Nimitz Team Retains Regional Title

The Nimitz High School Academic Decathlon Team won the Region 9 Large Schools meet at MacArthur High School last weekend, earning its 17th regional title in the past 20 years. Nimitz missed winning the regional title only once in the past 10 years, which was in 2005.

Nimitz won the 13-school meet with a total of 43,451 points. Keller finished second with 41,130 points. Leading the way for Nimitz were Jared Hindman and Jeremiah Glenn, each winning 13 medals, followed by Joseph Mathew, Shehznan Baqui, Alex Masterson, Austin Christenberry, Matthew Granado, Jerry Jacob and Murtaza Jafferji. The team won a total of 71 medals.

Nimitz advances to the state meet, hosted by Cinco Ranch High School in the Katy ISD, February 23-24 and will attempt to reclaim the state championship it won in 2004.

See Decathlon State Rankings

Also at the meet, Irving High School finished eighth with 33,707 points while MacArthur finished 11th with 29,860 points. Devon Albert, Eric Hill and Kevin Itty medaled for Irving High. Robert Dorlan and Alex Holley medaled for MacArthur. Raven Garcia and Rachel Smith also were top scorers in their respective divisions for MacArthur.

The Academy of IISD, fielding a team for the second year, competed in the medium schools regional competition last weekend in McKinney, finishing in eighth place at the 10-school meet. Rema Almasri, Elia Delgado, Huong Nguyen, Georgia Hogan and John Westerman medaled for The Academy.

The Nimitz High School Academic Decathlon Team, from left: Jeremiah Glenn, Shehznan Baqui, Austin Christenberry, Murtaza Jafferji, Jerry Jacob, Matthew Granado, Joseph Mathew, Alex Masterson and Jared Hindman.

The top medalists at the regional meet for the Nimitz High School Academic Decathlon Team were, from left, Jeremiah Glenn (13 medals), Joseph Mathew (10 medals) and Jared Hindman (13 medals).

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Ex-Irving High Student Killed in Iraq Combat

Army Sgt. Paul Timothy (Tim) Sanchez, an ex-Irving High School student, was killed by an explosive device January 14 while on military police duty in Baghdad, Iraq. He was 32.

Sanchez, who enlisted in 2000 after obtaining his General Educational Development (GED) certificate, attended Irving High in the early 1990s. He was assigned to the 91st Military Police Battalion’s 543rd Military Police Company, based in Fort Drum, N.Y. Sanchez was on his second tour of duty, which began shortly after last Thanksgiving.

He is survived by his wife, Kym, and two children, Ashleigh and Adrian, who both attend IISD schools. His aunt is Mary Arteaga, paraprofessional/clerk to the diagnostician at Austin.

Services will be held from 6-9 p.m. Friday and at 11 a.m. Saturday at Family Worship Center, located at 1715 N. Britain. Burial on Saturday will follow at Oak Grove Memorial Gardens at 1413 E. Irving Blvd., immediately followed by a gathering at the National Guard Armory, located across the street from Irving High.

Sanchez is the third former student from Irving High to die in Iraq in the past two years. In 2004, Army Spc. Josiah Vandertulip died after his patrol came under fire. In 2005, Marine Lance Cpl. Nazario Serrano was killed in a mortar attack.

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Owen Selected for National Group

Dr. Alice Owen, executive director of technology, has been selected to serve on a technical working group for the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education.

This group, comprised of individuals from around the nation, will meet in Washington, D.C. to discuss technology management in K-12 education, as well as strategies and skills required to develop and implement integrated technology systems to support 21st century schools.

Ideas generated by this group will be used to assist the Office of Educational Technology in organizing and developing resources that will be made available to all schools and districts.

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District Improvement Committee Meets

The District Improvement Committee (DIC) met January 18 and approved a Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) application from Schulze Elementary School. The application was subsequently approved by the IISD Board of Trustees at its Monday meeting.

Also, subcommittees are nearing their deadline for completing work on the District Improvement Plan.

The next DIC meeting will be February 15 at the IISD Administration Building.

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eSchool News Makes ISTV Debut

eSchool News recently made its debut in the programming line-up for Irving Schools Television (ISTV).

The eSchool News program, titled TechWatch, is an educational technology newscast, which was launched last November by award-winning journalists at the national newspaper eSchool News. The program can be seen daily on ISTV at 9:15 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. and is also available for online viewing at www.irvingisd.net/television.

ISTV can be seen on Time Warner Cable Channel 98 and Verizon FiOS Channel 33.

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Crime-Free Program Targets Multi-Housing

Estelle Creek will be the first community to become a fully certified member of the Irving Police Department's Crime Free Multi-Housing Program (CFMHP). A safety social will be held from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at 4023 Block Drive. Office Beau Jones will present information about general safety principles and crime prevention.

Irving Police implemented CFMHP in an effort to reduce crime at apartment communities. Apartment communities are encouraged to participate in the three-phase program, which includes training, on-sight safety inspections, and communication with residents. For more information, call 972-721-2669 or visit www.irvingpd.com/CFMHP_1.htm.