McCallum HS Shield, Volume 70, Number 4 (March 31, 2023)

McCallumHighSchool wontheoverall sweepstakestitleat the District 24-5AAcademicMeet byalargemarginover second-placeLASAandthird-placeCrockett

McCallum'spoint total of 4735includedbonuspointsfor teamvictoriesinfivecompetitions:journalism,number sense, science,social studiesandspelling McCallumalsoearnedbonus pointsfor asecond-placefinishinmathematics

Junior AliceScott placedfirst infour events(readywriting, newswriting,featurewritingandeditorial writing),and sophomoreKalliopeHaltomearnedapair of first-placeawardsin number senseandspelling Other first-placewinnersincluded

PROPOSED HOUSE BILL EXTENDS TRANSGENDER ATHLETE RESTRICTIONS TO COLLEGIATE LEVEL

Texas

HouseBill 23,announcedMarch1,would restrict transgender menfromcompeting onmen?scollegeathleticteamsand transgender womenfromcompeting onwomen?scollegeathleticteams

Thisbill comesjust twoyears after asimilar bill signedbyGov GregAbbott whichrestricted transstudentsK-12

Thebill wouldlimit non-Texastransgender athletes fromcompetingagainst Texas universities

Threemonthsremaininthe legislativesessionfor thebill tobe passed Currentlyit isco-authored by77Republicanrepresentativesas well asLt Gov DanPatrickandGov GregAbbott The77co-authorsmeansit has moresupport thantherequiredmajorityof 76to passsoit islikelythebill will becomelaw

march 31, 2023

Themembersof theacademic teamwho competedinthe finaleventsof the district competition gatheronthe stepsinsidethe entrancetoLBJ fora groupphoto PhotobyDave Winter.

NEWS BRIEFS

SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER CYNTHIA ROBERTS NAMED TEACHER OF PROMISE McCallum High School

Whentheadministrationteamshowedupinspecial educationteacher CynthiaRoberts?Portableduringsixthperiod onMarch2,shethought theyweretheretoobserveandevaluate her teaching

?I'musedtothemdoingwalk-throughssothat'swhat I thought it was,?Robertssaid ?I startedtellingthemwhat wewere doinginclassandtheysaid,?No,no,wearen't herefor that '?

Principal Griffithandher adminteamweretheretocelebrate, not evaluate TheypresentedRobertswithagift bagcontaininga mugfromthedistrict tocongratulateher onbeingnamed McCallum?s2023AustinISDTeacher of Promise

Eachdistrict adminteamhastheopportunitytorecognize onefirst-year teacher ontheir campuswhoshowsgreat promise Robertssaidthedistinctionmeant agreat deal toher

?It'sjust nicetoberecognizedwhenyou'renew,andyoudon't knowif what you?redoingismakingadifferenceor if you're doingthingsright,but thentoget anawardthat says,?Yes,you?re ontheright track Yes,you'remakingprogress You?redoing what you'resupposedtodo That feelsreallygood" ?IsleyCameron

MaliaWalewski (calculator apps),IngridSmith(copyediting), TeddyIbsen(current issues),LanieSepehri (headlinewriting) andWilliamPerkins(social studies)

ManyMcCallumcompetitorsalsoqualifiedfor regionby placingsecondor third,andevenmoreearnedvaluableteam pointsbyplacinginthetopsixintheir respectivecategories

Thenotionthat McCallumcouldwinUILDistrict in academicsthisyear wasfirst expressedbyscienceteacher Jace Kleinlast fall KleincompetedinUILacademicsinhighschool amdrecruitedeverycompetitor whocompetedinthe non-journalismcategories Hedeservesahugeportionof the credit for thecompetition'sresult

TheUILRegion3AcademicMeet isApril 22at Richmond Foster HighSchool just southwest of Houston ?DaveWinter

TEA TO PLACE CONSERVATOR OVER AISD Austin ISD

TheTexasEducationAgencywill movetoappoint aconservator tooverseeAustinISDbecausea31-pageTEAreport covering43 investigationsover several yearshasconcludedthat the district hasfailedtoservetheneedsof itsspecial educationstudents AccordingtotheTEA?swebsite,a conservator can?direct theactionof a campusprincipal,superintendent,or board of trustees.?

TheBoardof Trusteessaidina statement Fridayeveningthat theTEA conservatorswouldworkwithAISDto providespecial educationservicesto studentswithdisabilities Theboardalso saidthedistrict hasaright toappeal the conservatorshipbut not whether or not it will appeal thedecision Theboard?s statement alsomadeit clear that the agency?smoveisnot acompletetakeover and that thetrusteesandinterimsuperintendent are still inplace Theboard will holdapublic meetingontheissueat 6:45pm onMonday ?NateWilliams

CHATGPT GENERATES BUZZ, CONCERNS United States

ChatGPTisafree,AI servicethat usesdatatorespondina matter of secondswhengivenacommand It canbe commandedtogiveinformationfromafive-dayworkout plan toahistorylessononthe1960presidential electionandevena 1,000-wordessayonthehistoryof Austin

Theprogramwaslaunchedin2022byOpenAI After its release,ChatGPT,thenjust aprototype,gainedsomuch popularitythat OpenAI wasvaluedat $29billion ChatGPTuses supervisedlearningandreinforcement learningmodelsto further improveitsmodel OpenAI alsousesdatafromChatGPT userstotrainandfine-tunetheservice.

TheAI?sanswerstoauser?scommandsissupposedtomimica human-likeconversation,but ChatGPTisveryversatile It gathersinformationtoanswer questionsabout homework problemsandcreatescreenplaysfromonlinebulletinboard systemsandthePythoncodinglanguage Therearecertain limitationstotheAI including:theservicecannot express political opinionsor stancesandcannot provideinformation past 2021,amongother setbacks

Schoolshaveconcernabout studentsabusingthenew softwarebyhavingit writetheir assignments,andAustinISD alongwithmanyother school districtshavealreadybannedit onschool papers,but thechallengeof seeingworkdoneby ChatGPTisalreadysurfacedindistrict classrooms

TransgenderPride flagsand signsflyinfront of the Texasstate capital at a transyouthprotest on March 1,2022 Photo byRubyLaWare

UIL ACADEMIC TEAM WINS DISTRICT LBJ High School

Special educationteacherCynthia Robertsposeswith McCallum admin.Photo courtesyof Nicole Griffith.