Device, vaping policies change
A standing-room-only audience attended the Cuero ISD School Board meeting on July 17 as part of a concerned citizens group, outlining their questions about the district operations.
Three citizens addressed the board and Superintendent Micah Dyer gave a State of the District overview with a lengthy list of student and staff accomplishments.
During the communication portion, the 2025-26 preliminary budget was outlined, estimating a $1.3 million surplus.
In the business items, the board approved a bus agreement with Meyersville and Westhoff ISDs as well as the 2025-26 teacher pay scale.
Of interest to students, the board approved changes in policies regarding the use of communication devices and the consequences for vaping at school.
In the open forum, Steve Urbanovsky, the spokesman for the concerned citizens, first addressed the audience explaining that the board cannot respond directly to questions during the public comments.
“So as we give them comments or concerns that we want to talk about, they don't respond back to us,” Urbanovsky said. “They can hear it, but as a board, they have to reply in unison to us.”
He then directly asked personal questions of Board President Mary Sheppard and Superintendent Micah Dyer: were they a person of their word and were they surprised by the turnout.
Board Member Bill Hamilton took exception to a characterization of district answers to questions as being a smokescreen and mentioned his personal conversation with Urbanovsky.
Urbanovsky named the main issues the group wants to understand and impact: teacher and staff retention, losing students, student education level, transparency of the school board, discipline and enforcement of it, the public losing respect for CISD, the budget and the legal fees.
Former school board member B.J. Drehr spoke next, focusing on objections to the new district transfer policy. Drehr’s claims and the district response will be included in next week’s edition.
Doug Sethness, a 25year resident of DeWitt County, spoke about concerns with student education level. He described meeting a CHS graduate who did not know about WWI or WWII, and who had a mistaken idea about US involvement in Vietnam. Sethness investigated state resources and tried to communicate with the school board about his concerns.
“When I asked to get y'all’s names and addresses so I could just send a letter to tell you what I had found, I was told that that information was not available to me, and I couldn't have it,” he said.
In the recognition portion, Dyer presented a state of the district, listing Cuero ISD and student accomplishments.
“It's been proven that someone will repeat something negative seven times more often than they will repeat something positive,” he said. “So just to get even we have to work seven times harder on a daily basis. It's not a natural thing for us to brag on the things we do. We're in this because of service. We're here in the service of children.”
On the TEA rating, he acknowledged that this year’s grade was a B and said the previous two years had been an A. He said CISD scored above the Region 3 average in math, ELAR, science, and social studies.
“Currently, we're running the lowest tax rate that we have run in the last 10 years, and we're going to have an even lower tax rate next year,” Dyer said.
He said the district has $ 9.9 million in the fund balance, up from $5.8 million from the 2017 2018 school year.
Dyer said the problem with last year’s deficit budget is a statewide issue faced by 63% of districts and there were zero findings in the state audit with a superior rating in the financial integrity system.
Moving to student accomplishments, he started with athletics, saying 11 teams went into playoffs last year and highlighted the numbers of athletes with district and state honors. He listed accomplishments and honors department by department, from secondary to elementary, extracurricular to food service. See the list on our DeWitt County Today website.
Communication
Each department reported their highlights with Deputy Superintendent Kim Fleener reporting 36 more transfers approved for a total of 271.
Jessa Lee, business and finance manager, outlining the 2025-26 preliminary budget. First in expenditures from the $25.7 million budget was instruction at $10 million. She and Dyer described the Teacher Retention Allotment that the state will fund for the next two years, but each employee will get at least a 3% raise.
Food Service was also mentioned as a $1.3 million expenditure, but Dyer said Food Service Director Sandra Hernandez now has the department fully funding itself. Other large expenditures will be maintenance operations at $2.3 million and debt service of $5 million from a previous bond. The current estimate is a $1.3 million surplus in next year’s budget.
In action items, the board approved the transportation agreement with Meyersville and Westhoff ISD, the 2025-26 teacher pay scale, renewal of two School Resource Officer contracts, the Concussion Oversight Team, the Opt Out Resolution for UIL Participation by Homeschoolers, and teacher appraisal items.
Throughout the business discussions a mumbled conversation in the back of the room drew looks from audience members and administrators.
Personal Devices & Vaping
To comply with House Bill (HB) 1481, the board also approved the “out of sight, out of mind” policy for personal communication devices by students on school property during the school day.
In the Code of Conduct, the legislature backed off of the automatic Discipline Alternative Education Program (DAEP) for all vaping in school. Now, if the vape has THC, it will be a 90-day DAEP. For more information see the approved Code of Conduct on the CISD website.
