WOODVILLE — Good things, even “trailblazing” achievements, are happening at Woodville ISD. That was the takeaway from the regular meeting of the Woodville ISD Board of Trustees on Monday evening.
The meeting began with a presentation to recognize statewide history made by a Woodville High School graduate. Carmelo Castle, an 18-year-old WHS Class of 2025 grad, was the first high school student in Texas to pass the state’s plumbing exam and enter the workforce.
Julie Pickren, who serves on the State Board of Education, District 7, which includes Tyler County, presented an award to Castle to recognize his achievement.
Castle’s mother, Gidget, and his teacher, John Bunker, were also on hand to help celebrate his achievement.
Pickren said she was in Washington, D.C., having meetings with officials at the U.S. Department of Education, when she heard about Castle and the achievements WISD was fostering in workforce development initiatives through its CTE program.
“I want to officially recognize Carmelo for being a trailblazing Texan,” Pickren said.
Pickren said she has had many conversations with educational leaders at the federal and local level about workforce development and trades. At present, she said she’d discovered the average age of plumbers in the country is 58, so education in trades in a necessity.
“I just want to say thank you to the leadership of Woodville ISD,” Pickren said.
Castle currently works as a second-year tradesman level plumber for Local 68 Plumbing. Pickren encouraged him to eventually open his own business and noted how important small businesses are to the economy.
During her regular report to the board, WISD Superintendent Lisa Meysembourg said that as a result of the attention that the district has received, statewide and nationally, for its workforce development efforts, a publication, Business View, has chosen to do a feature story highlighting the district and its achievements.
Additionally, Meysembourg said, WISD received a $25K grant from the Meadows Foundation to partner with Collegiate Edu Nation to expand its workforce development opportunities.
More news on the front of expanded workforce and educational opportunities came from the meeting. Meysembourg reported to the board that Tyler County Economic Development had drafted a plan to engage the WISD board in possibly using the now vacant Woodville Elementary and Intermediate campuses for the “T.H.R.I.V.E.” program, which stands for Tyler County Hub for Resilience, Innovation and Vocational Empowerment.
Meysembourg shared the draft of the plan with trustees and said the district will talk with the Economic Development group in the future.
Other Business
Meysembourg reported that for the first week of school being back in session, the enrollment numbers showed a bit of concern.
The first day enrollment figures, district-wide, were at 1,137. On Friday, the enrollment was at 1,141 and by Monday it was at 1,153, which was down from the final tally of 1,187 at the end of the last school year.
“We continue to get students enrolled, but we are concerned,” Meysembourg said.
Also, under board business, the deadline ended for the upcoming WISD board election. Place 6 was up, and long-serving board member John Wilson, has opted to retire from the board at the end of the current term. Lauren Conner has filed to run for the spot, and for Place 7, Josh McClure refiled, unopposed. Meysembourg said the board will vote to accept those spots unopposed at the next meeting, in September, and to cancel the election.
WISD assistant superintendent and CFO Cody Jarrott announced the public hearing on the budget and tax rate for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, August 27. Following the public hearing, there will be a meeting to adopt the budget and tax rate on Sept. 15.
