
4 Sr QB #3 Jordan Foote
5 Sr. DL #56 Preston Amason
6 Sr TE #25 Josh Dunn
7 Sr. DB #2 Tyson Oliver

In addition, Blake Ward was named Defensive Player of the Year and Raymond Shutak was named Co-Lineman of the Year! Congratulations to each of these players! These honors are well deserved!

The EASA 5th and 6th grade football team made it all the way to the Superbowl this year. The Superbowl game was played this past Saturday. Although they came up a little short in the score, they had a great year! Congratulations to all the players and coaches for their hard work and dedication! Also, a special thanks to all the cheerleaders and their sponsors for all the work they did throughout the football season!

EISD will be dismissing school at 1:30 today. There will be no school the remainder of the week in observance of Thanksgiving. I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Football and This Week

Congratulations to the Bulldog football team on a great season!! The Bulldogs finished 10-2 on the year. They lost a hard fought area championship game against Melissa last Friday, 19-10. I want to thank all the players and coaches for their dedication, determination, and effort throughout this football season. Since August 1, these young men have represented EISD with dignity and class. They gave all they had throughout the season.

I want to also thank all the people that came out to support the Bulldogs last Friday and throughout this football season. We had a great crowd Friday night and they supported the Bulldogs all the way to the end. A special thank you goes to the parents/guardians of our football team for their dedication this season.

I also want to thank the cheerleaders and band for all the time and effort they put in during this football season. They just did a great job throughout the season. A special thank you goes out to the parents/guardians of the cheerleaders and band for their dedication this season.

This Week

This is a short week. We will be on regular schedule Monday and will be on early release schedule Tuesday.

Monday – MS basketball – boys at Malakoff, girls v. Malakoff – 5:00; HS girls basketball v. Kemp 5:00

Tuesday – Early Release – classes will be dismissed at 1:30; HS boys at Mabank Classic

Wednesday – No classes

Thursday – Thanksgiving

Friday – No classes

Monday, November 28, classes resume at regular time.

I hope everyone has a great week!

MS MovieMaker Versions and Considerations

Following is a response to a Technology Interest Group email discussion on this subject and may receive additional edits or updates as appropriate.

There are actually about 3 main versions of MS MovieMaker  – not counting “Live” which so far everyone here has agreed to discount. Two of them can work on XP or Win7 netbooks and each has their strong points as well as caveats to consider for use on Win7 workstations as well. The info below is largely off the top of my head (if an inaccuracy is found, let me know and I’ll attempt to correct it):

 

1.       MovieMaker XP (I THINK it’s official tag is something like MM2.0)

a.       Works reasonably on Atom (preferably 1.66ghz) processor laptops

b.      Includes webcam capture

c.       DVD production features not included (if I recall correctly)

d.      “Hack” available to put this version on Vista or Win7

i.      webcam capture would be the reason for using this hack

ii.      Hacked version CAN run alongside other MM versions

2.       MovieMaker Vista (real tag might be something like MM6)

a.       MOST POWERFUL VERSION OVERALL – use this one if your workstation can handle it but not on netbooks

b.      DVD production features included (as I recall)

c.       HiDef capabilities included (as I recall)

d.      More transitions and effects than XP (as I recall)

e.      “Hack” available to put this version on Win7 with compatible hardware

i.      Superior features to MM “Live” being the reason for this hack

ii.      Hacked version can run alongside other MM versions

3.       MovieMaker 2.6 – Think of it as MM Vista modified (dumbed-down)- chronologically this one is third but logically it belongs between the other two

a.       Has most features of Vista version EXCEPT HiDef (& maybe some effects) which has been removed to be compatible with more hardware, including Win7 netbooks

b.      This is the one you can download from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=34

c.       DVD features and (possibly) additional transitions & effects might be reasoning for possibly using this on XP (if I’m recalling that part accurately)

 

I’m not saying netbooks are video production machines – any class that specializes in that should not plan on them as a vehicle – but they are serviceable in producing routine video submissions for core classes and others where intense technical artistry are not the point.

Area Championship Game Tonight

Tonight, the Eustace Bulldogs will take on Melissa in the area championship football game. The game will be played at John Kincaid Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30. I encourage everyone to come out and support the Bulldogs. The drive to the stadium is only about 63 miles via 175 and Interstate 20. The EHS cheerleaders and the Mighty Bulldog Marching Band will be lending their support and providing entertainment as well. Below is a map that details the location of the stadium.