April 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Announcement by the Board President whether a quorum is present and that notice of the meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551 as required by law.

Description:  "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Description:   "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible." 

Description:  The Florence High School Band received the Sweepstakes award at the Region 32 UIL Concert and Sight-Reading contest on Friday, April 11th. The band earned straight ones from all three judges on the concert stage as well as in the sight-reading room. This award, combined with the first division rating they earned during the UIL Marching Band competition in the Fall, qualified them to earn the Sweepstakes award. The following band members are here to accept the award:
Braeden Seaboch
Trinity Rashid
Ben Conner
Celeste Bradford
Sophia Gonzalez Marrufo
Carla de la Mora Mendoza
A huge congratulations to the band for their success this year and especially to the senior class who became the first class in the history of Florence High School to receive Sweepstakes for All Four Years of their high school career.

Track Regional Qualifiers:
The following track athletes advanced all the way to the Regional Track Meet after a stellar season:
Isaias Mendoza - Senior
400 Meter Run - 12th place
800 Meter Run - 7th Place
Erick Ramirez - Senior
1600 Meter Run - 12th Place
3200 Meter Run - 10th Place
Emerson Herring - Junior
100 Meter Dash - 4th Place
Ella Morrison - Junior
1600 Meter Run -0 9th Place
3200 Meter Run - 5th Place
Congratulations to these track athletes on a fantastic season!

The ROBUFFS, the FHS Robotics Team, had three teams compete in teh First Tech Challenge Central Texas Division. The Dough Boys 4798 advanced through the regular season and playoff matches to the Semi-Area round to compete at the FiT-Central Semi-Area Championship Austin Division where they finished 16th out of 32 teams.
Members of the Robuffs Dough Boys 4798 are:
Miles Kanetzky
Richard Cantrell
Sterling Kinghorn
Roy Scott
Zane Smith
Braedon Seaboch
Kieren Seaboch
The Rangers 4812 finished 9th out of 16 teams in regular tournament play and the 9377 Yellow Submarines finished 15th out 16 teams. Great year for our Robotics Team.

The Florence Middle School 7th Grade Track team won the district title this year. Representing the track team are:
Primitivo Martinez
John Tinsley
Luther Hill
Siro Castelan
The track team is coached by Britt Villines and Kivi Poteat. Congratulations on an outstanding season!
 

Description:  The Teacher of the Month for FISD is Traci Tomlinson from Florence High School. She is the leader of the Special Education Department. Here are some quotes from her nomination:
Traci is always helping students to achieve their very best. She is a motivator and guide for students who often struggle to learn difficult concepts. Whether it is working one-on-one with a specific student to understand a difficult math problem, or advocating on behalf of a student at an ARD meeting, she is always set on moving students forward. Traci is tireless in her pursuit of success for the students fortunate to have her as their teacher. She is passionate about what she does, and has earned the respect and admiration of all those she reaches.
From her principal:
Traci goes above and beyond the call of duty to help lead our SPED department on campus.  She arranges the SPED schedule for the campus, she mentors other teachers, and she goes the extra mile to meet students where they are and support them.
 

Description:  The Board encourages comments about the district from members of the public.  Anyone who has signed up to speak in advance of the meeting in accordance with the Board procedures may do so at this time.  The Board asks that each participant's comments pertain to district business and be no longer than 5 minutes.  For any member of the public who is accompanied by a translator, your time will be doubled as required by law.  Remember that the Board may not discuss or act upon any issues that are not posted on our agenda.  In addition, the Board has adopted policies to provide prompt and equitable resolution of complaints and concerns for employees, students or their parents, and the general public.  Copies of our district policies and procedures on public comments and filing complaints are available on the district website. 

Description:  As required by state law, the Board President will read a summary of Board Member Training Hours for the previous year.

Description:  An overview of legislative movement now occuring in Austin will be provided.

Description:  An overview of the construction projects will be provided.
Field House is complete.
Band Hall practice field is complete, but some grading revisions have to be made by the contractor as they were not to specifications.
The Buffalo graphic at the band hall will be replaced with a sign matching the back-lit Texas F at the field house. I have agreed to pay for the electrical cost as the original sign did not require power. The architect and contractor are splitting the cost of the sign and installation.
The new elementary school is expected to achieve a Certificate of Occupancy on July 12. We are working to have all of the furniture installed beginning on July 14 and teacher items moved from the current elementary school beginning on July 17. I am hoping we will be in a position to allow our teachers to have access one week prior to the official return date.

Description:  As required by state law, Jimmy Birch will provide an update related to school safety initiatives in FISD for this school year.

Description:  The Texas Education Agency released the 2023 Accountability Ratings on April 24. While the ratings have been known to the district, it is the first official release of the D rating for Florence ISD to the public. One in five schools in the 2023 rankings received a D or F rating, a huge increase from previous years and a reflection of the changed standards for that year. TEA also released a "what-if" rating for 2022. They applied the rating criteria from 2023 to the 2022 results and while Florence ISD had a C rating in 2022, in the "what if" rating that would have dropped to a D. 

Description:  The District has been awarded a Learning Acceleration Support Opportunities grant for Instructional Leadership. We will contract with an approved vendor with the funds as required by the grant to work specifically with our elementary and middle school leadership teams to improve instruction on the campus.
The District has also been selected to participate in the Texas Strategic Leadership which provides support from Dr. Cathy Lauer and Dr. Deborah Brennan from Region 13 as we build a focused academic strategic plan based on the data from testing and a deep dive into our instructional practices. In year two, they will support us in implementing the plan. This is at no cost to the district, other than our time. Dr. Avritt and I will attend the Kick-Off training that is required from June 24-26 in Lakeway. This too is covered by TEA.

Description:  As required by law, the district has to adopt House Bill 3 goals in three areas: 3rd Grade students who score meets or above on the math and reading STAAR test and CCMR. As we move through the TSL process, we will further refine our academic goals. These goals do not require Board adoption, only that they must be reviewed by the Board annually.

Description:  The Florence Athletic Booster Club is donating $2541.60 to Florence Athletics to purchase foam plyometric boxes for the new weight room.

Description:  The District did an RFP for Depository services in 2021.  Verabank was chosen to be the District Depository. School Districts have the option to renew the agreement three times.  This would be the second renewal of that contract.  

We are pleased with the services offered and the rates provided for our accounts and would like to extend the agreement through the 2025-2027 Biennium.

Description:  Auditor will audit the financial statements of the governmental activities, the business-type activities, each major fund, and the aggregate remaining fund information, including the disclosures, which collectively comprise the basic financial statements of Florence ISD as of the year ending August 31, 2025. Standards provide for certain required supplementary information (RSI), such as management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), to supplement Florence ISD's basic financial statements. Auditor is also engaged to report on supplementary information other than RSI that accompanies Florence ISD's financial statements, such as the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) and required TEA Schedules.

Description:  In accordance with Texas Education Code 31.1011, local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to certify annually to the State Board of Education (SBOE) and the commissioner that students have access to instructional materials covering all Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for all required subjects, except physical education.  

Additionally, LEAs are required to certify that they protect against access to obscene or harmful content in compliance with the requirements for certification under (i) the Children's Internet Protection Act (Pub. L. No. 106-554); (ii) Section 28.0022; (iii) Section 43.22, Penal Code; and (iv) any other law or regulation that protects students from obscene or harmful content. The TEKS Certification 2025-26 Survey includes a section to allow LEAs to certify they meet this requirement.

Description: 

The Staff Development Minutes Waiver allows districts to train staff on various educational strategies designed to improve student performance in lieu of student instruction during the school year. The waiver provides for a maximum of 2,100 total waiver minutes to use for "high-quality" professional development that will "impact student outcomes". The waiver is applicable to staff development provided instead of student instruction. 

FISD adopted a 2025-2026 School Calendar that includes professional development days for which students are not in attendance. FISD is eligible to apply for a Staff Development Minutes Waiver for the following days:

• August 25, 2025

• September 22, 2025

• November 10, 2025

• November 11, 2025

• February 17, 2026

Description:  The District replaces Chromebooks for the District's one-to-one initiative periodically. The Chromebooks would be purchased with FF&E 2022 Bond funds for the new elementary school. A TIPs Cooperative Purchasing contract #230105 will be used for the formal procument required. 

Description:   The District now has two Band Halls for its students. This will require additional musical instruments and equipment to manage the program.
The District does not purchase instruments for each student to use. Certain equipment, due to its size or portability, is housed at the District.  
 This purchase is largely for percussion equipment as listed on the attached quote. The equipment would be purchased with 2022 Bond FF&E funds for the new Band Hall. A Buyboard Cooperative Purchasing contract #712-23 will be used for the formal procument. 

Description:  IMRA Cycle 2025 called for SBOE to review K-12 full-subject and supplemental tier-one mathematics instructional materials. A committee convened to review the materials from approved publishers.  Committee members reviewed the Mathematics K-12 IMRA Quality rubrics and reports published by SBOE, along with a local rubric to score the materials and make their decision. The committee selected iReady Mathematics for K-5. The committee selected materials for 6-8 and Algebra 1 that were not on the SBOE list but we feel are the best for the students in Florence. We plan to pilot a new SBOE-approved phonics program that is tailored for a K-2 Dual language program. We are also adding an art curriculum for secondary art teachers.