The regular monthly meeting held on October 22, 2007 of the DeLeon ISD Board of Trustees focused on district and campus programming for the current school year, as well as facility renovations during the year.

As a portion of the consent agenda, the district’s administrative team reviewed campus and district improvement plans for the current school year. Judd Gibson, elementary principal, discussed the progress being made at the elementary and new programs that have been started for the school year. He introduced the Board to the Teachers Encouraging Kids to Succeed in School (TEKSIS) Troops program, designed to provide positive feedback to students who are not getting support at home to encourage them to focus on their school work.

Mr. Gibson also discussed the new Hispanic Outreach Program which is being developed to reach out to minority parents to encourage them to be involved with their children’s education.

Dr. Randy Mohundro reviewed the middle school campus plan, highlighting the emphasis being placed on data and its use for making instructional decisions on the middle school campus. He noted that teachers are attending training this week to gain additional skills to crunch data obtained from TAKS testing to benefit their students and the instruction they receive.

Jimmie Cearley, high school principal, reviewed his campus plan and highlighted the new incentive program for students that have perfect attendance each six-weeks or make either the “A” or “AB” honor roll. Mr. Cearley also reported on the implementation of “Project Success”, the district’s credit recovery program and its initial progress. He noted that one student had completed the program and was ready to receive their diploma, and that another student only lacked passing one TAKS test to be eligible to receive their diploma. Currently thirteen seats exist for the program, and a waiting list of over ten students to enter the program, shows the need and demand for such a program in the district.

Dr. Mohundro reviewed the district’s improvement plan and noted a new teacher mentoring program utilizing the Education Service Center out of Abilene as resource that is working with all new teachers to the district, both experienced and inexperienced to the teaching profession. To increase parent/community involvement, he has implemented the new “School Messenger” service that allows for direct calling of all students households through a computer automated system. This system will be utilized to notify parents and students of school closures due to bad weather and other important school announcements.

Dual credit with Texas Technical State College was also reviewed by Mohundro, as a way for high school students to earn both high school and college credit simultaneously. The program with TSTC will allow students to earn college credit while taking vocational courses in ag, family/consumer sciences, and in technology classes. A final component of the district improvement plan is the refurbishment of the district’s computer network with the installation of new file servers for the network and the transition the district will be going through as it goes to a wireless topography during the current school year.

Also included and approved by the Board on the consent agenda was the 2007 District Tax Roll and Levy which calls for the district to receive $1,404,181.93 in local tax revenues for the current school/tax year. This levy is based on a total tax rate of $0.9900 per $100 of taxable property value on a total district tax base of $132,648,981. In comparison to last year, DISD taxpayers have seen their tax rate decreased by $0.2592 compared to the 2006-07 rate.

The Board also received the 07/08 Highly Qualified Report from the administration, which reported a 100% status for all teachers employed for the current school year under standards set by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) regulations.

As matters of action, the Board provided contact names to the administration for individuals to be nominated to the Comanche County Appraisal District Board of Directors. Royce Lesley had been serving on the CCAD Board representing DeLeon, but had notified the district his intention to go off of the Board.

The School Board will submit a name in November following their regular meeting for nomination. Votes to select individuals to serve on the CCAD Board is determined by the amount of levy by the various taxing entities in the county and DISD holds the third highest number of votes, behind the county and Comanche ISD.

A contract to sell weighted average daily attendance (WADA) credits to Snyder ISD was approved.

The sale of WADA to Snyder is a part of the state school finance share the wealth (Robin Hood) program that allows a portion of the wealth of Snyder ISD to be used to pay for the educating of students in the DeLeon school system.

In previous years the district was allowed to see an increase of funding in such arrangements; however, the state now precludes such benefits to selling districts. The benefit is now shared with all districts in ESC Region 14 to improve technology services. Being the district with the second lowest cost in the Region, DISD allows for the most money to be generated in the program behind Comanche ISD.

DeLeon ISD continues to receive benefits in receiving additional technology services, interest earned on holding the gains for a period of time, and being involved in making decisions on how the gains will be spent. There is no cost or expense to the district to participate in the program.

The Board approved Policy Update 81 as recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards Policy Service, with the exception of LOCAL policy FD: Admissions. The Board requested the administration to examine what the consequences would be if the district increased the age of allowable admission into the district to the age of 25.

Currently, policy limits admission to the age of 21, however the legislature allows local district to now increase the age to 25. The administration will be investigating allowing students between the ages of 21-25 to attend school, but it would be limited to the district’s “Project Success” credit recovery program. This program is scheduled to be moved into the district’s new Support Center, the old DeLeon Hospital building, during December, 2007.

District renovations concluded the action portion of the Board’s agenda. Three different facility renovation issues were discussed by the Board and administration.

Bearcat Stadium was addressed in regards to needing to make the bleachers more handicapped and wheelchair accessible for students and patrons. The Board directed the administration to begin obtaining cost estimates to make the needed renovations.

The Board also discussed possible renovations and improvements to the fields used by the boy’s baseball and girl’s softball teams. The facilities are currently used cooperatively between the city, the school, and the youth baseball association.

Dr. Mohundro asked permission to begin negotiations with all involved entities that would allow the school to become the owner of the fields, so that the district could begin possible renovations on the field.

The Board then discussed what renovations would take place and the cost. Mohundro noted that basic renovations, which would include new backstops, dugouts, and stands for the baseball field, would cost approximately $30,000. Currently $15,000 has been pledged by the Athletic Booster Club and the youth baseball association for improvements. The Board agreed to match those funds, if the district can gain sole responsibility for the fields.

A discussion on the possibility of lighting the baseball field also occurred. Dr. Mohundro noted that the cost to light the baseball field would be in the neighborhood of $125,000 to bring it to UIL standards. It was noted that to play district ballgames and to allow playoff games to occur in DeLeon, the UIL standard would have to be met. The Board agreed to the need to light the baseball field, but made no commitment to funding lights at this time.

A report on the District Support Center was made by the administration. A renovation plan has been developed calling for different phases to see the work on the former DeLeon Hospital completed in the coming months.

Currently, the district is working on Phase I which calls for the relocation of the School/City tax office to the Support Center. That office has been relocated and is now open for business. Patrons may access the Tax Office through the entrance on S. Houston St.

Other phases are scheduled to begin as soon as hospital and clinic officials complete the removal of their remaining items.

The final business of the evening was a review of upcoming Board training events.