January 22, 2024 — January is School Board Recognition Month across Texas, and to celebrate, the Board meeting began with performances by the Oak Dale Elementary Choir and the Bonham Middle School Showstoppers choir.
The celebrating continued in Board business when Trustees unanimously approved a resolution addressing the long-standing issue of a neighborhood school in the North Heights area of Amarillo. The resolution dissolves attendance zones previously established as part of the District’s five-decades-old desegregation plan and creates a new attendance zone for George Washington Carver Early Childhood Academy (grades pre-k through one) and George Washington Carver Elementary Academy (grades two- five) in the North Heights neighborhood. Beginning next year, students who are currently attending schools outside of this neighborhood due to desegregation can choose whether to continue in their current school and feeder pattern or attend school in the new Carver attendance zone and feeder pattern, which includes Allen 6th Grade Campus, Mann Middle School, and Palo Duro High School. Read Resolution here.
In other business, AISD assistant superintendents presented a report to the Board regarding student discipline numbers and proactive approaches schools use to address discipline issues. Superintendent Loomis said that while societal issues make discipline a more complex problem than it used to be, the number of students who are repeat offenders is only about 5 percent of the entire AISD student population.
The Board adopted revisions to policy AE(LOCAL) Educational Philosophy to tie more directly to District goals as defined in the District Improvement Plan. These long-standing, overarching goals drive the district and campus improvement processes. Revisions to the policy also include the addition of five priorities that continue to be areas of focus for Board and District efforts and resources.
Trustees discussed options to comply with Senate Bill 763, passed by the 88th Legislature, that requires all school boards to make a decision whether to allow schools to hire chaplains or accept them as volunteers to provide support and programs on a regular basis. The Board adopted a resolution stating their decision to not allow the District to employ or accept chaplains as volunteers. Read Resolution here.
Finally, the Board expressed appreciation for gifts and donations totaling $60,235 given to various schools this month from Whataburger, Education Credit Union, Storage Shop, Pantex, Thomas McLean Jr., Redemptive Word Church, Karen Community of Amarillo, Richard Ware and Amarillo National Bank, Tyler and Trudy Keeling, Cody and Elizabeth Rogers, Atmos Energy, Miles and Ruthie Grant, and Sleepy Hollow PTO.
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