Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members

Monday, March 7, 2011

Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members

San Antonio

The 4th Annual Education Summit presented by Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members (TCBSBM) was held in San Antonio on Friday, March 4 -- Saturday, March 5, 2011.

In addition to veteran and new Trustees from across the state, the summit hosted national speakers, local/state presenters, superintendents, Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) staff, public school stakeholders, as well as local students and their teachers.

Sylvester Vasquez, President of the Texas Association of School Boards and James B. (Jim) Crow, TASB Executive Director, were in attendance.

Topics, including student achievement, discipline, bullying, communication, redistricting, college readiness among others, engaged summit participants in deep discussions. As would be expected, the topic of school finance was on everyone's mind; Catherine Clark, TASB Finance, was session leader for this discussion.

TCBSBM also awarded five student scholarships.

Trustees will receive professional development credit for attending the sessions.

Thanks to TCBSBM President Josie Smith-Wright, Gonzales ISD, and planning committee for a superb Education Summit.

The early pioneers of the organization (Est. 1978) included three former Dallas ISD Trustees for whom schools have been named: Dr. Emmett J. Conrad (Emmett J. Conrad High School), the first President of the Black Caucus, Kathlyn Joy Gilliam (Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy) and Dr. Yvonne A. Ewell (Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center).

A Teacher's Creed

"In the classroom on the first day of a new school year, I am eager to meet my students. I have rehearsed my greeting and first day’s remarks, but no matter how many years I’ve prepared for this procedure, it’s always new. My heart pumps a bit harder, faster; I feel adrenaline like an athlete, or like an actor, or maybe like a novice public speaker. It’s a marvelous feeling, this first day, because I know that something special is going to happen, and I know it because I’ve experienced it before and I know that I will experience it every time I meet a new class throughout my venerable career. And then they’re seated before me and I smile at this special feeling. This is an assembly of students, yes. But there’s so much more, because each of these young persons is more than just a student entrusted to me. Each of these students has a story to tell, a lifetime, however brief, of experiences, a history in volumes whose richness and depth I can barely begin to fathom. And so as I absorb the first glimpse of these young charges, I must appreciate the extent of my responsibility, of the privilege I’ve accepted in presenting these young souls my special knowledge. In offering them my talent and passion, I am adding an enormous array of new bright stars to the vast firmament of their minds, stars that will never have time to fade in their lifetimes. I will be part of their story. And I know that each of them will always be part of mine. And that’s a good feeling, a feeling that is perpetually renewed, revisited, and rewritten in A Teacher’s Creed."

Carla Ranger - Dallas ISD Education Blog

Monday, March 7, 2011

Texas Caucus of Black School Board Members

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