The monthly meeting of the Pleasanton ISD opened with the awards for the Students of the Month. Two from each class are selected. This month, there is the addition of a movie pass to the Plestex Theatre. Trustee Danny Brown assured the group that would be retroactive so all the past winners would receive a pass, as well. All winners’ names will be put into a drawing, at the end of the year, for an iPod.

Teacher grants were also awarded. The first, for $4,383.44 was given to PIC for the Lights, Camera, Action project which will get video cameras in the classrooms where students can make their own commentaries and do interviews. The second grant also went to PIC for Lights, Camera, Learning in the amount of $2,388. With the cameras and interactive pens and 3-D viewer, the students will be learning about math.

Elementary Inquiry Lab received $1,643.97 to buy three additional iPads so the students can make movies, do poetry presentations, math, history and science apps. Mary Zinda accepted the award and was very excited to get the kids working on app ideas of their own.

Wes Woerner was introduced as the congressional nominee for appointment to West Point.

Pre-K campus was recognized as a “Texas Ready” campus. Out of the 3,100 pre-K campuses in the state, only 6.5% received this award, which is based on the instructional impact on the students, their environment, academics and attendance.

Also recognized for their achievements was the FFA, where 10 teams will go to Texas Tech in April to compete. The High School band, which had two go to state competition. The jazz band played at a Rampage Hockey game and has been asked to play at a Spurs game. It was mentioned, anecdotally, that band members historically have the highest SAT scores in school. Finally, eight student members of the Business Professionals of America are going to the state competition.

Dr. Clinesmith gave her superintendents report, beginning with a correction on an error on the Policy Update 91. The policy should read FFH not FFA. She had included a preview of the budget in the trustees’ packets so they could be considering the options before the crunch time came. Her hopes are to continue with all the good programs at the school, especially those that are grant funded, but consideration must be given to what financial impact they will have and how it will affect staffing.

There is a possibility of a relocation of the DAEP program from Floresville to some place in Pleasanton. Concerns are with the traffic and safety of the students, plus the transportation costs. There has been some discussion with Jourdanton about housing the program in Pleasanton and sharing the costs.

The Safe Schools grant banquet will be on February 23. This is one grant that will be ending in a year.

President Frank Tudyk, Jr. asked for a motion to accept the minutes from the last meeting. Brown moved, with Ami Powell seconding. Motion passed unanimously with Clinton Henson, Blasa Chapa, and Jamie Downs also voting for the motion. Gerald Guerra was not in attendance.

A budget amendment was also approved as presented.

With the Safe Schools grant ending, there will be some tough decisions to make. Counseling at elementary can be continued another year, due to the availability of the cost extension. Funds not spent can be used here. Over the term of the grant, 389 students have received counseling. The funds are also used for teacher training, meetings with the families or home visits.

The board approved the additional $88,000 for programmable controls for the new HVAC going into high school. This is not an additional amount to the original bid, but will come out of the under-costs and contingency fund.

A change to Policy CV (LOCAL) and the approval of TASB Localized Policy Update 92 were approved as presented.

The calendar for the new school year was approved as presented, with 177 days instead of 180. Early release days were reduced from six to two. The last day of school will be May 31, with graduation on June 1.

Trustees also unanimously approved the Planning for Progress Guide, the 2012-2013 Cheerleading Constitution and the 2012-2013 Pacesetter Constitution.

Next month’s meeting will be held on March 20, due to conflict with spring break. Also, the June meeting was changed to June 19. A special meeting was called for March 6 at 6:30 p.m. for a consultation with attorneys and a budget preview.

The update to IA (LOCAL) mandates that the STAAR test be 15% of the final grade, which will affect GPA and class ranking. This is required by the state. Motion passed unanimously. Portions of the EIE (LOCAL) were suspended for the 2011-2012 school year only; this allows the low scores for fifth and eighth grade to be thrown out.

-Meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m.