Ropes Newsletter
Ropes Website: ropesisd.us
Twitter: @RopesISD or @RopesEagles Facebook: Ropes Eagles or Ropes Elementary
October 2015
Willmon’s Words
Joel Willmon, Superintendent
Welcome to another wonderful year at Ropes ISD. We are
committed to helping your child grow, mature, learn, and
thrive. Ropes Independent School District exists to provide the
best education possible to prepare students for success in a
global economy and to be productive citizens in society. We
want to fulfill that mission daily with every interaction we have
with your children, our students.
Personally, I am humbled to get the opportunity to be the superintendent of this great school. I want to work diligently
with the board, the teachers, the administrators, and the parents to make sure that we are providing the best we can for
our children. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.
Rolling to the end
of the first six weeks...
The Principal’s Perspective
Tim Carter, JH/HS Principal
We have had a wonderful start to the school year, especially when you consider the plethora of changes we
have had as a school. Being one of those ‘new’ people, I have been impressed by the students’ willingness to
be involved academically, socially, and through our exceptional extra-curricular activities. I have also been
amazed by the amount of support the parents and community put into our school!!! I have had the pleasure
of seeing your support through band, athletics, Ag, at pep rallies and Thursday and Friday night ball games. It
is wonderful to see everybody so active and involved in events.
At the secondary level, we are nearing the conclusion of the first six weeks. With this comes grade reporting. Please make every effort to track your child’s academic efforts and remind them to use their time
wisely before school and during tutorial time to complete assignments or correct low grades/tests. Do not
hesitate to contact your child’s teacher for any academic issue. They are the best contact person for this information, and parent/teacher communication is the best measure for assisting your child academically. Also, remember that we have parent portal for electronic grade access and monitoring. If you do not
have this access, simply call Ms. Sylvia or myself, and we will get you set up.
Thanks for all you do to make this a fabulous school and for giving the staff here the privilege of working with
your most prized possessions!! Let’s keep Ropes the best school on the South Plains!!!
A Note from Dr. McNabb
Danny McNabb, PhD, Elementary Principal
The 2015-2016 School Year for Ropes Elementary began with significant growth in our student population. We are fortunate to have folks interested in sending their children to Ropes ISD. It is a testimony to the great job done by our faculty and the support of our existing parents. The new growth has prompted we redesign some areas of our services and
explore new instructional options in providing our children with a quality education. This is an ongoing process that will
take shape and improve as we move through the year.
One of the benefits of a small school setting is our elementary students are able to participate in Homecoming and the
weekly Pep Rallies. Homecoming week was a thrilling time for the students as they were able to “dress up” every day
culminating with Spirit Day on that Friday. The elementary children provided a spirited cheer during the pep rally and
many attended the game that evening. Small schools provide a Pre-K through 12 experience that is unique and exciting
for the kids in which they experience a family atmosphere of school and activities.
Our next Elementary School event will be UIL Academic Competition. Mrs. McNabb recently attended a UIL meeting and
will meet with the teachers to communicate UIL information, which will be shared with students and parents. Ropes has
a winning tradition, and we hope to continue that trend for the 2015-2016 Competition.
Counselor’s Corner
Cheyenne Thomas
Hello Eagles! My name is Cheyenne Thomas, and I am the school counselor and testing coordinator. This is my fourth year to be a part of the Ropes Eagle Family! There are many exciting
things involved with being a counselor, but my favorite is helping students make decisions like
where to attend college, what degree to pursue, and all factors involved in the process of determining the best route to reaching their goals.
While most of my time is devoted to the secondary students, I also serve elementary students.
I enjoy working with younger kids and helping them to learn to be successful in their classrooms
by reinforcing concepts like safe hands and feet and realizing the importance of being a good
friend. I am an elementary teacher at heart, so I really enjoy the time I get to spend on that
side of the building. I do make it a personal goal to learn every student’s name and something
about them and to make sure that they know my name and how I can help them.
Believe it or not, I do have a life outside of being a school counselor. It is always funny to me
that some kids think I live in my office all of the time, and that I sleep at night on my couch. Of
course, that is not the case. I even go to Walmart sometimes! If you see me outside of school,
you will probably notice my almost-two-year-old side kick, with a Mohawk. His name is Gage. My
husband Garrett and I, along with our son Gage, live in Lubbock. Whenever I decided to become
a teacher/counselor, I vowed that I would never work in a big school.
Small schools have a special place in my heart, as both Garrett and I grew
up in small schools. It is important to us to raise our family in a similar
setting.
Ropes ISD is a great school with great people. Being a part of the Eagle
Family is a blessing.
Please contact me for any questions or concerns. I would love to help you!
cthomas @ropesisd.us
Secondary Scene
New Teachers Get to Know Ropes
The new teachers this year are all at the secondary level. Kristi Coleman, former Ropes Elementary teacher, has also
joined the Junior High/High School faculty for business/technology classes and as FBLA sponsor. Joel Willmon, former
secondary principal, is now the superintendent of Ropes ISD. Here is a little about the “brand” new faculty members
joining Ropes ISD for 2015-2016.
Donavan Ashcraft, originally from Lubbock, is the band director. He attended West Texas A&M University for music
education. He said that teaching is one tool that never stops working. It never goes out of style and will only continue
to grow with time. Mr. Ashcraft’s mom is the Dean of Research at Texas Tech University, and his dad is a history teacher at Frenship. He has three dogs named Shadow, Autumn, and Wolf.
His goal for the year is to go to new places the band has never gone before and to encourage all to strive to be their
best every day.
Tim Carter is the new secondary principal. He is originally from Carrollton, Texas, but attended college at Texas Tech
University (‘93, undergrad) and Wayland Baptist University (2007). Mr. Carter said that he has worked at many schools
over the years—many large and medium sized. He said he also wanted to become the principal, so when Ropes
opened up, he thought it was an excellent community and a perfect school.
Mr. Carter loves sports and family. He has two children, Drew and Sarah. He said they are great kids, and he is proud
of their accomplishments. Drew is a junior Engineering major at Texas Tech, and Sarah is a senior at Frenship. Mr.
Carter has a six-year-old golden retriever named Maverick.
His goal is to serve the faculty and students loyally and faithfully. He wants to do the best he can do to improve what is
an already great school!
Tami Hayes joins Ropes as the secondary resource teacher. Mrs. Hayes joked that she is from Sundown, but she got
here as fast as she could. She received a B.A. in Psychology from Angelo State University in 1995. She later became
certified to teach Special Education, Early Childhood, ESL, and Psychology. She said that she chose to teach because
she wanted to help students who struggle in school.
Mrs. Hayes said that with three kids, one granddaughter, four dogs, a cat, and a bird, there is never a dull moment in
the Hayes household. She added that she is looking forward to a wonderful year!
Capt. Bill Sanders is a high school math teacher originally from Los Alamos, New Mexico. He attended the U.S. Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Maryland (B.S. Mathematics) and Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California (M.S. Operations Research). After retiring from the Navy with 32 years of service, Capt. Sanders wanted to teach high school
math to help the next generation of Americans achieve their dreams. Superintendent Willmon convinced him that
Ropes School was the best place to be!
Capt. Sanders said that he likes all kinds of sports and reads many books every month. He added that his children are
grown, but he still has a small Shih Tzu puppy dog at home. He looks forward to working with and impacting the lives
of many students at Ropes School. In the short time he has been here, he said that he has seen great talent and hard
work. Capt. Sanders can’t wait to see all of the amazing accomplishments of the next generation!
~ WELCOME ~
Library News
Toyia Senter, Librarian
Kindergarten:
Braylee Brown .5 AR points
Addison Cruz .5 AR points
Ella Lehnen .5 AR points
Kai Rodriguez .5 AR points
1st Grade:
Jose Palacios 6.0 AR points
Hayden Cruz 5.6 AR points
2nd Grade:
Zephaniah Silvas 9.2 AR points
Anali Cirilo 9.0 AR points
3rd Grade:
Bertha Rivera 20 AR points
Emma Nelson 14.5 AR points
4th Grade:
Liliana Villegas 44.2 AR points
Reed Hyatt 24.6 AR points
5th Grade:
Asher Wall 63.1 AR points
Megan Roepke 36.3 AR points
Secondary Class Officers 2015-2016
6th
President - Ashlyn Erickson
Vice President - Kutter Partington
Secretary - Matilda Ramirez
Treasurer - Bo Tienda
Reporter - Nyomi Alvarado
7th
President - Maggie Anderson
Vice President - Randen Reep
Secretary - Creed Howell
Treasurer - Jabree Clabaugh
Reporter - Korie Lehnen
Student Council Representatives Brooklyn Belyeu
James Deleon
8th
President - Megan Moore
Vice President - Deidra Burke
Secretary - Mary Ricker
Treasurer - Pake Partington
Reporter - Bethany Richardson
Student Council Representatives Arlene Apodoca
Rayli Robinson
Freshmen
President - Sam Addison
Vice President - Andrew Jackson
Secretary - James Page
Treasurer - Jackson Hisel
Reporter - Braxton Garrett
Student Council Reps Kayli Rowland
Sayer Senter
Sophomores
President - Meagan Metzig
Vice President - Jentry Wall
Secretary - Riley Reep
Treasurer - Derek McNabb
Reporter - Bailee Rodriguez
Student Council Reps Cade Howell
Brian Sehon
Juniors
President - Landen Addison
Vice President - Nathan DuBois
Secretary - Mika McCann
Treasurer - Nathan Holtman
Reporter - Shelby Ochoa
Student Council Reps –
Jake Holtman
Kayla Castillo
A.J. Mendez
Seniors
President - D’Laney Rhoades
Vice President - McKenzie Moore
Secretary - Cooper Carlisle
Treasurer - Ben Waller
Reporter - Shawna Balios
Student Council Reps D’Laney Rhoades
Kylar Howell