By ARABELLA SERRATA
Staff Writer
Point Isabel Independent School District (PIISD) held a regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, Jun. 18, 2024, at 6 p.m. The board had presenters across the different programs within the district to announce their accomplishments and progress for the upcoming school year. Board members Cecilia Castillo and Frank Davalos Jr. were absent for this meeting.
Christy Gonzalez, CFO of PIISD, presented the overview for the budget that started in Jan. Campus budgets, fixed costs, requirement budgets, operating budgets and revenue projects were reviewed.
“In constructing the budget, we are very conservative. We look at projections and trends to make sure we are on the right track.” This year, there was a 4% increase in salaries, but it was still less than the previous year, which had a 2% increase. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (EESER) funds were slowly phased out of the budget plans to ensure the district was not hit too harshly by its absence in the oncoming year. Revenue and expenditures are shown to be equal, proving a balanced budget.
A new ticketing system was presented for HomeTown Ticketing by Tony Villarreal, head football coach, and Kaitlin McCann. As of right now, nothing is finalized in this presentation. The presentation stated that all district events can be covered by HomeTown Ticketing. A brief walkthrough of the system was then made by McCann.
Texas Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) Director Michelle Barron congratulated the ACE team on their performance the past year. She states that the requirements for the 45-day attendance have been surpassed at all campuses. The family engagements and partnership were met by over 300%. This marks the campus as one of five in the 96 in the district that have completed all requirements. The members of ACE were awarded recognition for their efforts.
Superintendent of Schools Theresa Capistran made the announcement of a one hour delay in the school start time for Wednesday, Jun. 19, 2024, due to weather. “Safety is a priority, and we do want to make sure everyone is safe,” said Capistran.
Discussion and action agenda item 8 was moved up due to weather. The School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) 2023-2024 committee was presented by Carlos Travis, Velas Hernandez and Jenny Wells. Multiple goals were to re-establish the PIISD SHAC by developing by-laws, electing parent co-chairs and meeting a minimum of four times during the academic year. They also established goals relating to the “whole school, whole child, whole community components” for the 2024-2025 academic year. They then considered the need for a written district-wide recess policy for elementary schools and provided a recommendation to the board.
The board approved the budget amendment for 24056 to appropriate the 2024-2025 Safety and Facilities Enhancement (SAFE) cycle 2 grant for the 2023-2024 school year capped at $150,000.
The board also approved the 2024-2025 compensation plan, which consists of a Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) general pay increase of 4% from midpoint for teachers, 4% from midpoint plus adjustments for administrators, 4% from midpoint plus adjustments for clerical and 4% from midpoint plus adjustments for auxiliary. The motion to approve the PIISD 2024-2025 budget was also carried out.
The board approved the payment for general contractor fees on the PIISD phase 4 new construction, the CATE building, to Gerlach Builder, LLC in the amount capped at $560, 417.44. However, there has been another delay in the building’s completion date. The new date is set for Sept. 4, 2024. This issue originated at the beginning of development and was inflamed by shipping delays. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also gave limits to how long the construction crew could work. “We’re still pushing forward, there’s no stopping now. Our objective here is to finish this as quickly as possible…we still want quality,” said Capistran, expressing disdain at the issue.
The board approved the purchase of “Blocksi,” an internet filter from ISDefender for the 2024-2025 school year capped at $10,512.
The board also approved the training hours completed by each of the PIISD board of trustees during May 2023-May 2024.
The board approved updating the 2023-2024 compensation plan to add a mentor program allotment stipend.
The board approved to continue the STEP program at Port Isabel Early College High School (PIECHS) for the 2024-2025 school year.
The superintendent’s educational reports were attached to the back of the board agenda and opened for discussion. Due to weather, items 3 and 4 for the executive session were tabled. With no further business and no comments from the public, staff or board, the meeting was adjourned at 7:46 p.m.
Comments