Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 150, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 19, 1999 Page: 1 of 16
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00/03/10 697 COMF'MW
SOUTHWEST HICROPUBLISHING
2627 E YANDELL DR
EL PASO TX 79903-3743
Clferokeeaij/Rerald
Texas' Oldest, Continuously Published Weekly Newspaper - Established Feb. 27, 1850 as the Cherokee Sentinel
Search &
Rescue
Meet 'Rookie,' the
youngest member of the
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see page 6A
Vol.150, No. 26-16 Pages
Thursday, August 19,1999
Rusk, Texas 75785 25 cents
Accountability ratings released
for Cherokee County schools
Accountability Ratings of All Texas Schools
Exemplary Recognized Acceptable Unacceptable
1999
1998
1,110
1,048
1,842
1,666
3,150
3,365
106
59
I TEA rates Wells High School campus as
exemplary, other county schools 'acceptable'
By Holly Middleton
Cherokeean/Herald writer
Texas Education Agency (TEA) released Campus and District
performance ratings Monday indicating that all public school
campuses in Cherokee County except one received an accredita-
tion status of "academically acceptable."
For the second consecutive year, Wells ISD received the
"recognized" rating and had a campus declared "exemplary"
under TEA standards. Wells High School received the Exem-
plary marks after being recognized the two previous years. The
other WISD campus, Wells Elementary (Pre-K - 8th) was rated
recognized after being rated exemplary last year.
"Repeated successes indicate that academic excellence is
being achieved across the spectrum of grade levels and various
areas of the curriculum," said Dale Morton, WISD superinten-
dent. "Certainly this kind of academic success opens other doors
of opportunity. Because more than half of our exit level students
were exempt by their TAAS scores from TASP test for college
admissions, we were able to implement an on-campus (WHS)
concurrent program with Angelina College last year. As a
result, more than half of this year's high school graduates will
have completed up to 18 hours of requisite college course work."
The superintendent pointed out that three years of perfor-
mance data covers different groups of students within the Wells
school district, which validates the educational programs in
place.
Rusk received across the board ratings of "acceptable" by TEA.
Ricky Hassell, principal of Rusk High School, said, "In reading
and writing we are close to being a recognized campus. Our goal
for this year's sophomore class is to be a recognized campus next
year. I believe that with the efforts of students and teachers this
will happen. We have improved on all three tests this past year."
He pointed to individual test score gains:
1999 1998
Reading 87.4% 84.5%
Math 77.0% 67.0%
Writing 81.0% 80.0%
"One area we still need to work on is attendance, but overall
we are pleased with our progress," he said.
In Jacksonville, Assistant Superintendent Rose Ann
Cunningham indicated the district is pleased with overall TEA
rankings of "acceptable" for all campuses.
"We think with the programs we have in place, JISD will be a
"recognized" district again," she said. "Our goal is to reach the
highest levels possible. We are not there yet, but we expect our
students to achieve that goal.
She said the district's focus is to improve the overall quality of
education through a recently completed curriculum realign-
ment.
"That helped us identify gaps in our curriculum," she said.
"We found that we were not meeting the needs of our high
achieving kids and have addressed that issue."
All school campuses in Alto received "acceptable" accountabil-
Please see ACCOUNTABILITY RANKINGS, page 7A
-Data supplied by the Texas Education Agency
-Cherokeean/Herald graphic
Cherokee County's Accountability Ratings
JACKSONVILLE
1999
1998
1997
High School
Acceptable
Acceptable
<£ow PerfZÜ>
Middle School
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
East Side
Acceptable
Acceptable
Recognized
Intermedite
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
Joe Wright
Acceptable
Acceptable
Recognized
RUSK
High School
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
Junior High
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
Elementary
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
Primary
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
ALTO
High School
Acceptable
Recognized
Acceptable
Middle School
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
Elementary
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
WELLS
High School
Elementary
<3xemplary^>
Recognized
Recognized
Cfxemplar£>
Recognized
Acceptable
NEW SUMMERFIELD
High School
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
Elementary
Acceptable
Acceptable
Acceptable
MHMR budget
shortfall caused
by coding error
Don Gilbert, former Commissioner of
Mental Health and Mental Retardation,
stated last week that he believes a big
part of the $60 million dollar shortfall in
the agency can be traced to a keypunch
error.
Gilbert explained that in his opinion, a
large part of the deficit is attributed to a
$16 million overstate in its annual rev-
enue The budget that will fund MHMR
for the next two years goes into effect
Sept. 1, 1999.
Current estimates are that both the
2000 and 2001 budget years are short $30
million dollars each year.
House Appropriations Committee
Chairman Rob Junnel, D-San Angelo, and
Senate Finance Chairman Bill Ratcliff, R-
Gilmer, have expressed concern that the
shortfall may prevent the availability of
new drugs that greatly reduce a patient's
stay in the hospital. Early indications
make experts believe that patients who
successfully take these drugs will not need
to return to a hospital environment as
long as they continue to take their medi-
cation.
"These new drugs are truly 'wonder
drugs,"' stated Rusk State Hospital Su-
perintendent Harold Parrish.
"What we know," Mr. Gilbert told the
Associated Press last week, "is that $16
million of that (shortfall) is due to the
coding error, just an oversight, a key-
punch error that was not addressed dur-
ing the legislative session."
Agency officials have said they don't
know how much the error factored into
the shortfall. They said the error was
discovered in January and said they men-
tioned the possible problem to the Legis-
lature. The AP reported that no one in the
agency would respond to Mr. Gilbert's
comments.
"It would not be appropriate to specu-
late about others' perceptions of reasons
for the agency's shortfall," spokeswoman
Laurie Lentz told the Austin American
Statesman last week.
"At this time, Texas MHMR awaits the
auditor' findings, and we reserve com-
ment until then," Ms. Lentz said.
Leaders of the budgeting committees in
the Texas House and Senate say they are
reserving judgement until the state audit
is finished later this month. They expect to
be updated on the progress later this week.
"We hope we can find solutions to this
problem, and it's possible we may be able
to find some emergency funds to help cut
down any shortfall," said State Repre-
sentative Todd Staples, R-Palestine who
serves on the Appropriations committee
•and represents Rusk State Hospital.
The agency's budget increased from $1.8
billion this fiscal year to $1.9 billion next
year. MHMR served more than 175,000
Texans with mental retardation or men-
tal illness along with community centers.
The agency announced plans last week
to make up for the shortfall by cutting
back on expansion of medication programs
and increased services at Community
Centers. This proposal drow concern from
both House and Senate financial leaders,
and the audit was begun at their request.
v\ 600 Attend Community-wide Pep Rally
*
L
1
The community got its first glimpse of Rusk High School athletes Friday night during an annual community-wide
pep rally called "Meet the Eagles." More than 600 attended the event, which spotlighted athletes in football,
volleyball, basketball and baseball. The first football scrimmage of the season will be held this Friday in Gladewater.
•see complete photo coverage, page 1B
-Data supplied by the TEA: a Cherokeean/Herald graphic
AISD honors
1999 State
Champions
by Randall Birdsong
Special to the Cherokeean/Herald
During the first board meeting follow-
ing the start of the 1999-2000 school year,
the Alto Independent School District
Board of Trustees presented school board
awards to each member of the 1999 State
AA Girls Softball Championship team,
the Alto Lady Jackets.
Board President Greg Duplichain pre-
sented the individual awards on behalf of
the entire board to Maria Heredia, Laresa
King, Katy Pearman, Monica Morgan,
Monique Thacker, Nakeshia Green, Brit-
tany Thacker, Rhonda Williams, Alison
Liles, Kati Sturrock, Michelle Blakemore,
Stephanie Bailey, Cara Baugh, and
Rheagan Penn.
Coaches Cindy Sessions and Jason
Drake were also presented with awards.
The team received a standing ovation
from the audience and board for their
accomplishment.
Trustees approved Gans and Smith In-
surance as suppliers of property and fleet
insurance for the coming year. Gans and
Smith presented a price of $13,200, which
is $1200 less that the premium for last
year's coverage. The Gans and Smith cov-
erage is an increase in overall coverage
accompanied by a decrease in premium.
Board members approved continuing
participation in the Texas Association of
School Boards Risk Management Fund.
The fund is for unemployment insurance
coverage and is the lowest rate available.
Football ticket sales were discussed. In
order to be fair to season ticket holders
Please see AISD, page 7A
Rusk Council approves motel site, votes to hike taxes
I 1.8-cent tax hike
under consideration
Members of the Rusk city council
voted their intent to increase taxes
Monday night at city hall. A motion
was made by Charles Horton to state
the council's intent for the tax increase.
The council is considering a 1.8 cent tax
hike. Thomas Parsons asked that by
voting this does it mean the council will
have to increase taxes that much and
he was told no by City Manager Mary
Daly.
Gloria Jennings said she needed to
know how much the budget is going to
be and what kind of utility increase is
planned before considering the tax rate.
She was told that the budget was not
finished and proposed utility rates were
not available. "I am not in favor of
giving a city employee a big raise at the
expense of taxpayers," she said.
"I am not either especially if we don't
give the firemen a raise," Mr. Parsons
said.
Vote for the intent to increase taxes
was 5-0 with Mayor Emmett Whitehead
and Council members Walter Session,
Mrs. Jennings, Mr. Parsons and Mr.
Horton voting for the intent. Council-
man Jerry Jordan did not attend the
meeting.
Thecouncil had met Thursday evening,
Aug. 12, at City Hall to hear a report
from Sid Danner, chief appraisal for the
Cherokee County Appraisal District. Mr.
Danner told the council at that time that
the city property values have increased
from $61,854,589 to $63,529,815. If the
city continues with the same tax rate of
57.7 cents, the city will generate $9,666.
The city will be able to increase taxes to
59.5 cents per hundred dollars valuation
without being in danger of roll-back sta-
tus. With that rate the city will generate
Please see TAX HIKE, page 7A
m Last hurdle
cleared for new motel
The Rusk City Council meeting Tues-
day, Aug. 10 approved a contract with
the State of Texas for the purchase of
12.74 acres across Highway 69 from
Rusk State Hospital. Purchase price
was $51,000. The property will be trans-
ferred to the Rusk Economic Develop-
ment Corporation for resale to Brent
and Brenda Duncan for the construc-
tion of a 40 plus room motel.
"You will never know how valuable
Mr. Whitehead has been in this," Mr.
Duncan said. "Mr. (Jim) Perkins
(MHMR board member) also played a
big part in helping us get the land. We
owe them both a big thank you," he
added. He also praised Joe Terrell, chair-
man of the Economic Development Cor-
poration, for his part in the transaction.
Foundation work for the motel is ex-
pected to begin within 30 days and the
motel should open in June 2000.
Lewie Byers, vice-president of the
Rusk Industrial Foundation, requested
that the city assist the Texas State Rail-
road with matching funds for a $12
million grant application. If funded, the
grant will be used to air condition pas-
senger cars at the railroad.
"Palestine has agreed to come up with
half of the matching funds and we hope
our city can do the same," Mr. Byers
said. "If the city can come up with
$20,000, we think the Industrial Foun-
dation can contribute the other $ 13,000,"
he said. "This will help the ridership at
the railroad," he added.
"We might could get $30,000-$40,000
from timber sales on a piece of the prop-
erty donated to the city by the Summers
Estate," Mayor Whitehead said. He
asked the council to authorize the em-
ployment of James Houser, timber con-
sultant, to survey the timber and put it
Please see NEW MOTEL, page 7A
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 150, No. 26, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 19, 1999, newspaper, August 19, 1999; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth152438/m1/1/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.