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

Students representing the House System at Smithville Elementary will lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.  Those students are:

1st Grade:

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 Naomi Helsley, a fifth-grader in Ms. Jones' class.  Her essay topic is curiosity.

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.

Minutes included from March 27, 2023 regular meeting and April 3, 2023 special meetings and board workshop.

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.

Budget amendments are necessary to properly appropriate funds for necessary expenditures of the District.  Budget amendments on the function level require Board approval.  The CFO routinely performs monitoring of District finance and reports to the Board any potential areas that require amendment and the reason the amendment is necessary.

The strategic object, goal or need addressed by this agenda item is to continue to practice designating 85% of the surplus (unassigned) fund balance to future Smithville ISD Capital Projects.

Per our approved Fund Balance Policy, Smithville ISD has a 3-month Optimal Fund Balance goal of $5,040,374.  Our current projected fund balance is $9,218,880, which is 4,178,506 in excess of our optimal fund balance goal.  We currently have $2,920,493 (70%) of our excess designated to Capital Projects and $340,000 (8%) of our excess designated to Capital Projects - Tiger Stadium Maintenance.

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.

April Superintendent Report

District enrollment as of April 13th is 1837 students for an overall attendance of 90.26%.

Smithville ISD will be transitioning to a new website and new parent app.  Completion is estimated for July 1st. The new site and app will feature parent to teacher communication opportunities, automatic translation for non-English speaking individuals, and mass notification capabilities.  We believe it is going to enhance our overall communication with our families.

Reminder: according to Board Policy DC (Local), the Board retains final authority for employment of contractual personnel; however, from June 1 to August 31, the Board delegates to the Superintendent the authority to employ contract personnel. The Superintendent shall inform the Board of any persons hired under this authority.  

State Testing starts this week, and will continue through the second week of May.

The 4th grade will present their Spring program "How to Become a Pirate in Seven Easy Songs" next Thursday, April 27th at 2pm.
 
The Lady Tigers junior high softball team had their first game in Seguin and came away with a win.  Congratulations to the first of many victories!

This past weekend, Smithville ISD was presented with a trophy from It’s Time Texas, for placing first in their community challenge.

Winners of the youth banner project were also acknowledged.

Many students participated with their projects and records were broken for sales at the Smithville FFA Livestock Show.
 
Please refer to the Smithville ISD website for the latest news and resources.

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.

This month will feature TEKSBank.

Dr. Michael Caudill, Assistant Superintendent, will report to the Board on measures being taken in the district to address safety and security for students and staff, and update the Board on the recent safety audit.  

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-9-Weeks
5.  Recognition of Tiger Award Winners
6.  Financial Report
7.  Superintendent's Report
8.  Safety and Security Report
9.  Graduation Procedures
10.  2023-2024 Dress Code
11.  Resignations and Employment of Certified Personnel

The purpose of this agenda item is to authorize three purchases that were discussed during the Board Meeting on April 3rd.  We would like to proceed with the purchase of:
1)  350 Lenovo 100e Chromebooks for instruction and testing requirements.  The quote that we have received is $87,003.00
2)  Upgrade 58 JH desktop computers to be utilized in the computer labs for instructional purposes.  We have received a quote of $56,730 for this purchase.
3)  Purchase a 3-year subscription of our Meraki licenses for $80,800.  By purchasing a 3-year subscription, the school district will see a savings of $36,750.
All quotes have been received from the Texas Department of Information Resources vendors.  Dr. Caudill will be available for questions in regards to these purchases.
We will also possibly present information on the purchase of the HS video board and scoreboard, as well as the baseball & softball scoreboards.  We will receive more information on Monday morning and present the information at the Board meeting.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) will be used by the District as a tool in the decision making process in the best interest of the District. This RFP is issued for the purpose of negotiating a contract for a two-compartment Walk-In Refrigerator and Freezer Installation at Elementary Campus.  The expenditure will be purchased through Child Nutrition funds.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) will be used by the District as a tool in the decision making process in the best interest of the District. This RFP is issued for the purpose of negotiating a contract for Multiple Security Door Installation to improve the safety for our students and staff. The expenditure will be purchased through the School Safety Grant that has received in the amount of $200,000.

The Superintendent would like to inform the Board of the resignations of: Stephanie Garbe, teacher at Smithville Elementary, Joe Nix, teacher at Smithville Junior High, and Madelynn Trautmann, teacher at Smithville 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 recommends employment of:

Travis Carruthers - Teacher/Coach
Degree - UT Dallas
Certification - Alternative Certification  for Mathematics 7-12
Years of Experience - 1 year in public education, 16 as college coach 
Campus - Smithville High School
To replace Mark Belford