The Levelland Independent School District Board of Trustees had their regular meeting Wednesday evening to cover several items. All Board members were present for this meeting
The District currently has several courses that count as “Innovation Courses” which, defined by the board are “courses to enable students to master knowledge, skills, and competencies not included in the essential knowledge and skills of the required curriculum.” Currently offered are Sports Medicine I, General Employability Skills, and Methodology for Academic and Personal Success (MAPS). These courses help deepen the skills students learn while in attendance to LISD, but the District seeks to continue that growth, coming before the board to ask for the approval of several more courses: Sports Medicine II&III, Foundation of User Experience, Community Transportation, and Making Connections I-IV. LISD has seen a strong focus on CTE and College level courses recently, with various different programs aimed at preparing students for the workforce when they graduate. This request was easily and unanimously granted by the board.
Summer School is seeing a shift this year for the betterment of the maintenance crews of the district. All summer school students this year will have instruction at the Intermediate and Middle School Campuses this year to clear other district buildings for various renovations. I meetings past the Maintenance Dept. has given road maps for their upcoming projects including floor stripping for most campuses, lawn care, and roof/parking lot repairs. This Maintenance Dept. inherited a lengthy backlog of requests, and are looking to use the summer months to clear some of these from the docket.
LISD provides Chromebooks to several grades to assist with their coursework, and a request had come before the board for approval. The price of 450 Chromebooks would come at the tune of approx. $175K. This is slightly higher than normal, as it was time to replace the laptops for several grades, rather than just ordering them for incoming freshmen as usual. When asked about what happens to the laptops post-graduation, staff informed the board that there are a few options available: the laptop can be sold outside the district, or the student is granted the opportunity to purchase it to take with them after graduation. This item was approved readily by the board
Much like other organizations in the area, LISD School Board has elections coming up in May, however for their positions up for election all candidates ran unopposed. This left the board with the option to cancel the election, leaving Matt Buxkemper for District 5, Carrie Ellis and DeEtte Edens (both at-large seats), to retain their positions within the board.
While the elementary campuses didn’t have reports at this months meeting, Capitol Elementary still had a presentation to give. At the beginning of the meeting Capitol’s Principle Joanna Runkles introduced the campus’ “Goal Getters”. 9 students stood before the board and explained to them what it took for such a distinction: to follow the “Lobo Way” and represent your campus well. The students thanked the Board for their time before opening up for questions.
For the Middle School there was quite a bit to brag on. Middle School Principle Eric Eugenis was happy to give his report on the goings on and achievements of his campus. The campus’ Destination Imagination (DI) team has advanced to State level competition and will be headed to Arlington Friday, March 24th to compete over the weekend. The National History Team also found itself advancing to state competition and will be headed to Austin April 14th -15th. On the front of Campus Improvement, Eugenis and admin had their eyes set on teacher retention. They have implemented 1on1 meetings with teachers to give them a platform to voice opinions, concerns or ideas they may have about the campus or district as a whole. They’ve also implemented teacher recognition with their “teacher of the month” awards. This goes towards the campus’ overarching goal of hiring and retaining the best staff possible.
The High School was in the same vein with much going on, and much to brag about. Dr. Mathew Birdwell, High School Principal stated that enrollment was strong, sitting at 719 students with 94% attendance rate. The HS also has a DI team advancing to State competition the weekend of the 24th, which admin have high hopes for. Senior Alyssa Loafman participated in the San Antonio Stock How Meats Contest, winning first place and earning herself a $10K scholarship to the Meat Judging Team at Texas Tech after graduation as well. After the success if their First Friday Art Trail, the HS is also putting in work to bring a Spring Art Showcase to the community as well. These all went to prove Dr. Birdwell’s main point – Extracurriculars need to be a focus for Levelland ISD. Since his arrival in the District almost 2 years ago, Dr. Birdwell has seen nearly a 10% increase in student extracurricular activity performance, something he hopes to continue to see rise into next school year.
Capitol Elementary came up in the agenda again, though not for anything celebratory the second time around. Staff informed the Board that there was a math class at the elementary that had a ration of 23 students to 1 teacher, which violates the policy approved ratio of 22 to 1. Additional resources have been allocated to this class, and notifications have been sent to families who’s students are effected. Though the ratio is only slightly off, it reminds the board of the urgency of hiring and retaining new staff. The final item on the agenda before an executive session was that of personnel, which saw the district hiring 4 new staff, but 9 resignations and 6 retirements including that of Heidi Blair, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. This ended business for the board as of this meeting.
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