McKinney ISD students

11 percent of McKinney ISD students have state i.d. number

Our paper had a page one story yesterday that tried to answer the difficult question of how many illegal immigrant children are in Texas public schools. The story came with charts showing local districts' percentage of kids who have a state i.d. number, as opposed to a Social Security number. As the story points out, there can be various reasons - apart from immigration status - for why a state i.d. number is assigned. But McKinney has 2,636 state i.d. students, representing 11 percent of the total, and costing $21.5 million to educate a year. Click here for the story and charts.

MISD Bands See 109 Receive All-Region Honors

McKINNEY, Texas – McKinney Independent School District middle school band students competed in the Region 25 All-Region Band auditions on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at Scott Johnson Middle School in the McKinney ISD and received selections to the All-Region Bands.
McKINNEY, Texas – McKinney Independent School District middle school band students competed in the Region 25 All-Region Band auditions on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at Scott Johnson Middle School in the McKinney ISD and received selections to the All-Region Bands.

A total of 1,600 middle school band students from across the region participated in the auditions with 350 students selected to the All-Region bands. Approximately 200 band students from McKinney ISD middle schools auditioned and a total of 38 band students from the district were selected. McKinney ISD middle school band students totaled a staggering 11 percent of the total number of students selected to the All-Region bands.

The auditions included middle school band students from Sherman, Denison, Plano, Allen, Wylie, Lovejoy and other smaller North Texas school districts in Region 25.

“Students who participate in the All-Region band tryout process must prepare three pieces of music that are very difficult and perform them in front of three judges,” said Roy Renzenbrink, Director of Fine Arts for McKinney ISD. “By preparing and going through the process they can’t help but become better musicians. We are very proud of every student who tried out and extremely proud to have so many young musicians selected to be part of the Region 25 All-Region Band. It is a tribute to their hard work and the excellent teaching of their fine band directors.”

Students participating in the regional auditions are rated by a panel of judges and then placed in one of four regional bands, Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Symphonic or Concert, based on their overall performance. Wind Ensemble is the highest placement a student musician can receive.

Cockrill Middle School had a total of 12 students selected to one of the four All-Region Bands. Evans Middle School had a total of 15 students selected, Dowell Middle School had a total of four students,
Faubion Middle School had three students and Scott Johnson Middle School had four students selected.

The band directors at Dowell Middle School are Tiffany Lisko and Clark Eacker. The band directors at Evans Middle School are Lisa Smith, James Rees and Jason Myers. The band directors at Faubion Middle School are Brian Beck and Brittney Williams. The band directors at Scott Johnson Middle School are Paul Stephens and Stephanie Pavlasek. The band directors at Cockrill Middle School are Gary Williams and Matt Harp.

Below are the 2010 Middle School All Region Band selections from McKinney ISD:

Cockrill Middle School
Kendall Farrar - Flute
Mackenzie Higginbotham - Flute
Lauren Anderson - Oboe
Austen Baechle - Bassoon
Bailee Jones - Clarinet
Gbeke Fawehinmi - Clarinet
Abigail Meza - Clarinet
Kyle Kung - Clarinet
Maddie Warhol - Clarinet
Brittany Muoneke – Bari Sax
Mikael Abera - Tuba
Brian Jenkins - Percussion

Dowell Middle School
Aric Eggers - Percussion
Mia Norton - French Horn
Esteban Ley - Trombone
Adriane Gerona - Clarinet

Evans Middle School
Nathan Salazar - Alto Saxophone
Jacob Boring - Trumpet
Chase Chastain - Tuba
Brianna Alvear - Tuba
Austin Powers - Trumpet
Frances Humphrey - French Horn
Harrison Card - Euphonium
Hunter Lusk - Tuba
Marques Jones - Percussion
Alejandre Velez - Trumpet
Jenna Lenhard - French Horn
Kevin Hoehne - French Horn
Juan Ramirez - Tenor Saxophone
Kyle Robinson - Tuba
Sumeet Gautam - Percussion

Faubion Middle School
Cameron Bonner – Bassoon
Kevin Sells - Trumpet
Evan Davies - Trombone

Scott Johnson Middle School
Brian Stephens - Trombone
Robert Webb - French Horn
Shawn Sparkman - Percussion

For more information about the McKinney ISD bands and Fine Arts programs, contact Roy Renzenbrink, Director of Fine Arts at 469-742-4087 or at rrenzenbrink@mckinneyisd.net.