Brownwood News – The Brownwood School Board of Trustees met this week and received numerous reports and updates.
BISD Superintendent, Dr. Joe Young, provided a budget report and welcomed Ms. Jane Penn who was recently selected to serve as the Interim Special Populations Director for BISD. Dr. Young noted that Ms. Penn brings with her over 20 years of experience as a Special Education Director and her knowledge in the field will be an asset for training and growing the department as it continues to provide the appropriate services for students.
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CONSIDER APPROVAL OF TARGETED IMPROVEMENT PLANS
Due to East Elementary being an improvement-required comprehensive re-identified campus and Northwest Elementary being an improvement required comprehensive progress campus, campus leadership teams were developed and each wrote targeted improvement plans to show gaps, root causes, goals, strategies and activities. Trustee Codie Smith motioned that the targeted improvement plans be approved as presented, and Trustee Diane Thompson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
Nursing Report: The report contained current information regarding the number of student visits to the nurse, medication administered, special procedures and the percentage of students returned to class on each campus. BISD Director of Nurses, Helen Lacy, provided updates regarding the implementation of new bleeding control stations and kits, new eye screening capabilities, and upcoming staff and student trainings.
Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC): Meeting dates for SHAC were provided along with updated areas of discussion including community services, nutrition, school safety, and membership. As required, a yearly review of the wellness policy was completed and passed through the committee.
English as a Second Language (ESL) Program: Dr. Young provided an ESL program overview. The program provides appropriate planned instruction to identified students that are linguistically and culturally diverse. BISD currently has ESL students that speak Spanish, Albanian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Nepali, Tagalog, Filipino, Bengali, Chinese (2 regions) and English. BISD now employs a total of 48 ESL certified teachers. Director of Special Programs, Heidi Gardner, noted the purchase of fifty-three licenses for an award-winning language and literacy software program called Imagine Learning. The software features interactive content, including activities, videos, songs, and games to engage students one-on-one.
Mental Health Progress Report: Dr. Young introduced Mental Health Specialist, Danielle Howard to provide an update regarding the district’s mental health initiative. Ms. Howard noted the completed trainings in Behavioral RTI (Response to Intervention) and Trauma-Informed Care as well as the upcoming trainings scheduled for staff. A referral process for each campus has been identified and a tiered system has been developed to evaluate progress. In addition, Ms. Howard has written and submitted a grant to the Chan Zuckerburg foundation, requesting $620,700 over the course of 2 years.
Quarterly Investment Report: A Quarterly Investment Summary and Tax Assessor-Collector’s Report for August 2019 were provided to the board for review.
House Bill 3 Update: Dr. Young highlighted a few of the changes that House Bill 3 has made to how school districts are funded, specifically noting a large increase in the number of categories students may now fall into. The new categories create a much more complex calculation when determining district funding. Dr. Young indicated that, currently, the change has increased funding by around $12,000 compared to what was budgeted, but the district will be keeping a close eye on the data due to the potential impact it may have on future funding.
ANNOUNCE BOARD MEMBER CONTINUING EDUCATION HOURS
Board President, Michael Cloy reported that all BISD Board of Trustees members exceeded the yearly required continuing education hours for 2019.