The Littlefield Independent School District’s Board of Trustees met in Regular Session on Monday, May 11th in the Board Room of Jerry Blakely Administration Building.
The meeting was called to order by Board President Reese Rogers and the invocation was given by Garry Ozbirn.
There was nobody present to speak during public forum and the minutes from the previous meeting were approved by general consent.
Principal Green, Principal Sumners, Principal Russell and Principal Montgomery were on hand to give an end of the year update on their respective campuses, as well as Athletic Director Bo Bryant, who gave an end of year update on athletics.
“I appreciate all of you guys’ efforts all year,” Superintendent Mitch McNeese said. “It has been a successful year and I know you guys put a lot of time and effort into the school year. These are the leaders and they’ve done a great job of leading their staffs and getting the kids where they need to be. I appreciate everything you all have done for the school district.”
Items five, six and seven were Statement of Elected Officer, Certificate of Election, Oath of Office: School Board Candidates have been elected, therefore duly elected; Eric Vargas – Precinct 2, Cody West – Precinct 4, Ben Diaz – Precinct 5.
Statement of Officer is completed and the Certificate of Election is issued to newly-elected officers. The newly-elected officers took the Oath of Office.
Jackie Milligan sworn in the three new school board members, Eric Vargas, Cody West and Ben Diaz.
Item eight on the agenda was Board Reorganization: A nomination was made by Will Williams and seconded by Ozbirn to elect Reese Rogers as Board President.
A nomination was made by Ozbirn and seconded by Shawna Hastings to elect Will Williams as Vice-President.
A nomination was made by Hastings and seconded by Williams to elect Garry Ozbirn as Board Secretary.
A Nomination was made by Ozbirn and seconded by Hastings to appoint Cody West as TASB Assembly Delegate.
A nomination was made by Williams and seconded by Hastings, to appoint Ben Diaz as TASB Assembly Delegate Alternate.
The next order of business was to deliberate and take possible action to engage Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert & Moss as our Auditor for the 2025-2026 School Year.
“This is an annual external engagement letter with our auditing firm and I recommend we stay with those guys,” Supt. McNeese said.
The motion was made by Williams and seconded by Ozbirn to Engage Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert & Moss as our auditor for the 20252026 School Year. The motion carried.
The next item on the agenda was to deliberate and take possible action to approve SHAC Report.
“This is a committee that Mrs. Ozbirn does a great job with,” Asst. Superintendent Amber Hays said. “It’s all about student health, whether it be physical health, mental health and some of the highlights that we’ve done in the past and will continue to do are: our flu shot clinic, stop the bleed training, our Fentanyl and opioid overdose presenters, our Covenant Wellness bus and our blood drive.”
The motion was made by Williams and seconded by Hastings to Approve the SHAC Report. The motion carried.
Bryan Gregory discussed the Facilities Maintenance Priorities Plan.
“We walked the new junior high with Teinert on Friday and I really feel we have a good thorough list of everything that still needs to be taken care of. I feel that they will have it all knocked out before the school year starts in August. Our auditorium, considering that that wasn’t part of the bond process, I think you’re going to be impressed, it really looks good. We did a lot of stuff on our own and figured some stuff out. Our guys hung some acoustic panels in there last week and we finished painting. Considering the fact that we didn’t spend a lot of money, it looks really good, and now I have an idea of what we can do at the old junior high auditorium when the time comes.”
He added, “Rojo Construction plans to begin replacing some stuff in the hallways at the old junior high. We got a really good deal on it, at about half the cost of what Teinert was going to do it for. They will start that next week and it will probably take about three-four weeks. We finally completed the green house at the high school. We’re currently painting the walls at central office. We’re taking off all of the old wall paper and re-texturing and painting the drywall and it looks great. It’s about 30% done and she may be done in three-four weeks. We are still working with Parkhill on the demolition of the old junior high building. We still have a lot to talk about with that when we get ready.”
No action was necessary. The next order of business was to deliberate and take possible action to approve the Financial and Investment Review and Report.
Gregory went over the Financial and Investment Review and Report with the Board.
A motion was made by Hastings and seconded by Ozbirn to approve the Financial and Investment Review and Report. The motion carried.
There were no Budget Amendments to discuss.
Item 15 on the agenda was Personnel Matters Including the Appointment, Employment, Evaluation, Reassignment, Duties, Discipline, Dismissal and/or Compensation of Individual District Employees: The Board went into executive session, under Texas Education Code 551.074, to discuss personnel matters at 7:25 p.m. they returned to open session at 8:36 p.m. a) Certified Personnel Contracted:Item 11 on the agenda was to deliberate and take possible action on SB 546.
A motion was made by Ozbirn and seconded by West determining that the district’s budget does not allow for the purchase/retrofitting of buses with threepoint seat belts. The motion carried.
A motion was made by Ozbirn and seconded by Hastings to approve the contracts for Certified Staff members: Ashley Adkins ( Kindergarten Teacher), Kynzie Jordan (Elementary Teacher), Daniel Timmerman (Band Director), Joe Smith (6th Grade Social Studies/ Coach), Mariah Valencia ( Pre- K Teacher), Kimberly Chemistruck (Elementary Self-Contained Teacher), Cody Graham (Ag Teacher), Brett Young (Ag Teacher), and Ally D’Amico (Kindergarten Teacher).
Resignations were given on: Katherine Quezada and Sharee Ferguson. b) At-Will Personnel – Hired: Janie Alvarez (Elementary Self-Contained Paraprofessional), Gabriela Madera (Elementary Inclusion Paraprofessional), Bree Boney (Elementary Paraprofessional), Audrey Bussanmas (Pre-K Paraprofessional), Stacy Jerome (Primary Paraprofessional).
The next order of business was Board Training Information.
Supt. McNeese informed the Board of training opportunities.
With there being no further business to discuss, Board President Rogers declared the meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.