LGISD Enrollment Up; Personnel Changes Ahead
Lots went on at last Monday’s meeting of the La Grange School board. We reported on some in Friday’s edition, but here’s more: Administrative Reports
Superintendent Andy McHazlett told the board that the current enrollment was 1,924 students which was up by 22 students from the same time last year. This breaks down to 1,017 at the elementary school, 310 at the middle school, and 597 at the high school. The average daily attendance is 1,787.36.
Assistant Superintendent Stacy Eilers reported that UIL One Act Play received 2nd place at the district competition and will be participating in the bi-district competition on Wednesday, March 27, in La Grange (which they also won). Other UIL academic events will be taking place on April 3, 4, 5, and 9.
Director of Operations Sharon Muzny reported that the high school gym floor refurbishing was completed over spring break.
Personnel
There were four new teacher contracts approved at the March meeting for the 2024-25 school year: Amber Dooley – 1st grade self-contained teacher, Lesley Roesler – middle school coach/art teacher, Melissa Vladyka – 6th grade resource teacher, and Hiliary Zarosky – elementary special education teacher. Marlene Glaiser is transferring from 1st grade ELAR (English language arts and reading) to 1st grade bilingual teacher. Also hired were: Ruben Gonzalez – elementary food service worker, Brian Hollandsworth – general maintenance worker, and Kamry Ledesma – after school care counselor. Janet Greene is transferring from food service manager in training to K6 food service manager.
A resignation was received from Vickey Manriquez – K6 cafeteria manager.
Revenue Update
The administration has an updated summary of finance report through the first semester of 2023-24 school year.
The district’s weight average daily attendance (WADA) is 2,691.694. This number is up 189.569 from the past year’s WADA of 2,502.125 of the same time period. State funding is based on a complex formula using WADA and enrollment numbers, and each month and/or six weeks, these amounts change. At this time, it appears that the district will receive an increased amount of state funding due to the increased WADA and enrollment. The most recent calculation shows that the district could receive approximately $1,000,000 more in foundation school program funding. The final settlement amount is determined by the official numbers reported in the summer PEIMS submission. Locally, property tax receipts through March 5 have totalled $12,332,665.54. The breakdown is maintenance and operations (M&O) of $10,120,899.01 and interest and sinking (I&S) of $2,211,766.53.
New Speech Staff Needed LGISD currently has 143 students who receive speech services and two speech language pathologists (SLP.) The two take on a majority of the students on their own caseloads (126 students).
In order to stay in compliance with the Texas Association of School Board’s (TASB) recommendation of 45-50 students per caseload for SLPs and SLPAs (speech language pathology assistant), La Grange contracts out for additional speech staff. From Aug. 24, 2023-Jan. 24, 2024, LGISD has spent $44,175 on contracted speech staff. They are projecting to spend an additional $25,000 to complete services for the remainder of the school year, bring the total for the 2023-34 school year to almost $70,000. The salary range for an SLP is $47,924$68,225, and for an SLPA is $40,914-$58,271. An SLPA would also have the added expense of $3,000 for an SLP to supervise their work. The board approved the additional position for next school year.
Fayette County DAEP
The board approved the dissolution of the Fayette County Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (FCDAEP) at the March meeting. In the past, LGISD was the location for all county DAEP students. Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, LGISD will only take care of LGISD students.