Board Meeting Recap

The pledges to the flags were led by the following Burnet Middle School students: Alexandria Suazo and Sofia Cardenas.

 

New Board Member Katy Duke, appointed to fill the Place 5 vacancy during the November 6 Special Meeting, took the oath of office at the beginning of the meeting and participated in her first Board Meeting.

 

The meeting kicked off by recognizing students of the month at Burnet High School and Quest High School. BHS Students of the Month for November are Josiah Villarreal Flores (Choir), Ethan Nicholl (Band), and Sienna Maldonado (Dance). These students were selected from the Fine Arts Department.

 

The Quest High School student of the month is Kevin Watson.

 

The Board recognized the following athletes for competing at the UIL Cross Country State Meet: Victor Aviles, Isaias Zarate, Abby Bennight, Kaycie Banton, Brooke Bowman, Amelia Griffin, Adriana Briggs, Halle Maxwell, and Marissa Aviles. Victor Aviles returned to the State Meet for the second year in a row and placed 11th, Isaias Zarate placed 55th, and the girls team placed 16th overall. In addition, BHS Seniors Kaycie Banton (1st Team), Jason Suarez (Honorable Mention), Amberlyn Glasscock (Honorable Mention), Cierra Blunt-Culpepper (Honorable Mention), Amelia Griffin (Honorable Mention), Haylie Bartlett (Honorable Mention), and Kori Haile (Honorable Mention) were recognized for being named to the Texas High School Coaches Association Academic All-State Cross Country Team.

 

The Board recognized BHS Seniors Addie Houston (1st Team), MaeSyn Gay (2nd Team), and Reagan Shipley (2nd Team) for being named to the Texas High School Coaches Association Academic All-State Volleyball Team. 

 

For the fourth year in a row, the Burnet Esprit de Corps qualified for the UIL State Marching Contest held at the Alamodome in San Antonio on November 1. The Esprit de Corps finished 11th out of over 200 4A bands in the state of Texas. The following Esprit de Corps student leaders were recognized on behalf of the entire group. Drum Majors- Aeden Harrison and Stellan Zollitsch; Highlandettes Officers- Sienna Maldonado, Maddy Cardenas, and Julia Kratwell.

 

The Board held a hearing to discuss the District’s financial accountability rating. Burnet CISD scored a Superior Rating, the highest rating possible with a perfect score of 100. Burnet CISD has received a Superior Rating every year that the Texas Education Agency has released financial ratings.

 

Dr. Sherri Bays, Superintendent Search Consultant reviewed with the Board the Superintendent Search Input Survey which will be released electronically to all staff, parents, and the community. In addition, Dr. Bays shared that the District will be hosting staff input meetings along with community/parent input meetings in December. Dates, times, and locations will be released later this week. 

 

Clay Goehring, Chief Financial Officer, provided an overview of the monthly financial reports, including the 2021 Bond Financial Report. As part of a financial action item that occurs quarterly, the Board approved the 1st quarter budget amendment for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

 

The Administration 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 of Trustees approved the casting of their votes for the Burnet Central Appraisal District Board of Directors.  The Burnet CISD Board has 1,368 votes and approved sharing the votes equally among the 5 incumbents.

 

The Board approved a resolution establishing an education foundation for the benefit of the students of Burnet CISD. Planning for the foundation will begin in January.

 

The Board approved Texcon Oil as the district's DEF and Fuel vendor for the 23/24 fiscal year.  This approval ensures continued consistent DEF and Fuel pricing for BCISD vehicles with a proven vendor.

 

The Board selected the District’s 2023 Christmas card design as shown below. The card was designed by Burnet High School 11th Grader, Calton Schmidt.

 

Elementary Curriculum Coordinator, BJ Gates, presented the Board with a summary of the 2022-2023 Program Evaluation for Gifted and Talented student services.

 

Assistant Superintendent of C&I, Dr. Rachel Jones, presented the Administration’s request for approval to apply for multiple waivers. If approved by TEA, two of the waiver applications will apply beginning this year and extend through the 2025-2026 school year: a Foreign Exchange Student waiver to limit the number of students that BHS must accept, and a waiver to allow flexibility with minutes of instruction for grade levels not tested on heavy STAAR administration days. The other waiver application discussed was the need for Maximum Class Size Exception waivers in multiple PreK – 4th grade classrooms. This need was discussed in September, but because TEA had the application closed during the A-F Refresh controversy, the Board took no action at that time. Although the TEA portal is still closed to new class size waivers, the Board did approve Maximum Class Size Waiver Exceptions for specified elementary classrooms in case the TEA portal opens before the next Board Meeting.

 

Dr. Jones also presented new high school courses proposed for the 2024-2025 school year: Game Programming and Design to complement the Computer Science pathway, Statistics to serve as an additional on-level Math option towards a graduation endorsement, and English Language Development and Acquisition to provide a state-approved elective credit for newcomers to the country. These courses will be available in the BHS Course Guide as students and families begin selecting courses this winter.

 

A report was provided to the Board regarding an unannounced intruder detection audit conducted in Burnet CISD. The audit was conducted at Burnet High School and there was one finding. One exterior door was found to be unlocked at Burnet High School. The unlocked exterior door was at the gym foyer. A public event was being held in the gym foyer (college signing for BHS athlete) and the foyer door was intentionally unlocked. A school resource officer was present in the foyer during the event, but the auditor indicated that an unlocked exterior door must be actively monitored by school personnel the entire time it is unlocked, even with a school resource officer present in the foyer.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:03 p.m. The next Board of Trustees Meeting is scheduled for December 18 at 6:00 p.m.