The Littlefield Independent School district’s Board of Trustees held a special meeting on Friday to discuss a 13-item agenda.
The meeting was called to order at 12 p.m. 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.
High School Principal Brent Green kicked off the administrative reports stating that their enrollment is sitting at 370 total students, with 89 freshmen, 112 sophomores, 79 juniors and 90 seniors.
“School has gotten off to a great start, I couldn’t ask any more from our staff in that regard,” Principal Green said. “Before school started we had our campus tours of the new school led by kids from organizations at the high school. The kids did a great job and they’re very proud of their school and excited to show it off.”
He added, “We had our Back to School Bash, which is an opportunity to introduce all of our clubs and organizations, to try and gain more intrests and get more kids involved, because we want to try and get all of our kids involved in something. It’s not just about athletics and band. We have great kids and our staff is second to none, I’m glad to have them all and ge to be a part of it. Volleyball, football and cross country are in full swing, so we’ve got a lot of things happening at the high school.”
Junior High Principal Jena Montgomery explained they’re sitting at 262 for enrollment, including 80 sixth graders, 83 seventh graders and 99 eighth graders.
“Volleyball had their first outing last week and showed great effort,” she said. “We had a junior high orientation night the Monday before school started and had a great turnout. We’re going to start having class meeting once a grading cycle. Coach Green is going to come over and talk about the importance of the STAAR Test and make sure that they understand that you have to pass it to graduate.”
She added, “We’ve started on our PLC’s in math and they’re going well, we start on core subjects next week. Our teachers are going to be meeting at lunchtime or in the afternoon, so that we can all make sure we’re aligned. The first week of school was great, our eighth graders lead well and our sixth graders are the most impressive group of kids I’ve ever seen. My admin team is amazing and our teachers are doing a great job as well.”
At elementary, Principal Jerry Russell said that they have a total of 240 students, includng 72 third graders, 83 fourth graders and 79 fifth graders.
“It’s been a good start to the year,” Dr. Russell said. “I’m a big campus culture guy, I try to work on that really hard. Last year, I feel like tried to make some gains in that department. This year, we have a big horse track on the wall, as soon as you walk in the building and every class has a horse up there and they get to move it every day, as long as the whole class is in attendance. We’re trying to increase our attendance every day.”
He added, “ This week we worked on counting forward and backwards by two’s to and from 20 and that has been interesting. We’ve got about 90% of third and fourth graders, who I’ve tested, who can do it, so that is good. Also, if you every get a chance to come to our campus before 7:50 a.m. we sing the fight song every Friday morning. We’re trying to make it to where they want to come to school. We’re also doing goal setting with our kids this year.”
The next order of business was to deliberate and take possible action to adopt the 2025-2026 Littlefield ISD Budget.
Superintendent Mitch McNeese, stated, “The proposed 2025-2026 Littlefield ISD Budget was built based on $.67870 tax rate. We weill have an Interest and Sinking (I&S) tax rate of .45 cents added to our Maintenance and Operation (M&O) rate bringing the total tax rate to $1.1287. I recommend the adoption of the 20252026 Budget.”
The motion was made by Ozbirn and seconded by Sal Acevedo to approve the 2025-2026 Littlefield ISD Budget. The motion carried.
The next item on the agenda was to deliberate and take possible action to set the 2025- 2026 Littlefield ISD Tax Rate.
“A unanimous board vote will approve the 25-26 LISD Maximum Compressed Rate of .6287 plus the five ‘golden pennies’ to create a rate of $.67870 per $100 valuation,” Supt. McNeese said. “We will be adding .45 cents to our I&S for a total tax rate of $1.1287. By lowering the I&S tax rate LISD will increase state assistance and still bring enough revenue to make the required debt payment.”
The motion to approve the 20252026 Littlefield ISD Tax Rate set at 1.1287 which is approximately a 4.24% decrease in tax rate, was made by Will Williams and seconded by Hervey Valdez. The motion carried.
Item eight on the agenda was to deliberate and take possible action to approve 2025-2026 Budget Amendments.
Destiny Chavarria went over Budget Amendments with the Board.
The motion to approve the 20252026 Budget Amendments as presented was made by Acevedo and seconded by Johnny Castillo. The motion carried.
Chavarria also went over the Financial Investment Report.
No action was necessary. Item 10 was Personnel Matters Including the Resignation, Appointment, Employment, Evaluation, Reassignment, Duties, Discipline, Dismissal and/or Compensation of Individual District Employees.
Pursuant to Texas Government Code 551.074 the Board went into Executive Session at 12:27 to discuss personnel. a) Certified Personnel The motion was made to hire Miranda Gilbreath (Junior High Nurse) and John Barry (Band Director). b) At-Will Personnel Resignations were presented on Russell Pettitt, Kallie Weaver, Renee Mills, Matt Mills, and Caroline McGrath.
Item 11 on the agenda was to deliberate and take possible action to approve CD with depository contract.
Supt. McNeese gave a Legislative update during Board training information and with no more business to discuss the meeting was adjourned.