Longhorn News and Announcements

Welcome to second semester, Longhorns!

I would like to welcome everyone back to the spring semester of 2012. We had a wonderful first semester.  Our capital improvement committee, consisting of Aileene and David Patton, Jay Otey, Susan Moore, Peggy Thurston, Tom Ketchum, Adam Carl Brown, Diana Boatwright, Doug Tolson, Sam Williams and Judd Matthes, have been working hard and have presented to our school board several good projects aimed at improving our school system.  A few months ago, the board approved one of the recommended capital improvements and over Christmas Break new tile for the high school halls was laid. A big black and orange AHS was inlaid in the middle of the hall way and it looks GREAT.   

Back in August, we converted one of our elementary classrooms into an elementary library and have made it mandatory for grades one through five to read at least three books per each nine weeks to help improve our reading skills.  This effort has also been very successful.   

Our football team made the state play-offs and our high school boys and girls basketball teams have only one loss.  The Longhorn Classic Basketball Tournament has begun and will continue through Saturday, January 7, 2012.  So please come out and cheer on our teams. 

 

I would like to thank everyone who helps our school and students be successful. Once again, *HAPPY NEW YEAR!*

Superintendent of Schools

 

See updated High School basketball playoff information below

 

This week's activities

Monday, January 23	SPORTS: Jr. High (4:30 pm) and High School (6:30 pm) Basketball at Wanette.
Tuesday, January 24	SPORTS: High School Basktball at Maysville, 6:30 pm
Wednesday, January 25	ORGANIZATION: FCCLA Blood Drive, Alex cafeteria, 2:00 - 7:00 pm ACADEMICS: Tutoring in the High School Library, 3:30 - 5:00 pm; Faculty, PTO and students will be available to assist
Thursday, January 26	SPORTS: 7th & 8th grade (4:30 pm) and Jr. High Basketball (6:30 pm) - Verden at Alex
Friday, January 27	SPORTS: High School Basketball - Sterling at Alex (4 games)
Saturday, January 28	ORGANIZATION: TSA Mini Conference at Altus

 

Paying for college 101

Free, no RSVP financial aid seminar scheduled at USAO's Student Center at 7:00 pm on January 26, 2012

If all the transitions associated with sending a child to college are difficult, figuring out how to pay for it can seem like an unresolvable problem for a family struggling just to make ends meet in today's tough economy. Fortunately, no one has to muddle through this process alone.

On January 26, five specialists will come together in one place to guide families through the process of maximizing aid for new and prospective college students. The Paying for College 101 seminar will be headlined by Kelli Kelnar, an outreach specialist with the Oklahoma College Assistance Program. Kelnar will present information from the UCanGo2 program that walks parents and students step-by-step through the process of applying for state and federal aide for continuing education beyond high school.

Professionals from a number of higher education institutions will also be on hand to talk about the specifics of obtaining aid. These include the director of financial aid at USAO, the financial aid client services coordinator at Oklahoma City Community College, the financial aid officer from the Canadian Valley Technology Center and the education specialist with the Gear Up program run by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

This event is offered as a community service and not for marketing any one institution. For more information, call 405.574.1357.

More from the Superintendent: Your input is requested

Alex Students, families, staff and community members:

Many of you have expressed concern regarding the current rules governing participation in Homecoming ceremonies conducted at Alex School.   These rules are presently set forth as follows in the Alex Student Handbook:

A Homecoming King and Queen or Prince and Princess may represent only one sport. If selected for football, they will not be eligible for basketball. A student must have attended Alex Schools a minimum of one semester to be eligible for nomination to the Homecoming Court. Homecoming participants must meet the same eligibility requirements as any other school activity.

To ensure that hardworking Alex student athletes have opportunities for full and equitable participation in Homecoming ceremonies, the following changes and clarifications to the existing rules may be considered:

To participate in Football or Basketball Homecoming ceremonies, a student must meet each of the following eligibility requirements:

1.       The student has a 3.0 or better grade average when selected.
2.       The Jr. High student has never been expelled or suspended during grades 7 through 9. The High School student has never been expelled or suspended during grades 10 through 12.
3.       The student has no unexcused absences within the grade year. Unexcused absence is defined as being absent from the classroom without the knowledge of school staff or the student’s parent/guardian.
4.       To participate in Football Homecoming, the student must have attended Alex School the previous year. To participate in Basketball Homecoming, the student must have attended Alex School continuously since the beginning of that school year. 

Any student meeting the criteria above is considered eligible to participate in any and all Homecoming ceremonies held during a given school year.  At least one boy and one girl from each grade level from 7 through 12 will be included in Homecoming ceremonies.  In the event that a given grade level does not have an eligible student to participate in Homecoming ceremonies, the Superintendent or designee will supervise the Homecoming selection process with a focus on including student athletes from each grade level. 

Please take some time to let us know what you think about these possible changes to the rules governing Homecomings at Alex.  Use the interactive form below to submit your opinion.  If you choose to comment or submit your own proposed rules, you may send a confidential email to alexpublicschools@gmail.com.

This web poll uses cookies to track and prohibit muliple duplicate voting. IF YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY VOTED, YOU DO NOT NEED TO VOTE AGAIN. All legitimate responses from the previous web poll on this same subject have been archived and will be included in the final results.

School storm-safe area planned

Read more about this and other issues in the December 2011 School Board minutes, now posted on the School Board page.

High School Basketball district assignments released; 2012 Basketball Championship Series brackets to be released on January 30

The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association (OSSAA) released the statewide high school basketball district assignments on Thursday, January 19. Your Alex Longhorns have been assigned to Class A Area II, District 2 along with Cyril and Maysville.

The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association (OSSAA) has set the following rules for drawing brackets at the local level in Class A:

X.A.6.a - Three-team brackets - Rate and seed two teams on a percentage record of games won and lost which are to be placed on the top and bottom of the bracket, respectfully, by record. The worst record shall choose either seeded team, automatically placing the bye.

The official tournament bracket for classes A-B will be released Monday, January 30, 2012.

Bracket analysis: Girls - Cyril is ranked #18 in Class A according to okrankings.com, the official ranking site for the OSSAA; Alex and Maysville are unranked

Alex Lady Longhorns - Effective January 21, 2012, the closing date for tournament seeding, Alex's season record was 10-5. Alex went one and two in their last three games, all of which were played during the 2012 Grady County Tourney. The Lady Longhorns are 5-1 in Class A play.
Cyril Lady Pirates - Going into the post-season, the returning State Championship runner-up team will have a record of 8-8 with one of their losses a 55-25 defeat by Chattanooga, Class A's number-one ranked girls team. The Lady Pirates, currently on a five-game losing streak, have played two local teams, Cement and Ninnekah, and defeated both. Cyril is 4-4 in Class A competition.
Maysville Lady Warriors - Maysville's season record is 2-12 and they are currently on a four-game losing streak. Maysville shared a number of opponents with Alex with the Lady Warriors defeating Wanette 60-40 but losing to Dibble, Stratford, Elmore City-Pernell and Fox. Maysville is 0-3 in Class A play.

Bracket analysis: Boys - Cyril is ranked #16 in Class A; Alex and Maysville are unranked

Alex Longhorns - The Longhorn's record is 8-6. They are currently on a five-game losing streak but are 5-1 in Class A competition.
Cyril Pirates - The Pirates own a 12-5 record and have gone two and one in their last three games. Their season includes wins against both Cement and Ninnekah and they are 5-3 in Class A play.
Maysville Warriors - Maysville has a 1-13 record going into post-season. The Warriors have lost to five teams Alex played, including Paoli, Fox, Wanette and Elmore City-Pernell. They are 0-3 in Class A competition.

The remainder of Class A, Area II is assigned as follows:

District 1 - Binger-Oney, Blair and Sentinel: Teams in this district are unranked in both girls and boys play.
District 3 - Fox, Turner and Velma-Alma: The Turner girls are ranked #10 in Class A and the Velma-Alma boys are ranked #4
District 4 - Cement, Fletcher and Ft. Cobb-Broxton: Ft. Cobb-Broxton girls are ranked #9 and the boys are ranked #10

It has been reported that the winner of Alex's District 2 will likely play the winner of District 3 as the tournament progresses. First round District competition is "sudden death," meaning that teams that lose are eliminated from the tournament. Second round District competition is double-elimination.

View all Class A district assignments here. First-round District brackets will be posted as soon as available.

The rest of the Longhorn season:

Four games remain before the post season. Alex meets Sterling at home on Friday, January 27. The Sterling girls are ranked #15 in Class A; the boys are ranked #9. Alex ends the season at Ft. Cobb on February 7. The Ft. Cobb-Broxton girls are ranked #9 and the boys #10.

'Horns have tough run at 94th annual Grady County Basketball Tournament

Girls bracket: The 4th-seeded Lady 'Horns were defeated by the 5th-seeded Oklahoma Christian Academy (OCA) Lady Eagles in the opening round of tournament play on January 17, 2012 at Verden. A solid win over Ninnekah on January 20 gave Alex a berth against Minco in the tourney's Consolation Championship on January 21 at USAO in Chickasha but the Bulldogs pulled off the win. Above left, Senior Courtney Alcorn jumps for the tip against Minco at USAO.

Boys bracket: The 2nd-seeded Longhorns fell by three points to the OCA Eagles in the first round of the 2012 Grady County tournament and Alex drew Rush Springs in the consolation bracket. A late evening nail-biter double-overtime matchup with the Redskins ended with Alex losing by two and eliminated from the tournament. Above right, Junior Reese Mitchell strains for the tip against Rush on January 19, 2012 at Verden.

See more Grady County basketball tournament pics on the Alex basketball team pages.

View or download your combined 2011-2012 Alex High School and Jr. High Basketball Schedule here.

More Longhorn Classic coverage

Scenes from the Longhorn Classic...

Click for expanded coverage of the 2012 Longhorn Classic featuring print-quality photos of all the tournament trophy winners and more...

Thanks to all the teams and everyone who helped make the 23rd annual Longhorn Classic a resounding success

Thanks also to Gage Farms, Amber & Jay Otey, Chickasha Bank & Trust, D & M Dozers, Livingston Machinery, Sammie Williams, McRay Funeral Home, 1st National Bank & Trust, Chisolm Corner, Alex Board of Education, Mark & Carrie Anderson, Marla & Coye Langford, The Alex-Bradley PTO, Alex School Faculty & Staff, G & W Pumping, Milford Scott, Mr. &  Mrs. Paul Ratzlaff, Matt Brand, Joey Pettijohn, Jill Stidham and Tom Ketchum for doing the programs.

Second-half highlights from the Alex Boys semi-final Longhorn Classic game against Fox and the Alex Girls championship game against Stratford on January 7, 2012

 

 

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