WIth the 2007-08 school year set to begin for students on August 27, registration is underway this week at several schools. Dates, times and locations of registrations for each campus are available on the Back to School page of the District's website. Due to construction, several campuses are having registration at other locations so please check for that information.

In addition to registration information, the Back to School page includes links to school supply lists, reading lists, calendars, pay for participation fees and much more.

Family Access gives parents and guardians online access to their child's grades, assignments, attendance, schedules, emergency information and more. Grapevine-Colleyville ISD is providing Family Access web-based application as a free service to families. The following information will be available for the 2007-2008 school year through Family Access:

All Students

• Student information (name, birth date, grade, locker, etc.)
• Parent/Guardian Information (names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail)
• Emergency contact information
• Student attendance and schedules
• Student Gradebook showing posted grades, missing assignments and current class grade
• Immunization records and other health-related information
• Message center where teachers may post class or individual messages

Only for Secondary Students

• Report cards
• Next year course selections (available in the Spring only)
• Activities (school-based extracurricular activities such as National Honor Society, clubs, etc.)
• Fee Management (high school only)

For the initial enrollment period, parents/guardians may enroll in Family Access in August during Registration and Residency Verification at the student's assigned campus. Only one form is required per guardian even if there are multiple children attending GCISD schools because Family Access groups children of the same family together.

Upon completion of the Family Access Enrollment Form, campus staff will verify the information and parents/guardians will receive a login and password. In order to verify that access is given to the correct individual, login and password information will only be given to parents/guardians and a picture ID is required.

Eight Grapevine-Colleyville ISD schools achieved the state's highest rating of Exemplary, according to a report released by the Texas Education Agency. Although the district was close, it did not meet the standards needed to achieve a Recognized rating. GCISD's overall district rating remains at Academically Acceptable.

"I am so proud that we had eight campuses meet Exemplary status this year, and of the strides we have made in the area of commended performance," said Superintendent Dr. Kay Waggoner. "We are disappointed as a district that we fell short of Recognized status, but we are so close to reaching that goal and will continue our efforts to inspire, encourage and empower students to achieve their maximum potential."

GCISD's communication program has expanded to include podcasts, RSS news feeds, and soon, video on demand from the website.

GCISD's "Off the Page" podcast hit the online audio world in the spring with three episodes about people and events around the District. "Special Olympics Buddies," "Bus Driver Roadeo," and "Reflections from the Class of 2007" are all available through I-Tunes. The most recent episode may be downloaded from the website or by selecting the "Off the Page" logo in this newsletter.

Podcasts may be listened to from the website or by downloading the free I-Tunes player from www.apple.com/itunes/download/. Within I-Tunes, search Podcasts for GCISD's "Off the Page," and subscribe, or follow the link at the bottom of this article to subscribe. At least once a month, a new "Off the Page" will be posted and if you subscribe to it, you will get the new podcast automatically.

RSS feeds are automatically delivered to a feed reader of your choice that may be downloaded from the web. Some suggested feed readers are listed on our website. Once you download the reader, subscribe to news feeds and when they are updated they will appear in your reader automatically. Some email services, such as YahooMail, provide feedreaders as part of their services.

VIdeo on demand will also be available this year, featuring events and people throughout the district. Short, easy to download videos are one additional way GCISD will make news available to patrons during the upcoming school year.

Reserved season tickets for the Grapevine High School and Colleyville Heritage High School varsity football games will be on sale beginning August 6, at the GCISD Swim Center, 2305 Pool Road, Grapevine. The cost is $40 per seat for the five-game packet payable by check made payable to GCISD or cash only.

New in 2007: The Mustang-Panther Stadium reserved seating section has been reconfigured from one section to three sections. If you held season tickets for seats in rows 1-9, they no longer exist, and row 26 has had some seats removed as well. August 6-17, ticket- holders in rows 1-9 and row 26 will be entitled to purchase any open seats equivalent to the number of seats held in 2006.
2006 season ticket-holders not affected by the reconfiguration may repurchase their same seats August 6-10 and August 13-15, according to the Monday through Friday hours listed below. Ticket sales will end on Thursday, August. 16. On Betterment Day, Friday, August 17, all 2006 season ticket-holders may purchase any season tickets that are open. All season ticket sales are final - no refunds, no exchanges.

Ticket sales to the general public will begin on Monday, August. 20.

email: publicinformation@gcisd.net

phone: 817/251-5505

web: http://www.gcisd-k12.org