The Cedar Hill High School Bands Take a Trip over Spring Break
March 24, 2008
During spring break, 118 Cedar Hill High School Band members and adults made an extraordinary trip to Orlando Florida to compete in the All Star Music Festival along with a few fun days at Disney & Universal theme Parks. “It had been two years since our band had competed in a band contest out of Texas”, explained Ken Peach, director of bands, “so we wanted a trip that was competitive in addition to having some fun for our kids. I think we hit a home run, it was a blast.”
Cedar Hill bands prepared four pieces performed by two different bands for the All Star Music Festivals in Orlando. “This music festival has been having band, choir and orchestra contests all over the United States”, said Mr. Peach, “so when we heard that they were running a contest in Orlando around the time of our Spring Break, we knew our kids and parents would love this trip.”
Our Bands competed against 15 other ensembles from around the United States. Most schools were from Florida, but there were other traveling groups from as far away as Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. The following are the results:
Symphonic Band, under the direction of Ms. Tabor, Mr. Wells & Mr. Ward:
Overall score of 89 out of a 100 point scale, which earned the band an Excellent Rating.
Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Mr. Peach, Mr. Wells & Mr. Ward:
Overall score of 95.33 out of a 100 point scale, which earned the band a Superior Rating.
In addition - The Wind Ensemble was given the Grand Champion Trophy for the entire contest!
This trophy is given to the ensemble with the highest score for the entire contest! This means that Cedar Hill High School Wind Ensemble had the highest score out of all the ensembles for the contest (bands, orchestras and jazz ensembles). This is a HUGH HONOR and we are especially proud of our kids for this achievement.
Dr. Robert Jorgensen, Director of Bands and Professor of Music at The University of Akron (UA) of Akron, Ohio, commented to the band during a short clinic that “It’s almost perfect, wow, what wonderful players along with very challenging music.” Dr. Jorgensen went on to say “What a super band program you have in Texas - wonderful musicians and ensemble performers!” Mr. Anthony Hose, Professor of Music at the Royal College of Music at Stetson University, commented of the Wind Ensemble’s critique sheets, “You have such strong players, fantastic! Blend and balance of sounds is very good, especially on the Camphouse piece. The music is very difficult and entertaining, nice work!”
Associate director of bands Rusty Wells stated, “Over the years, this is the best overall our bands have performed while on a band trip, it was fun to see the kids enjoy the music and have fun at Disney and Universal.” Ms. Tabor, associate director of bands also commented that, “It was fun to run around the parks with the students and parents having fun after a very busy and successful first semester back in Texas.”
The trip ran smoothly, largely in thanks to our great trip chaperones, led by head chaperone Rhonda Nall, Band Booster President Donnie Bone and John & Laurie DeCrotie from Group Travel Consultants. www.grouptravelconsultants.com. Click here for the Trip Itinerary
Special thanks goes to our chaperones - Stacie Baker, Charles & Merle Ballard, Gary & Jean Barnett, Donnie & Leslie Bone, Pete Hanson, Jill Holland, Nancy Mitchell, Denise Montequin, Robert Morrison, Rhonda & Robert Nall, David & Joanna Richardson, Larissa Roeder, David & Teresa Sammons and Tarsha Washington. Directors of the Longhorn Band are Ken Peach, Rusty Wells, Heather Tabor and Peter Ward.
DFW-Area Superintendents Talk About State Of Education
February 13, 2008
Local education representatives and business leaders gathered Tuesday afternoon at Cityplace Conference Center in Dallas to hear three DFW-area school superintendents discuss the state of education in the region, and among other things, it was an education of just how disparate the different communities and school districts in DFW are.
Williams was the most upbeat of the three, continually praising Cedar Hill area businesses and parents for their involvement with the school district, as well as partnerships the Cedar Hill ISD has forged with surrounding school districts. Whereas Simpson and Simmons cited poverty and making sure people from different cultures were prepared to be educated in English as challenges facing their districts, respectively, Williams said the biggest challenge Cedar Hill is facing is managing growth and expectations, while at the same time trying to keep kids engaged in education in the digital age.
Source: Pegasus News.
Cedar Hill ISD Waits To Decide On Hiring Architectural Firm
February 12, 2008
Cedar Hill school trustees on Monday tabled a decision to hire an architectural firm to help the district assess its facilities and future needs.
Information requested by board members arrived too late for review before the meeting, and several trustees asked for more time to make a decision.
The three firms under consideration are VLK Architects, SHW Group and Corgan Architects.
The district is creating a comprehensive plan that could include renovations and construction of at least one new school.
An election on bonds to pay for construction and other updates could come as early as November but is more likely to be held in May 2009, said Mike McSwain, the district’s chief financial officer.
Kathy Goolsby
Source: Dallas Morning News.
Cedar Hill ISD To Discuss Building New School
February 9, 2008
School officials in Cedar Hill are creating a comprehensive district plan that could include renovations to existing buildings and construction of at least one new school.
If the district decides it needs new construction and extensive updates it could hold a bond election as soon as November, said Mike McSwain, the district’s chief financial officer.
Trustees met this week with three architectural firms and will choose one of them to help assess the district’s facilities, he said. VLK Architects, SHW Group and Corgan Architects are the three firms under consideration.
The district already is checking its roofing needs as well as heating and air conditioning systems, Mr. McSwain said.
“We also have some buildings we know need to be remodeled, and we’ll be looking at all the campuses and some undeveloped land,” he said.
Trustees are expected to announce their choice of architect at Monday’s board meeting.
The firm also will help determine whether the district needs to build a new elementary school, Mr. McSwain said. That decision hinges on enrollment projections and whether trustees decide to reduce teacher-to-student ratios.
Reducing class sizes is one of the recommendations expected from a citizens’ committee charged with finding ways to improve the district, Mr. McSwain said. The committee is expected to present its report to the board within the next few months.
“Right now our elementary schools have a 22-to-1 ratio, but one of the things coming out of the [committee] is they want that reduced to 17 or 18 students, and we don’t have the space to do that,” Mr. McSwain said. “We would probably have to build a new elementary school.”
The district plans to form another committee this spring to study the district’s facilities and needs.
A demographic study of the district also is under way, and is expected to be finished in June.
“What we’re doing is coming up with a comprehensive plan for all our needs,” Mr. McSwain said. “We’re looking at a 10- to 20-year plan.”
Source: Dallas Morning News.
Cedar Hill ISD To Open Early College High School
January 31, 2008
The Cedar Hill Independent School District to starting a new program aimed at giving its students college Associate Degrees when they graduate from High School.
The program allows students to earn high school and college diplomas at the same time. The program is know as the “early college high school.”
It is planned to begin in August and will be housed in an unused portion of the ninth-grade center.
The program is not for all students, however, and there will be limited enrollment. The district is currently working on the framework of the program and will distribute information in the coming weeks.
This program comes after the TEA awarded the district a grant to establish the program.
The Dallas Morning News has a nice article on the program. Also, expect a press release from the CHISD soon.
School Brings In Motivational Speaker To Fight Drug Problem
December 17, 2007
School administrators in a Dallas suburb brought in a motivational speaker from Ohio to talk to students and parents about how to fight back against drugs.
Motivational speaker Alfred “Coach” Powell addressed students and parents about the dangers of drugs.
“One of the things we don’t do is chemically manipulate our bodies, minds, spirits — are you with me?” he said.
Earlier this month, three Cedar Hill students were hospitalized after taking a prescription drug. Principal Delsenna Frazier said the incident was a “wake-up call that there is a need we really need to address in our community.” The girls were not students that “fit the description,” she said.
“We’re dealing with a very real issue of something that is sometimes available over the counter, or that you already have at home,” Superintendent Horace Williams said.
Two weeks ago, three ninth-grade girls took the prescription sleep aid Ambien and were rushed to the hospital. They now attend an alternative school.
Two other girls were arrested for giving them the drug and face felony charges. They were expelled from the school.
“I was actually really quite surprised because I never saw it coming,” ninth-grade student David Offor said. “Nobody in the school, I think, saw it coming.”
Source: NBC5i.com
Cedar Hill High Teacher Wins Milken Foundation Award
October 9, 2007
It was the surprise of a lifetime.
Cedar Hill High School teacher Melanie Chambers learned Tuesday she was the recipient of the prestigious Milken Foundation Educator award.
In the packed Performing Arts Center at the Cedar Hill High School, Chambers received a $25,000 cash prize presented by Robert Scott, the acting commission of education.
School, city and state officials were on hand.
“This feels like a dream,” said Ms. Chambers, a lead math teacher who is in her 10th year at the school.
The awards are given to teachers across the nation each year to recognize and encourage effective educators, said Lowell Milken, the foundation’s chairman, in an interview after the assembly.
The winners are instructional leaders who motivate students, powerful mentors who make other teachers better, and people who are involved in their community, Mr. Milken said.
Read more at Dallas Morning News and Dallas Morning News
Library Community Forum
October 5, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
6:30 – 8:30 PM
Council Chambers at Cedar Hill City Hall, 502 Cedar Street
You are invited to participate in a Community Forum to share your thoughts and ideas regarding the Zula B. Wylie Library in Cedar Hill. We want to be your public library today and in the future. Join us and be part of the library’s planning process.
Online Library Survey
September 21, 2007
The Zula B. Wiley Library is developing a long range plan. The value and integrity of this plan depends on community involvement. We want to make sure the plan reflects the diversity of the community as well as the diversity in library service needs today and in the future.
You can be a part of the library vision by participating in an online survey. We need 1400 responses, so please encourage others to participate as well.
Please contact your family, spiritual, social, business, and cultural networks to reach all of Cedar Hill and let them know that we really need to hear from them.
CHISD Launches New Website
September 17, 2007
The Cedar Hill I.S.D. has recently launched its new website. The new site provides a wealth of information.
Want the school calendar? It’s there. Need information about School Board meetings? It’s there, too. Just about anything you could want is available on their new site.
Be sure to check it out at www.chisd.com.
Coffee with the Chiefs
September 14, 2007
All CHISD and community citizens are invited to meet the Chief of Police for the City of Cedar Hill and the Chief of Police for Cedar Hill ISD.
The 1st scheduled monthly meeting will take place on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at the Cedar Hill Recreation Center located at 310 E. Parkerville Road from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Read more
Poor Reading Skills Holding Cedar Hill Students Back
September 14, 2007
by BRIAN ALLEN OF CEDAR HILL TODAY
At the end of the 06-07 school year, Cedar Hill ISD had 150 freshmen that had not completed the six credits necessary to advance to the high school. During the Sept. 10 Board of Trustees meeting, Assistant Superintendent Kim Lewis said that number dropped to 38 after summer school. Now the district has only five students that were sent back to the ninth grade.
“Those five should be able to move to the 10th grade at semester break,” Lewis said.
Some of the trustees wondered if there were gaps in the curriculum that accounted for these problems.
Superintendent Horace Williams said students performing well under grade level usually do so because of difficulty reading. Without that basic skill, Williams said they would struggle in every subject from English to even math, which uses word problems.
“It doesn’t matter what curriculum we offer them if they cannot read,” he said. Read more
District Hopes Bonuses Will Attract Top Teachers
June 28, 2007
By FRANK TREJO / The Dallas Morning News
Some things speak louder than words.
That’s what Cedar Hill school district officials are counting on as they launch a new “sign-on bonus” program designed to attract the best qualified teachers in the most crucial fields to their campuses.
Starting this month, district officials are offering bonuses of $3,000 to $7,500 for teachers hired for the 2007-08 school year in areas such as math, science, Spanish and bilingual education. The top amount is for teachers who have a master’s degree in math or science.
While offering such bonuses is not uncommon in the area, Cedar Hill ISD’s appear to be substantially larger than others. Read more
A Giant Is Gone
March 8, 2007
By LOYD BRUMFIELD / Today Newspapers
In the long history of Cedar Hill, W.S. Permenter was a giant figure.
He moved here in the 1950s as an agricultural teacher, moved on to become a principal and eventually school superintendent and two-term mayor.
Permenter, who died Feb. 28 in Forest, Va., is a key figure in the transformation of Cedar Hill into the booming city it is today.
“I don’t know if any one person can adequately express what he meant to the city and the schools,” said Kim Lewis, Cedar Hill School District associate superintendent for support services. “He was one of those unique individuals who lived and breathed public service. His heart was always with the kids, and it stayed that way even as mayor.”
Permenter’s legacy lives on here in the form of a stronger relationship between the city and its schools, and in Permenter Middle School, his namesake.
Permenter returned to the school named for him early in 2006 in a ceremony dedicated to his longtime service.
Permenter, 78, is survived by his wife, Ann, daughter Nancy Anderson and her husband Larry, and two grandchildren, Nathan Anderson and Janna Callahan.
Permenter and his wife had recently moved to Virginia, where his daughter lives.
A memorial service was held at Grace Evangelical Free Church in Lynchburg, Va., on March 3. A memorial service is also planned for Cedar Hill at an undetermined time, and he will be buried in the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
For anyone who lived in Cedar Hill for any length of time, Permenter had an impact on their lives.
“His only failure in life was trying to teach me to be tactful,” said Jimmy Mobley, a longtime resident of Cedar Hill and an attorney who frequently appeared before Permenter at city hall while he was mayor.
Mobley was a student at what is now Bray Elementary when he met Permenter.
“He was my ag teacher in high school, and after I graduated we remained friends,” Mobley said.
“He was just a really, really great person,” he said. “I raised calves with him. I learned woodworking from him and he taught me how to weld. I used to go to cattle auctions with him. He’d take me to the (Fort Worth) stockyards back when they really were stockyards.”
Former CHISD Superintendent Jim Gibson, now the superintendent of the Montgomery School District, remembered Permenter as a welcoming presence when Gibson took the job here.
“He and his wife Ann and (Gibson’s wife) Mitzi and I went out to dinner, and I was able to pick his brain,” Gibson said. “I don’t think anyone could’ve been more helpful.”
Mayor Rob Franke, speaking at the city’s volunteer appreciation dinner, asked guests to keep Permenter’s family in mind.
“He was one of the people who is the foundation of this town,” Franke said. “He was one of the people on the leading edge when Cedar Hill was trying to decide if it was going to remain a small town or be progressive.”
Linda Patton, president of the Cedar Hill Education Foundation, met Permenter when she was in eighth grade, and he lived down the street from her family for several years.
“He was very genuine, and he was always so honest,” she said. “He would never hurt your feelings, and his wife is as good as gold, too.”
Permenter offered a strong fatherly presence for many boys who didn’t have that at home, Patton said.
“He encouraged kids to go to college who never got that kind of encouragement at home,” she said. “A lot of them had dads, but they weren’t like W.S., who would always tell them that they could be anything they wanted to be and he would try his best to help them.”
Patton was senior class president and recalls Permenter and his boss, C.W. Hawkins, chaperoning them on a senior class to New Orleans.
“I wouldn’t have crossed him under any circumstances,” she said. “You just didn’t want to disappoint him.”
Permenter had a huge influence on Mobley. He credits trips to FFA conventions with him with nurturing an interest in politics.
“I think if he had had his way, I’d be a school superintendent,” Mobley said. “But I always wanted to be a lawyer since the fifth grade or so. He helped me get into local politics. He just was always there.”
Mobley remembers several visits to city council meetings as an attorney with business before the city.
“He had red hair, and he had that red-headed temper,” Mobley said. “I could still turn his face red with some of the things I said at meetings, but you know, I never really considered the facts when I was making an argument.”
Permenter ran unopposed as mayor.
“I really believe he was chosen providentially as mayor during a very important time in the city’s history,” Lewis said. “He did a lot to bring the city and the school district together - or on the same page as we like to say - and I’m not so sure we would be building a brand new multi-government center here without him.”
Williams Goes to Work
February 22, 2007
By BRIAN ALLEN / Today Newspapers
New Cedar Hill Superintendent Horace Williams brings a variety of experiences to the job, including a stint at the helm at a juvenile facility in the Houston ISD.
Williams said his time as principal at Harris County Youth Village taught him a great deal about how to reach all children.
“In understanding children, you learn children have problems at home,” he said. “You have troubled kids and kids that come to us with differing degrees of home experiences, but their minds are ready to be molded. It’s still good to see some of those kids. One of them walks up and hugs you and you find out they’ve been successful. They’ve been successful and they have kids of their own even though they had problems as a teenager.”
Williams didn’t even plan to be a teacher at first, let alone an administrator. He was working in cartography with the intention of being involved in the oil industry.
But the oil bust of the 1980s led to other ideas.
Williams’ mother was a school board member for more than 20 years and she strongly encouraged him to pursue a career in education.
“I was in the classroom 3-4 years, teaching science and social studies,” he said. “I had a principal decide I needed to be an administrator and she more than strongly encouraged me to do so. She said she was going to die on the job and I was going to be the next principal. Ironically, she had an aneurysm and I became the principal.”
Williams went from Harris County Youth Village to become principal at Phyllis Wheatley High School. The institution has a strong history with alumni including NFL legend Lester Hayes, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan and jazz musician Joe Sample.
“They were in transition,” Williams said. “There was a population change going on in the community with a growing Hispanic population and we had a lot of problems. We were able to solve a lot of those problems because some of the kids had been in Harris County Youth Village. We had a lot of discipline problems, low-test scores and a high dropout rate. We had a lot of help from the community, the staff, parents and kids making it happen.”
From there Williams journeyed to a high school in Yonkers, N.Y.
“Once again it was a school in transition,” Williams said. “They had some problems that a lot of schools were having post-Columbine. It was a matter of changing the mindset and the expectations. After leaving there I was a superintendent for the Roosevelt Union School District.”
Though initially unsure whether he wanted to pursue a career in administration, Williams did get his superintendent’s certification.
He decided it would be better for him to have it and not need it than one day need it and not have it.
When an opportunity to return to Texas as superintendent for Diboll arose, Williams took it in January 2006.
He liked it a lot and had to seriously weigh whether he would leave the area for Cedar Hill.
“It’s got to be the best small town school district in Texas,” Williams said. “It was a really supportive community and I had a super board. I haven’t seen kids as great as the kids in Diboll. I applied for Cedar Hill because it was a larger district and a suburban area. It offered some of the same challenges I was used to dealing with on a regular basis. It just provided me an opportunity to do what I do for a larger number of kids.”
The new superintendent’s first step was meeting with every central office employee, member of the custodial staff, main staff and individual sitdowns with every board member. He’s also met with Mayor Rob Franke and City Manager Alan Sims, as well as executive board members of the chamber of commerce.
“I visited all the schools my first two days here,” Williams said. “We have some very dedicated and caring people as well as great facilities. You have a board that’s very focused on the students.
“If it weren’t for that board commitment, there’s no way I would have left Diboll because I had it there. All the community leaders I’ve met have a true sense of community. Everyone I’ve spoken to wants to see the school district be successful and it’s not just talk. They’re willing to help.”
Welcome!
My name is Wade Emmert and I am a Council Member for the City of Cedar Hill. This web site is a way for me to share with you some of my thoughts about issues important to the City.
It is my sincerest goal to be a good steward of the citizens’ trust. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve you.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at Wade.Emmert@cedarhilltx.com or (214) 740-3164.