Freshmen Bianca Evans and SaKendra Norwood placed third in the District UIL Cross-X Debate contest in Itasca on Feb. 12. This was the first time to compete in this event.

Friday the 13th wasn’t so bad. In fact, not disastrous at all. There was lots of toe tapping in the school cafeteria because the Junior class hosted a Valentine’s dance for the 7th, 8th and 9th grade classes.

Wednesday, February 11th in the gymnasium at Stafford Elementary third grade through sixth grade students were found jumping rope. But this time they were not just jumping for fun. This time they were participating in the program, “Jump Rope for Heart.”

At Stafford Elementary the second graders were celebrating the 100th day of school. On the 100th day of school the second graders all do special activities. One of the special activities this year included the students bringing one hundred items of the same thing to school.

Italy 7th Grade squads took on Itasca in two grueling basketball games. As the season nears it’s end, Coach Tina Richards and Coach Larry Mayberry have their squads playing hard and giving Italy fans something to cheer about.

Tyler Boyd is not your typical high school senior. In fact, he enjoys being unique and different from other young people. While many teenagers only think of today, Tyler has known what he wanted to do with his life for a long time. He wants to teach history on the college level.

Everyone was laughing including the teachers when I walked into Stafford Elementary’s gymnasium Friday morning around 8:30 AM.

Stafford Elementary is participating in the program “Pennies for Patients.” If you happen to go into the office at Stafford you will see a huge bottle with pennies inside. The students are really working hard on filling up the bottles. In various places in the school there are lots of jars just waiting for your pennies or spare change.

Navarro College will be hosting a Financial Aid Night on Tuesday, February 3, 2009 from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. at the Waxahachie Navarro College campus.

Friday evening on January 23rd the place to be was the Stafford Elementary Cafeteria. There was delicious chili for all and many beautiful items to be bid on in the Silent auction which made it such a success. Approximately $2,000.00 was raised which will benefit Stafford Elementary and Stafford students.

Friday morning, January 23rd, there were lots of excited parents, teachers and students in the Stafford Elementary gymnasium. All the excitement was caused by all the well deserved awards being handed out to Stafford students.

Stafford Elementary PTO invites the community to attend their 3rd Annual Chili Dinner & Silent Auction.

The Italy ISD Board of Trustees will meet on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The agenda includes special recognition of board members, recognition of the employee of the month Jesus Perez, consider approval of the independent financial audit for 2007-2008, consider adoption of TASB Update 84 upon Second/Final reading. The school board meets in the administration offices at the high school. The meeting is open to the public and everyone is invited to attend.

Rochelle Hellner’s fourth grade class at Stafford Elementary just completed reading the novel, Indian in the Cupboard.

Clint Husley, P.E. of Husley Engineering is scheduled to give a presentation before the Italy ISD Board of Trustees tonight. Following the presentation, the board will go into a private meeting the annual evaluation of the superintendent as well as discuss 2009’s performance goals and objectives. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Italy Administration offices at the high school.

Stafford Elementary is participating in the “Read to Succeed” program sponsored by Six Flags Theme Parks. This program is for students in kindergarten through sixth grade and is designed to encourage students to read.

On Wednesday at 9:30 AM nothing but laughter could be heard coming out of the Stafford Elementary gymnasium. As I entered the gymnasium I saw what all the laughter was about. Two men dressed in mismatched striped socks, “high water” plaid pants, wearing taped glasses were the responsible parties.

Wednesday and Thursday were two wonderful days for the residents of Trinity Mission. They were sung to and smiled at by Stafford’s First and Second Grade classes.

Thursday evening at 6:30 PM, Santa Claus, many cute little elves, reindeer, and snowmen could be seen and heard singing their hearts out about Christmas.

Thursday, the 11th of December the Milford ISD gymnasium was filled with Christmas music, excited students ready to sing and proud parents waiting anxiously for the Christmas concert to begin.

Sharan Farmer, Italy ISD librarian, was named Employee of the Month by Jimmie Malone, superintendent, at the Italy School Board of Trustees regular meeting held Monday evening.

The Italy ISD Board of Trustees will meet in their regular meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. The agenda includes a draft update to the TASB board policy, certification of board member training, approval of gifted/talented guidelines, and request to get bids for energy efficient lighting. The school board meets in the administration offices at the high school. The meeting is open to the public and everyone is invited to attend.

Keith Davis, not to be confused with Dallas Cowboy Keith Davis, has been seen on ESPN, ABC, and written about in USA Today and Sports Illustrated. And on December 10th, he was at Milford ISD.

The trees are trimmed, the stockings are hung and the mistletoe proudly suspends from the ceiling in the hallway. The students of Italy High School have adorned the walls with various decorations and it is wonderful to walk around the school just to enjoy the scenery.

Christmas songs could be heard as you entered the front door of Trinity Mission Tuesday morning. The beautiful singing was coming from the Stafford Elementary Kindergarten classes that came to entertain the residents.

Milford High School band was on a mission Monday, December 8th to spread Christmas cheer through their music.

The fourth annual Reading Marathon will be in full swing Dec 8-12 at the Italy High School Library! Students, faculty and staff will be participating in a week-long event that will have someone constantly reading in the “Reading Parlor” in the library from 8 a.m. Monday morning until school dismisses at 3:20 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12.

The Junior High level UIL One Act Play competition was held November 22nd at Frost ISD. Milford ISD took second place. Khristy Strange (co-director) said, “ I have enjoyed working with this group. We worked hard and it paid off. All of the kids were fantastic."

Italy High School Honor Rolls for the second six-weeks of the 2008-2009 school year:

Friday, November 21st around 9:00 AM Stafford Elementary had it’s six weeks Honor assembly.

Friday at 11:30 AM many senior citizens were at Milford ISD enjoying a delicious Thanksgiving meal. They were all seated in the library with turkey and all the “fixins’ all set on beautifully decorated tables.

The “Ned Show” came to Stafford Elementary Monday morning. Wow, what a show! The speaker named Jeff with his yo-yo and his cardboard friend Ned were able to teach the students how to be champions in anything they do in life.

Josh was honored on Monday morning at Italy High School with a breakfast party during the class. Dr. Harold Nolte, President of Navarro College in Waxahachie, paid for all the refreshments to celebrate Josh’s win.

If you walked into Italy High School cafeteria on Wednesday afternoon, you would have seen approximately 20 students listening intently on the new rules and goals of the Gold Guild (G²), the newest club at school.

Wednesday, November 19th around 10:30 AM, you could find lots of little Indians and Pilgrims wandering around Stafford Elementary. They were all there celebrating Thanksgiving.

Yesterday evening at 7:00 PM Milford’s Junior High presented their one act play, “Louder, I Can’t Hear You”. Along with the play you could bid on delicious baked goods and also enjoy some ice cream while watching a great performance.

The Community Based Instruction (CBI) Class at Italy High School displayed their unselfishness at the Italy School Board of Trustee’s monthly meeting held Monday night. The CBI class, taught by Kelly Vernon, won the football signed by more than two dozen Dallas Cowboys at Italy’s Homecoming in October. The class donated the football to the school district at the meeting.

Italy High School Junior, Josh Milligan, was a one of the first prize winners named in the 2008 Family Dollar Scholarship Contest this week.

Kelly Vernon and students plan to give a special presentation at the Italy ISD regular school board meeting tonight. The board will also discuss what to do with the additional funds from the recent tax changes approved by the voters. Other business includes the standard reports. The planned executive session includes discussing the Business Manager vacancy and school property at 500 College Street. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the administration offices at the high school. Everyone is invited to attend.

Milford ISD put on a wonderful tribute honoring the veterans with their Veterans Day program. The program took place in the gymnasium at Milford ISD, on Tuesday afternoon – Veterans Day.

The gymnasium at Stafford Elementary at 9:00AM on Tuesday was packed. It was packed with proud veterans, proud parents and proud grandchildren. Everyone was gathered there to honor the men and women that served our country in various branches of the military.