Early Thursday morning, Education Week released its 2012 Quality Counts Report Cards, ranking states based on achievement, funding, college readiness, and a dozen other fields.

Texas came in 12th nationwide, which, frankly, is higher than I thought it would be. The state received As or A-minuses in standards, early education, college readiness, and accountability, but fell down in the areas HPISD families are all too familiar: spending (F) and school finance (D+). HPISD is unusually supported by its neighbors, families, and local institutions (to the tune of $5.5 million last year), but I think this analysis shows that most of the other districts in the state aren’t as lucky.

It’s an interesting analysis, and one worth spending a few minutes with.

Highland Park’s Kaitlyn Read (44) is fouled by Richardson Pearce guard Cara Thomas (23). I’ve been shooting a lot of high school and college basketball lately. Have any questions or tips on how to take and get great action photos. Share them with photo editor Chris McGathey at photo@peoplenewspapers.com.

Nutrition Master

You guys want controversy? You got it.

Not really, but I was trying to spice up this post a bit. Anyway, the district released their cafeterias’ nutrition facts today, and they’re about what you expect: salads are good and fried chicken sandwiches are bad. But if people actually paid attention to these kind of numbers, Chick-fil-A would be gone, we’d all eat lettuce all the time, and general unpleasantness would settle over the earth, like a Cormac McCarthy novel.

After a pretty cursory glance over the numbers, the district’s worst food items (calorically speaking) are:

- The Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich (430 calories, 17 grams of fat)

- Chili, no beans (430 calories, 32 grams of fat)

- Mrs. Baird’s Frosted Donuts (430 calories, 28 grams of fat)

So, if your kid likes ditching his chicken sandwich bun for donuts, then dipping his chicken-donut Frankensandwich in chili, HPISD is the place for you!

(Although, in all fairness, these menus look to have plenty of healthy options, more than most districts. My high school’s entree options ranged from french fries to curly fries, with the occasional cheese fries thrown in the mix. A charmed life, until you’re a 325 pound sophomore with a glandular problem.)

After putting the camera down for a few days, it felt kind of good to get out of the house and shoot a few basketball games at a tournament in Plano. In between games, and feeling refreshed, I kept noticing light pouring in from a row of windows in the gym at Plano Senior High School. I studied the sun as it was setting very bright, it was creeping across the basketball court, hitting a particular spot in the court. So patiently, waiting for players and referees to run up and down the court, I snapped a few frames. Settings were Nikon D7000 with an Nikon 80-200mm 2.8, 3200 ISO. The first shot is a shadow of a referee on the back wall of the court. The second is of Irving player Jalen Strickland.

Read More…

SMU’s Daily Campus had an interesting read yesterday about education differences in Dallas, specifically comparing Highland Park and Woodrow Wilson.

It’s a pretty thorough report, and one that would be interesting for the academic lot. If you’re an HP parent it probably won’t give you much more information than you already know, but it should make you grateful for your son or daughter’s school district.

Starting this spring, Highland Park High School students will be allowed to use their iPads, netbooks, laptops, Droids, flim-flams, doohickeys, and whatchamakoozles in class, in an effort to bring the district in line with current electronic and academic trends.

Last night the district’s Board of Trustees approved the plan, which would make students sign on to a protected program, filtering inappropriate and non-academic sites. The long-gestating move is an attempt to give students the best tools possible to complete their assignments, district spokeswoman Helen Williams said during the meeting.

Students will still not be allowed to use their phones for texting or calls during class, but may be able to use them for research or assignments. With HPISD facing certain cuts in upcoming years, the move is also an attempt to bolster the district’s technology by enlisting students’ own devices.

The plan will launch in the high school in January, and if all goes well the middle school will follow suit.

The Highland Park ISD Board of Trustees will recognize the high school’s tennis and cross country teams tonight, at 5 p.m., in the Highland Park Middle School cafeteria.

The event will precede the regularly scheduled Board meeting, which is expected to touch upon school finance, TASB policies, and a slew of other items.

Congrats to the teams.

SMU always finds itself on a slew of these “top colleges” lists, and not always for the best reasons (the druggiest list comes to mind).

This week, it’s “America’s REAL Most Expensive Colleges.” The list takes into account the total cost per year, then subtracts the average aid granted to each student. SMU’s “real cost” comes in at $32,643, good enough for #11 on the list. It’s the highest ranked school not found in the Northeast.

Drexel tops the list at $40,491. I’ve been to Drexel a million times; trust me, it’s not worth it. But is SMU? Discuss.

After a lengthy tryout process, the 2012-2013 Highland Belles squad added 17 new members to its ranks. Shannon Harty’s award winning drill team now has 60 members total.

The team, which starts group rehearsal in January, will select its lieutenants in February.

Back row: coach Clark Hunt, Jon Paul Lipe, Ryan Henry, Jack Meyer, Sam Lipper, Ryan Graham, and coach Dan Meyer; front row: Knobel Hunt, Michael Anderson, Moses Stewart, Drew Messick, and Jackson McFarlane

The Super Bowl of flag football, that is! Providence’s third-grade team was undefeated for the fourth season in a row.

Since they were just kindergartners, these 10 young gents have taken win after win, dominating their age group in the Spring Valley Athletic Association and Town North YMCA flag football leagues.

Congrats, kiddos!