1,774 Students Attending LGISD Every Day on Average
The September meeting of the La Grange ISD School Board was held on Monday, Sept. 16. Jeff Parker was the only person to speak. He congratulated the board on making the decision to take oversight on the issue of purchasing books at last month’s meeting.
Administrative Reports Superintendent Andy McHazlett let the board know that the first grading cycle will end this week. The current enrollment stands at 1,882 with 971 at the elementary campus, 307 at the middle school campus, and 604 at the high school campus. The average daily attendance for the district was 1,774.
He also reported that the Leopard Academy had its first graduate. Sylvester Lara completed all the requirements and became the Leopard Academy’s first graduate on Thursday, Sept. 12. McHazlett told the board that Silvester was highly motivated as he had a job that was being held for him to start as soon as he completed the requirements. He also stated that there were at least two others who would soon complete the program.
The Leopard Academy is an alternative/accelerated school for highly motivated, dedicated, and academically capable students. Students complete their coursework using computer-based learning via Edgenuity. This creates an environment in which students can work at their own progressive pace—accelerating students along their graduation path, depending on their circumstances. Contact the school counselor for more information on the Leopard Academy.
Assistant Superintendent Stacy Eilers reported that the Little Leps after school program currently has 57 students, which is 6 more than last year. There are two adults and eight high school students employed with the program. There is no one on the wait list. She also told the board that the district was going to participate in the Thrive Mentor Program again. The district currently has 7 mentors – 2 that are returning and 5 that are new.
Director of Operations Sharon Muzny told the board that the maintenance department continues to work on completing projects. The sound system was being installed at Leopard Stadium this week. The roof on Gym 1 is now complete and the restrooms at are about 95% complete. The district continues to work on the school safety projects that TEA has mandated.
Proposed Library Book List for September The list of library books to be reviewed prior to purchase was presented. These books will be decided on at the October board meeting on Oct. 21. Superintendent McHazlett told the board, “I met with Stacy Eilers, Sharon Muzny, Amy McCord (district librarian) and Pam Keilers (library aide) last week to talk about a new pathway to look at to make sure that we are presenting books that are acceptable by the community.”As a result of that meeting, there were no books on the September list for the high school library. He also added, “Even though we presented some from last month, we are going to go back on that high school list before anything is ordered and put it through a couple of different checkpoints and make sure before we order any of those books off of that previous list. This is something we take seriously. We want to be in a great place and that this is not a big thing every meeting. I think all of us who met that day are on board with what is best for our community and our kids. The list might be a little shorter. We are going to go through the lists with a fine-tooth comb so that we are ordering books that we are all comfortable presenting to the school board and that we are comfortable having in our library for the kids to come in and check out. I feel like we are in a better place. We are moving forward. It’s not fast enough for me and for a lot of people in the community, but we are moving forward.”
New School Bus Purchase
It has been two years since a new bus was purchased. The transportation department’s goal is to continue to cycle out old and unreliable buses and replace them with new. The purchase of a new bus has been included in the boardapproved budget. Longhorn Bus Sales has submitted a bid for a new 77 passenger bus at a cost of $153,075. The bus will take approximately 90 days to receive once ordered. There was some discussion as to why a new bus purchase was necessary at this time. Superintendent McHazlett stated, “It has been over two years since we purchased a bus. We don’t want to get too far behind on our bus fleet and let it get outdated, then have to buy several at once. We really can’t afford to do that.” Sharon Muzny told the board, “We have 24 busses in our fleet and more than half of those have over 100,000 miles on them. We don’t want to come to you and ask to replace two or three busses. We are asking that you continue with our plan of replacing our fleet with one bus per year which is more fiscally responsible on our end. There are a couple of busses that we spent over $20,000 repairing. Since they are out of warranty, we like to decrease those repair costs and start cycling them out.” Board member Calvin Mersiovsky asked, “What is the warranty?” Muzny responded, “Five years or 100,000 miles.” The bus that will be purchased will be one with air conditioning to replace one that does not have air conditioning. Muzny stated, “We have 16 busses with air conditioning. Sometimes on game nights those busses are used and the non-air conditioned busses have to be used for the regular routes. We have had parents complain about this.”
Diana Fitzpatrick told the board, “We spent $136,000 just on bus repairs last year. That amount would have (almost) paid for a bus.” McHazlett added, “By purchasing one bus per year, it allows us to budget for it instead of getting hit with something that we haven’t budgeted for.”
Board member Travis Ulrich asked, “Is our one bus a year adequate? If the district replaces only one bus per year, each bus would have to last 24 years before being replaced. Is that feasible?” Personnel
Paraprofessional hires include: Juanita Garcia-elementary educational aide and Jason Vasut-food service manager in training. Two employees have transferred to another job in the district: Lori Leertransferred from food service to elementary educational aide and Jake Mulhollandtransferred from food service to grounds maintenance. A resignation was received from Leslie Soto-elementary educational aide.