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Partners in Hope News
Jan. 25, 2007
The St. John Community and Local Schools Win National Award!!
Today, CapitolOne and America’s Promise Alliance announced that the St. John Tri-School Community has been chosen as one of America’s 100 Best Communities for children to grow up in! America’s Promise Alliance, founded by Colin and Alma Powell, selected St. John from over 1,000 applications from around the country.
We believe that this award reflects on the growing spirit of our community! We are so proud that we could burst! There is much work ahead, but this encourages us all to press on in seeing that our kids reach their full potential.
Congrats go to the many saints who work in the schools, libraries, agencies, police, churches and neighborhood associations!
The St. John Community is now eligible to apply for up to $100,000 in grant monies to support youth in our community!
If you want to see a little of what makes this community special, go to our video and photos pages. It’s just a small sample of the amazing things our schools and neighborhood are doing.
Jan. 20, 2007
Webb Middle School May Close
(From the Austin-American Statesman)
Hoping to avoid a showdown with the state, Austin school district officials will move to close low-performing Webb Middle School in May.
Superintendent Pat Forgione sent a letter home to parents Friday explaining the "difficult conclusion" that the North Austin campus should be shut down after failing to meet state academic standards for three years straight. Only five schools out of 7,956 statewide fall in that category.
The decision to close now rests with the nine-member Austin school board; a vote on Forgione's recommendation could come next month.
There will be a meeting at Webb on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. (Another has been announced for Jan. 30 at Reagan High). Do you feel closing Webb will help or hurt students who will be transferred to Pearce and Dobie Middle Schools? This is a blow to a community that is turning around. We’ll keep you posted about this difficult situation.
Dec. 18, 2006
Keep Austin Beautiful Awards St. John for Community Involvement
Today, Keep Austin Beautiful awarded the St. John Neighborhood Association/Pickle Elementary School with an Honorable Mention for Community Involvement in their annual KAB awards. The SJNA placed second to the Austin Parks Foundation.
Last year, the SJNA and Pickle were the winners in the category of “Litter Abatement” as a result of neighborhood clean-ups.
KAB were particularly impressed with the scope of neighborhood events, including clean-ups, unity marches, large neighborhood resource fairs and the leadership of community members in planning.
The award will be presented on February 7 at the Austin Hyatt in the annual KAB awards luncheon. For a full list of winners, go to KAB 2007 awards.