The Italy School Board of Trustees named Myla Wilson the Stafford Elementary principal Monday evening at a called meeting.

Jason Miller (Stafford Elementary principal) will be missed. We will no longer see his smiling face at 7:15 am meeting and greeting the students as they get off the bus. Nor will the students hear him tell them every day in the gymnasium that every day is a new day with endless possibilities and each day is going to be the best day ever.

Everyone knows how dedicated our Stafford Elementary teachers are to the students. The students love the teachers and the teachers love the students—that is proven every day in the classroom. The teachers go above and beyond in every sense of the word.

Recently several teachers and staff of the Italy Independent School District where recognized for their hard work and dedication to the district.

This year has come and gone very quickly, but according to Mr. Miller (principal of Stafford Elementary) a lot has been accomplished.

Can you believe it? It is summer already. Where did the time go? Recently, at the Italy High School campus, in the old gymnasium, Stafford Elementary students were being honored for all their hard work, good behavior and good grades. Not only were the students being honored but teachers and staff were also being honored for all the hard work they have put in over the school year.

Peri Patterson knew at a very young age that she wanted to teach children. It started back when she was about fourteen years old when she would help her grandmother teach her Sunday School class. She was good at it, had a “knack” for it and loved teaching the little ones. She now has twenty-nine years of teaching under her belt.

Lots of excitement in the Dome last Thursday evening for forty-three Stafford Elementary kindergartners. They were so excited about being in the “Dome” and they were so excited about graduating to the first grade.

You better watch out, here comes the pre-K graduating class of Stafford Elementary. You better get ready because here they come, they are ready for kindergarten.

Every year Stafford Elementary has a field day. This is where the students participate in many games such as relays, volleyball and water slides. This year Field Day was two days. On Thursday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm the pre-K, kindergarten, first grade and second grade were first up on the field. Friday from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm the third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and sixth grade students took over the field.

Mr. Miller (principal) put in place a program for the students at Stafford Elementary to be rewarded for demonstrating good behavior. Every time a child is showing responsibility, respect, walking in the halls respectfully and quietly, has all his materials for class, minding the teachers they receive a “PAWS card.”

Every year at Stafford Elementary the first graders always put on the play ‘Deep in the Jungle’. Now, last night like all the other performances of this play the cafeteria was packed with proud parents, teachers, students and friends. And as always these cute little first graders did a fantastic job.

Kim Nelson has taught at Stafford Elementary for six years. She has taught third grade science, fourth grade reading and writing, and now she teaches kindergarten through sixth grade physical education.

Stafford Elementary will have its yearly Pre-K and Kindergarten Round-UP on Thursday, May 10, 2012 from 3:30-6:30 and Friday, May 11, 2012 from 8:00-3:00. There will be a scheduled lunch break from 12:00-1:00.

In the 5th grade science classroom at Stafford Elementary, when the kids have learned a concept well enough to teach it themselves, THEY DO!  Using an app available on the iPad, our Stafford 5th graders can use pictures, draw on the screen, and record their own voices all at once.  

The fifth six weeks awards assembly was held at the Stafford Elementary gymnasium and as usual it was over flowing with proud students, family members, Stafford teachers and staff. As names were being called and each student was recognized for his or her achievements, smiling faces were galore.

April Mathers has always wanted to work with children so teaching was a perfect fit. She has been teaching for about ten years now and she has always taught at Stafford Elementary and loves teaching there.

Look out everyone here comes the man in the big gray trash bag! Who is it you might ask? It is no other than Jason Miller (Stafford Elementary principal) ready to take on those pie throwing Stafford Tigers.

Jane Medrano has been teaching for twelve years. She has taught for six years for Italy ISD. Her first two years at Italy ISD she taught seventh and eighth grade math, also teaching eleventh grade math models and also taught TAKS remediation. Her next four years she has taught math at Stafford Elementary.

The Stafford Elementary PTO will be holding their monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 17th at 7:30 a.m. It will be held in the Stafford Library. Refreshments will be served and two lucky parents will have a chance at a door prize.

Every year the Stafford second graders put on the production of Nowhere Else but Texas! And once again they did a terrific job. Hats off to Mrs. Mandrell and Mrs. Shepard on putting together this wonderful performance.

What better way to start the Easter weekend than to have an Easter Egg hunt with all your friends at school. Stafford kindergartners sure thought that this was a wonderful idea. They could not sit still in their classroom for all their excitement.

Jennifer Aguado has always taught school at Stafford Elementary. Why would you ever leave when you have the best of everything? Best students, best parents, best teachers, principal and staff. That is exactly what Jennifer Aguado thinks about Stafford Elementary.

Tuesday afternoon it was raining to beat all in Italy. There were tornadoes in Dallas and surrounding areas but that did not stop the Stafford Elementary PTO members and the Italy community from coming out and supporting the kids at the hamburger supper.

On Saturday morning, March 24, Stafford Elementary students Savannah Lewis, Hunter Hinz, Rose Kennimer, Jayden Perkins, and Colton Allen took part in the Ellis County Science Fair at Lucy Mae McDonald Elementary in Ferris.  Their exhibits were judged in competition against the exhibits of other elementary students from Waxahachie, Maypearl, Palmer, and Ferris.

The newly reorganized Stafford Elementary PTO is starting off with a bang. First item of business is to raise money to help enrich the learning of the Stafford Elementary students.

January 28th was the official start date for the new Stafford Elementary PTO. It is now up and running and the PTO members are giving their all to make things better at the school.

How many of you remember your second grade teacher? Well, if you had Jan Shepard for your second grade teacher you would remember her. She goes the extra mile to make your child’s school experience a good one.

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Tuesday morning the Stafford Elementary gymnasium was filled with smiling students, smiling teachers and proud parents, grandparents and relatives. It was the fourth six-weeks awards assembly and talk about a lot of awards! There were awards for excellent conduct, perfect attendance, good citizenship, AB honor roll and A honor roll.

Charlotte Morgan has been teaching first grade for about twenty-two years at Stafford Elementary and credits Mr. George Scott (a past Italy ISD superintendent) and her husband John Morgan for her success.

There will be a PTO meeting on Tuesday, February 28th at 7:35 a.m. in the Stafford Elementary Library.The agenda focuses on educational goals and needs for the Stafford Elementary students and staff. Door prizes, homework passes along with refreshments will be a part of the meeting.

2012 Personal Ads Are Here! Personal ad space is available for purchase for Italy ISD students in the 2011-2012 yearbook, The Gladiator.

There is a Stafford Elementary PTO re-organization meeting planned for Tuesday, January 31st at 6:00pm. Parents and friends of Stafford Elementary students and staff members are urged to come and help make a difference. The meeting will be held in the Stafford Elementary cafeteria.

We are half way through the school year and things are going great at Stafford Elementary. We have a new principal this year and good things are happening.

The gymnasium was full last Friday as Stafford Elementary held their third six weeks awards assembly. Every time a student’s name was called, a huge smile could be seen on their face and they were very happy to shake Principal Miller’s hand and accept their award.

On Thursday, Trinity Mission was filled with some of the cutest little second graders you have ever seen. They were all decked out in Christmas attire and big smiles.

The Stafford Elementary Honors Assembly honored students for their work during the first and second six weeks of school. The gymnasium was filled with smiling parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and students. But the biggest smiles were the ones on the students faces when Jason Miller (principal) handed each of them their awards.

The Italy School Board of Trustees voted to enter into an agreement with Lockridge-Priest for an Alerton Control System for the dome at its monthly meeting Monday night.

November 11 is a day of celebration and honor for American Veterans. Thanks isn’t good enough for the sacrifices made or the willingness to put one’s life on the line. Gratitude may be small thing but it is what we want to give.

As Stafford Students step from good to great, we feel that our campus’ appearance should mirror our changing attitude.

If you are at Stafford Elementary at about 7:15 AM don’t be surprised when you see Jason Miller greeting each student as they get off the bus. He is the new principal for Stafford Elementary.

That favorite time of year is upon us again, school has started and it is time for the yearly Book Fair at Stafford Elementary.

Stafford Elementary and the Italy Ministerial Alliance have teamed up to help kids and families with food for over the weekends. Every Thursday teams from local churches come and stuff backpacks with food at Stafford Elementary.

The Scholastic Book Fair will be next week Sept. 19-23 at Stafford Elementary Library from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day.  We will close on Friday at 10 a.m. The theme this year is “Reading Is Out of This World.”

Stafford Elementary sees how special grandparents are and invited them to have lunch with their grandchildren on Monday, September 12th, Grandparents Day. The cafeteria was over flowing with grandparents and laughter as students and grandparents shared lunch together.

We all know the sadness that took place ten years ago on September 11th. We know that terrorists attacked our wonderful country, the United States of America. Four planes were hijacked in mid flight. Two of the planes were flown into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City and caused them to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. and the fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In all, nearly three thousand people were killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks.