LGISD Board Hears Campus Reports, FFA Presentation

Here’s more highlights from the October meeting of the La Grange School Board: 

FFA Presentation

Four members of the La Grange ISD FFA organization did a demonstration of their competition presentation for the board on Monday night. The four girls participating in the presentation were Avery Harbers, Kenna Lamza, Kylin Brawley, and Reisy Janca.

The presentation was all about the world of FFA and the opportunities that the La Grange chapter has to offer.

Some key take-aways from the presentation were:

• FFA is an inter-curricular, student-led organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership that was established in 1928, with the La Grange chapter starting in 1938.

• There are 1,042,245 students active in the national FFA organization between grades 5 through 12. This makes FFAthe largest studentled organization.

The students will present this material at a competition on Nov. 3 and again on Nov. 7 for the district competition.

Campus Reports 

The principals from each campus gave a report about the activities taking place at each of their campuses.

La Grange Elementary School principal Dr. Regina Walker told the board, “We remain deeply focused on our core mission, ensuring high quality instruction and effective interventions for every student.

Some highlights from her presentation include:

• Focus on instructional rigor, phonics, inclusion, and targeted interventions.

• Gains seen in academic performance and attendance, supported by incentives.

• Safety and positive culture emphasized through restorative practices and leadership opportunities for students.

She brought four students from the Lighthouse team members with her to share their leadership experiences. The students were Kolby Walker, Aubrey Gommert, Elyse McBroom, and Charlotte Crowley.

Walker stated, “Our goal is simple: to build a campus where students lead and adults empower. We want leadership to be something that students experience, that all students experience, not just a select few.”

La Grange Middle School principal Dr. Sarah Otto spoke to the board about the academic goals of the campus, “Our campus goal is that we want our students to show progress on their unit assessment. So after every unit and all four of their core classes, they take a unit assessment that looks just like their STAAR test. And our goal is that every time they take that, they’re just getting better and better.”

Some other highlights from her presentation were:

• Academic goals target progress on unit assessments, with special focus on seventhgrade math via double-blocking.

• Leadership development and career exploration initiatives align with high school pathways.

• Added clubs, service learning projects, and PTO contributions to enhance culture.

• Preparations for academic UIL, theater, athletics, and Red Ribbon Week activities underway.

La Grange High School principal Dr. John Pineda reported that “La Grange High School continues to prepare our students to be college and career military ready.”

Some interesting points from his presentation include:

• Efforts on college, career, and military readiness through PSAT, FAFSA support, and career fairs.

• Ongoing community partnerships and successful grant applications for equipment and resources.

• Recognition for NHS, UIL academics, and multiple student organizations and teams performing well in competitions, athletics, and fine arts.

He also wanted to give the board an update on the cell phone use policy. “Kids seem to be more engaged. They seem to be happier. At lunch, you’ll see card games. It’s good to see. It’s refreshing to see. And they’ve adjusted well to the change.”

Bus Purchase Approved The board approved the purchase of a new 77-passenger school bus for $155,676 to maintain fleet reliability.

Personnel 

Meghan Brooks has been approved for a paraprofessional school district teaching permit for the 2025-26 school year at the elementary school.

Resignations were received from Terri Prihodaeducational diagnostician and Francisco Saucedo-high school teacher and coach.

Mia Pipkin was hired as an elementary school educational aide.

Connor Slaten resigned from his position as grounds maintenance worker.