WELLINGTON – President Cody Phillips called the meeting of the Wellington Independent School District (ISD) Board of Education regular session to order at 7:30 Monday, Aug. 8 in the superintendent’s office.
With an opening prayer by Brad Bawcom, additional board members present were Lance Kane, Mark Lemons, Gene Pena and Alison Strickland. Board member Jonathan Killian was not present.
School personnel in attendance included Wellington ISD Superintendent Kurt Ashmore, Wellington High School principal Jermaine Cantu, Wellington Junior High Principal Edward Beck, Wellington Elementary Principal Deidre Kane, Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Greg Proffitt, secretary Kellye Conner and business manager Dian Souder.
Public Educators Association of Texas (PEAT) representative Steve Lapp also attended the meeting and gave a presentation of property insurance details.
The board entered closed session at 7:43 p.m. under Texas Open Meetings Act to discuss personnel and came out of closed session at 8:21 p.m.
The board approved the minutes of the July 11 regular meeting and voted to change the two bad weather days from April 14 and April 17 to April 7 and April 10. Also, the board appointed Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC) committee members.
Additionally, the board renewed the property insurance with PEAT for the 2022-2023 school year and approved Travel Reimbursement Rates for 2022-2023 as presented.
For 2022, the board voted to set the proposed tax rate at $0.94410. The public hearing on the 2022-- 2023 proposed budget and 2022 proposed tax rate of $0.94410 is set for noon Monday, Aug. 29 in the superintendent’s office.
The board reviewed the Employee Handbook, Student Handbook, Athletic Handbook and the Student Code of Conduct.
In his report, Ashmore informed the board of a required training for SB1566 and an Intruder Audit. The HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) unit installation is getting close to being complete. He and the principals are working on the Summer Targeted Safety Review.
“We have hired Faith Brooks and Amanda Sanchez as paraprofessionals in the junior high, along with Alexis Alvarez, Cathy Andrews and Crystal Gonzales as paraprofessionals in the elementary,” Ashmore said. “Harley Warrick has been hired to assist in the technology department and with the band. Tonya Mitchell and Marcus Garcia were hired as custodians. Erica Thomas, Shelby Jameson and Rachelle Sumrall have resigned.”
“We’d like to thank the First Baptist Church for the breakfast this morning,” Ashmore added. “We appreciate the First United Methodist Church providing each of our employees with gift cards to our local restaurants.”
At 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, all employees participated in Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events training.
The principals commented on how exciting it is to have all the faculty and staff back today gearing up for a great school year and would like to welcome all the new faces to the district.
In elementary, Kane reported that the tutoring for HB4545 went well this summer. Additionally, the elementary has already begun looking at the Campus Improvement Plan data and will soon begin Districtwide Vertical Alignment. Special education teachers will attend training this week.
The Elementary Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) provided breakfast on Thursday, Aug. 11 for all elementary employees. Thursday evening was Meet the Teacher in the elementary. On Friday, staff heard a motivational speaker in Childress.
“We are excited for students to be here on Monday, Aug. 15,” Kane said.
Beck explained that HB4545 tutoring hours are almost complete in the junior high.
“Today, we spent time doing team building exercises, and we welcomed our new staff to the junior high,” Beck said.
Cantu said that high school is seeing the benefits of great progress in the students who took part in the HB4545 tutoring hours. He too said that high school staff spent time team building and welcome the new faces in WHS.
Laptop pick-up took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10 and Thursday, Aug. 11. Parking spot sign-up was last Thursday.
In his Athletic Director Report, Proffitt noted that football workouts began on Aug. 1 and are off to a great start.
“We have approximately 45 players out for high school football,” he said. “We will scrimmage Muleshoe in Tulia at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19. The Skyrockets season opener is Aug. 26 in Frederick, Okla. We’ve got four games scheduled for our seventh- grade team and will continue to look for more games.”
Proffitt mentioned that girls’ cross country and basketball workouts also began on Aug. 1 and are going well. The first cross country meet will take place at the end of the month.
