BY BRENT ADDLEMAN

Examiner publisher

At a Tuesday morning press conference, Navasota ISD named Patrick Good-man as its new athletic director and head football coach.

Superintendent Rory Gesch made the announce-ment in the high school

library in front of a throng of devoted fans, teachers and students. Goodman has been with the district for 11 years, serves as head basketball coach and was an assistant football coach under Lee Fedora, who turned in his resigna-tion shortly after receiving a one-year contract exten-sion.

“I have all the confi-

dence in the world in Pat-rick, and so does the board in what Patrick can do,” Gesch said. “I am very con-fident in Coach Goodman and what he brings to the table. He has 11 years of experience here in Nava-sota, and his time in other district he has worked and played under Hall of Fame coaches before.

Goodman quickly

noted the standards are set high for the Rattlers on the football field and in other sports too, but is open to the challenge the position poses.

“This is an exciting day,” Goodman said. “I am happy to be in this posi-tion. I have respect and ap-preciate Mr. Gesch and the board and everyone who put me in this position. I

k n o w the task at hand is going to be c h a l -l e n g -ing, but I know at the same time it is about the kids. It is going to be about continuing what we have

been doing to make a sim-ple transition for the boys and girls.

“We need to keep doing what we are doing. It is still about the kids, the community. I know what I am getting into, and I did this with a lot of thought and a lot of prayer. At the same time, being here 11 years and working with

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BY CAROL HERRINGTONExaminer correspondent

Sitting, then standing while extending his arms to trace the desired bike trail, 9-year-old Ke-terrin Brisco commanded the adults’ attention as he provided key information in the planning of Grace Park.

Grace Park is clearly for the children, but it also has the younger generation showing con-cern for their elders.

“We have to a have a place for the old folks,” said Brisco, looking

earnestly at Shane Howard, from Burditt. “And, we have to have flowers and a garden. I will water the flowers. But can we (older folks) put them over here a special place?”

Pointing at the upper left cor-ner of the 3-acre satellite photo of the future Grace Park, Brisco wanted to make sure no one was left behind in this planning. He insisted there be two separate play areas “far far apart.” The two play areas would be for the ages 2 to 5 and age 5 to 12. In a very serious grown up voice, Brisco shared

with Mr. Howard and those stand-ing around the satellite land plan that “we have to have those cam-eras without wires, lots of lights and fencing.”

Navasota resident and neighbor to the Grace Park project, Tarne-shia Richardson, echoed her agree-ment with the young Brisco. There needs to be curfew of 8 p.m., said Mrs. Richardson. Kids need to be in bed by 8 p.m. and not running the roads, she said adamantly.

“The older teenagers have a place to go. They have taken over the park to the south of here. This

park needs to be for the children. We don’t want any drug addicts or drug dealing going on here, so lots of lights and cameras will keep that under control,” Mrs. Richard-son said. “If these kids and their parents have vested interest in the park the park will be kept safe.”

Others in attendance had addi-tional suggestions such as the post-ing of trail mileage markers and inspirational quotes from leaders, both local and national, posted/painted along the security wood fencing.

BY BRENT ADDLEMANExaminer publisher

The Navasota ISD Board of Trustees heard a report from the Literacy Committee during Monday’s meeting.

Dr. Denise Morgan, who serves as deputy superinten-dent, informed the board the district had purchased assess-ment kits designed to gauge the students’ reading levels and abilities.

The kits also included les-son plans for teacher use in the classroom, and are kept in the library and inventoried.

Discussion centered around reading comprehension, as it was deemed the largest prob-lem in the district. However, through the use of the as-sessment kits and associated learning tools the students re-sponded positively to the ma-terials through interaction.

The kits teach the students to think while they read, in-stead of just focusing on the words. Teachers are finding ways the students can relate to the materials they read in their personal lives.

Throughout the school year, the assessment kits have been utilized by all elementary schools and at the junior high, and teachers have noticed great reading comprehension gains.

The board also heard a pre-sentation of the T-TESS pro-gram, which the district plans to use for teacher assessments. The program’s initiative is a new way to assess teachers and promote growth in indi-vidual teachers. Teachers will be assessed by peers through announced and unannounced classroom examination as part of the program.

Superintendent Rory Gesch gave a report on the coming school board election. Election Day is May 7.

According to Gesch, the last day to register to vote for the school board election is April 7. Early voting begins on April 25 at the Navasota Center. April 26 is the last days a voter can apply to receive a ballot by mail, and the last day to return mailed ballots is May 7.

Goodman named AD, football coach

Goodman

Special Olympics kicks off April 6

BY NICOLE WILCOXStaff writer

With torches held high, the Navasota high school seniors will lead the parade to kick off the eighth annual Special Olympics at 9 a.m. Wednes-day, April 6. Approximately 130 athletes will gather in Rat-tler Stadium for the event. Stu-dents from all Grimes County schools attend the event, in-cluding those from the North Zulch special education co-operative, Magnolia ISD and

Montgomery ISD. All competing athletes will

receive a medal for the events in which they compete, with special prizes for first through third. The track and field events will run concurrently with boys competing first and then girls after. The athletes and volunteers will recite the Special Olympics Pledge be-fore Superintendent Rory Gesch and Deputy Superinten-dent Dr. Denise Morgan begin announcing the track and field competitions.

“Hunter Fettler is a student who is wheelchair bound,” said NISD Special Education Direc-tor Tammy Cooke. “He doesn’t speak but he loves to sing, he sings the Star Spangled Banner with a teacher every year.”

While the competing ath-letes are the true stars of the Special Olympics, the event draws roughly 180 volunteers each year and organizations from across the county to make the day a success.

Navasota High School student Hunter Fettler sings the National Anthem during the 2015 Special Olympics at Rattler Stadium. The 2016 event will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 6, when the Navasota Special Education students lead the parade of athletes.

Examiner photo

Literacy Committee gives good report

Grace Park planning brings residents, planners together

Construction is nearing completion on CForce Bot-tling Company, a new fami-ly-owned private label bottled water manufacturing com-pany founded by Navasota residents Chuck and Gena Norris. The announcement was made by Gena Norris, CEO and Owner for this new, locally based start-up com-pany.

Located on Highway 90, this state-of-the-art facility is expected to be fully opera-tional by March. The artesian well water product packaged at the facility is naturally high in the pH scale without treatment and has been car-bon dated to 23,000 years old. Consistent with the val-ues of the company founders, CForce is an environmentally friendly and socially respon-sible product and business practice.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to extend our fam-ily’s relationship with the local community by estab-lishing this new business,” Gena Norris said in making the announcement. “As our company grows, we will also be creating a number of new jobs, positively impacting the local economy.”

The hiring process is antic-ipated to begin within the next few weeks.

Message in a bottleCForce water is coming soon to Navasota and Anderson

SEE REPORT PAGE 6A

SEE OLYPMICS PAGE 3A

SEE PLANNING PAGE 6A

SEE CFORCE PAGE 3A