February 21, 2022 – The February Board meeting began with a presentation from the Bomb City Bots Robotics Team from AmTech Career Academy. AmTech Instructors and Bomb City Bots Coaches Darrin Davis and Larry Garcia were present with four student team members. The students demonstrated their completed robot and spoke about several recent competitions and awards, including a 6th place win out of 36 teams at a regional robotics competition in Lubbock. As a Dean’s List finalist, Bomb City Bots captain Lauren Miller will be representing the team at the FTC World competition in April.
Following the robotics presentation, the Board conducted a public hearing regarding Amarillo ISD’s Annual Report for 2020-2021. This comprehensive report includes the state-issued Texas Academic Performance Report, as well as reports regarding District accreditation status and financial status (AISD continues to receive a rating of ‘Superior’ in financial categories), criminal incidents, student performance in post-secondary institutions and campus performance objectives. The complete 2020-2021 AISD Annual Report is available on the AISD website, State Required Postings section.
After reporting on their scheduled visits to campuses for the month, Trustees approved the 2022-2023 official school calendar as recommended by the Districtwide Educational Advisory Council, which also serves as the District’s Calendar Committee. Next year, school will begin on August 16, 2022 and will end on May 26, 2023. The calendar includes a full 3-week break for students at Christmas (2 ½ weeks for staff) and student/staff holidays on Sept. 5, Oct. 10, Feb. 20, and April 7, in addition to the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week, and Spring Break from March 13 – 17, 2023. The 2022-2023 calendar provides for 172 instructional days and meets all requirements for the number of minutes in a school year. The calendar also provides for 187 teacher contractual days.
In other business, the Board approved a partnership agreement with a local organization called Storybridge. The partnership supports an early childhood initiative that is designed to serve families in Amarillo that have children ages 1 – 5 years old. The program will provide these families with age-appropriate books and will encourage family and caregiver engagement through messaging, outreach events, and workshops.
Trustees also approved Tri-State General Contracting Group as the contractor for the Austin Middle School shoring project. This project will provide temporary shoring for the first floor foundation of the 70-year-old campus, which is necessary due to some corrosion of the steel structure in the crawl space under the building. The temporary shoring is designed to remain in place for 3 – 5 years, and will allow for continued safe occupancy of the building while permanent solutions are being developed and implemented.
Board members thanked those who gave donations to AISD and its schools this month. A total of $14,550 worth of gifts were given from Marci Reid, the Panhandle Chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association, Edward and Janice Larkan, FIRST Robotics, “The United Family”/United Supermarkets, Amarillo Association of Realtors, the Ridgecrest Elementary Parent Teacher Organization, and Dwight Keith.
Additional settings for Safari Browser.
