Seen and Heard at the September School Board Meeting

Posted Date: 06/03/2020

September 17, 2018 - The Oath of Office was administered to new Board member Robin Malone.  Malone is director of legal studies at Amarillo College.  She was appointed to serve the remainder of the term left open when James Allen resigned from the Board in June.  She will serve at least until May 2019, when the position will be up for re-election.

Trustees approved the goals and strategies in the 2018-2019 District Improvement Plan.  The document is an annually-revised strategic plan that is based on a comprehensive needs assessment.  It provides goals and direction for improving student performance and other areas of District operations.  The Board also approved campus-driven improvement plans for all 55 schools for 2018-2019.      

The Board approved schematic drawings for the Caprock High School/Tradewind Elementary School bond project.  The project, estimated to cost almost $13 million, will include renovating the old main gym facility at Caprock into 12 classrooms and a choir room, building a new auxiliary gym, renovating the auditorium, restrooms, and locker room restrooms and showers, and replacing plumbing, sewer lines and windows.  At Tradewind, bullet-resistant glass will be installed in exterior doors and improvements will be made to site drainage.  Construction on the first bond project, at Fannin Middle School and Lamar Elementary, is scheduled to begin in November, followed by projects at Amarillo and Tascosa high schools, Coronado and Lee elementaries, Palo Duro High School, Mann and Travis middle schools, Allen 6^th Grade Campus, and then Caprock and Tradewind.  All projects from the 2017 school bond are expected to be complete by summer 2021.

In other business, Mr. Flow appointed Mrs. Wilkinson and Ms. Malone to a Board committee to recommend possible revisions to policy CW(LOCAL) on naming school facilities.  The Board also reported on their regular monthly visits to campuses, and they heard public comments from several teachers and parents regarding concerns with new curriculum resources and monitoring.   

Trustees accepted gifts and donations totaling $9,474.08 given to various schools this month from Breanna Parker, the Gilliland Family Foundation, the Dept. of Veteran’s Affairs, South Georgia Baptist Church, Mr. and Mrs. Kishore Yalamanchili, Mr. and Mrs. Randy Branch, Rebecca and Perry York, Amarillo National Bank, and Enrique Bustos.