LGISD March Meeting Roundup

In Friday’s edition we hit some of the highlights from last week’s monthly meeting of the La Grange Independent School District’s Board of Trustees. Here’s some more:

Proposed Fiber Improvements

Director of Technology David Bennett has reported that the district is in need of updated internet connection within the district. He has provided the board with a needs assessment and has secured bids for this. The district receives an e-rate discount of 70% on these purchases.

The needs costs are as follows:

1) The maintenance building is not connected to the rest of the campus and needs to be. The maintenance building is located on 420 S. Reynolds and is currently connected to the network via a wireless bridge which was installed in 2010. The asset management program client software is located there. It accesses asset management database located at the elementary school. This connection is outdated and beginning to fail. By connecting this building to the fiber network it:

• Provides a more secure connection

• Provides a much faster data connection (15 mb to 2,000 mb)

• Gives the district options for future data expansion in the maintenance facility

The cost for this project will be:

• Installation and fiber cable: $78,208.05 - $54,745.64 (discount) = $23,462.41 final cost

• Hardware: $6,000 - $4,200 (discount) = $1,800 final cost

• Maintenance and operation: $4,800 - $3,360 (discount) = $1,400 final cost

SkyRider Communications was the only vendor to submit a bid for this project.

2) The district currently has a 1 gb fiber connection hosted by Education Service Center Region 13. That contract is coming up for renewal. With the increase of data use and transmission and the fact that daily use is consistently capping out at 1 gb, the connection needs to be upgraded to a 2 gb connection. The district wants to continue the partnership with ESC Region 13 due to the quality and support that has been received as well as the added network /IT benefits that are included with this partnership.

The cost for this project would be $39,600 - $27,720) discount = $11,800 final cost.

This item will be discussed at the next board meeting.

2021-22 Revenue Update

The administration has received an updated summary of finance report through the first semester of the 2021-22 school year. Here are the highlights of this report:

• State funding is based on a complex formula using the weighted average daily attendance (WADA) and enrollment numbers. Attendance at the end of the first semester was 93.35% compared to the same time last year of 95.65% which was slightly lower largely due to the latest COVID variant outbreak.

• Local property tax receipts through March 8 have totaled $14,457,823.79. Of that $12,018,716.81 was maintenance and operation, and $2,439,106.98 was interest and sinking.

• The first debt service payment of the fiscal year for the construction bond was paid Feb. 11 in the amount of $696,200 which is only an interest payment plus $200 paying agent fee. The Aug. 15 payment will be in the amount of $1,576,400 of which $880,000 is principal and $696,200 is interest plus $200 paying agent fee.

• Each year there is a set amount of money allotted and available for operation expenses associated with the construction of new instructional facilities to districts that meet specific criteria. La Grange will receive $431,135 in August of the state allotment of $70,000,000. This amount of state funding was not expected and not budgeted.

• Federal reimbursement rates for meals increased this past year as has participation in the child nutrition program. The district has increased over $285,000 in federal claims in the first six months of the school year as compared to the same time in the previous year. The food service director, Nancy Fritsch-Tielsch has done a tremendous job fiscally despite rising food costs and supply shortages.

HVAC Equipment & Repairs

At the December board meeting, Director of Operations Sharon Muzny presented the status of the HVAC units at the high school and middle school and the five replacement phases reflecting the distict’s needs from highest to lowest. The board directed Muzny to obtain pricing for phases 1 and 2.

Trane Energy Soluntions has obtained proposals from four mechanical contractors for the purchase and installation of Trane equipment with quoted pricing for the remaining units in need of replacement as part of phase 1 HVAC. The staff is recommending the postponement of phase 2 at this time. The decision was made to go with Leon’s Electric for this project.

While no electrical or mechanical engineering is anticipated, in accordance with Policy CV (Legal) and Chapter 1001, Occupations Code, the administration recommends the retention of a registered engineer to review and oversee the planning and installation as the project exceeds $20,000.

The board approved using BuyBoard procurement as the delivery method presenting the best value for the Phase 1 HVAC project and authorize the administration to:

• Begin contract negotiations with the highest ranked HVAC company, and should negotiations fail, move the second highest ranked and so on, not to exceed $550,000 which includes district contingency, until a satisfactory contract is approved and executed by the superintendent, and

• Select the most qualified engineer, negotiate and execute a contract for the Phase 1 HVAC project and future HVAC projects.

Summer School Schedule

The schedule for the various summer school programs has been set. The dates for each program are as follows:

• General education (grades 3-8): June 6-29

• Camp Summit (grades K-2): June 1-24

• Kinder Camp/1st JV: June 1-24

• Bilingual/ESL (PreK): May 31-June 24

• Special Education: June 7-9, June 14-16, June 21-23

• Credit Recovery (grades 9-12): June 6-24

• Camp Invention: June 20- 24

18+ Program for SPED

Special Education Director for LGISD and the Colorado River Cooperative (CRC) shared information with the board at the February meeting that the district is responsible for offering a program for students who are between 18 and 23 years of age. Currently there are three students in the district’s program and these students are served by Bastrop ISD’s 18+ program. Next year there will be a student in the district who will not be able to be served by Bastrop due to multiple disabilities. La Grange ISD and CRC will need to serve this student as the parent has requested services. In addition, the district would serve two other students who in the program who are currently being served by Bastrop. The 18+ program will need to be housed in La Grange. There is classroom space in the Norma Webb Center. The district will need to employ a teacher for this program. Currently it is costing the district approximately $15,000 per student to send them to the Bastrop ISD program. The board moved to approve the 18+ program for the district including a teacher position beginning with the 2022-23 school year.

Additional Positions for CRC

Due to the large increase of referrals for special education services, the districts participating in the Colorado River Cooperative (La Grange ISD, Fayetteville ISD, Smithville ISD) have requested three additional personnel to accommodate the increased workload. The three additional positions are speech pathologist, diagnostian, and ARD facilitator. The positions will be funded by special education funds. The positions were approved.

April Meeting Date Change

Due to the April 18 school holiday, the April board meeting has been rescheduled for April 11.

Replacement School Buses

The district is in need of replacement school buses. Currently there are 20 buses in the fleet, however five of those need substantial mechanical repairs. The district has traditionally purchased one new bus each spring for the upcoming school year. However, there are ESSER funds available which would make the purchase of two new buses possible.

Longhorn Bus Sales has submitted a bid for a new 77-passenger bus at a cost of $118,496. It will take 90 days to receive the buses once ordered and the district needs to have them before August for the 2022-23 school year. The cost of the two buses would be $236,992 plus and additional $800 Buy Board fee. The board approved this purchase.