A Regular Board Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Denver City Independent School District was held on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, beginning at 6:15 PM. Because of the COVID-19 this meeting was held at the J.W. Jones Performing Arts Center with all board members having their own tables in order to continue practicing social distancing and Superintendent Gary Davis conducted the meeting from a chair in the audience.
Those members in attendance included Brad Woosley, David Mitchell, Jess Roberts, Danny Escalante, Edgar Salazar, and Russell Dial. Cody Williams was not in attendance.
Woosley called the meeting to order at 6:15 PM. During the public discussion, board member David Mitchell, recognized Jennifer Jordan and the cafeteria staff. He wanted to brag on what an outstanding job they had all been doing to continue to provide breakfast and lunch for kiddos 1-18 during the distance learning time.
The meals are served in a drive by style at Mustang Cafeteria. The serving of these meals will continue into June.
After the minutes from the previous meeting were approved the following information items were presented for perusal of the Board: Financial Report, Investments, Un-reconciled Cash Position Report, Recapture Report, Excalibur Report, Utilities Report, and Staff Development Report.
Davis started the new business by presenting consideration and approval of student athletic and activities insurance through Texas Kids First. He and Mrs. Rains made the recommendation to continue to use this insurance for the district. Edgar Salazar made the motion to continue this with Jess Roberts seconding and a unanimous vote following.
Curriculum Director, Taunya Campbell, then presented the 2020-21 Appraisal Calendar to the board. During this presentation, Mrs. Campbell also took time to explain to the board what T-Tess evaluations looked like and the process that administrators and teachers had to go through.
The next item on the agenda was Amending the 2020-2021 School Calendar. The Commissioner of Education is proposing that schools across the state amend their 2020-2021 school calendar to allow blocks of Flex Days to accommodate for the possibility of future outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus, which could cause additional school closures. The Region 17 Superintendents discussed this issue at a recent meeting. None of the districts in the region was interested in changing the already adopted calendars.
School calendar development is still a local decision and at this time cannot be mandated by the state. At this time, it was Mr. Davis’ recommendation to continue with the adopted 2020-2021 school calendar. Board member Jess Roberts made the motion to keep the current calendar and David Mitchell gave the second. The board unanimously approved this action.
Following was the presentation of House Bill 3 – Early Literacy Plan by Taunya Campbell. In this report, she informed the board about the state’s expectation for 60% of 3rd graders to be meeting expectations on the STAAR test by 2024. Information was also given about the Gifted and Talented Program at the high school level and how they will begin to build digital portfolios that include information such as their top 3 college choices, personality inventories, resumes, and many other things.
Due to the distance learning format that has been in place since the middle of March, the board was asked to approve a Missed School Waiver that will allow the district to cover the days that were missed during the COVID-19 closure.
Personnel Items were the next thing on the agenda. New Hires being welcomed to the district were Veronica Oropeza – Dodson, Courtney Hart – Kelley, Vanessa Martinez – Kelley, Kaleb King – Gravitt JH, Kimberly Hammed – Dodson, Ivy Woodward – Dodson, Cole McLeroy – Gravitt JH, Regina West – Gravitt JH, Jennifer Fletcher – Gravitt JH, and Diana Olivas – Dodson.
Resignations and Retirements included Steven Taylor – DCHS, Raegan Garcia – DCHS, Tracy Taylor – Kelley, Ramona Valdez – Kelley, Carrie Conley – DCHS, Halee Howard – Dodson, Bryce Green – Gravitt JH, Jaci Zingerman – Dodson, Jade Johnson- Gravitt JH, Steve McCormick- Gravitt JH.
Reassignments are as follows; Jennifer Coston to Kelley, Rachel Welch to Gravitt JH, Jacklyn Duncan to Dodson, Cara Mumma to Gravitt JH, and Carla Cruz to Dodson.
At the conclusion of the presentation of personnel items, board member Edgar Salazar expressed his concerns at the junior high. Superintendent Gary Davis suggested the board should finish the items on the agenda before going into executive session to further discuss the personnel.
A Letter of Reasonable Assurance was extended to all Auxiliary Staff. These letters are provided every year, and it assures staff member that they will be employed, provided funds are sufficient to employ all staff members.
There was no information in the Superintendent’s Report, so Future Business was then presented. The future business included High School Graduation for the Class of 2020. This was held on May 22, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. at Mustang Stadium.
Edgar Salazar made a motion to go into executive session to further discuss personnel items.
Following the Executive Session, the board adjourned.
