STEAM CENTER:
The Katy ISD STEAM Center was a part of the 2013 Bond proposal which was defeated. In a matter of spite, superintendent Alton Frailey, went ahead and built the center anyway! So much for the will of the people! He used M&O funds which are used for salaries of teachers and administrators, and maintenance of buildings among other things to build the Center when he didn't have any bond money.
In an effort to make the STEM center more palatable to the voters, Mr. Frailey added the "arts" to the proposal. Thus the STEAM instead of the STEM. (Not that Mr. Frailey knew a thing about the "arts," but hey! Mr. Frailey thought the "arts" were jazz music!)
Everything about this center is bogus. It is a playground, and nothing more. If it were academic, it would have been placed in the empty rooms that were already in existence in a central location.
I wrote this article earlier. It needs to be read often:
"Let's Talk About That STEM Center
Those of you who are clamoring for the proposed STEM Center to be built
are simply fooling yourselves if you think this building is going to be anything special.
What KISD does, and what a gazillion other public schools are
doing with the STEM hoopla is simply bogus.
KISD wouldn't know how to improve science, technology,
engineering or mathematics if all of those fields collectively hit them over the head with
a baseball bat!
Because of their lack of an academic education, our administrators
haven't a clue about these fields!
They are simply stepping in tune with another smartless attempt
by vendors to make money off of school taxes.
And KISD wants to ensconce that effort in a nice new building
constructed by their architect of choice, PBK.
Google STEM.
What you'll see are pages and pages of vendor-pimp efforts to
part schools from their tax dollars.
When you are finished looking at the junk, read this article.
It's long and detailed, and it is not for those of you who are
intellectually challenged.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth
Then you should take a look at KISD's existing vocational STEM
efforts and decide for yourself why we taxpayers are being dunned for this scam.
There's nothing original going on here!
MCTC Spring Showcase:
Katy ISD students who attend Miller Career & Technology Center for
Engineering Design & Development, the PACE business internship program, or the Gifted &
Talented Online Independent Study & Mentorship course will present their year-long
capstone projects at a Spring Showcase on May 20th at MCTC from 6:00-7:30 pm.
The event is open to the public.
Engineering students researched and developed products in mechanical,
civil, electrical, and other engineering fields. Projects include a house
incorporating advanced environmental elements, a portable battery recharger that harvests
Wi-Fi signals, a solar-powered water pump for third-world villages, and seismic protection
for industrial plants, among others.
PACE students, who participate in a year-long internship with doctors,
engineers, and business and industry professionals, will present independent research
projects in the fields of health science, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics), business, and law.
Online Independent Study & Mentorship students seek to identify a
real-world problem and find a creative and innovative solution with the guidance of a
mentor in a related field. Their wide-ranging projects include an emergency response
protocol to the new MERS virus, a hydrotherapeutic brace, a tablet design for effective
communication among operating room doctors, a device that allows handicapped children to
experience ice skating, and a conceptual photography project to combat bullying.
Overall, approximately 90 students will showcase
their work to an audience of professionals, family, friends, and the public.
(PS Katy ISD vocational students have been
"building houses" since the 1990's.)