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The DeLeon Independent School District
Board of Trustees met Thursday, July 6, 2006 and, in executive
session, voted to hire Josh Hodges as an agriculture teacher.
While in open session, the Board
addressed a number of other topics, including the changes in the
Student Handbook for the 2006-07 school year, and the preliminary
reports on the hail damage to the elementary school roof.
As part of the Board’s consent agenda,
the monthly expenditures for June were approved, as were the minutes
of the June 12 regular meeting and the June 22 and June 28, special
meetings. There was also a review of the bank balances and cash flow,
and a comparison of revenue to budget. Dr. Randy Mohundro, DISD
Superintendent, noted that it was a “short consent agenda this month.”
Scott Carlisle, Perkins Middle School
principal, presented the Student Handbook changes, with Dr. Mohundro
noting that the other principals were “dealing with children in
various activities, from baseball to football.”
Dr. Mohundro did emphasize that none of
the changes would require board action, “Because if the board were to
adopt the handbook, that would stand as policy...and I would have to
enforce it, as is,” he said. Mohundro added that if the handbook were
utilized as an “administrative tool” there would be some flexibility
or “wiggle room” in how it was enforced. “Now the Code of Conduct, you
have to adopt that,” he added.
The subject of student cell phones on
school property was one of the first things that Carlisle addressed.
“Last year there was not really a cell
phone policy in the handbook,” Carlisle said, “so we wanted to put one
in there. We went ahead and included other electronic devices, because
at the elementary, he (the principal) is having a problem with kids
bringing Game Boys, CD players and headphones, and things like that.”
The actual passage in the handbook reads:
“Students are not permitted to possess such items as cell phones,
radios, CD players, tape recorders, camcorders, DVD players, cameras,
pagers, mobile phones, or other electronic devices or games at school,
unless prior permission has been obtained from the principal. Without
such permission, teachers will collect the item and turn it in to the
principal’s office. A first offense will result in the loss of the
device for 10 school days; a second offense will result in a loss for
30 school days.”
Carlisle noted that the reason the
“unless prior permission” sentence was included is because there are
times when he and high school principal Mark Lewis do not mind a
student using headphones, etc.
In the “dress and grooming” section of
the handbook, “no visible tattoos” was added, as was one very critical
sentence at the beginning of that section: “The fact that a particular
style or garment is not listed as prohibited does not necessarily mean
that such style or garment is permitted. Determination as to what is
neat, clean, decent, modest, appropriate and in good taste is the duty
of the teachers and administration, and these determinations will be
made in an objective, impartial, and consistent manner as possible.”
“You can’t anticipate all of the dress
code violations,” Carlisle said. “There’s no way possible. So what we
tried to do was put a sentence in there to help us out with that.”
Other changes in the handbook included
sections dealing with both drug testing and fundraising. The
drug-testing portion reads:
“DISD encourages all students to
participate in school-sponsored extra-curricular activities, but
believes the opportunity to participate is a privilege offered to
eligible students on an equal opportunity basis. The use of alcohol
and other drugs by students participating in extra-curricular
activities presents a hazard to the health, safety and welfare of the
student participant.
• Extra-Curricular: To be eligible to
participate in any school-sponsored extra-curricular activity, a
secondary school student (grades 7-12) must agree to participate in a
drug-testing program that includes a mandatory test of all
participants at the beginning of each school year and random testing
during the school year.
• Student Drivers: Students who drive to
and from school and who park on school property shall be subject to
the same initial and random drug-testing requirements as students who
participate in school-sponsored extra-curricular activities.”
The fundraising portion reads:
“Fundraising is not permitted on school property, except as approved
by the principal and superintendent. All fundraisers must be approved
by the administrators prior to their beginning and must be placed on
the district school calendar.”
Other areas of the handbook which
reflected change, some of them minor changes, included graduation
requirements, grade computation, promotion and retention and
transportation. “We added this (the transportation change) at the
request of our transportation department,” Carlisle said. “A lot of
times we have students who get on the bus and say ‘I’m going to get
off at little Johnny’s house today’ and the bus driver says ‘ok’ and
then the mama calls up later and complains.” The changes read: “Any
student needing to ride on a different bus, on either a temporary or
permanent basis, must contact the appropriate campus office to make
their request.”
After the handbook changes were
discussed, Board member Kelly Dickey broached the subject of seniors
this past year who “were unable to graduate because they didn’t pass
their TAKS test.” She noted that although DISD guidelines do stipulate
that “DeLeon ISD does not issue certificates of coursework completion”
she knew of some districts that do issue those in lieu of diplomas.
Dickey added that she, “wanted to get a feel for what everybody
thought.”
Dr. Mohundro said that he had done some
research on the same subject, and noted that one school district
allowed students who could not pass TAKS to participate in
commencement if they had participated in every tutorial possible, and
had tested at every opportunity for TAKS. “I thought that might be the
‘carrot’ we need,” Mohundro said, adding that any such item would need
to be “put on the agenda” before any action could be taken.
Next up on the agenda was “Local Policy
Update 78” -- which was adopted by a unanimous vote.
“This is the update as a result of House
Bill 1,” Dr. Mohundro said. “...One of the changes that is required is
that when we do adopt our budget, we do have to post the major
categories and how money is being spent -- which won’t be a problem.
There is some change in looking at our investments. They want us to
give them GASB (General Accounting Standards Board) Statement 40.
They’re trying to make sure that we’re doing our investments just
right. So our local policy has been changed in consideration of that.”
Dr. Mohundro hit just the highlights of several other changes in the
multi-page document.
The 2006-2007 District Salary Scale
Review was addressed next.
“This is something you wanted me to work
on,” Mohundro said. “This is draft, it is not gospel. What we’ve done
is based on the state salary schedule. We’re coming in and we’re now
looking at various salaries for different types of employees. This pay
schedule pretty well takes care of everyone. We have simplified some
things and done away with some other things. I don’t know if it’s an
easier system but I tried to make it as fair a system as possible. Let
me talk first about teachers’ salaries. The thing I’m trying to do
right now... is to raise our teachers’ salaries so that we are very
competitive in the area.
“Comanche is paying $1,100 over base,”
Mohundro said, “plus their supplemental duty pay, so they’re paying
$1,400. With this salary scale, we’d be right there with Comanche. And
we’d be just as competitive at getting teachers to come to us, versus
Comanche, by going to $1,000 for bachelor’s and going to $1,500 for a
master’s. That’s above what the state has mandated. Teachers are
required by law to receive a $2,500 pay increase, over the salary
schedule from last year. On top of that $2,500 we would then add an
additional $1,000. I know that seems like a big pay increase, but you
also have to look at the market...and the fact that if we’re going to
be that ‘lighthouse district’ we’ve got to get our salaries up.”
Mohundro then went on to discuss possible
pay increases for every campus employee, from custodians and food
service personnel to counselors.
“Now this is what I want to do,” Mohundro
said, “but can we afford it? That’s why I said it was a draft. This
may not be what we can do this year, but if nothing else, we’re
heading in this direction. It may take us a year or two to transition
to it, but I think we’re already saying... “This is important to us.
We’re asking you to do more. We’re expecting more. Well, we’re going
to say thank you.’ It’s not about the money. But sometimes it is about
the money, and sometimes it’s about the effort.”
A report on the recent hail damage at the
schools was also presented to the Board.
“We’ve got a report from Global Roofing
on the hail damage on our roofs,” Dr. Mohundro said. “Basically, we’re
looking at about a $225,000 settlement.”
According to Mohundro, the worst damage
was at the elementary school, where several roofs will have to be
replaced. “You could declare an emergency situation and...not have to
bid it,” he said, “but I’m not very comfortable with doing that -- I’d
rather go out for bids.”
Dr. Mohundro also discussed bids he’d
received for the carpeting and painting of portions of the high school
and new gym, saying he recommended “tiling instead of carpeting.” The
board voted to approve his recommendations. |
