Thursday, October 9, 2008

Lancaster ISD superintendent to give State of our Schools report to chamber

By Bill Conrad of Lancaster TODAY

LANCASTER — Lancaster Independent School District Superintendent Larry Lewis will give his annual “State of our Schools” report Oct. 9 to the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce.

The talk will occur at the chamber's monthly luncheon, held at the Grand Hall of the Lancaster Recreation Center.

This year has been an up-and-down year for LISD.

James Damm was appointed by the Texas Education Agency as a financial conservator after the TEA audit of the district was released in June.

Damm is filing monthly reports with the TEA and has noted some areas of improvement in the short time he has been in the district.

Most notably, Damm said in his latest report that the relationship between the school board and Lewis, as well as the board and the public appears to be improving.

The district also received good news when Rolling Hills Elementary, which was academically unacceptable in 2007, was rated academically acceptable. That leaves the district with just one school, Lancaster High School, as academically unacceptable.

There was good news at the high school in 2008, as the academic decathlon team advanced to the state finals for the first time.

The high school also had success on the athletic field, when the girls and boys track teams both won state titles in May. It was the girls eighth straight state title, and the boys third over all title.

The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m.

The chamber is also hosting its annual Duffer's Derby Golf Tournament Oct. 13.

“This is one of the main fundraisers for the chamber,” said Bob Borden, golf tournament chairman. “This is our 25th year holding the tournament and is where we raise a lot of our operating capital and also funds a lot of our projects like scholarships.”

Borden said the tournament is the second most profitable chamber of commerce golf tournament in the state, second only to a tournament in the Texas City area.

The tournament is at Lancaster's Country View Golf Course. The course features four par 3s, which will all have hole-in-one prizes. Prizes include free airline tickets from American Airlines, a free electronics package, a set of Calloway irons or $10,000. Doug Stanley Ford is also sponsoring two of the holes, meaning two of the four par 3s will have double prizes.

On Doug Stanley's first hole, the closest to the pin will receive four free tires. A player getting a hole-in-one on the second Doug Stanley sponsored hole will receive a free automobile.

Registration begins at 10 a.m. and lunch from Chick-fil-A will be served at 11 a.m. A putting contest sponsored by Town Square Realty also begins at 11.

The actual tournament begins at 12:30 p.m. and will conclude with a steak dinner from Outback Steakhouse.

For more information about the luncheon or the golf tournament, contact the Lancaster chamber at 972-227-2579.

Pegasus News content partner - Lancaster TODAY

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