District earns top score for financial integrity
At last week’s BISD Board of Trustees meeting , Chief Financial Officer Michael Neuman reported the district had received a 100 percent rating on the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas report, which assigns a rating to public and charter school districts to ensure accountability for the quality of their financial management practices.
The board also received donation grants, honored students and addressed other business.
The Bandera ISD Board of Trustees accepted a donation of $85,000 for classroom instructional grants from the BISD Education Foundation.
This donation will fund 21 grants for projects in classrooms at all grade levels.
Education Foundation President Alyssa Cothran presented the check to the Board at the October 17 meeting. This donation is the largest ever given to Bandera ISD by the Education Foundation.
A second grant from the Dr. Floyd and Elizabeth McGowan Charitable Trust of $13,500 was also accepted by the board.
This grant will fund further participation by Bandera Middle School in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. The SSEP program was designed as a model US national Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education initiative.
This program gives students the ability to design and propose real microgravity experiments to fly in low Earth orbit (weightless).
The Board also heard an informational report on the English as a Second Language Program from Coordinator/ Translator Yessenia Torres which focused on the growth of the program from 102 students in 2020-21 to 139 students in 2022-23.
While the students have shown a great deal of progress, Torres’ cited goals for this year included a decrease in ELL students at the secondary level, a decrease in the number of students not meeting STAAR requirements, and continued parent involvement and staff support through training.
The Bandera ISD Students of the Month, eighth graders Ian Campbell and Lily Ann Coxwere presented with certificates.
Employee of the Month was Lori Bagwell from Bandera Middle School.
The Transportation Department was recognized for their exemplary service under the direction of Director Billy Biedermann, Brad Cummings, Addie Biedermann, Nita Weber and Angie Younger.
Bitzkie also noted that the Bandera Middle School roofing project was nearing its halfway point and is projected to be completed by late November.
He also praised the BHS Marching 100 Band for earning three ratings of one at the yearly competition held in San Antonio.
In regular business, the board approved a Class Size Waiver for third grade at Hill Country Elementary and approved TASB Update 119 to amend certain local policies.
The board also approved the additional of a new Life Skills Teacher due to increased enrollment.