In a special meeting on October 14, the Yorktown ISD school board heard a grievance in closed session from a school counselor. After the closed meeting the board voted to deny the grievance and sent it back to the campus for resolution.
In the regular meeting that followed, trustees brought up safety concerns regarding the amount of fencing to install around the gym/ auditorium. They also heard public comment, rated themselves on their progress in the Lone Star Governance
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- Christopher Romans, YISD trustee program and heard from campus principals.
The fencing discussion related to an action item of a bid by South Texas Fence for ornamental fencing at the secondary school and gym/ auditorium.
Superintendent Gerald Nixon shared the pricing and explained that a recent increase was due to the parts used affecting the lifetime warranty.
The board then discussed the placing of the fence, which was along main street, and how it would help keep middle schoolers from accidentally running out in the street.
Board Secretary Christopher Romans questioned if the fencing met state requirements of fully enclosing a campus. It was explained that this area was not considered part of the security perimeter, and they didn’t want to obstruct people walking into the gym.
“From a security standpoint, if we’re going to do something to protect kids and that’s an area where they’re concentrated, then there’s potential for somebody to get at them,” Romans said. “We should make it an area where people can’t access it. I say we fence all of it, then when we have those events, we open those gates.”
It was pointed out that the gym was not considered an instructional environment, which is where the state requires fencing. But Romans noted that girls athletics happens there during the day.
Nixon noted that the original plan was to also add fencing to the baseball field with the allotted funds.
“A halfdone fence doesn’t stop crazy people coming in,” Romans said.
The item was tabled for further consideration.
Also at the meeting during public comments, Gene Henry spoke about concern that TEA is not releasing school district ratings due to lawsuits.
“Ratings (grades) for students are continuous, but not for school districts,” he said. “The citizens of Texas are getting fed up with this. They want transparency in their schools. They want to know what’s going on, the bottom line.”
Henry said he thought Yorktown was doing a good job and that they should be able to tell everybody.
The board also went through its paces with their Lone Star Governance coach, Debbie Saxton, rating themselves in various categories, such as communication and vision goals. The first goal of the LSG program is measuring how much time a school board spends on student outcomes with the benchmark of 50% of each meeting being related to it. Last year YISD was able to claim 49% of its meeting time was related to student outcomes.
Elementary Principal Laura Patek highlighted the growth in reading and math scores at Yorktown Elementary School with emphasis on the literacy programs. A report from Secondary Principal Hannum was read since he was out with a newborn daughter.
The full minutes of the Yorktown ISD School Board meetings are available on the yisd.org website.
