The University of Texas Principalship Program honored former Round Rock High School Principal Mark Gesch as its Secondary Mentor of the Year at the annual Mentoring For Leadership Banquet. The mentoring program provides mentors to beginning educational leaders across Central Texas.

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Just an FYI for you parents:

State of the District Meeting
Dr. Jesús Chávez, Superintendent for Round Rock ISD requests your presence at the State of the District meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the RRISD Performing Arts Center, 5800 McNeil Drive, Austin. Topics to be discussed include: TAKS scores and accountability, high school completion rate, district goals and accomplishments, update on Bond 2006, and Bond 2008 facts. A continental breakfast will be served. Please RSVP to community_relations@roundrockisd.org

Save the Date: 3rd annual Parent Summit
The 3rd annual Parent Summit will be held on Saturday, September 20 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the RRISD Performing Arts Center. Over 30 parent-focused topics will be offered at no cost, including: Overcoming the Mean Girl Syndrome, Raising Healthy, Active Kids, Stress-Less Parenting and Guide to College Financial Aid. Register online.

Wow. John McCain really surprised the political world with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate!

Perhaps Gov. Palin will attract some women over to the McCain campaign? She is very, very unknown, however. I’m interested to see how this works out. This is VERY, VERY interesting!

I don’t know much about Gov. Palin, but here’s what I do know:

• 44 years old
• Mother of five children (youngest has downs syndrome, oldest going to fight in Iraq)
• Pro-life, pro-gun, avid hunter
• Governor of Alaska, elected in 2006
• Mayor of a small suburb town (pop. 8,400) before Gov.
• Miss Alaska runner-up in the ’80s
• Palin rhymes with Van Halen (PAY-LYN)
• Her 17-year old daughter is pregnant
• Do you know anything I don’t know?

A few newspaper editorials from Governor Palin’s home state – Alaska. These writers probably know her better than any other journalist in the country.

• Alaska Daily News Editorial
• Fairbanks Daily News Editorial
• Juneau Empire Editorial
• Ketchikan Daily News Editorial

Here is Barack Obama’s acceptance speech from Thursday night.

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth watching. Enjoy and comment away.

The Democratic National Convention (DNC) began last night in Denver, CO! Usually these Conventions are full of pomp and circumstance, so orchestrated that the speaker can’t sneeze without permission. First Read has a good analysis of the last night’s speakers up.

There will be rock bands, movie stars, speeches, and lots and lots of cheering! I’ve never been to a national convention, but I understand these events always sit on the verge of pure chaos. Pure, orchestrated, chaos.

But that’s interesting about this DNC is that there is STILL feuding between the Clinton and Obama camps. Some Clinton supporters are still quite upset about what happened in the primary and they’re going to let everyone know about it. What’s interesting is that Hillary Clinton herself has put her full support behind Mr. Obama.

The Democrats hope to get several things done this week at the Convention. Most of all, however, they want to introduce Joe Biden as the new VP, and get a big boost over McCain in the coming weeks. Remember, as soon as the Democrats finish their Convention, the Republicans start theirs up!

It’ll be a fascinating week, and a fascinating introduction to politics for most of you!

Watch the conventions tonight and write your constructive comments on them here for 2 ‘possible points.’

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