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

Students from Smithville Elementary who have received the most Tiger Tokens for the month will lead the group in the pledge. Those students are: 
1st Grade:
Renata Andrade-Soto
Jaydah Bledsoe
Ariana Bailey

2nd Grade:
Rylan Blackwell
Penney Behrens
Emilee Alvarado

3rd Grade:
Julieta Andrade-Soto
Austin Andrus
Elias Barron

4th Grade
Blaize Behrens
Keatyn Becker
Liberty Alloy-Bailey

5th Grade:
Serenity Blakeley Stewart
Charity Bennett
Destin Anderson

Smithville Elementary School is excited to celebrate outstanding students by introducing the "Tiger of the Month" recognition.  Elementary staff will nominate students who exhibit characteristics such as kindness, strong character, and helpfulness.  Each month, one exceptional student will be honored by the campus, recognized at the school board meeting, and will receive a special yard sign to proudly display at home.
Smithville Elementary is pleased to announce that we have two Tigers of the Month!  They are: Genevive Guerra in 1st grade and Nico Borja, in 2nd grade.
Good job little tigers!

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 January 27, 2025 regular meeting, the January 29, 2025 special meeting and the February 3, 2025 special 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 financial disbursements for the previous month will be reviewed with the Board of Trustees.  No action is required.

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

February Superintendent Report

• District enrollment as of Friday, February 21, 2025 is 1842 students with a daily attendance rate of 91.3%.
• Thursday, February 27th is Open House at Brown Primary from 5pm to 6pm.
• Stacy Tiner will be joining our staff on Monday, March 3rd as the business manager.
• Congratulations to the elementary students who participated in the Greater Austin Regional Science and Engineering Fair this past weekend. We had 3 first place winners, 10 second place winners and 1 third place winner.  A wonderful showing!
• Spring sports are in full swing.  Please come out and support your Tigers and Lady Tigers!
• Board member continuing education hours will be reported at the regular April meeting.  You have access to your continuing education progress report on your mytasb account.  Training is available online through Region 13, Vector Solutions (SafeSchools) and various other websites.
• The BP/SES Booster Club is hosting their Rafflemania event again this year on Thursday, March 13th at the Elementary cafeteria.
• Mrs. Burns and Dr. Logan will be attending the TARS Convention on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Region 13 requested that Smithville ISD and Fredricksburg ISD do presentations on their CTE programs and we are honored to be asked.  Mrs. Burns and Dr. Logan will also be presenting the mentor program that Smithville ISD has at this time.
• The Tiger Insider-Winter Edition is at your seats.
• Please refer to the Smithville ISD website for the latest news and resources.

Dr. Logan, Assistant Superintendent, will give a regular progress report/update on the Smithville I.S.D. Strategic Plan.

Mrs. Biehle, Child Nutrition Director, would like to address the board about the possible impact a four-day calendar will have on her staff and students who received child nutrition services.

a.  Financial Report  
b.  Superintendent’s Report  
c.  Board Recognitions
d.  Strategic Plan Update
e.  Smithville's Southside History Project
f.  Presentation of 2025-2026 High School Course Catalog
g.  Consider Extension of Audit Services
h.  Resignations and Employment of Certified Personnel
i.  Consider and Take Action Regarding Certified Staff Contract Renewal

Due to the dismissal of current Business Manager Sean Sanchez, and pending hire of a new Business Manager, the district representative for TexPool, Lone Star Investments, First National Bank and all other financial accounts associated with Smithville I.S.D. will be Superintendent Cheryl Burns.  This board agenda is to take action to remove Mr. Sanchez from all accounts and add the new business manager when hired.

Recently, Smithville ISD canceled and delayed school due to a freezing weather event on January 21, 2025.  All schools in Bastrop County were closed, upon recommendation by the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management.  The 2024-2025 calendar had adequate minutes built in to negate make-up for students.  It is being proposed that the day be waived for staff and requires no make-up or salary reduction for that day.  This is a Board decision, requiring Board action.

In December 2011 Smithville I.S.D. entered into a lease purchase agreement with Premier Systems, Inc. to place copiers in the district.  The agreement was renewed in 2018, and Smithville I.S.D. continues to be satisfied with the service.  At this time, we would like to enter into another capital lease agreement with Premier Systems, Inc. to upgrade the copiers currently serving the district, with the addition of one color copier.

The Region 10 Multi-Region Purchasing Cooperative organizes and administers the child nutrition cooperative purchasing and commodity processing program for RA's located in the state of Texas.  Authority for such service is granted by Section 8.053 of the Texas Education Code, Chapter 791 of the Texas Government Code, and Chapter 271, Subchapter F, of the Texas Local Government Code.  The goal of the cooperative is to obtain substantial savings on food service items through volume purchasing.  There is no fee to join.

HB 3033 passed during the 88th Legislative Session, effective September 1, 2023, makes significant changes to the Texas Public Information Act (PIA), prompting a need for districts to update their procedures and for the board of trustees to take action. 

Various provisions throughout the PIA require a governmental entity to act within a prescribed number of "business days." The statute previously did not define the term "business days," However, for years, the Attorney General’s Office interpreted the term "business days" to not include days the governmental entity was closed for business or holidays the governmental entity chose to observe. For school districts, this meant that closures such as fall break, winter break, and spring break were not counted as business days when calculating applicable deadlines. 

This longstanding interpretation has now been changed by the legislature. Under HB 3033, the only days that do not count as business days are the following: 

• Weekends - Saturday or Sunday; 
• National Holidays - New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King, Jr., Day; President’s Day; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Veterans Day; Thanksgiving Day; and Christmas Day; 
• State Holidays - Confederate Heroes Day; Texas Independence Day; San Jacinto Day; Emancipation Day; Lyndon B. Johnson Day;  
• Optional Holidays - Rosh Hashanah; Yom Kippur; and Good Friday (only if the governmental body observes the holiday); 
• The Friday before or the Monday after a holiday described above if the holiday occurs on a Saturday or Sunday and the governmental body observes the holiday on that Friday or Monday; and  
• Up to 10 additional days each calendar year when the district’s administrative offices are closed or operating with minimal staff. 

To take advantage of the 10 additional "non-business days" each calendar year, the board of trustees must officially designate these days. 

The District must update and maintain its policies with the most recent legislation and educational regulation changes.  In your packet of information, you have been provided the Update 123 Local Policy Overview. The board should not adopt (LEGAL) policies, but TASB recommends that they be reviewed. Therefore, (LEGAL) policies are included for review in Update 124. The attachments provide you with information concerning the policy changes found in the update.  The information included in the board packet is a summary of each of the policy changes. The update includes changes to the following local board policies: 
CAA(LOCAL): FISCAL MANAGEMENT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES - FINANCIAL ETHICS
CDA(LOCAL): OTHER REVENUES - INVESTMENTS
CY(LOCAL): INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
DH(LOCAL): EMPLOYEE STANDARDS OF CONDUCT
EHB(LOCAL): CURRICULUM DESIGN - SPECIAL PROGRAMS
EHBB(LOCAL): SPECIAL PROGRAMS - GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS
FFG(LOCAL): STUDENT WELFARE - CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
GKA(LOCAL): COMMUNITY RELATIONS - CONDUCT ON SCHOOL PREMISES

Sec. 2.052. Certification of unopposed status 
 

1. The authority responsible for having the official ballot prepared shall certify in writing that a candidate is unopposed for election to an office (in other words, the outcome is already known due to the lack of opposition).
2. The certification shall be delivered to the governing body of the political subdivision as soon as possible after the filing deadlines for placement on the ballot and on the list of write-in candidates.

The write-in deadline was Tuesday, February 18, 2025.

The regular board election is scheduled for May 3, 2025.  Positions up for election are Place 5, currently held by Candice Parsons, Place 6, currently held by Josh Magden, and Place 7, currently held by Michael Hancock.  All incumbents have refiled.  The deadline to file for a place on the ballot was Friday, February 14, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.. Section 2.051-2.053 of the Texas Election Code states that an election may be cancelled for one of the following three reasons; 1) Each candidate (for full or un-expired terms) whose name is to appear on the ballot is unopposed; 2) The election is one in which a declaration of write-in candidacy is required; and 3) No proposition is on the ballot.  Due to the fact that Board of Trustee Place 1, Candice Parsons, Place 5, Josh Magden and Place 7, Michael Hancock are unopposed candidates, we are within Election Code requirements to request cancelation of our regular May election.

The Superintendent would like to inform the Board of the resignations of: Cydney Marlow, teacher/coach at Smithville High School, Leah Stinson, teacher at Smithville High School, Michael Trost, teacher at the Junior High, and Gail Deeley, teacher at Brown Primary.

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.

Chris Sexton - Teacher/Coach
Degree - BS from Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Certification - Health EC-12, PE EC-12, Social Studies 7-12, History 8-12
Years of Experience - 12 years
Campus - High School
Replacing Jeffrey Neely

The following administrators are currently on a two-year term contract and are in the first year of that contract.  The Superintendent recommends the following administrators for a one-year extension of their existing contract which will, in effect, give them a new two-year contract to expire June 30, 2027:
Bethany Logan - Assistant Superintendent 
Tucker Copeland - High School Principal
Sarah Vinklarek - Brown Primary Principal

The following administrators are currently on a one-year term contract and are being recommended for a two-year term contract to expire in June 2027:
Tracy Johnson - Director of Special Education
Amanda Hudspeth - Junior High School Principal
Holly Brockman - Elementary Principal

The following administrators are currently on a one-year probationary contract and are being recommended for a one-year term contract to expire in June 2026:
Layne Neumann - Athletic Director

The following administrators are currently on a one-year term contract, and are being recommended for a one-year term contract to expire June 30, 2026:
Brenda Ricketts - High School Assistant Principal
Erin O’Rourke - Elementary Assistant Principal
Whitney Brown - Special Programs Coordinator
Misty Vasquez - School Improvement Coordinator