COLMESNEIL – The Colmesneil ISD school board met Monday evening to discuss and amend their policies regarding inter-district transfers.
Superintendent Sharon Tule advised the board that the District of Innovation Amendment has to be amended to agree with the district’s transfer policy. She said, “CISD maintains a policy that requires an annual review for students previously admitted for transfer as well as non-district children of full-time district employees. In approving and renewing transfer requests the superintendent considers the availability of space and instructional staff, and the students disciplinary and attendance history”. She added, “that is re-worded to go with our policy and CISD will eliminate the position of a commitment accepting transfer students, non-resident students who have been accepted as transfers may have their transfer status revoked by the superintendent for non-compliance with the agreement”.
Tule did not recommend any changes to the policy regarding transfer students; however, the parents of the students will have to sign an agreement. She said that the district will continue to accept transfers that meet the district’s qualifications. She outlined three stipulations to the agreement that must be met, specifically that attendance does not place them at risk for losing credit, academic achievement that results in passing grades in all courses by the end of the semester, and at the end of each grading period, and compliance with the student code of conduct. “We as a district can revoke a transfer application at any point in time if they do not meet these three qualifications”, Tule said.
The board next discussed bids for roof repair to the high school and CATE building. After much discussion, this board decided to take no action and revisit this at the March board meeting. Tule was approved to submit a waiver to TEA for bad weather days in January, the 20-22 due to extreme weather. The bard then approved policy update 124 regarding board policies, which must be approved and or changed annually. The board approved several policies with no changes noted.
Contractor speaks about roofing bid
Bill Cooper spoke in the open forum section of the meeting. Cooper said, in summary, “I am here because I attended a meeting in November or December that involved a roof bid that was through the network. I signed up to bid for the roof and when I asked Mr. Follmar the details of the roofing, we were bidding the same roof that the company out of Waco bid, and so I bid a TPO roof to match the complete bid, and so did two other people. The only other company that turned in a silicone roof was awarded the roof but were not bidding a repair versus a new roof. Silicone in the roofing industry is under the guidelines of a repair. Their bid was half the price, and they were accepted to bid. I called the district, and I told them that was an unfair bid. That is biased because you initially had one company and one bid for the roof, that is not a fair bid. I was told I was beat by the price. That’s all well and fine, but I feel like it was not a fair bid. When one company bids the roof one way, and they receive the bid, that’s not a fair opportunity.”
Other Business
Tule has formed a leadership team which consists of four staff from elementary, and four staff from junior high and high school campuses.
“We had our first meeting, and it was amazing,” Tule said. “The purpose is for them to tell me what I can do to make this district better, and they gave me some wonderful ideas. I am already working through that list of things that they have recommended, and I will meet with them every time we have a workday on Friday. The first meeting was more than I could have hoped for”, she added.
Tule was excited to announce that the district was notified Monday that they are in compliance with the Title program, “that is a huge thing, and we are really happy about that”, she said. She also added that the district had been awarded a grant from ESF, which is the Effective Schools Framework system developed by TEA to provide a clear vision for what constitutes excellent education in Texas. The grant was for 65K, of which Region 5 will receive a large percentage of, as the district is required to have them help the district with this, but the district will still have some money that they can utilize for leadership and other incidentals.
Tule closed out her remarks by saying that the district will have a public meeting on March 10 to present their academic report that they are required to give every year, and then it will be on the agenda for board approval.
