DATES: September 6   Labor Day Holiday

September 7   THS VB vs. Evangel @ Tatum – F, JV, V – 4:30

September 10 THS VB @ Atlanta – V – 4:30

THS FB @ Atlanta – 7:30

September Board Meeting

· The September meeting of the TISD Board of Trustees is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 14. The tentative agenda is listed below.

PUBLIC HEARING OF FINANCIAL INTEGRITY RATING SYSTEM OF TEXAS (FIRST) RATING

Senate Bill 218 of the 77^th Legislature (2001) authorized the implementation of a financial accountability rating system, which is officially referred to as School FIRST. The school district’s School FIRST rating is based upon an analysis of staff and student data reported for the 2007-08 school year, and budgetary and actual financial data for the 2008 fiscal year ending August 31, 2008. The primary goal of School FIRST is to improve the management of school district’s financial resources.

The 2010 rating contains data from the 2008-09 fiscal year and based on 22 indicators. TISD received 80 of the possible 80 total points in the system and a rating of Superior Achievement.

CONSENT ITEMS

1. Minutes of regular meeting of the Board of Trustees on August 10, 2010.

2. Superintendent request to provide consulting services to Gary ISD.

ACTION ITEMS

1.   Board Policy CH, CVA & CVB: Purchasing – These policies were discussed with Update 86 and 87 in November 2009 and March 2010. The changes to the policies would allow bids and proposal to be accepted electronically by the district. The administration made the recommendation for the changes but did not include those changes in the action items as required when the rest of Updates 86 and 87 were approved.

2.   CH(LOCAL) Purchasing & Acquisition and CV(LOCAL) Facilities Construction – In September 2009 the amount required for bidding went from $25,000 to $50,000 in CV(LOCAL). CH(LOCAL) describes that amount of purchase that can be approved by the superintendent and is currently $25,000 to match the previous bid amount. The District did not change CH(LOCAL) to match the new bid requirement of $50,000 and it’s the administrative recommendation to make that change.

DISCUSSION ITEMS

1. 2010-11 Designated Fund Balance – The district is estimated to have $6,700,000 in fund balance at the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Part of the fund balance is designated for future campus building needs and the allocation will be discussed at the meeting.

2.  Vehicle Purchases – The 2008 bond allocated $80,000 for the yearly purchase of vehicles, both buses and passenger cars. The district has purchased a bus for the 2010-11 allocation and further review of the vehicle inventory indicates the need to purchase passenger vehicles in addition to the bus for 2010-11. The district is currently pricing two passenger vehicles, one vehicle for the technology department and a gator utility vehicle for athletics.

3. Update 88 to the Localized Policy Manual – Update 88 addresses numerous changes from the Administrative Code. Many of these rule changes are in response to legislation from the 81st Texas Legislative Session. Major topics affected by the rule changes include textbooks, district awards for teacher excellence, Family Medical Leave for military service of relatives of district employees, performance appraisals, student physical education, curriculum, automatic admission, assessments, retention and pro-motion, limited English proficient students, and compulsory attendance. Changes not stemming from Administrative Code revisions include new local policy text addressing notification to affected individuals in the event of a security breach of electronic data and employee use of electronic media, and new legal provisions addressing juvenile residential facilities and Public Information Act requests. The (LEGAL) policies reflect the ever-changing legal context for governance and management of the district. They should NOT be adopted but, rather, should inform local decision making. The (LOCAL) policy recommendations in this update will need close attention by both the administration and the board to ensure that they reflect the practices of the district and the intentions of the board. Board action is needed to adopt, revise, or repeal (LOCAL) policy.

There are three local policies contained in this update, each are listed below.

CQ(LOCAL) Electronic Communication and Data Management – This policy outlines the district’s notification methods if there is a breach of security in the data management systems.

EIE(LOCAL) Academic Achievement Retention and Promotion – This policy cleans up the changes in the student success initiative in grades 3, 5 & 8.

INFORMATION ITEMS

1.   Program Evaluation: Facilities, Maintenance & Custodial; Business Operations – Information will be presented at the meeting.

Estimated End-of-Fiscal Year 2010

· The table below represents the 199 or local M&O budget and the food service or 240 budget. The 240 budget shows a deficit of $17,690 which includes $53,000 of equipment purchased, without that expenditures the food service department operated with a $35,000 surplus.

1-1 Laptop Initiative

· THS students were issued HP netbooks with Verizon internet access this week as the staff plans to incorporate the technology into the teaching and learning environment. The ultimate goal is to produce graduates that can manage the media and information literacy of the vast amounts of information available and use that for critical thinking, communication and collaboration outside the walls of TISD. The student’s netbook is formatted to access the internet with the wireless Verizon card through the TISD server and filtering software.

· Here are some quotes from the book Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology that highlight popular opinion about technology changes throughout history (pp. 30-31).

From a principal’s publication in 1815: “Students today depend on paper too much. They don’t know how to write on a slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?”

From the journal of the National Association of Teachers, 1907: “Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.”

Dee W. Hartt, Ed. D.

Superintendent

Tatum ISD

(903)947-0161