The DCISD Board of Trustees met on Monday, January 23rd and passed a resolution to formally oppose the state’s “A-F Accountability Rating System” and also decided to pursue becoming a “District of Innovation”.
DCISD joins over 365 other school districts in passing the resolution concerning the state’s “A-F Accountability Rating System for Texas Public Schools”. The resolution calls on the Texas Legislature to repeal the rating system, which is set to be implemented in 2017-18 and to develop a community-based accountability system.
Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Gary Davis said, “The A-F Accountability System is not an accurate reflection of a quality education. It does not reflect the quality education our students receive in Denver City ISD. It does not represent the hard work of our dedicated staff. It is not representative of the many talents, interests and opportunities that our students possess. Our community is well-aware of the many successes of Denver City ISD throughout the years. The state legislators do not know our kids nor anything about our community. Yet, they still try to strap us with a one-size-fits-all accountability system.”
The “District of Innovation” concept, passed by the 84th Legislative Session, gives traditional independent school districts most of the flexibilities available to Texas’ open-enrollment charter schools.
Potential benefits of becoming a District of Innovation allow for more local control and flexibility that best suits the needs of the students in each district. It provides districts with some autonomy in regard to: start date, attendance rules, class-size ratios, site-based decision making, teacher contract days, teacher appraisal instruments and the use, planning and preparation of staff development days.
“The state’s specified start date is the 4th Monday in August, but next year’s calendar falls in such a way that it will push our start to August 28th. This is a week later than we started this year, which means that we will lose a week of instructional time. This is the reason that we even began to look into the District of Innovation concept”, Davis said. “As we looked further, it was obvious that we would gain more local control over many other issues, so it just made good sense”, he added.
In a public hearing before the regular board meeting, the overview of the Texas Academic Performance Report was presented by Kristy Kostelich.
At the opening of the regular board meeting, Pam New, Pat Curtis, and Diana Orasco with Yoakum County Family Literacy Center presented the board members with homemade treats to honor them during school board appreciation month.
Craig Wallace was present to give the board an update on construction projects. Since the December board meeting, the ag farm projects have increased from 23% complete to 50% complete. He also reported that they had been laying block at the new high school for about 3 weeks. Plumbers and electricians will begin arriving in about a week, and they hope to see steel going up in about 60 days.
Wallace and Dag Azam informed the board that they are beginning to have requests from other schools to come see the school’s facilities. Representatives from Floydada ISD and Pampa ISD have been given tours recently.
The Texas Academic Performance Report was given to the board showing that all campuses met standard. “We are doing great things and we are excited about the future,” stated Kristy Kostelich.
Davis asked the board to consider continuing a contribution to Yoakum County Livestock Show Participants. This was approved so each DCISD student that participates will receive $100 from the school.
Board members Brian Sutton, Connie Lozano, and Joey Rodgers all have terms that expire this year. The school trustee election has been set for Saturday, May 6, 2017. The first day to file to run for school board was January 18, 2017, with the last day to file being February 17, 2017 at 5:00 PM. Each board members are elected to serve a 3-year term.
A consideration and approval of 2017-2018 investment policy was presented by Shannon Bressler. She also reported that there were not any budget amendments at this time. Bressler also asked the board to approve the acceptance of a donation of building materials from Ron James of Amarillo. This was unanimously approved by the board.
Personnel Items were presented by Mr. Davis. Resignations from Christina Barker, Shannon Bressler, and Kimberly Esch were accepted. Bressler and Esch will remain with the district through the end of the academic school year. New hires welcomed to the district are Jim Owens with FCSSA, Erica Thompson-Wheat with Dodson Primary, and Billy Rich with Maintenance.
School districts across the state act on the Superintendent’s contract in their January meetings. The DCISD board extended Mr. Davis’s contract for one year, giving him a 3-year contract through the 2019-2020 school year. Other administrator contracts will be considered in February with teachers and staff contracts to be acted upon in April.
Dr. Kyle Wargo, Executive Director of the Region 17 Educational Service Center in Lubbock and Mr. Wayne Blount, Associate Director were at the board meeting to officially recognize the DCISD board as the 2016 Region 17 Honor Board of the Year and as a TASA Honor Board state finalist.
Due to a school holiday on the third Monday in February, the next regularly scheduled board meeting is set for Monday, February 13, 2017. Board members present were Robbie Underhill, Johnette Mansur, Brian Sutton, Connie Lozano, Russell Dial, and Joey Rodgers along with Board President Bran Woosley.
