Public Information Department

Public Information Department VIP's

• RGCCISD Superintendent Ramon Hinojosa
• Printer Eliseo Vivas
• Secretary Olga Lopez
• Public Information Officer Christopher Bush

   

  Rio Grande City Lady Rattlers volleyball schedule

   

  The Rio Grande City High School Lady Rattlers varsity volleyball team will compete in District 30-5A this year.

  They are coached by Shannon Lynch. She is assisted by Ivan Peña and Cindy Bustamante.

  The team competed in the Mission Tournament during the weekend.

  Here is the remainder of the 1998 schedule.

  Sept. 19 .... at Brownsville Porter

  Sept. 22 .... McAllen Memorial*

  Sept. 26 .................. Mission*

  Sept. 29 ................... La Joya*

  Oct. 3 ........ at McAllen Rowe*

  Oct. 6 ................. at McAllen*

  Oct. 10 ..... McAllen Memorial*

  Oct. 13 ................ at Mission*

  Oct. 17 ................. at La Joya*

  Oct. 20 .......... McAllen Rowe*

  Oct. 24 ................... McAllen*

  - All varsity regular season games begin at 7 p.m. except for the games with St. Augustine at 6 p.m.

  JV games begin an hour prior to the varsity contest.

  * Denotes a District 30-5A game

  Head Coach: Shannon Lynch.

  Assistant Coaches: Ivan Peña & Cindy Bustamante.

  JV coach: Lorene Lara.

  Principal: Mike Villarreal.

  Athletic Director: Jorge L. Peña.

  For information, please call 488-6055.

   

  
  

  Rio educators receive go-ahead to travel to conference in Guadalajara

   

  RGCCISD News Report

  RIO GRANDE CITY - The Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District Board of Education approved the travel of educators from five elementary campuses to attend an international reading conference in Guadalajara in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

  The Board approved the action at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1998, at the Fort Ringgold Multi-Purpose Center.

  The meeting is called Academics 2000: First Things First and will be held Oct. 8-11. The Region I Educational Service Center will pay the Rio educators' expenses with a grant it received of nearly $250,000.

  Region I asked RGCCISD to designate the principal or a designee from the following elementary campuses: Roque Guerra, Ringgold, Hinojosa, La Union and Grulla. The district also will receive funding to include the director of elementary education and the director of bilingual education to go to the international reading conference, said Amy Mares, Region I's Academics 2000 Project Coordinator.

  Dr. Richard Irizarry, the district's assistant superintendent for curriculum & instruction, said, "This is an excellent opportunity for district personnel to attend the International Reading Conference in order to improve our Reading and Bilingual Programs.''

  Argot LTD Contract

  After considerable discussion, the Board approved the contract with Argot LTD, which provides services necessary to the district's alignment process.

  Dr. Irizarry said, "Over the past year, we have been pleased with the delivery of services from Argot LTD. During the 1997-98 school year, Argot LTD created aligned tests in English and Spanish for all grade levels in both Reading and Mathematics based on TAAS objectives and specific TAAS targets. Tests were administered every six weeks as scheduled with short turn-around times for the delivery of results to the district.''

  The district uses the information from tests results to address specific educational needs for each individual student.

  Argot LTD provides tests and also evaluates the results for use by the district's educators in determining students' needs.

  Board Secretary Jose Luis Garcia noted the district's TAAS scores have been improving and added, "If we are going to hold people responsible we need to give them the tools they need.''

  SCAN Agreement Tabled

  The Board delayed action on a agreement between the district and the Stop Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) program, which sponsors the Starr County Intervention Program (SCIP).

  Board President Basilio Villarreal Jr., said more information was needed to determine the effectiveness of the program.

  "I would like to find out what affect it is having on the district,'' said Villarreal, who believes the program provides a positive service.

  The program provides services to male and female adolescents 10-17 years old who are at risk of becoming involved with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The program also provides services at its main offices in Rio Grande City and Roma.

  Program Director Diana Alaniz addressed trustees, telling them SCIP served 350 teenagers and their parents by providing alternative activities, individual and group sessions and parenting sessions. She said the program provides services to Roma, Rio Grande City, Roma ISD, RGCCISD and Starr County.

  Clients are referred to SCIP by school counselors.

  Trustee Silvina S. Hinojosa said she would like for district counselors to provide more counseling to at-risk students.

  The proposed working agreement between RGCCISD and SCAN would continue for five years if approved.

  Video Cassette Program

  Trustees approved an agreement between the district and the Region I ESC for the 1998-99 school year to duplicate all of the video cassette tapes furnished by the Rio Grande City school district or its campuses at no charge.

  According to the program's guidelines, campuses are not to do any copying of videocassettes due to copyright laws. Only Region One ESC instructional services can duplicate the titles.

  To receive the free service, the district simply has to agree on the rules and regulations.

  UIL Guidelines

  The Board approved new University Interscholastic League (UIL) guidelines for RGCCISD coaches and participants.

  Coaches will be paid a total stipend of $600 per UIL Literary event for a minimum coaching time of 40 hours per event, including the days of competition.

  Each sponsor must coach one event (but not more than two) and have three active participants for each event. Sponsors must check the eligibility of all participants for every meet.

  Sponsors must also keep student profiles on each participant, have a team ready for competition in at least two invitational meets and the district meet and attend and accompany their students at all times to and from meets. Coaches will be paid an additional $75 (after instructional time) for sponsoring a bus, attending a meet and supervising students on any out of town practice meets beyond the minimum required.

  All practice sessions must take place at a time other than the instructional time. Students will practice before school, lunch time and/or after school.

  Sponsors will be expected to document time spent working with students on event preparation and travel to meets.

  Each campus is also expected to provide a UIL coordinator to oversee that students try out for different events and monitor UIL coaching activities. The UIL campus coordinator will be paid $600. Principals, according to the guidelines, are responsible for transportation of students to UIL competitions.

  Trustees strongly encouraged coaches to have at least three participants in each event.

  Gifted/Talented Coordinator Edna Gonzalez will be the district's administrator in charge of UIL activities.

  Dyslexia Aides

  Trustees approved giving permission for the district to advertise from within the district for a dyslexia aide at Ringgold Fifth-Grade Campus and Rio Grande City High School.

  The two aides would be replacements for aides who either transferred to different campuses or took a different position.

  The position at the high school is for 187 days, while it would be for 185 days at the Fifth-Grade Campus.

  Reports

  The Board received a report from Director of Students Services Nance Muñoz on workers' compensation for 1998.

  Muñoz reported that the district has an on-going safety program to train employees on matters pertaining to being accident free.

  The Board also commended Maintenance Director Arcadio Salinas for providing a safe working environment and helping train personnel in safety matters.

  Transportation Director Manuel Benavidez provided a report on the bus system.

  According to the report, the transportation department has 71 bus drivers, seven bus aides, a dispatcher and route supervisor, five mechanics, one head mechanic and assistant head mechanic, one partsman/seat repairman, two secretary/clerks and the director for for a total of 91 employees.

  The program's annual cost is $1.8 million and serves 4,550 students daily for a total of 946,335 miles on regular trips and an additional 149,814 miles for extra-curricular trips.

  District buses use 269,147 gallons of fuel annually on its fleet of 78 buses.

  Last year, the department traveled more than a million miles and had only four minor accidents, with none at fault of the district drivers.
  

  Gifted and Talented Program Offers Challenging Classes

   

  RGCCISD News Release

  The S.A.G.E. (Student achievement through Gifted Education) program at Rio Grande City Consolidated Independent School District is offering challenging classes to meet the needs of children or youth who perform at or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment in general intellectual ability (K-6) and/or in a specific academic field (7-12).

  RGCCISD's Gifted and Talented Program serves approximately 800 students through two age groupings: Elementary K-5; and Secondary 6-12.

  Pre-K and Kindergarten students are observed throughout the fall semester and tested before March 1. Students are placed in the program or a Talent Pool List. They may remain in the Talent Pool from K-2, until it is determined by the Selection Committee, that they may be identified as Gifted and Talented.

  First through fifth grade identified students are served in an all day program. J. & O. Hinojosa Elementary and North Grammar Elementary offer a pull-out program that offers enrichment activities for the gifted students.

  The Secondary Program serves students in grades 6-12 at all middle school and high school. For middle school students S.A.G.E. courses are offered in the four core disciplines: Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Math in their clusters. Beginning in the ninth grade Gifted and Talented students are placed in the Gifted and Talented Classes.

  Gifted and Talented students are also encouraged to take Pre-AP and AP (Advanced Placement) courses. These courses are college-level material and follow a rigorous curriculum.

  The identification process for the S.A.G.E. program consists of three stages: nomination, screening, and selection.

  Each student is screened with two of the four data collecting instruments, teacher observation and product portfolio. At the elementary and secondary level anyone (the student, parent, teacher, counselor, etc.) may nominate a student for the program.

  All nominated students are screened by means of achievement test scores, mental abilities test scores, teacher recommendations, and student products.

  The collected data is then presented to the respective Selection Committee - elementary or secondary. After careful consideration of the data, the committees make a decision regarding which students qualify for the S.A.G.E. Program. An appeal process is available when needed.

  The program strives to meet the needs of these students by differentiating the curriculum in content, process, and product.

  Also the curriculum is enriched with added depth and complexity and allows for flexible pacing. This curriculum emphasizes mastery of the basic skills as well as enrichment activities, independent projects an help with inter and intrapersonal skills. Training in critical thinking, creative thinking, and problem solving skills are also stressed.

  The goal of the program is to enable students to have appropriately challenging learning experience to become successful life-long learners.