Board Meeting Recap
The Board of Trustees met for their Regular May Board Meeting on May 15, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. Included below are the most notable information and action items.
The pledges to the flags were led by the following Shady Grove Elementary students: Slayton Lackey, Lively Buller, and Debjyoti Madhu.
The meeting kicked off with student recognitions, and there were a record number of student recognitions this May because of the outstanding performances of our students in state-level competitions, including 5 STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS with additional ones still possible. Here is a complete list of the students recognized by the Board of Trustees:
BHS BBQ teams were recognized for competing at the Texas High School BBQ Association State Championship. The Bulldog FFA BBQ Team is Reserve Champions, and includes Choen Champeau, Rhett Murray, Coyt Barrow, and Braelynn Summers. The Burnet FFA BBQ Team received 5th in State, and includes Sean Marvin, Levi Ringstaff, Luke Rothermel, Miley Evans, and Nathan Maples. Both teams qualified for Nationals in June.
BHS FFA Teams were recognized for competing at State level judging contests. The Meat Judging Team earned a gold medal and STATE CHAMPIONSHIP, and includes Jackson Drozd (INDIVIDUAL STATE CHAMPION), Carter Bostic, Enrique Montalvo, and Cayden Beatty. The Wildlife Team includes Miley Evans, Luke Rothermel, Cinch Calvert, Grady Gonzalez, and Adler Goehring. The Range Team includes Coen Champeau, Coyt Barrow, Jaxon Eason, Helaina Weiss, and Blair Gilliland. The Agronomy Team includes Jaxon Eason, Abby Westphal, Miley Evans, and Isaac Smith.
BHS students were recognized for advancing to the UIL State Academic Competitions that will take place later this week. Elijah Tate will compete in Ready Writing and Jennifer Suarez will compete in Spelling and Vocabulary. The Social Studies Team will compete which includes Brett Nelson, Claire Teague, Aedan McLennan, and Cayden Beatty. The Current Issues and Events Team will compete which includes Grace Gates, Tatum Salinas, Hayden Brown, and Wrigley Mulhollan.
BHS Basketball athletes Grace Gates, Danielle Oakley, Sadie Campbell, Christina Graves, Abigail Aguillon, and Kendall Bible were all recognized for receiving Academic All-State Honors for THSCA. Abigail Aguillon, Kendall Bible, Grace Gates, Christina Graves, and Danielle Oakley were also recognized for receiving Academic All-State Honors for TGCA and TABC.
BHS Powerlifting athlete Jose Rodriguez was recognized for being named to the THSPA Academic All-State Team.
BHS Swim and Dive students were recognized for receiving State and National Honors. Seniors Hayden Brown, Elyzabeth Musiak, and Aidan Zollitsch were recognized for receiving Academic All-American Honors for NISCA. Swimmers Hayden Brown, Elyzabeth Musiak, Aidan Zollitsch, Grant Roberts, and Emma Collins were recognized for receiving Academic All-State Honors for TISCA.
BHS Soccer athletes Kdee McCurry, Samantha Gaylord, Denise Penaloza, and Lainey Rye were recognized for receiving Academic All-State Honors for TASC and Lainey Rye was also recognized for receiving Academic All-State for TGCA.
BHS Soccer athlete Jahir Benitez was recognized for receiving Academic All-State Honors for TASC.
BHS Track and Field athletes Hudson Bennett, Victor Aviles, Brayden Hill, Brady Rygaard, and Asah Roy were recognized for competing at the UIL State Track Meet. Brayden Hill earned a gold medal and STATE CHAMPIONSHIP in Pole Vaulting. Victor Aviles earned a gold medal and STATE CHAMPIONSHIP in the 800. Hudson Bennett earned a Gold Medal and STATE CHAMPIONSHIP in the 1600.
BHS Tennis athletes Tatum Salinas and Aly Van Zandt were recognized for competing at the UIL State Tennis Tournament.
BHS Golf athlete Grace Gates was recognized for receiving Academic All-State Honors for THSCA and TGCA.
BHS student Xzavier Benjamin was recognized for competing at the Texas Esports League Finals.
The Board approved the canvas of the May 6, 2023 School Board Election. The official results are as follows:
Place 3
Suzanne Brown 425 votes
Mike Clark 282 votes
Place 7
Mark Kincaid 582 votes
Suzanne Brown and Mark Kincaid each took the Oath of Office for their new three-year terms.
As required annually, the Board elected officers for the 2023-2024 school year. The following Board Members were elected to one of the three offices:
President- Earl Foster
Vice President- Angela Moore
Secretary- Mark Kincaid
This is the first time in 18 years that the Board will have a President other than Andy Feild. The Board and administration are thankful for Mr. Feild’s leadership over the past 18 years. Mr. Feild is continuing his cancer treatments and hopes to return to participating in Board Meetings as a Board Member in the future.
Clay Goehring, Chief Financial Officer, provided an overview of the monthly financial reports, including the 2021 Bond Financial Report.
Francis Zordilla with Claycomb Associates, Architects and Calen Shearer with Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc. provided a report to the Board of Trustees regarding the status of projects as part of the 2021 Bond Program. A copy of the Bond Update can be found at the following link:
https://www.burnetcisd.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=2098559&type=d&pREC_ID=2175896
The Board received information regarding the findings associated with the April 17 Intruder Detection Audits at Burnet High School and Burnet Middle School conducted by the Texas School Safety Center. The administration reported on the corrective action plan at each campus, the campus trainings, and the meeting of the School Safety and Security Committee.
Dr. Rachel Jones, Assistant Superintendent, provided an overview of BCISD's federal and state grants and invited public comment prior to the upcoming applications. The District uses these formula grants to fund things that the State's funding formulas would not otherwise allow. Federal grants fund positions including Interventionists and Instructional Coaches, safety and wellbeing initiatives such as Car Rider Pro and Care Solace, Professional Development opportunities including PLC Institute and Lead4Ward, and supplemental instructional tools such as Snap and Read, supplemental guided readers, and start-up costs for the new eSports team at BHS and new Project Lead the Way App Creators course at BMS.
Kurt Jones, Athletic Director, reviewed with the Board new spectator guidelines at Bulldog Field that will be implemented this fall. The new guidelines include the following:
Middle school and elementary aged students must stay at their seats, with brief visits to concessions or bathrooms. Elementary students should be seated with their parents or an adult. Middle school students should be seated with their parents or an adult, or in the newly designated Middle School Section on the far west end of the stands. For the safety of everyone, loitering in common areas and horseplay will not be allowed including running, climbing, jumping, throwing of objects, frequent seat changes, and any similar disruptive behaviors. Students who do not follow these expectations will be reunited with their parent or guardian, and/or removed from the stadium.
Oversized stadium chairs that take up more room than a numbered reserved seat are not permitted in the reserved seating section at events in which reserved seats are sold (This includes the width and depth of the stadium chair). This is to be respectful of all ticket holders, so that everyone has the same allotted seat space and leg room in front of them. Oversized stadium chairs are permitted in general seating areas.
The Board of Trustees also took action on a number of business items for approval. This included the refund of penalty and interest paid on property tax payments that were received late because mail service was disrupted in January due to the winter storm. In addition, the Board approved the purchase of a new truck for the Food Service Department. The truck will replace the department's aged van. This will allow Food Service a more efficient and effective method of staff and commodity transport between BCISD facilities. Finally, the 3rd quarter budget amendment was approved, with the final amendment being planned for August.
School safety and security items were reviewed with the Board. The state is offering safety grants, but unfortunately, the required spending for school safety and security exceeds the amounts of the grants. One of the grant requires school district's to add panic alarms to classrooms. Along with the panic alarm solution is an important electronic mapping service of all campuses that can be accessed by first responders. The cost for these items exceeds the grant by $20,000. The Board approved assigning fund balance to provide the needed additional funding. The other requirement for the safety grants is that all campuses have guaranteed emergency radio coverage. This requires Burnet CISD to spend $550,000 on a Public Safety Radio Coverage Enhancement system. This exceeds the total grant amount by over $300,000. The Board approved this purchase using the grant funds as well as funds from 2021 Bond Prop C – Technology.
The Board also approved a number of Bond Projects. This included the vendor and cost for the renovation of the current weight room, soon to be the Burnet Middle School weight room. This work will begin immediately following the opening of the new weight room at the Student Activity Center. Final paving projects around the District were approved including paving around Bulldog Stadium and the new walking tracks at Shady Grove and RJ Richey Elementary.
The Board also approved the purchase of the next round of Chromebooks. This purchase of 500 Chromebooks is to support the transitioning out of some older models. The District is using funds from the 2020 Maintenance Tax Note for this purchase.
In personnel related action, the Board approved additional certified classroom teacher contracts for the 2023-2024 school year. In addition, the Board approved Kristi Carruthers as the new principal at Quest High School. Ms. Carruthers is returning home to Burnet after spending the past two school years as the Assistant Principal / Academic Dean for a newly-opened middle school in Kerrville ISD. During her previous 22 years in BCISD, she demonstrated passion for student achievement and deep caring for staff as a teacher-leader, campus administrator, and district coordinator in Special Programs. Please join me in welcoming Kristi back home!
The Meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m. The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be June 12, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.
