Artwork by Roth Elementary students is now on display at the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts. Fifth grade students learned the science behind heating glass and its physical properties, while fourth graders wrote creative stories about their fish. In art classes, students decorated the fish to represent their personalities. The display was made possible through a grant awarded by the Klein ISD Education Foundation and represents the third exhibit featuring Roth art students. The museum will host a reception for students on Tues., March 20, 2012, starting at 4:30 p.m., and the artwork will remain on display until Apr. 6, 2012.

Mueller Elementary School counselor Dee Dee Murphy is one of three to be honored at a spring luncheon hosted by the Houston Anti-Defamation League for winners of the annual Walter Kase award. The three 2012 honorees promote respect for and understanding of diversity in their classrooms and on their campuses. The award is named for Walter Kase, a Holocaust survivor who devotes his life to keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust and making the world a more accepting place where hatred and prejudice are not tolerated.

Murphy is the head counselor and the No Place for Hate chair at Mueller. Through combined efforts from faculty and staff, she created activities geared toward diversity and respect. At the start of school, the campus delivered lessons on anti-bullying for the first 12 days. At the end of the lessons, each class created a pledge, unique to their group, to claim their classroom as a bully free zone. “It’s exciting to see students using the reasoning skills and strategies they learned,” expressed Murphy. “We all have done a lot of great things for the kids.” She headed up the Building Acceptance program, where students participated in classroom discussions, journal writing and imagination exercises that stressed acceptance of diversity. Murphy also sponsored an anti-bullying week and partnered with Krimmel Intermediate for their Respect Walk held in November.

The award ceremony is scheduled for May 2, 2012, and Murphy is honored to be a recipient of the Walter Kase award. “I am humbled by this experience and honored to receive this recognition.”