Longtime Deer Park girls basketball coach Theresa White has announced she is retiring. The school district has actively begun a search for her replacement.

It looks like Deer Park High School will be saying goodbye to an icon from the coaching ranks once this school year comes to an end.

Girls basketball coach Theresa White has announced she is hanging up her whistle and clipboard, retiring from coaching. She may not always have had the strongest teams, but her clubs were consistently good at the basics like playing defense and rebounding.

Making the state playoffs was expected, and she did her best to make sure teams reached that goal. Under her watch, the Lady Deer must have reached the playoffs at least 10 times.

She was worth the price of admission just by watching her in games. She made no attempt to hide her emotions when calls went against her teams. There were lots of arm movements and looks of displeasure on her face with either questionable calls or poor play.

No doubt, she had a say in bringing the McDonald’s Texas Invitational basketball tournament to the Deer Park campuses and coordinating on a yearly basis with the girls schedule at Watkins Gym and the auxiliary gym. Courtesy of her two cents’ worth, quality teams, even state-ranked ones, competed at Deer Park so fans could enjoy some top-notch play.

We wish her well as she prepares for a new chapter in her life. As for her replacement, Assistant Principal Marc Milliorn said that interviews are under way and the field could soon be whittled down to a select few.

Early voting for the May 7 elections begins Monday, April 25 and runs through May 3.

Among items on the ballot are a $160 million Deer Park ISD bond package, presented in two propositions.

Proposition A totals $142.5 million and would fund projects including a new career-and-technical education wing at the Deer Park High School South Campus, extensive renovation work at schools and purchase of replacement school buses.

Proposition B would provide $17.5 million for updates to technology equipment.

If the propositions are approved by voters, Deer Park ISD’s tax rate is not expected to increase given growth estimates, according to the district.

Congratulations to the Deer Park High School girls soccer team members who were recently named to the 22-6A All-District Team. It starts with the seven coaches naming Mariana Alvarez-Garcia as the Offensive MVP and Hannah Reed as the co-MVP along with Sam Rayburn’s Juliet Andrade.

Those well-deserved young ladies feature first teamers Audrey Cable, Abigial Scott, Natalie Powell, Jaci Stokes, Alessandra Aguilar and Aubrey Smith.

From Second Team, Deer Park was represented by Lily Colwell, Mya Castro, Victoria Wheeler, Kaitlyn Harvey and Kamryn Shamblin. Named to honorable mention was Seilah Harris, Alyssa Carroll and Karli Taylor.

Named to the academic all-district list was Mariana Alvarez-Garcia, Cable, Harris, Stokes, Hannah Reed, Carroll and Castro.

For those who have entered the Strides for Schools Fun Run, scheduled for Saturday, April 30, pre-race packet and shirt pick up is April 28 and 29 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Deer Park Education Support Center, 2800 Texas Ave.

Then on April 30, packet pick up starts the proceedings at 7 a.m., followed by an 8:15 start.

All funds raised go to support the teachers and students of Deer Park ISD. The foundation hopes to raise $150,000 and have 1,500 participants.

To register, go to www.thedriven.net.

Birds in our town are so imaginative when it comes to building their nests.

I watched a bird at the intersection of Center Street and Pasadena Boulevard pick up a straw wrapper from the grass and fly off with it to who knows where. Sticks, leaves and straw wrappers — they’re the perfect building material for a sturdy nest in some oak tree.