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:  Nolan Ortiz, Liberty Jones, Jamarkus Kellough
2nd Grade:  Kohl Cooper, Elle Browning, Barrett Barrientos
3rd Grade:  Gracie Cook, Tyler Ibarra, Corbin Knight
4th Grade:  Kaitlyn Church, Anton Meuth, Jakeem Foley
5th Grade:  Jasmin Ketola, Bexley Berger, Carmen Goding

Student guest speakers will be present at each board meeting to read a short essay on the Character Trait of the Month.
Nolen Ortiz, a first grader in Mrs. Bishop's class, and Riley Navarro, a third grade student in Ms. Saffel's class, will read their essays on "service".

We would like to express our appreciation to the individuals who are assisting as mentors to the new educators in the district.  Those mentors are:
Brown Primary:
Shelly Naylor
Vicki Vinklarek

Smithville Elementary:
Julie Bishop
Jamie Bain
Sarah Curtis
Amber Garcia
Anna Goertz
Crystal Heimann
Julie Humke
Daymona Hunsucker
Jesse Margolis
Kevin Mahoney
Crystal Saffel

Smithville Junior High:
Arlene Davenport
Patricia Hawkins
Dianna King
Valerie Rodriguez
Crystal Vinklarek

Smithville High School:
Jennifer Berry
Mary Castello
Virginia Marek
Tessa Otten
Lacey Schwanke
Lisa Wood
 

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.

Included in the board packet are the minutes from the October 16, 2023 regular meeting and the October 30, 2023 special 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.

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.

November Superintendent Report

• Enrollment numbers as of November 9, 2023 are 1826 students with an attendance rate of 93.04%.

• Reminder, ESC 13 is offering a Legislative Update in LaGrange on November 27th.  Please let Denise know no later than Friday if you would like to attend.  This update is available online as well.

• Smithville ISD is putting up a fence to secure Barry Field during school hours.  This is to address the safety of students and staff.  The field will continue to be available for use by the community outside of school hours.

• Kudos to Wayne King and his assistants for their kind support of the McDade ISD band.  The McDade Bulldog band advanced to state competition this past weekend, where they placed 6th.  They extended their gratitude to Mr. King for his guidance and support of the band and its directors as this relatively new organization made its first trip to state competition. 

• Superintendent submission to UIL - 555 high school students as of October 27, 2023.

• Senate Bill 763 - School chaplains

• Child Nutrition would like to invite you to celebrate Thanksgiving with them by attending one of the following lunchtime meals: Junior High on November 15th, Brown Primary on Wednesday or Smithville Elementary on Thursday.  

• The Central Office Christmas Social will be held on Wednesday, December 6th from 2pm to 4:30pm.  You are cordially invited to attend.

• Academic Calendar Surveys have been received.  Copies are at your seats.

• 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.

 

Dr. Michael Caudill, Assistant Superintendent in charge of safety and security, will present audit findings, and a staff training plan and information to the Board of Trustees.

Tentative items for the December meeting include:

a.   Consent Agenda - Investment Policy Review
b.   Consent Agenda - Review Approved Providers of Investment              
c.   Superintendent’s Self-Evaluation Submission to the Board
d.   Distribution of Superintendent Evaluation Materials

As required by the Texas Education Agency, an annual audit of financial information is conducted to assure that all legal requirements are being met and sound fiscal responsibility is maintained.  The audit was conducted by Armstrong, Vaughn and Assoc, P.C.  Kim Roach, who is a Principal with Armstrong, will present the audit.   Included in the board packet is the Management's Discussion and Analysis, Exhibit C-2 and the Governance Letter for the Board's review. 

The SHAC committee will present the recommended SB9 curriculum and announce 2023-2024 officers.

The district is in receipt of a request from Ellen Owens, Tax Assessor/Collector for the Smithville Independent School District, for approval of the attached document in accordance with Texas Property Tax Code 26.09(e).  This document requires that the Board of Trustees approve the original certified tax levy.

The purpose of this agenda item is to authorize the processing and scanning of the District's Permanent documents to a cloud management system.  We currently still have our original documents in a secure location.  However, due to weather, aging documents and storage issues, we are asking for authorization to proceed with Records Consultants, Inc with the included proposal.

This request is currently not budgeted and would require the use of fund balance to get the project completed. Mrs. McCarthy will be available for discussion on this project.

 

Section 6.24 of the Texas Property Tax Code and the Interlocal Cooperation Act, Chapter 791, Texas Government Code, as amended, authorizes political subdivisions of the State of Texas to enter Interlocal contracts for the provision of tax assessing and collecting services. The County of Bastrop has agreed to provide tax assessing and collecting services for Smithville Independent School District and an interlocal agreement for services is included in the board packet.
 

     
Site-Based committees, campus principals, and central office staff began working on revising our improvement plans and establishing performance objectives for the 2023-2024 school year last spring.  The committees have made final revisions this fall and are ready to present their performance objectives and improvement plans to the Board for approval.  Included with the board packet are the performance objectives and improvement plans established for the district and each campus.
 

The Bastrop County Appraisal District is governed by a five-member board of directors which is elected by the governing bodies of the taxing entities in Bastrop County.  Board members serve two-year at-large terms, which begin on January 1^st of even numbered years. Chapter 6 of the Property Tax Code allows each tax unit to cast votes for the Board of Directors of the Bastrop Central Appraisal District in proportion to their tax levy.  At its regular meeting in September, the Board of Trustees nominated Justin Bezner, Jeannie Ralph and Stacy Tiner to be placed on the ballot for BCAD Board of Directors. The Smithville Independent School District is allocated 384 votes out of a total of 5,000 to cast for the candidate of its choice.  The vote must be conducted at an open meeting of the Board of Trustees. The deadline to return a signed resolution of votes cast is December 15th. The five candidates who receive the largest cumulative vote totals will become the five appointed board of directors.  We will be notified of the results after December 15th.  Our goal is to elect a Smithville representative to the Bastrop County Appraisal District Board of Directors.
Included in the board information is a voting entitlement for each of the taxing entities in Bastrop County, and a voting resolution. 

Please note: on November 2, 2023, SISD was notified by Faun Cullens with the Bastrop Central Appraisal District that Stacy Tiner had withdrawn her name as a candidate for the BCAD Board.

Total Allocation of Votes:
Bastrop County - 1,185
Bastrop ISD - 2,318
Bastrop City - 192
Elgin ISD - 664
Elgin City - 111
Lexington ISD - 1
McDade ISD - 45
Smithville ISD - 384
Smithville City - 53
ACC Elgin - 46

Mrs. Burns received the resignation of Desiree Sorber as fourth grade teacher at Smithville Elementary 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.

There are no recommendations for employment at this time.