Community,

It’s a Great Day to be a Gladiator!

This week the construction team is preparing for demolition of old wing at Stafford and the Vo-Ag building. We have meeting with the construction team, the engineers and Oncor to coordinate construction efforts and keep the school’s electricity uninterrupted. The portable buildings are starting to take form as classrooms. As soon as we get the electric meters we will be ready to move into them. The construction team has put up fencing around the elementary school to help ensure safety. We should be ready to start demolition and ground breaking within a week.

Mrs. Westrick, the counselor at Stafford Elementary, has started Character Education for our students. She has also started the election process for the Student Council at Stafford. Additionally, Stafford Elementary is starting the Big Kahuna fundraiser this week. The funds are used to help the teachers and students at Stafford. We hope the community can help the event be a success.

The principals and I have been discussing the purchase of classroom sets of laptops for student use. Our technology department has been working to get us the best product within our budget. We hope to start rolling out some more units soon. Also, we have been working to give our school website an update. As we progress through the project we are finding that many of the pages have out of date information and pictures. We want our District website to be user friendly. We will continue to work on this to provide the best product possible. Here are a few of our updated pages:

“Inclement Weather Procedures”:http://www.italyisd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=346862&type=d&pREC_ID=1013031

“Italy ISD Ex-Student Association”:http://www.italyisd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=352312&type=d&pREC_ID=764413

“Athletic Schedules”:http://www.italyisd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=346862&type=d&pREC_ID=1026039

We hope to complete the website updates by October. Thank you for your patience while we make corrections and improvements.

Our volleyball teams played at Avalon this past Friday. Both the JV and Varsity programs are progressing well under Coach Steinmetz’s leadership. The JV program travels to Dallas Tuesday to play against Fort Worth Harmony. The varsity program will play in Italy Saturday morning. This afternoon, the junior high school teams will play in Italy.

Friday evening our varsity boys defeated Blooming Grove. This week they will play against Hico on the road. We expect this to be a great contest. Chief Beckham of The Italy Police Department has agreed to escort our bus to Hico. We appreciate his support of our programs. I have confirmed with the superintendent of Hico ISD that we will accept each other’s district and senior citizen passes.

Our varsity band has been performing at all varsity football games. The band is wonderful as expected. I encourage every fan to come watch them perform.

As always, please contact me at 972-483-1815 if you have questions or concerns.

It’s a Great Day to Be a Gladiator!

Thank you,
Lee Joffre