A Monthly Newsletter produced by Sands CISD
HOOFBEATS
APRIL 2007
From the Editor
MORE THAN JUST A COACH!
It has been said
that you don’t realize what you have until it is gone. The students and faculty
at Sands now know the devastating truth of that statement. We have all been
told that, in time, the hurt of our loss will fade, only to be replaced by
positive memories that soothe the soul. It will assuredly be a slow process,
but already, I can feel that happening.
Johnny Peugh will be missed. His
passing at this time brings us sorrow, but it also makes us more aware of the
frailties of life and the importance of friendship, family and the importance
of making the most of the time that we have on this earth.
Johnny was a
remarkably good man, he was an inspiring role model and mentor for all who had
the pleasure of being around him. He
was a person of devotion and integrity, a man who understood a hard day's work.
He had high expectations of his students and athletes. He wanted each one of his students to do
their best, not for him but for their own personal gratification and for the
advantages he knew it would bring them later in life.
His core
accomplishment was family. It was obvious that he poured vast amounts of love
and energy into being a good husband, father and grandfather. We know that he will be missed by all of his
family, just as he will be here at school.
It is apparent to anyone who mentions his name that Johnny was loved by
all of the students in school, from grades Kindergarten to 12th,and
at both Sands and at Grady. Johnny had
a kind, pleasant peaceable demeanor that made everyone he was around glad to be
in his presence. Students of all ages
loved “Coach Peugh”.
The loss of Coach
Peugh has been painful, especially to the High School and Junior High girls,
yet his passing away has made all of us that had the pleasure of being around
him, even more aware of the rewards of being surrounding by good people like
Johnny. There are no words that at this time or in the future can heal the pain
that many are feeling from his exodus of this world. Only time can sear the wound and with the scar that is left will
be memories of Johnny “Coach Peugh” and the model of what a good person we all
have the potential to be. We should all
try to find some characteristic of his life to emulate. Johnny in his humble way would be
flattered.
For anyone who did not have the good fortune to know Johnny…you should simply look around and see the impact that his life had on his family and friends, to get a small glimpse of him. “With his passing we are left with only our memories of him…what a great gift those memories will be!”
Note- Johnny Lynn
Peugh was born on November 20, 1952 and died on March 24, 2007. He coached at Sands High School for 3 years
until his untimely death. He will be
missed.
Scott Ragle
From the Superintendent
This past week has been a very difficult week for our students
and faculty. We were shocked to hear of the passing away of Coach Peugh. It is a loss that will be felt for a very
long time. With his passing away our student’s and faculty’s hearts have been
heavy with grief.
As the District Superintendent, I am very thankful that Coach Peugh was able to spend his last three years with us. His work has made our programs better and our girls program will continue to reap the benefits of his work for years to come. Coach Peugh loved basketball and he loved competition. He also loved the kids. I went out to his house when I heard the news of his passing away Saturday, and his wife said, “tell the kids he loved them because he did.” The kids loved him as well. Too often, we forget to tell and show people around us that we care for them.
Coach Peugh and I had several conversations about athletes and basketball. He worried more about, his athletes learning to do the right thing and how they would live their lives, than he was about wins and losses. As we honor and remember Coach Peugh this week, I hope that we remember what is most important about life and that those students that had him as a teacher and coach, will honor him by the way they live their life.
Wayne Blount
From
the Principal
The month of April is upon us and with it comes many new activities. Some of the activities we look forward to in April are our district meets in golf, tennis, track, FFA Judging Events and our end of year field trips. We wish all of our participants in these events, good luck as they represent our school district.
Another round of TAKS testing is scheduled for the April 3rd, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of these tests. Please encourage your children to do their best. Please make sure they get plenty of rest each and every day, but especially during this time period.
There
are still two bad weather days remaining on our school calendar. Those days are on the 9th and 23rd
of
April. Since we have not had any
weather severe enough to cancel school this winter, these days are now
holidays! I hope you enjoy one last
little vacation before all the end-of-school activities begin!
We
need to give a hearty pat-on-the-back to all of our students at this time that
participated in the UIL One-Act Play.
Our One-Act Play cast and crew did a fine job in their production
of “A Toby Show”. We have had a large number of students who
participated in academic UIL competition this spring and we are proud of all of
them and appreciate their hard work and their commitment to the district.
In closing I would like to express a personal “Thank You’ to the Peugh family
for sharing Johnny with the us at Sands.
He was a man that lived life by faith and we were all blessed by his
presence.
As always, my door is open,
Zelda Bilbo
From the Counselor
Please view the Counselors page located at: http://sands.esc17.net/Counselor/counselor.htm
for important Internet links and other useful information concerning the
school, testing, financial added etc.
There have been new additions to the website.
In the News
New way to rate Texas public schools urged
AUSTIN — The father of the state's
public school accountability system says it's time to scrap the way schools get
rated and substitute something better.
"We
think it's become cumbersome. Nobody can understand it," says retired Republican
state Sen. Bill Ratliff of Mt. Pleasant.
Ratliff
travels around the state these days beating the drum for public education,
telling audiences that Texas needs a universal pre-kindergarten program,
full-day kindergarten and smaller classroom sizes.
All
of that will cost money, but the former interim lieutenant governor says it's
the best investment Texans can make for their future.
"If
the public is behind it, then the Legislature will be more inclined to put the
money where we need it to be," said Ratliff, who heads a new group of
pro-education business leaders called Raise Your Hand.
When
he was chairman of the Senate Education Committee in the mid-1990s, Ratliff
helped create the accountability system that rated Texas schools on a scale
from exemplary to unacceptable.
"Fifteen
years later, we think it's time to just wipe the slate clean, start over and
produce an accountability system that is understandable, simple enough for
parents and taxpayers to understand," Ratliff said.
"For one thing, it needs to be consistent with the federal law. You don't need a situation where you can be exemplary in Texas and be failing under No Child Left Behind. That's crazy."
"The schools inherit all the challenges of our society — too much television, dysfunctional families, drugs, violence and the list goes on. It's easy to delude ourselves into underestimating the task of educating children in the 21st century. We do so to our peril," Butt said.
Butt warns that Texas will fall seriously behind in global competition if state leaders fail to do more to offer voluntary pre-K programs and full-day kindergarten, increase teacher pay, lower class sizes and enhance professional development for superintendents, principals and teachers.
"Our urban dropout rate today is a crisis and should be treated as such," he said.
Ratliff said state leaders must address the rapidly growing population of low-income students and those with limited English proficiency. About 2.5 million, or 55.6 percent, of the state's 4.5 million public school children come from low-income families, and 711,395 were classified last year as having limited English skills.
Many of those youngsters fall behind academically and drop out of school. This trend has to be stopped and it will take effort by everyone to do so.
FYI
April 1st 7:30 p.m. -One Act Play Community Performance
Congratulations:
One Act Play on being selected the Zone Alternate
Brittni Blagrave- Technical Award
Dannon Ramey –Honorable Mention
Samantha Peacock- All Star Cast
Tamara Nichols- All Star Cast
Jarrod Fry- Best Actor
2007-2008 Junior High Cheerleaders
Maria Gonzales
Nora Gomez
Callie McMorris
Alex Robles
High School Cheerleaders and Mascot
Brittni Blagrave
Kayla Franco
Kayla Gomez
Mary Rogers
Valinda Saldivar
Ashli Stockton
Kimberly Wigington
Friday April 6th will be the last day to order the 2006/2007
Mustang Yearbook. Bring payment to any Annual Staff member or
Mrs. Gibbs: $32.50 for yearbook only or $35.00 for yearbook with a name
on the cover.
CLUB
NEWS
The Sands Booster Club would like to thank everyone who sold tickets and
all of those people that bought tickets for the Samsung Plasma TV Raffle.
The Booster Club was
able to raise $8200 for future needs at Sands.
Top
sellers were Tyler and Hayden Ware and the winner of the TV was Wendy Jenkins
form Big Spring. Congratulations!
Sands CISD
P.O. Box 218
Ackerly, TX 79713
(432) 353 –4888
http://sands.esc17.net/Hoofbeats/hoofbeats.htm
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