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

Students from the House of Confidence at Smithville Elementary will lead the group virtually in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Those students are:
Blaize Behrens, Tyler Jones, Asher Nix, Addison McNeil, Bowen Welch, Scarlett Zingelmann, Dawsyn Behrens, Melaya Oliver, Evan Brantley, Jonathan Enriquez Pedraza, Luke Yokubaitis, Manuel Comacho, Angelyn Barrientos, and Madeline Moore.
 

Student guest speakers will be present at each board meeting to read a short essay on the Character Trait of the Month. 

This month, the Board will hear from third-graders Colton Ellis and Lyla Loera.  Their essay topic is curiosity.

Each nine-weeks the middle school and high school faculties select an outstanding student from their respective campus.  Students are rated on a scale of 1 to 10 on such criteria as grades, honesty, enthusiasm, cooperation with teachers and their peers, class participation and leadership.

Payten Alamillo and Caleb Saffel have been chosen as outstanding students for the third nine-weeks from Smithville Junior High.  Payten is in 8th grade and is the daughter of John and Shannon Alamillo.  Caleb is a 7th grader and the son of Kevin and Crystal Saffel. 
Outstanding students chosen from Smithville High School are Carlee Edwards, 12th grade daughter of David and Jennifer Edwards, and Ladarian Sullivan, 11th grade son of Emma Adams.
Congratulations to these students for their outstanding achievement!

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. 

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".

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.

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

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

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

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

Attached is the Tax Assessor-Collector's Report.

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.

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

The Board will be presented with curriculum and program area highlights on a regular basis.  The purpose of each presentation is to keep the Board informed of the academic progress within the district and on campuses.

The program highlight from this month is SHS Debate.  Mrs. Kim Hemphill and Mrs. Natalie Frerich will be present at the meeting to highlight their program.

Administrators from the high school review and edit the course catalog on an annual basis for the upcoming school year.  A report will be given to the Board of Trustees and updates or changes will be noted.  Most changes are due to legislative mandate and the course catalog provides information for students and parents to select required courses as well as elective courses.  The information is also used to determine staff and budget.

Board Policy BBD [Legal] and 19 TAC 61.61 requires the Board President to announce the name of each Board member who has completed the required continuing education, who has exceeded the required hours of continuing education, and who is deficient in the required continuing education.  This announcement is required annually.  The Board President must announce Board members’ continuing education hours at the last regular meeting prior to the next board election, shall cause the minutes to reflect the information, and shall make this information available to the local media. 

Tentative items to be included on the May agenda are:

1.  Issue Oath of Office for New Board Members
2.  Reorganization of the Board of Trustees
3.  Recognition of State Qualifiers
4.  Recognition of Outstanding Students for the 4th Six-Weeks
5.  Recognition of Tiger Award Winners
6.  Financial Report
7.  Superintendent's Report
8.  COVID 19 Report
9.  2022-2023 Dress Code
10.  Resignations and Employment of Certified Personnel

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.

The junior high will be recommending resources for Health and PE for the 2022-2023 school year, McGraw Hill Glencoe Teen Health Book.

The Board of Trustees voted to approve adoption of the 2022-2023 District Calendar at its regular meeting in February.  After review by administrators and the District Site-Based Committee, the Superintendent is requesting approval to make two minor revisions to that calendar.  On the currently adopted calendar, December 16, 2022 is listed as an early release.  We would like to change that date to a full day of attendance for both students and staff.  Also, the current calendar assigns April 14, 2023, Jamboree Friday, as a bad weather day.  The bad weather day has been changed to Friday, March 10, 2023, leaving Jamboree Friday as a student and staff holiday.
In the event that other revisions are necessary to meet attendance requirements or in cases of emergency, the Superintendent is requesting authorization from the Board to make changes to the calendar if needed during the school year without Board action.

The Superintendent would like to inform the Board of the resignations of: Richard Waters, teacher/coach at the high school, Joe Brad Bass and Abigail Seidel, teachers at the high school.

No action is required.

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

The Superintendent is recommending hire of the following individuals for 2022-2023:

Teacher/Head Girls Volleyball Coach - Regina Estrada
Degree - MS from Texas A&M Texarkana
Certification - Math Grades 7-12
Years of Service - 6 years
Campus - Smithville High School

Teacher/Head Girls Basketball Coach - Rachel Tucker
Degree - BS from Sam Houston State University
Certification - English Language Arts and Reading Grades 8-12, All-Level PE Grades PK-12, Health Grades EC-12
Years of Service - 19 years
Campus - Smithville High School

Teacher/Head Boys Basketball Coach - Mark Belford
Degree - MS from Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Certification - Special Education Grades EC-12, Sec. PE Grades 6-12
Years of Service - 22 years
Campus - Smithville High School

Secondary Instructional Coach - Lauren Copeland
Degree - BS from Texas A&M University
Certification - Special Education Grades EC-12, Core Subjects Grades EC-6, Agricultural Science and Technology Grades 6-12, ESL Supplemental Grades EC-12
Years of Experience - 4 years
Campus - Smithville High School and Smithville Junior High School

Teacher/Coach - Richard King
Degree - MS from University of Scranton
Certification - Generalist Grades EC-6, ESL Supplemental Grades EC-6
Years of Service - 12 years
Campus - Smithville Junior High School

Teacher - Kiyra Cooks
Degree - MA from Texas Tech University
Certification - Math Grades 4-8, ESL Grades 408
Years of Service 4 years
Campus - Smithville Junior High

Math Intervention Teacher - Kathryn Medack
Degree - BS in Sam Houston State
Certification - Generalist Grades EC-6, ESL Supplemental Grades EC-6
Years of Service - 9 years
Campus - Smithville Elementary School and Brown Primary School

Instructional Coach - Rachel Keener
Degree - ME from Lamar University
Certification - Generalist Grades EC-6, ESL Generalist Grades EC-4
Years of Service - 6 years
Campus - Smithville Elementary School and Brown Primary School
 

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.
The Superintendent recommends renewal of a term contract for the 2022-2023 school year for Valerie Breeden, teacher at Smithville High School