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SWEARING IN - Littlefield Independent School District’s Board of Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, during lunch, where three members were sworn in for the new term. Hervey Valdez Jr. and Johnny Castillo were re-elected and newly elected board member Sal Acevedo will be replacing the spot of Adrian Solis, who retired after spending 13 years on the LISD School Board. Shown are the three elected board members taking the Oath of Office. (Staff Photo by Derek Lopez) -
During the Public Forum portion of the LISD School Board Meeting on Tuesday Afternoon, Superintendent Mike Read presented Adrian Solis with a plaque for his 13 years of service on the Littlefield Independent School District Board of Trustees. (Staff Photo by Derek Lopez)
The Littlefield Independent School District’s Board of Trustees met in regular session on Tuesday, May 9th at noon in the Board Room of the Jerry Blakely Administration Building. The meeting was called to order by Board President Lance Broadhurst at 12 p.m. and the invocation was given by Gary Birkelbach.
During Public Forum, Superintendent Mike Read presented Adrian Solis a plaque for his thirteen years of service as a member of the Littlefield Independent School District Board of Trustees.
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved by general consent.
School Board Candidates Sal Acevedo – Precinct 4 and Hervey Valdez Jr. – Precinct 2 were certified as unopposed and, therefore duly elected and School Board Candidate Johnny Castillo – Precinct 5 was elected and, therefore duly elected.
The Statement of Officer was completed by each of the three new Board members and the Certificate of Election was issued to the three newly-elected officers. The three newly-elected officers took the Oath of Office.
Item eight on the Agenda was Board Reorganization.
A nomination by Broadhurst was seconded by Valdez to elect Pat Demel as Board President. With there being no further nominations, Demel was named President by acclamation.
A nomination by Castillo was seconded by Will Williams to elect Birkelbach as Board Vice President. There being no further nominations, Birkelbach was named Vice President by acclamation.
A nomination by Williams was seconded by Castillo to elect Valdez as Board Secretary. There being no further nominations, Valdez was named Board Secretary by acclamation.
A nomination by Birkelbach was seconded by Broadhurst to appoint Acevedo as TASB Assembly Delegate. There being no further nominations, Acevedo was named TASB Assembly Delegate by acclamation.
A nomination by Birkelbach was seconded by Valdez to appoint Castillo as TASB Assembly Delegate Alternate. There being no further nominations, Castillo was named TASB Assembly Delegate Alternate by acclamation.
Item nine was to deliberate and take possible action to approve 2023-2024 allotment and TEKS Certification Form.
“This is the form that we have to fill out each year regarding our textbooks that we adopt each year,” Supt. Read said. “Through the allotment and the TEKS certithree form we are able to get money to help fund our textbooks year-in-and-year-out.”
He added, “One thing we’ve talked about a little bit is that there is going to come a day and a time where textbooks will become a thing of the past. But I recommend it’s approval.”
The motion was made by Williams and seconded by Valdez to approve the 2023-2024 Allotment and TEKS Certification Form as presented. The motion carried.
The next item of business was to deliberate and take possible action to engage Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert & Moss as our Auditor for the 2022-2023 School Year.
“This is our annual external engagement letter that we have each year with our auditing company,” Supt. Read said. “They’re great, and they’re very detailed and I recommend it’s approval.”
The motion was made by Birkelbach and seconded by Broadhurst to engage Bolinger, Segars, Moss & Gilbert as our Auditor for the 2022-2023 School Year. The motion carried.
Assistant Superintendent Mitch McNeese presented the SHAC Report.
“We’re required to have four quarterly meetings involving our SHAC Report, which stands for School Health Advisory Council,” Supt. Read said. “We do two of these meetings in the fall and two in the spring.”
“At the beginning of this year, we got involved with a program called CATR out of Texas Tech,” Asst. Supt. McNeese said. “It’s a big push out of Uvalde involving mental health. It gives our counselors other resources to help with students who are needing counseling or have mental health issues going on. Three of our campuses have referred kids to this program to this point, so this program has done a great job and a lot of those students over at Tech are reaching out and helping our kiddos. The CATR program has been a great asset to our school system and has helped our counselors to reach out and help out these kids.”
He added, “Around Christmas time, we had a blood drive and with the amount of blood given we were able to save 56 lives. We also had a Covenant Dental Health Bus come over with our third graders. 32 students participated in that; they gave cleanings and did some sealant and things like that. We also had a food drive during Christmas time. During this spring we are having Epi Pens and NARCAN (helps with opioid overdoses) added to our list of things we have in the hallways, such as AED’s and Blood Control kits.”
“We also have a program, where nurses come over and meet with the junior high and high school kids about vaping and drug use,” Asst. Supt. McNeese explained. “They’re straight-forward, it opened my eyes to some things, so hopefully that will save some kids along the way. The SHAC Comittee has done great things and Shelby Westmorland has done a great job as well.”
The motion was made by Castillo and seconded by Williams to approve the SHAC Report as presented by Asst. Supt. McNeese and recommended by Supt. Read. The motion carried.
The Facilities Maintenance and Priorities Plan was presented.
Supt. Read gave an update on the new high school construction project, saying, “They have uprooted quite a few trees and they’re digging and finding things. They’ve knocked down the old softball dugouts and the press box and got the rubble moved.”
The motion was made by Williams and seconded by Castillo to approve the Facilities Maintenance Priorities Plan as presented. The motion carried.
Bev Boldes went over the Financial and Investment Review & Report.
The motion was made by Broadhurst and seconded by Birkelbach to aprove the Financial and Investment Review & Report as presented. The motion carried.
There was no Budget Amendement.
Supt. Read gave his administrators report.
Item 15 on the agenda was Personnel Matters including Appointment, Employment, Evaluation, Reassignment, Duties, Discipline, Dismissal and/or Compensation of Individual District Employees. a.) Cerfified Personnel: The motion was made by Castillo and seconded by Broadhurst to aprove contracts for Probationary Contract Certified Staff members maria Gonzales as Special Education Self Contained Teacher and Ryan Menasco teacher/coach for the 2023-2024 school year as recommended by Supt. Read, Principals, SPED Director, and Athletic Director. The motion carried.
A resignation letter was presented on Kaylia Thomas.
Rob Ogle voluntarily stepped down as the Head Boys Basketball Coach. Nathan McKinnon will be the New Head Boys Basketball Coach for the 2023-2024 School Year.
Supt. Read presented Board Training information and with their being no further business to discuss, Board President Demel declared the meeting adjorned at 12:51 p.m.