LGISD Board Meets; Hears Enrollment, Restroom & Bus Updates

The La Grange school board met last Monday. Here are some highlights from the meeting: Superintendent Andy McHazlett reported that the current enrollment overall is 1,826, broken down by campus with 935 at the elementary, 292 at the middle school, and 599 at the high school.

The average daily attendance (ADA) stands at 1,725.27. This is the number that determines the state funding for the district. He told the board that this is a slight decline from last year due to the slightly lower enrollment this year.

Assistant Superintendent Stacy Eilers gave an update to the board of the many events taking place last week:

• Girls soccer advanced to bi-district, playing West Columbia.

• Color guard placed second in winter competition.

• Livestock show, golf, and UIL academic contests happening this week.

• Computer science UIL will be hosted here at the Norma Webb Center.

Director of Operations and School Safety Sharon Muzny told the board that the restrooms in the 100 hall of the high are currently unusable. They have tried to repair them. Muzny said, “It’s not usual for maintenance to be out there several times in a day. We had a company come out, one of several that will be coming out, that videoed the line, and they found that the cast iron that was installed back when the building was built has collapsed in a couple locations and has leaks in several locations as well.” The decision has been made to close the restrooms until they can be properly fixed over the summer. This will likely affect summer school. Plans are in place to move the location to the Norma Webb Center if necessary.

Muzny also discussed the problems with the aging bus fleet. Currently there are five buses in the shop. There is one that needs to go to the shop but is being used as there is no other special ed option. The problem is complicated more by the need for buses to travel out of town before the regular bus routes run after school. The bottom line, according to Muzny is, “We are in need of some solutions for busing and increasing our fleet numbers.”