Latest news with #Bluebonnet
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fort Worth ISD reveals new lesson structures to help improve academic performance
As students in the Fort Worth Independent School District wrap up their last week of school, Superintendent Karen Molinar revealed details about how classroom lessons will be structured upon their return to school in the fall. Molinar gave a presentation to the school board on Tuesday, May 20, of Fort Worth ISD's new instructional framework that will go into effect in the 2025-26 school year for literacy and math. The framework is one of the components of the district's effort to turn around its stagnant academic performance. The goal is to promote consistency in the classroom and reduce planning time for teachers while keeping their autonomy intact. Beyond literacy and math, the framework will apply to all subjects for kindergarten through eighth grade, Molinar said. A framework for high school lessons is in the works. Molinar explained in-depth the three parts of the instructional framework: first teach; demonstration of learning; and reteach and challenge. First teach, the initial layer of instruction known as tier one instruction, includes addressing gaps students have in prerequisite skills, adjusting what students are learning or how they're learning it, and using techniques that allow students to participate and share their thinking during a lesson. 'Regardless of where they come in at, that first teach always has to be at grade level. If they're reading on a second-grade level, but they're in the third grade, they're always going to receive that third-grade instruction,' Molinar said. The second part, demonstration of learning, consists of no more than five questions that are aligned with the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exam to gauge what students took away from the lesson. The final reteach and challenge block involves grouping students based on how they performed with their demonstration of learning to receive additional support if needed. Students who 'meet' or 'master' the material do enrichment activities to further their learning. District officials will provide teachers with lesson slide decks and questions for the demonstrations of learning to be used as guides during class time. The slide decks and lesson materials will be linked together in one place through an online portal. 'The lesson planning is done for the teachers. The delivery is the autonomy of the teacher,' Molinar said. 'Teachers are now going to be able to plan weeks in advance and really be able to adjust.' Molinar also presented a funding overview for various options of reading and math curriculum approved by the State Board of Education, which included the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum. Bluebonnet's literacy curriculum has sparked controversy for its Bible-infused reading materials. Molinar focused on the math portion of the Bluebonnet curriculum, including a presentation slide with bullet points explaining why it was 'a better choice for Fort Worth ISD.' Among the examples she mentioned were its instructional support for teachers, emergent bilingual students and students who previously have struggled with math. It also replicates the district's current curriculum, Eureka Math and Carnegie Learning, so teachers won't have to learn an entirely new curriculum. 🚨 More top stories from our newsroom: → Fort Worth ISD board approves plan to close 18 schools → TCU student murder case moves toward trial → Mansfield ISD board approves superintendent's contract [Get our breaking news alerts.] The school board approved the adoption and roughly $2 million purchase of the Bluebonnet Learning math curriculum later on in the meeting, in an 8-0 vote without discussion. School board member Wallace Bridges was absent. 'If there's a better resource for our students, and we're getting funding from the state, it's our obligation to put that in front of them and to make sure our teachers have the best curriculum and the best resources for our students,' Molinar said. Molinar also shared the district's update for dyslexia screening, which includes adding another screening for seventh-grade students. When students are taking their beginning-of-the-year MAP test, middle schools will do screening for seventh-graders identified by the district. By the end of the first six weeks of school, or Sept. 19, families will be given a data analysis of their child's screening with a literacy support plan. Students suspected of having dyslexia, or other disabilities under the umbrella of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, will be evaluated by district staff within 45 school days of staff receiving parental consent to do the evaluation.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BKV ENERGY RECOGNIZED AS TOP 5 FINALIST IN HOUSTON CHRONICLE'S BEST OF THE BEST AWARDS
Top five placement reflects the company's commitment to excellent service and customer satisfaction HOUSTON, May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- BKV Energy, a residential electricity provider in Texas, is proud to announce that it has been named one of the top five electricity companies in Houston Chronicle's Best of the Best awards. Voting to select the winner in each of the Best of the Best categories began on May 12, 2025 at 12 a.m. CT and ends on May 27, 2025. "This is an exciting achievement for us," said Javier Hinojosa, Vice President of Retail Power at BKV Energy. "As a newer retail energy provider in Texas, for us to make it this far based on voting from the community is special. We thank everyone who has helped us make it to the top five, and we hope that your support continues in the next round of voting." To vote for BKV Energy: Visit Click Vote! "We've worked hard to create a new electricity shopping experience for Texans. There are so many providers and plans in the marketplace that the Power To Choose can sometimes feel more like a burden than a benefit," said Sam Luna, Director of Product Marketing at BKV Energy. "That's why we offer the Bluebonnet plan. It offers an affordable fixed rate without setup fees, base charges, or usage fees. Additionally, customers enjoy BKV Energy Plus at no cost, our benefits program that includes ElectroShare, our annual loyalty payout that increases the longer you're with us, and Reduce Your Rate, opportunities to switch to a cheaper rate mid-contract for free." Learn more about BKV Energy by visiting or contacting customer service at 855-258-4797. For media inquiries, please contact bkve@ ABOUT BKV ENERGY BKV Energy is a Texas-based residential electricity provider dedicated to delivering transparent and simple energy plans with no base charges or hidden fees. With innovative solutions like ElectroShare, the company is committed to providing its customers with reliable and affordable electricity. BKV Energy also offers renewable energy plans to its customers. PUCT #10323 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE BKV Energy Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BKV ENERGY RECOGNIZED AS TOP 5 FINALIST IN HOUSTON CHRONICLE'S BEST OF THE BEST AWARDS
Top five placement reflects the company's commitment to excellent service and customer satisfaction HOUSTON, May 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- BKV Energy, a residential electricity provider in Texas, is proud to announce that it has been named one of the top five electricity companies in Houston Chronicle's Best of the Best awards. Voting to select the winner in each of the Best of the Best categories began on May 12, 2025 at 12 a.m. CT and ends on May 27, 2025. "This is an exciting achievement for us," said Javier Hinojosa, Vice President of Retail Power at BKV Energy. "As a newer retail energy provider in Texas, for us to make it this far based on voting from the community is special. We thank everyone who has helped us make it to the top five, and we hope that your support continues in the next round of voting." To vote for BKV Energy: Visit Click Vote! "We've worked hard to create a new electricity shopping experience for Texans. There are so many providers and plans in the marketplace that the Power To Choose can sometimes feel more like a burden than a benefit," said Sam Luna, Director of Product Marketing at BKV Energy. "That's why we offer the Bluebonnet plan. It offers an affordable fixed rate without setup fees, base charges, or usage fees. Additionally, customers enjoy BKV Energy Plus at no cost, our benefits program that includes ElectroShare, our annual loyalty payout that increases the longer you're with us, and Reduce Your Rate, opportunities to switch to a cheaper rate mid-contract for free." Learn more about BKV Energy by visiting or contacting customer service at 855-258-4797. For media inquiries, please contact bkve@ ABOUT BKV ENERGY BKV Energy is a Texas-based residential electricity provider dedicated to delivering transparent and simple energy plans with no base charges or hidden fees. With innovative solutions like ElectroShare, the company is committed to providing its customers with reliable and affordable electricity. BKV Energy also offers renewable energy plans to its customers. PUCT #10323 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE BKV Energy Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US supreme court orders temporary halt to deportations of Venezuelan men
The US supreme court has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt the deportation of Venezuelan men in immigration custody, after their lawyers said they were at imminent risk of removal without the judicial review previously mandated by the justices. 'The government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court,' the justices said early on Saturday. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two of the court's leading conservatives, dissented. The order is the latest example of how the country's courts are challenging the Trump administration's overhaul of the immigration system, which has been characterized by a number of deportations that have either been wrongful or carried out without due process. Before the late-night supreme court ruling, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued in an emergency Friday court filing that dozens of Venezuelan men held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Bluebonnet detention center in Texas had been given notices indicating they were classified as members of the Tren de Aragua gang. They said the men would be deported under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) and were told 'that the removals are imminent and will happen tonight or tomorrow'. Related: Detained Turkish student must be transferred from Louisiana for hearing, judge rules The ACLU said immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to deportation. The ACLU said a number of the men in Texas had already been loaded onto a bus, and it urged the court to rule before they could be deported. The ACLU has already sued to block deportations under the AEA of two Venezuelans held in the Texas detention center and is asking a judge to issue an order barring removal of any immigrants in the region under the law. The supreme court has allowed some deportations under the AEA, but has previously ruled they could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given 'a reasonable time' to contest their pending removals. Federal judges in Colorado, New York and southern Texas have also issued orders barring the removal of detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court. But there's been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is located 24 miles (39km) north of the city of Abilene in the far northern end of the state. District judge James Wesley Hendrix this week declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the ACLU lawsuit because immigration officials filed sworn declarations that they would not be immediately deported. But the ACLU's Friday filing includes sworn declarations from three separate immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by Saturday. In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client, identified by initials and who only spoke Spanish, was told to sign papers in English. 'Ice informed FGM that these papers were coming from the president, and that he will be deported even if he did not sign it,' Brown wrote. The ACLU asked Hendrix to issue a temporary order halting any such deportations. Later on Friday, with no response from Hendrix, the ACLU asked district judge James Boasberg in Washington to issue a similar emergency order, saying they had information that detainees were being loaded onto buses. In their court filing, lawyers say clients received a document on Friday from immigration officials, titled 'Notice and Warrant of Apprehension and Removal Under the Alien Enemies Act'. It read: 'You have been determined to be … a member of Tren de Aragua. … 'You have been determined to be an alien enemy subject to apprehension, restraint and removal from the United States … This is not a removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act.' Before the supreme court decision, Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, denounced the reported plan. 'We cannot stand by,' Jayapal wrote on social media, as the Trump administration 'continues to disappear people'. Hours before the supreme court ruling was announced, an appeals court in Washington DC temporarily halted Boasberg's contempt proceedings against the Trump administration over its deportation flights to El Salvador last month. The court said the order was intended to provide 'sufficient opportunity' for the court to consider the government's appeal and 'should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion'.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Literacy professor wins award for service
Apr. 15—When UTPB Assistant Professor of Literacy Shelly Landreth isn't teaching, she's busy giving back to the community. Her work both at the University of Texas Permian Basin and in Odessa have earned her the President's Award for Service. Although she knew she had been nominated, she didn't find out she'd won until the night of the event. They read a little biography and she thought some of it sounded familiar. "It was really exciting and such an honor to be recognized in that way," Landreth said. The literacy program is small, so she teaches a wide variety of literacy courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. Landreth has been at UTPB for six years but was in public education for 23 years, even serving as a librarian. She has a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in reading from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Landreth also has a master's degree in library science and a doctorate in literacy, both from Sam Houston. "When I moved into higher ed in 2019 it was a big transition. I was really naive about a lot of that. ... I've kind of learned over time how that works, but it's a different world for sure," Landreth said. Her background is in secondary education. Before moving into higher education, she spent a number of years as a middle school and high school English language arts and reading teacher. In higher education, she has taught a little bit of everything. "I teach children's and young adult literature courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level," Landreth said. She also has worked closely with UTPB's teacher residents in Ector and Midland County ISDs. Some of her community service is connected to her background as a librarian. She is on the Friends of the Ector County Library Board and served as the Texas Library Association District 9 chair for a couple years. That district goes up to Lubbock, down to this area. "In that capacity, we hosted the District 9 fall meeting a couple of years ago," at the Midland County Public Library downtown branch, she said. For the last three years, Landreth has served on the Texas Library Association Topaz Committee, a non-fiction reading list. "I read a lot of non-fiction the last three years as a member of that committee," Landreth said. She's on the Service Learning Advisory Committee at UTPB and they do a lot of service learning projects with students. "Dr. Tara Wilson, my colleague ... kind of heads up the Service Learning Advisory Committee, and she sort of encouraged me to incorporate service learning into my coursework. ... What it does is it connects what they're learning in the classroom to some type of service," Landreth said. This fall, she taught a children's literature course and wanted to connect what she was doing with her students to the STEM Academy. They had a Bluebonnet contest at STEM. Several ECISD campuses had the contest previously, but STEM Academy hadn't participated. Landreth was teaching her students to read aloud effectively and so they read Bluebonnet books aloud to third through fifth grade students there. She was able to go with them and coach them. A native of La Grange, she spent most of her years teaching in rural areas before moving here. When she was a young teacher, Landreth never dreamed she would be teaching at a university. She said her professors had a huge impact on her and somewhere along the line, she began wondering about going into higher education. "My husband actually encouraged me to consider going back for a doctorate, but I really didn't know what for and I wasn't really interested so much in educational leadership, being a principal, superintendent, that kind of thing, because I consider my home the classroom. "That's my favorite place in all of education, is in a classroom with students. ... In exploring, I found a literacy degree at Sam Houston State University. I went back to Sam Houston to work on my doctorate while I was working as a teacher in a district," Landreth said. That's what led her thoughts to going into teacher education. Sometimes she stops and thinks how lucky she is. "You get caught up in all busyness of your day and all the meetings and all these things you have to do, and you can forget. But sometimes I ... stop and just think, wow, I get to work with people who are going to be in classrooms, teachers, future teachers. ... It's an amazing thing. It's very humbling, because I think teaching is one of the most important things a person can do," Landreth said. It's very challenging, as well. She tells her pre-service teachers it's not easy especially in the current climate in schools. "I feel like it's become increasingly more challenging, and that's evident in the number of teachers who leave the field. However, I tell them that if you're really passionate about it and you really want to do it, it's the most rewarding career you can have. Every day you walk into a classroom, you have the potential to impact lives for better or worse ... We need people who are impacting lives for better. ... While it is challenging, and there were times in my career where I thought, What am I doing?" Landreth said. She could do something else and make more money, but she's in year 29 of her teaching career. "And I would not have made a different choice. ... I still have some good years ahead of me, I think, to continue to make an impact," Landreth said. Clark Moreland, UTPB Lecturer of English and director of The Heimmermann Center for Engaged Teaching, said Landreth was the perfect choice for the 2025 UTPB President's Service Award. "She is a key driver for many of our service learning initiatives, leading her students to volunteer at local libraries and schools to help bolster our community's literacy rates. She is also part of our Open Educational Resources leadership team, supporting faculty who are creating more affordable and relevant course materials. She's got that can-do, wildcatter spirit that is representative not only of our faculty but of West Texas as a whole. We're lucky to have her on our team!" Moreland said.
