March 29, 2021 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  The Board President or his/her designee will call the meeting to order.

Description:  The Board President or his/her designee will call the roll of members.

Description:  Students at Brown Primary and Smithville Elementary will lead the group virtually in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Description:  Citizens wishing to address the Board of Trustees have so indicated by listing their name on the Communications from the Public sign-in sheet located on the table at the entrance to the boardroom if the meeting is done in person, or at the link provided on the published board agenda if conducted remotely. Those signing have given a brief indication of the topics to be addressed.
Comments to the Board of Trustees under this provision will be limited to three minutes.
The members of the Board of Trustees will listen to citizen presentations during this portion of a regularly scheduled meeting, but they will not comment or participate in a discussion of the topic. 

Description:  Board members routinely approve items on the consent agenda as a group.  These are routine agenda items.  Board members have the option to ask questions regarding any of the items listed under "consent agenda".

Description:  State law requires that a record be kept in the form of official minutes on each meeting held by a governmental body and that these minutes be approved at the next regular meeting.

Attached are the minutes from the February 22, 2021 regular meeting and the March 1, 2021 special meeting.

Description:  Monthly reporting of financial position in relation to the budget.  The Board is provided monthly financial statements.

Description:  Meet legal reporting requirements for investments.
In order the meet legal reporting requirements for investments, the Board receives quarterly reports on District investments.

Description:  The Board has requested a monthly status report of earned state aid in relation to the budget.

Description:  The Board has requested a monthly status report of earned state aid in relation to the budget.

Description:  Attached is the Tax Assessor-Collector's Report.

Description:  The Chief Financial Officer, Jean Ann McCarthy, will review the financial disbursements for the previous month with the Board of Trustees.  No action is required.

Description:  The Superintendent will update the Board on important issues pertaining to the District.

Description:  A format has been designed for an end of the year status report, which allows the Board to monitor the implementation of the District and Campus Improvement Plan. District and Campus site base committees have reviewed the progress of the implementation of each plan and staff members have prepared the status reports for the respective improvement plan. The principal, staff, and site base committee are responsible for evaluating each improvement plan. David Edwards will review the status of the District Improvement Plan and each campus principal will review the Campus Improvement Plan status.

Description:  Tentative items to be included on the April agenda are:

a.  Financial Report  
b.  Superintendent’s Report  
c.  COVID-19 Update
d.  Review 2021-2022 High School Course Catalog
e.  Call for Special Meeting to Canvass School Board Election
f.   Resignations and Employment of Certified Personnel
 

Description:  The district is required to hire an independent audit firm to conduct the annual financial audit for the fiscal year 2020-2021 for annual mandatory state reporting on school district budgeting and compliance.

In accordance with Texas Education Agency requirements and law the district is required to have an annual financial audit performed.  Last year, we used the firm of Eide Bailly, LLP.  although we are not dissatisfied with their performance, we are reviewing all contractural obliagations due to future financial concerns.  The 2020-2021 audit will include auditing 20 different funds which include the General Fund (199), Food Service (240), Debt Service (599), Capital Projects (699), and various federal funds, as well as activity funds.  Bid proposals were mailed out to fourtenn firms and we received six responses from the following audit firms:

Planning will begin in May and continue through June, interim fieldwork will be conducted in June and the final fieldwork will occur during October - November.  the presentation to the Board of Trustees will take place in December.  The cost of the audit will be between $25,915 and $38,000 for the fiscal year 2020-2021 audit.
 

Company Name	Armstrong, Vaughn & Assoc, PC	Beasley, Mitchell & Co	Eide Bailly, LLP	Neffendorf & Blocker, PC	Pattillo, Brown & Hill, LLP	Singleton, Clark & CO, PC
2020-2021 Price	$25,915	$36,015	$30,000	$26,000	$38,000	$34,200
Estimated Hours	183	245	280	269	345	180
Total Points	96	83	90	93.333	84.333	86.667

The board is required by law to conduct an annual indpendent audit and report to the Texas Education Agency.  The consequences of not approving this recommendation is that the fieldwork on the audit would be delayed and audit reporting to TEA to meet the January deadline could be effected.

Description:  Board policies EFAA (legal) and EFAA (local) address the selection and adoption of instructional materials for the district.  The instructional resource committee recommendation is to adopt all titles on the state approved list.  From the list, each campus will determine the supplemental materials to be ordered based on instructional allotment funds and need assessments for each campus. 
In order to remain in compliance with board policy and state guidelines to enable the district to obtain state funded instructional materials for the school district, the Board of Trustees must certify the use of Instructional Material Allotment Funds for instructional resources within the school district.

Stephanie Foster, primary/elementary principal, is recommending approval of the following:

The Creative Curriculum for Texas by Teaching Strategies

The Creative Curriculum® for Texas is a comprehensive, research-based curricula that feature inquiry, exploration, and discovery as the foundation of all learning.

Written especially to meet the needs specific to the children we serve, and built upon the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, The Creative Curriculum® for Texas delivers academic rigor alongside social-emotional learning, cognitive development, and meaningful interactions.

 

Description:  The Superintendent informed the Board of the resignations of:

Erich Schatte - teacher at Smithville High School
Barbara Benson - teacher at Smithville High School
Samuel Burnside - teacher/coach at Smithville High School
Gary Anthony - teacher/coach at Smithville Junior High
Deselle Marshall-Hill Jones - teacher at Smithville Junior High
Esmeralda Rodriguez - teacher at Smithville Elementary
Nicole Cromey - teacher at Brown Primary

No action is required.

Description:  According to Board Policy DC [Local], the Superintendent has the authority to make recommendations to the Board regarding the selection of all personnel.

There is no employment to recommend at this time.

Description:  The administrators of the district have submitted to the office of the superintendent their recommendations for contract renewal of existing certified staff members.  The Board of Trustees is the final hiring authority for certified contract employees for Smithville I.S.D. and will act upon the recommendations for renewal of certified staff as presented by the Superintendent.  According to Texas Government Code §573.062, employees affected by the nepotism laws would have to abstain from voting on the contract (or salary) of a spouse or family member if that action applies only to the individual and is not taken regarding a bona fide class or category of employees.  Therefore, according to code, we will need one motion
for approval of faculty contracts.