LGISD School Board Hears Reports, Hires Four Teachers
In Friday’s edition we covered topics from last week’s LGISD school board meeting related to the return to school, but the board discussed a lot more than that. Here are some more highlights:
Optimist Club
Misty Touchet with the La Grange Optimist Club addressed the board concerning the fees that the Optimist Club pays the district for use of the facilities for the various activities that the Optimist Club sponsors. Last year the club paid $10,000 to the district and with the reduced revenue streams the club with have, this will greatly impact the amount of scholarship money that the Optimist Club has to give to the students in the area. She is asking the board to consider partnering with the Optimist Club to reduce these fees. The board was not allowed to comment since this was a nonagenda item.
Personnel
The district approved contracts for four new teachers: Deborah Thorp – middle school special education, Riley Inks – high school reading/language arts and speech, Crystal Perez – middle school math teacher, and Kylie Mica – middle school tech applications and coach.
Also hired were Michael Newton as maintenance supervisor and Ashley Hernandez as bus driver.
The board received a resignations from Kendall Hengst, David Dobbs, and Ramona Guerra.
Transfers
Mr. Wagner reported that there are currently 72 students who have applied for transfer into the district and 70 of those have been approved. This is up from 68 last school year.
Update on Gifted and Talented Program
Stephanie Kates, the LGISD gifted and talented (G/T) coordinator, presented an overview of the program that LGISD has to serve the students who qualify for G/T. House Bill 3 which was passed by the 86th legislative session requires G/T programs to comply with the Texas state plan for the education of G/T students. Part of the requirement is the that board of trustees be trained to ensure program accountability. The presentation by Kates met that requirement.
Budget Amendment
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the budget for transportation was under-funded. A few major factors this can be attributed to were the hiring of one full-time (40 hours) an two part-time bus drivers, approximately $50,000 of bus repairs over the amount budgeted, as well as fewer extracurricular bus trips anticipated due to the school closure in March. As of the end of June, the total budget is nearly $5,000 over with two months left in the fiscal year. It is anticipated that $25,000 will be necessary to keep the transportation budget funded. The increase to the transportation budget can be accomplished by transferring the same off-setting amount from instruction. The board approved this amendment. Final budget amendments to each function will be completed in August.
Internet Safety Policy
Dave Bennett, technology director for LGISD presented the internet policy for the district. The board approved the submission of an internet safety policy. This policy will allow the district to comply with the Children’s Internet Policy Act (CIPA). This policy will help to prevent user access by students to inappropriate material on the internet using filtering technologies, promotion of safety measures, monitoring and education.
In anticipation of sending some students home with school owned devices, the webfilter is being reconfigured to make those devices safe for the students to use at home. Also they are looking at using devices that do not need hot spots to connect to the signal. The school has outdoor access points so that students could come to the parking lot, connect to the network and download assignments. Also, they are getting two busses outfitted to have access points that would be parked in other locations in town to allow for internet usage.
Change of Meeting Date
The regular monthly meeting in August has be moved from Aug. 17, 2020 to Aug. 10, 2020 to allow for needed action prior to the start of the new school year.
Administrative Reports
Superintendent Bill Wagner told the board that they are working on a compensation plan for next school year for possible salary increase. He informed the board of a budget workshop scheduled for Aug. 3 at 5:30 and a special board meeting to be held Aug. 24 to approve the 2020-2021 budget.
Assistant Superintendent Stacy Eilers informed the board of the professional learning update. The August inservice will include COVID prevention, back to school guidelines and instructional remote learning. The paperwork has been submitted for the name change from Hermes Elementary to La Grange Elementary. It is officially in the system and has been approved. With the new name also comes a new address. The new official address of La Grange Elementary School will be 315 S. Jackson as the front of the building will now face Jackson St.
Director of Operations Sharon Muzny gave her first official report. They have been busy painting, cleaning, building partitions for social distancing. She is currently hiring bus drivers and combining bus drivers with maintenance work to make the job/hours more attractive. Busses will be disinfected daily. She is very impressed with IQS, the new custodial company. One IQS employee will be at each campus during the day to help with incidentals during the day. Teachers will have disinfecting supplies available in the classroom. There will be floor dots and signs to remind students of social distancing. The PPE order for the district was picked up this week. There was about 4 pallets of items for the district.
Health Services Report
Kari Willrich, LGISD school nurse gave her yearly report to the board. In the 2019-2020 school year, there were a total of 3,328 clinic visits among the three LGISD campuses. There were also 6,471- daily medications administered to students and 391- as needed medications administered. Things accomplished during the 2019-2020 school year included:
• Immunization clinics held before and after school
• Lions Clubs performed hearing and vision screenings on students
• Basic non-certified first aid training for staff
• Stop the Bleed training for staff
The plan for the 2020-2021 school year is:
• COVID-19 training for staff, isolation and health services protocols, sick and well clinic
• Revising send home policy: Temperature of 100.0 degrees, 45 minute pick-up time
• CPR and Stop the Bleed (STB) training for 8th grade and high school students
• Begin phasing in STB tourniquets into classroom lockdown supplies