New bell schedule, security, construction, state recognition top changes for 2010-2011
August 26, 2010
Filed under News, Top Stories
Lufkin High School is facing several changes for the 2010-2011 school year.
One change this year is the new bell schedule, which could earn federal funds for the school’s Career and Technology department.
“We start school five minutes earlier at 10 after 8, and we end at 3:45 instead of 3:40, which allows us to make fourth period a 90-minute class instead of an 80-minute class,” Principal Mark Smith said. “It allows us to qualify for more federal money for the Career and Technology courses, such as the Ag courses, welding courses, and Consumer Ed. courses.”
Another noticeable change has been the addition of two more police officers walking the LHS campus.
“In the past, we’ve had Officer Jay Jost who worked with the Lufkin Police Department, but over the summer, the school board decided the Lufkin Independent School District should have a separate police force,” Smith said. “So now Officer Jost is Chief Jo, and then I have two officers here–Officer Dan Lair and Officer Ray Williams. We’ve gone from one officer to three officers here on our campus, and that’s a step we’ve taken to have things a little more secure for our kids.”
The remodeled entrance to the school was also built with security in mind.
“In the mornings when school starts, all of the doors are going to be open, but at 8:30, the second set of doors will lock,” Smith said. “You can still go out, but you can’t come back in, so parents who come in will have to check in with our kiosk. When we find out who’s here and where they want to go, we push a button, and it opens up a door and lets them come in into the school. It’s an extra way for us to know who’s coming and going.”
Even Abe Martin Stadium underwent an alteration, as new stands have been added to the home side.
“Our stadium didn’t have enough handicap accessibility for wheelchairs, so to be compliant with the federal government, we built four aluminum stands, two on each end, to allow that increase,” Smith said.
Something that is also new to the school is its status as a recognized campus for the students’ high TAKS scores.
“To be a recognized campus means all sub-populations–whether they are Hispanic, white, African-American–all of those groups are tested within their group, and they all have to score above an 80 on their TAKS test; and we were able to do that,” Smith said. “There’s not another 5A school that I’m aware of that has the same kind of demographics that we have that are a recognized campus. Our kids worked really hard, and our teachers did a great job of preparing them for the state TAKS test.”
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