Livingston High School Army JROTC students presented the colors at the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Livingston Independent School District Monday.
The students included Battalion Commander Cadet Lt. Col. Maria Dominquez, Cadet Maj. Naomi West, Cadet Capt. Madelyn Freeman and Cadet 2nd Lt. Trason Hinson. Their instructor is SFC Grady Tinker who thanked the board for allowing him to continue instructing the program.
Introduced in January of this year, Lion LEADERS is a recognition program that is open to LISD staff, parents and guardians, students, alumni, community members, local organizations and business partners. The framework is designed around the LEADERS acronym, with each letter representing a valued attribute that the honorees possess, including: Leadership
in action, Exceptional service, Advocacy for students, Dedication to our community, Ethical character, Resilience in the face of challenges and Service beyond self. The program’s review team reads and reviews nominations monthly and selects individuals who best represent at least two of the attributes from the Lion LEADERS framework. The October Lion LEADERS were Noe Trevino, a student; Kerri Kirchner, a member of the faculty, and Becky Martin, a community member.
LHS senior students Evelyn Pedraza and Valeria Ramirez were also recognized. They will be competing in the FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) Promote and Publicize event this year. One of the goals of their project is to promote FCCLA and share the impact their chapter and students are making in the school and community.
Also recognized were several state welding competitors. Four students earned an AWS D9.1 welding certification and qualified for the Texas High School Welding Series State Welding Event during the Sept. 25 Texas High School Welding Series State Qualifier held at Arclabs. David Lazo earned sixth place out of 118 students. Placing in the top 20 of 118 students were Enrique Azua, Ross Christoph and Tavius Sanders. Additionally, the Oct. 2 state qualifying event was held at Pasadena Memorial High School. Finishing in the top 20 out of 156 competitors were Ryan Munson, Ross Christoph, Tavius Sanders and Enrique Azua. These welding students also earned their AWS D9.1 Sheet Metal Welding certifications. Their instructors are Johnny Sitton for Career & Technical Education Welding and Jim Baxter for Ag Structure.
Senior student Luisa Perez was also recognized for her success as reserve champion in the Senior Horticulture Division of the Agricultural Public Speaking Contest at the State Fair of Texas. She placed second in her division and in the top 14 of the contest. Her speech was about crossbreeding corn.
Superintendent Dr. Jeff Pack reported that the work of the district’s strategic planning committee is approaching the finish line, having created a vision statement, a mission statement and objectives and goals. Two more meetings will be held for the committee to finetune the plan to present to the board for approval.
Pack also reported that academics is continuing to make progress and that he is seeing great things across the board.
Athletic Director Tucker Carter reported that fall sports are winding down and winter sports are teeing up. Senior Night is slated for Oct. 30 which is the last home football game.
Having presented six options for the school calendar for the 2026-2027 school year to students, faculty and parents, the most favored choice with a two-thirds majority was Option 1 which is almost identical to this year’s calendar. The board approved Option 1.
In an attempt to increase parking at the baseball/softball complex, the board approved a quote to level the area and bring in more gravel.
As part of its new memorandum of understanding with the City of Livingston, the board approved the purchase of vehicles from the Livingston Police Department for the district’s school resource officers.
Also approved was the quarterly investment report.
Following an executive session, the board approved authorizing the superintendent to negotiate and execute a settlement agreement with TimeClock Plus LLC.
Other business included approval of the consent agenda.
