FBISD & CBE IN THE MEDIA 1/12/11

Houston Chronicle: Fort Bend ISD chief gets 5-year extension

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7378164.html

Fort Bend Now: Board Extends Jenney's Contract Through 2015

http://www.fortbendnow.com/2011/01/11/49869

Houston Chronicle: Hundreds protest possible Fort Bend school closures

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7376607.html

Fort Bend Herald: FBISD continues rezoning work

http://www.fbherald.com/news/article_2b8e69e4-1dd0-11e0-acfd-001cc4c002e0.html

Fort Bend Star: Fort Bend ISD trustees divided over fate of district

http://www.hcnonline.com/fort_bend/news/article_cd2a4144-637d-5e9d-b727-f29c5e30bda7.html

Fort Bend Now: Willowridge could be safe, for a year

http://www.fortbendnow.com/2011/01/11/49878

Fort Bend Now: Why, Election after Election, Much Remains the Same

http://www.fortbendnow.com/2011/01/06/49801

CBE IN THE MEDIA 1/10/11

Houston Chronicle -- 1/10/11

Parents fight to save elementary school

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7374443.html

BOARD MEETING MONDAY, JAN. 10, 2011

Fort Bend ISD will be meeting again on Monday, January, 10, 2011.

The Colony Bend HOA is again asking all community members who support keeping
Colony Bend Elementary School open to please come again to let the board members
know we are unified in our stance to keep the school for our children. Homemade signs are encouraged and can say simple phrases such as "SOS -- Save our School" or "Keep Colony Bend open!"

Details below.

Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees to Hold Zoning Boundaries Workshop #5 on Monday, January 10, at 6:00 p.m.

FORT BEND ISD ― The Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees will hold a Workshop to discuss zoning boundaries for high schools, middle schools and elementary schools on Monday, January 10, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. The workshop will be held in the Board Room of the Fort Bend ISD Administration Building, located at 16431 Lexington Blvd., in Sugar Land. The public is invited to attend.

The Board Workshop allows FBISD Board Members to review information and discuss zoning needs and options. No decisions are made during Board Workshops, and there is no opportunity for public comment, interaction or questions. The public does, however, have the opportunity to hear what is being discussed and presented to the Board. The Workshop presentation and handouts will be posted on the FBISD website for the public to view the following morning after the workshop.

Immediately following the Workshop, the Board will hold its regular business meeting at 7:00 p.m. All meetings are held in the FBISD Administration Building, 16431 Lexington Blvd, Sugar Land, unless otherwise noted.

Letter from CBE PTO president

Dear All:

Firstly, thanks again to everyone who has been helping out over the last 2 weeks to help save our school ... petitions, surveys, meetings, alternative solutions...it is all very much appreciated.

It was great to see so many parents attend last nights workshop, and we are delighted that the FBISD school board discussed some options to keep the school open.

For those who could not attend last nights meeting, there's a very good news posting summarizing the meeting.

http://www.fortbendnow.com/2010/12/14/49446

A copy of the presentation from the meeting can also be found on the FBISD website.

View Presentation

There are now 3 options that have been discussed

1) re-distribution of CBE students into neighboring schools and closure of CBE (as discussed on the 30th Nov)

2) closure of Lakeview and re-distribution of Lakeview students into Colony Bend and other schools (discussed last night)

(This looks an unlikely option due to its complexity, and to transporting students quite a long way)

3) Continuation of CBE as an elementary school for local students, but also as a GT academy for students in 3rd-5th grade. This would mean 3rd-5th grade students from other schools in the Gifted and Talented program would come to Colony Bend.

Option (3) is very appealing in that it will allow us to stay open as an elementary school, will allow an academy to be set up (allowing students to excel within their focused academy), and it is an option which neighboring schools are most likely to support us with (it does not require a change of zoning for them).

Following the workshop last night, we had the opportunity to present some of our concerns and ideas during the school board meeting. With 3 speakers we had the opportunity to present from the perspective of parents and PTO (myself), concerned citizens (Amy Mitchell) and the home owners (Eric Wey). Many thanks to Amy and Eric for doing a wonderful, eloquent job.

It is important to note that the FBISD school board is still in the planning stages, and we need to continue our campaign to persuade the board to keep the school open.

We will be meeting in early January to continue with the planning for the next stages of our campaign, and we will continue to communicate with the board to ensure that we are heard.

As a follow up to last night's proposal for the GT academy running within CBE, we need to let the FBISD board know that we would welcome that option, and that we are willing to work with them to work out solutions to make this happen.

Please visit the FBISD website and post your comments, or email the school board directly, within the next few days...

http://www.fortbend.k12.tx.us/about/zoningComments.cfm

The more people that applaud this idea, the more weighting we will have.

In the meantime we will continue with our neighborhood survey and petition. The survey currently being conducted by many of our parents will provide some key information about the attendance projections for our school.

Many thanks to all those who are helping with this effort.

We will continue to discuss options on FaceBook etc. so please sign up and post your thoughts and ideas. (details below).

Thanks and regards,

Susy Grilli (Muddimer)
CBE PTO President

............................................................................

More information:

1) Sign our petition - online http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savecbe

2) Stay in tune with the latest updates:

• PTO website: http://www.cbe-pto.org
• The FBISD website: http://www.fortbend.k12.tx.us
• Our Face Book group (CBE Eagles)
• Our Yahoo Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cbe_pto/) (contact Derrick Evangelista at derricksemail@yahoo.com if you need assistance).

Colony Bend in the Media 12/13/2010

Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/zones/7342100.html

Channel 11 KHOU
http://www.khou.com/news/Fort-Bend-ISD-faced-with-tough-choices-amid-budget-constraints-111815439.html

Channel 26 FOX KRIV
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/education/101213-supporters-rally-to-save-schools

Channel 13 KTRK
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7840185

Sugar Land Sun (2 articles)
http://www.hcnonline.com/fort_bend/news/article_8cea6332-3e01-529e-b999-b2e28b33225d.html

http://www.hcnonline.com/sugar_land/news/article_41511a10-e195-5050-9e3b-72412164c767.html

Fort Bend Herald
http://www.fbherald.com/news/article_bd608d7a-04bc-11e0-a000-001cc4c002e0.html

Tonight!

WHAT: School Board Workshop and Meeting

WHEN: Monday, December 13, 2010 at 5pm (workshop) and 7pm (meeting)

WHERE: Board Room of the Fort Bend ISD Administration Building, 16431 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land

If you can, please come to the meetings with homemade signs. They can say simple phrases such as "SOS -- Save our School" or "Keep Colony Bend Open." 

Press Release

12/10/2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WEB:  http://colonybendrezoning.blogspot.com/

CONTACT:  Eric Wey, HOA president

EMAIL: karwey@rocketmail.com

Sugar Land residents rallying to keep Colony Bend school open

SUGAR LAND – Hundreds of residents are organizing and taking a petition door-to-door to keep Colony Bend Elementary School (2720 Planters Street, Sugar Land, TX 77479) open in light of a Nov. 30^th proposal by Fort Bend ISD to shut down the school, along with Christa McAuliffe Middle School and Willowridge High School.

“Colony Grant Homeowners Association respectfully requests that the school board consider options that keep Colony Bend Elementary School open,” said Eric Wey, Colony Grant HOA President.  “Options that rezone students into Colony Bend and alleviate overcrowding at neighboring elementary schools is a win-win situation for the school district. There is evidence that the numbers of young children in our area are rising, not falling, and we intend to share this information with the school board.”

If the district shutters the school, there would be detrimental effects on the children’s education and on the community ranging from decreased quality of life to decreased property values.

Residents have set up a public blog to keep up with the issue and will attend the school board workshop and meeting at 5 pm and 7 pm on  Monday, Dec. 13 in the Board Room of the Fort Bend ISD Administration Building, 16431 Lexington Blvd., Sugar Land. Residents will be wearing colored T-shirts as a sign of solidarity. The board is expected to vote on the matter sometime in January or February 2011.