Poteet ISD provides TEA update, campus reports




Principals of the Poteet ISD presented the Mission United Staff and Student of the Month awards at the February school board meeting. Julie Poth, Junior High Principal, commended Guillermina Ayon, seventh grade writing teacher. She said, “there are not enough words to describe how much I appreciate her.” The students decided to do something different at Christmas and chose to do a play. Ms. Ayon not only wrote the play, but made the costumes as well. Poth also recognized Michele Castro, counselor, for bringing positivity to the campus, handling situations quickly, with grace and discretion.

Spelling Bee

Students Baltazar (Wally) Ramierz and Natalie Ancira were champions at the Spelling Bee contest and received certificates along with a trophy. Fourth grade student Elizabeth Jerdon was acknowledged by Principal Tina Gillespie for being exemplary in the campus’ Mission of Kindness. She is always caring and offers words of encouragement to other students who need it. Veronica Garcia, a teacher for 10 years, was appreciated for her work and calming effect she has on the students. She is also a sponsors] for several clubs, including PTO and Boosters.

Elementary Principal Danisha Miller commended Ellen Elizondo, who has taught for 22 years, saying that she has high expectations of her students and they meet those expectations and really enjoy her classes. Deborah Rodriguez works with Pre-K students and proves herself to be very positive and welcoming to the kids. Miller went on to praise Maximus Serros, who is in the third grade, for his fine and mature sense of community with his fellow students.

Student Recognition

Finally, Tony Dominguez, High School Principal, acknowledged Tex Anderson for his excellence in academics, his confidence and his positive relationships with both students and teachers. Attendance Clerk Michelle Redus was recognized because of her efficient accounting of the students and her natural rapport with them.

A short recess was called at 7:29 p.m. for the winners and families to circulate and then leave the meeting if they chose. Upon reconvening at 7:34 p.m., Vice President Yvette Navarro continued with the regular meeting.

Agenda Items

Navarro, sitting in for the absent President Jo Marie Cervantez, announced that there would be a Texas Public School Week Open House from March 4-8.

She called for a motion to approve the minutes from the Jan. 28 meeting. Rocky Wilson moved to accept as read; Albert Garza seconded. Motion passed with Louis Vasquez and Ronnie Ambriz also voting for approval. Diego Puente, Trustee and Charles Camarillo, Superintendent were absent from the meeting.

Financial Reports

The monthly financial report was in the board packet and approved unanimously. Amanda Garcia, business director, recommended renewing the casualty and liability insurance with TASB, since it offered the best coverage for the amount of premium. Adrian Peña, representing TASB, said that the coverage was the same as last year, except for adding over $10 million in property assets. A physical appraisal was done by the company and they found several new buildings not on the previous policy. The premium is $87,967 for over $69 million in coverage. Wilson moved to accept, Vasquez seconded. Motion passed unanimously.

Garcia also went over a budget amendment in the amount of $18,000. This amount was moved from food services to maintenance and repair so that the district could purchase a new cooler/ freezer to replace one that is over 20 years old and costing a lot in repairs to keep it running. There have been a couple of occasions were food has been lost due to the temperature not being kept at the optimal safety point. Motion was made and passed unanimously to approve the amendment.

Up next was a discussion and possible action on Policy Update 112, which affected local policies. That was tabled until such time as the superintendent was not present to answer any questions they might have on the changes.

The board unanimously approved a donation from Sam’s Club #8264 to the physics class field trip. They also approved another two years with Wells Fargo Bank as their depository. This is the last time they can assign a depository without going out for proposals.

An update from TEA monitor Mara Ash was up next. She said they were continuing on the draft of the five-year plan and have a meeting the next day to work on it. The plan is to have this completed before the budget and contract period, to guide the board with their recommendations. This document will drive a lot of their decisions about contracts and budgets, from a fiscal stability point of view, but also keeping in mind the student outcome and needs of the district. She also discouraged the school board from their proposed walk-throughs of the campuses. That is outside the purview of the board, since that would come under operations and the board is for governance. She suggested they all take the Lone Star Governance class to help them understand their role in the district.

Campus Reports

Reports from campus administrators were given at this point. Miller said that the Elementary campus joined in with 20,000 other schools across the nation in the Kindness Challenge. They even held a parade, indoors, due to the weather. Reading with Heroes is a program that brings in community members, such as first responders, coaches and other male role models, to read to the students and has been very successful. Their testing has been completed.

Bench Mark Reports

Gillespie reported that they have established benchmarks in Math and Reading for the fourth grade and in Science for the fifth grade. These grades are higher than last year’s. The campus held a Cinna-Moms celebration and about a quarter of the moms attended. A Family Math Night was also held to bring the families into the schools and to participate in the education of their children.

Junior High has also set the benchmarks for Science and Social Studies. Students participated and did very well in the Region 20 Spelling Bee. Poth reported that they held a District UIL meet with 56 students in the top 10 to finish. Twentytwo brought home medals and they competed against such districts as Boerne and Medina Valley, so they did very well.

Dominguez said that they have done their fourth college visit with students, going to different campuses in the area. The campus held staff development meetings with focus on literacy and teaching reading in their individual fields. Softball season has begun and they had a tournament last week, coming out second out of eight schools. Baseball starts this week and track is already underway. They have set their English benchmarks and the TSI exam, which has to be taken by any student intending to go to college, is coming up.

Navarro announced a closed session at 8:17 p.m. to discuss personnel and contract renewals. Upon returning, a probationary teacher contract was approved unanimously for Jeannette Sanchez. All contract renewals for the principals and the Business and Operations Office contracts were also approved unanimously.

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